Mass Effect 2 - 3 hours in

The change sin Mass Effect 2 are not subtle. If you've played the original Mass Effect a number of times, there are some nuances in fire fights that may feel a bit simplified.

Before it starts sounding like I'm knocking the changes outright, I'll note that some of the changes are very welcome. The Inventory management was a bear to deal with in the first game. You could easily end up with ridiculous counts of the same items. There was no multiple select so purges had to be done one at a time which chewed up allot of time.  

Inventory Scrap

In ME2 the inventory is scrapped altogether. This is somewhat welcome but the changes in ammo load outs, weapons types, and armor types are now dealt with entirely differently.

Armor and Weapon changes are done at the appropriate Station bays on the Normandy or while in mission. Weapons types are now upgraded through investment of materials found during missions and ammo types are limited to character class. Your ammo type is tied to your class type and its capacity for damage is raised by applying experience points to it.

The good part about this approach is that you don't need to open your cluttered inventory to make weapons, ammo type, and armor changes, but at least in ME1 it could be done on the fly. Now that level of customization and control feels a bit more minimized. In a way it frees the player up to concentrate on the mission. As mentioned earlier you'll be putting hard earned experience points into the different ammo types to make them more effective. Although this approach does take the guess work out of which ammo type to use against which enemy, it's a notable change when deciding how to disperse your points.

Ammo types are now selected via the visual selection wheel that once only displayed Biotic/Tech powers. Depending on your class you'll see the ammo attributes there as well. This added ease is welcome as it keeps the player in the fight without long pauses going through the old inventory list.

For right the game feels balanced. For every change that simplifies choice, there are welcome game play additions that add depth. 

More on the differences between ME1 and ME2 later

Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition  |  Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 - Character Animation

In Mass Effect 2, it's clear that Bioware has really made better use of the Unreal engine, but there are a few details that stand out in the various videos  released to date.

One is the facial animation. I know that there is allot being talked about the improved eye and facial animation, but to be frank, some of the very examples they show remind me of the original. Where intense dialogue is spoke and the jawline & mouth barely notes it. Yes a bit of a nit pick, but it's not looking leaps and bounds over the original. For a game that plays allot on character, that is something that has stood out (for me) in many of the videos released.

Second is a bit bigger concern. In virtually all of the videos released showing combat, the enemies are practically static targets. Few if any appear to be able to or willing to take cover, instead firing from the open as player characters pick them to pieces from behind cover.

I'm left wondering if this is something Bioware has rigged for video demo purposes. Meaning that in order to show weapon and character class traits - it's better to have the enemies out in the open instead of hunkered down behind obstacles. In the original game enemies did run in the open, but they did a fair job of being moving targets that could use the environment for cover to some degree. Whatever the case, I hope the game balances out well giving the enemy realistic options for preservation in combat.  

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