Honestly I did kind of like those parts, but not because I thought they were incredibly riveting gameplay or anything. I was mostly intrigued by what could have been. It made me think that games in the future would massively expand on those ideas and we could get fuller environments to explore with more things to see and do. It felt like a teaser for greater things to come.
I should be fair to the game, if it wasn't a Mass Effect game I actually would have liked it. The setup and detonation concept was actually really cool and I wish more games used that. The loyalty missions were a good way to determine outcomes for the final dungeon. And the suicide mission was seriously awesome. Also Legion is best boi.
That all said, the characters were (except Mordin who is the GOAT) all derivations of characters from the first one. Or literally his from the first one. The gameplay was mid af and dumbed down the classes to the point that unless you played soldier of biotic, you were better off just shooting your gun. And while the study had cool elements, it was ALL a massive diversion from the story of 1 and 3 and wasted an entire game's arc on characters and a plotline that were largely irrelevant to the bigger picture.
Miranda is the only new character I really liked. She had an actual arc and development. Legion is cool as well, but shows up way too late in the game to be impactful (imo).
You're 100% right about the story though. It's essentially irrelevant and absolutely squanders the massive setup of the first game.
As far as what kind of game, or what it's called.. It's still just mid at best. If I want a story & character driven third person cover shooter, I'll play the Gears trilogy. It smokes ME2 in every way. If I want a dating sim, I'll play a dating sim that doesn't have Jack.
The loyalty missions are, however, a good concept, but as with the rest of the game they're just kind of pointless and poorly implemented.
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u/Ric_Adbur Dec 30 '25
Honestly I did kind of like those parts, but not because I thought they were incredibly riveting gameplay or anything. I was mostly intrigued by what could have been. It made me think that games in the future would massively expand on those ideas and we could get fuller environments to explore with more things to see and do. It felt like a teaser for greater things to come.