Mass Effect 2 (PS3)

Mass Effect 2 launches mid-action, with a breath-catchingly dramatic disaster on the SSV Normandy. It looks terrific - there's a noticeble step up in the quality of the graphics from Xbox to PS3 - and the game almost immediately gives you a perfect sci-fi moment. As Shepard heads to the bridge to rescue the pilot, Joker, you enter an area where the hull has been breached and the Normandy is open to space. Stars shine hard through the vacuum, the sound drops back to Shepard's ragged breathing, and there's no doubt at all that this is about you facing off against the vastness and emptiness of space.Actually, it's not quite true that ME2 starts mid-action: to help out newcomers to the series, there's a DLC section that lets you make some of the choices that would have formed your character in the first Mass Effect. PC and Xbox players had the option to import the Shepard they made and nurtured in the first game (ME is big on customisation and permanence), so the DLC is some compensation for that.But even if you choose to skip it and head straight to the main story, you'll still get to fiddle around with your Shepard's abilities and appearance until you make something you're happy with (or, possibly, something that looks so unsettlingly like yourself that you have to go back and start all over again). Shep can be male or female, a crack soldier or a biotics (that's psychic powers) expert, a war hero or a fractured sole survivor of a previous campaign - it's all up to you, and as you proceed through the story, you'll make more choices that contribute to your "Paragon" or "Renegade" status and influence the way other characters react to you.The DLC also gives you the chance to bone up on the story, so newcomers don't need to spend all their in-game conversations for the first two hours flicking the dialogue options to "investigate" and getting the other characters to give you some exposition. (Short story: all organic life in the universe is under threat from something called the Reapers, and Shepard has been resurrected by human supremacist group Cerberus to lead the world-saving effort. How much faith you put in a group that's official considered a terrorist outfit, and its sinister leader the Illusive Man, is entirely your decision.)Not that you'll ever regret stopping to chat. Mass Effect 2 is populated with some of the most engaging, well-acted space people you could hope to meet, and the script has been carefully designed to make clunking non-sequiturs a vanishingly rare occurrence. As you tour planets and space stations, assembling a crack team of galaxy saviours and meeting all manner of strange and sometimes sexy aliens, you'll also find endless sidequests and subplots to get drawn into. Even if you don't choose to take most of them on, their very existence helps to bolster the idea of the Mass Effect world as a functioning universe.Because that's what makes Mass Effect 2 great. Not the outstanding action, the compelling story, the huge depth of interaction, or any of the other ways in which the game demonstrates its outrageous surfeit of quality. It's because this is a game so coherent, you start to believe that you could actually live in it. Which is a good thing, because you'll almost certainly end up doing so.

Buy and enjoy. Good game and price has been reduced to an affordable level. Insert, load and happy gaming!

I really enjoyed the story in this game. The characters are endearing and you get a sense of the relationship developing with your main character as the story progresses. You get the option to increase the chances of your crew members surviving the final mission, which adds to the personal feel to the relationship with these characters. When this is done by playing through enjoyable side missions that add to the overall experience, it isn't exactly a chore.The action is a fun cover-shooter like Gears of War (the control is pretty much the same) and the shooting part of Uncharted. Except for the occasional glitch that won't let you shoot from cover until you step out of cover and back again, the action is fast, precise and satisfying.I enjoyed this game so much that this was one of the first game I bought on the PS3 when I moved from Xbox, on which I finished the first 2 mass effect games.The advantage of the PS3 version over Xbox is that I could change the decisions from the first game without playing through that again (I enjoyed the first game's story, but the action is quite slow at the start and the mako exploration was just painfully tedious). Unfortunately Bioware dropped a minor character in the PS3 version (the fan from the first game), you will be hard pressed to spot it, but it does mean no discount at the Illium weapon shop.

The story is interesting and holds your attention. The characters are worth getting to know and your decisions, good or bad affect the way the character develops. I have found that I am playing this quite a lot around 2 hours a day almost every day or every other day and that is good for me as i get bored easily. This is one game i am enjoying, however i do find the mining of elements on planets a bit boring. I usually mine all the planets in a system in one go and get it done, then i have all the elements that i need to research the technologies that i come across in the missions. I am more of a casual gamer and this game suits me fine as i can go in and play a mission and just save and exit. I didn't play the first mass effect as it wasn't on playstation but this makes no difference as the backstory is explaned well. This is my second time playing it now and i think i may have to indulge myself and get mass effect 3. Very enjoyable.

One of my favorite games 5 strars. One star because i collect box arts wanted de uk one and got the usa one wich i already had. It says uk import.

Pas vraiment besoin de rappeler à quel point ce jeu est bon.. durée de vie très bone, scénario très bon etc.. un classique qui reste toujours très beau même sur un grand écran de salon - C'est la meilleure version console.

Un juego excelente con una gran historia de ciencia-ficción, nada que envidiar a películas estilo Star Trek , como punto negativo para mi serian los subtitulos en castellano que se ven muy pequeños y en ocasiones no se pueden leer por ser de color blanco en escenas muy iluminadas, todo lo demás un juego de 10.

Perfetto per continuare a usare la vecchia PS3. Ottimo che includa il pacchetto Cerberus per il trofeo (anche se credo sia gratis?).

Adictivo, interesante historia, jugabilidad cómoda y no monotona. Otro titulo indispensable en toda colección de PS3. No jugué el primero pero al acabar(o incluso antes) ya salí corriendo a comprar el 3 para continuar con la historia.