Nothing is Perfect Part 2--More Perfect

I'm still working on playing my way through the Mass Effect trilogy and I've recently finished playing Mass Effect 2 and all the DLC.  Mass Effect 2 has long been my favorite in the series and after hiccuping through the bumpy first game (literally bumpy because of the Mako) it was a relief to watch my beloved Shepard get spaced during the prologue cutscene.  Even though ME2 is my favorite, there are still parts of it that I am not crazy about.

Mass Effect 2 introduces a few familiar faces and many new crew members.

What's Great:
1.) Teamwork!  My favorite part of ME2 is travelling the galaxy to find new members for your team.  BioWare does characters extremely well and there are plenty of diverse, intriguing personalities that make up your final team.  I think the team building aspect of the game is the closest to perfection.  I love meeting the new members, chatting them up and learning about them, and then eventually getting to do their loyalty missions and seeing what really lies behind all their quirks and insecurities.  Earning the loyalty of your team and knowing individual strengths and weaknesses is key to helping everyone to survive the suicide mission. 

2.) The teamwork aspect extends beyond simply character building and is also applied to combat.  The combat in ME2 is an extreme improvement over the combat in the original game (which I do not enjoy) and using specific abilities in combination results in powerful attacks.  It is fun to figure out which abilities work well together and which squadmates are the best compliment to your Shepard's skills or for a specific type of enemy.

3.) DLC is (mostly) great and makes meaningful additions to the core game.  Kasumi Goto is a fun character and her loyalty mission is one of the best in ME2.  Lair of the Shadow Broker is the best of the bundle and has a great story, challenging combat, and adds in the fabulous feature of the Shadow Brokers base as an additional resource.  My least favorite is Overlord, but even it has a solid story.  Arrival provides a bridge between the events of the second and third game in a way that you don't even realize until you begin ME3.

4.) Side characters add fun dialogue and crew banter.  Not everyone gets to go out on combat missions, but they're still a part of the team.  You can learn about your non-combat crew members by simply wandering the ship and listening to what they are talking about.  Ken and Gabby in engineering have a cute relationship and their conversations are funny.

5.) The bulk of the main story.  You've got to build your team, but you also have to figure out how to stop the Collector attacks on human colonies.  The story missions take you to various locations and have some of the most challenging combat in the game.

What's Not Great:
1.) My main gripe about ME2 has always been the resurrection aspect and how it is used to tied Shepard to Cerberus.  I'm willing to accept a lot of space magic, but I abhor the story element of someone dying and then being brought back to life...it's just way too unbelievable for me (and it's the basis for essentially making Shepard feel obligated to work for Cerberus).  I just wish they had come up with a more believable way to make the story work.

2.) The combat is massively improved over the original game, but the AI for your squadmates can be sketchy at times.  Way too often I found myself being the only one attacking a target (and, I probably do a bad job of issuing attack commands to my followers).  This is a bit of a problem throughout the series though and arguably is still a problem in many games that use AI squadmates.

3.) Scanning planets is still a boring chore.  I've learned how many minerals I will need and try to stockpile them right at the beginning so I don't have to continue scanning.

4.) M44 Hammerhead.  It's definitely easier and more fun to drive than the Mako, but I think the vehicle combat in ME2 was a bit of a flop.  You have to be extra careful on the missions where you come under fire because the M44 can't take very many hits and you typically can't save while in a vehicle.

ME2 still remains my favorite game in the Mass Effect series.  It's a perennial favorite among many gamers and marks the progress of the formula adopted for the series--building a team, strengthening that team, and working together to overcome seemingly impossible odds.  The quest for perfection gets a bit closer.