After the massive pile of average that was the first game, hell I borderline hated it but my sci fi nerd kept me playing, I was going in with my mind blank albeit with a bit of cynicism. Now tat i have completed ME2, it has redeemed itself and ME3 is sure to get my money.
The story is a lot better with a lot more weight behind it, even if the bad guys felt underplayed AGAIN. It was still good, but the enemies feel so underplayed and seemed to have too much focus on these stupid merc groups and finding characters instead of imposing the idea of how threatening the collectors are. It's hard to take any major antagonist seriously if less than half the story has any focus on them. I don't mind villains being played out in the shadows and background, but the impact of the collectors and reapers is greatly lessened when only a handful of missions really focus on them when we should be seeing a lot more of them. Sufficed to say though, the story packed more punch, had better pacing (ME1's was abysmal), more intrigue, and just overall better presentation.
Characters are a lot better this time around and I actually liked them this time. The original cast for the most part were boring and felt there for the sake of being there, hardly contributed much to the overall grand scheme of things. This cast (and the returning characters) were better developed, more interesting, and felt more relevant. Returning cast came back better developed, more interesting, and were likable. A lot of the cast was interesting and the loyalty missions helped with character development and made them a lot more personal than the original cast did. Even Jack surprised me as I thought I'd despise her but I was proven wrong...Miranda though was straddling that fine line.
Gameplay is a lot tighter now with a more refined combat system. Allied AI isn't so useless now, cover system and gunplay mechanics don't make me feel like I'm playing gears of War lite, and the powers work a lot better. No more cluttered inventory and while the skill trees and upgrade mods feel and look dumbed down, they aren't. I much prefer this incremental upgrade system more than constanly having to micro manage and swap out mods all the time. The gradual increase of strength through the upgrades works better and works better. The skill trees aren't dumbed down like many think seeing as a lot of ME1's skill tree's would be you filling up dead space with points till you got to the REAL power. All Bioware did this time was compact that and make it flow better, so nothing is dumed down just simply refined. Oh and not having to spend point on the persuasion stuff and linking it to real actions was a far better way of using renegade and paragon levels.
I rather like planet scanning and the more direct planet missions than the stupid ass mako. Scanning, while monotonous, takes less time and yields worth wile rewards that help you in the long run with upgrades and such. It took less time and the little sub missions were a lot more interesting than ME1's constantly raiding the same damn warehouse over and over. I won't object to planet scanning returning in ME3, it works better and is more accomplishing than mako. Now if they bring back the mako and make it fun, then we'll talk.
Hmm..did I get everything? yea I think that's all I'll say. As someone who did not like ME1 that much, ME2 has redeemed the franchise and I am satisfied with an overall improved game. This game had the power to redeem itself with me, so ME3 will not be looked at with eyes of cynicism and uninterested by me. Good job Bioware, you have redeemed yourself with me.
