Sh*t. The. Bed. What an intro.
I thought my skills on the original Mass Effect were pretty poor due to the amount of deaths I experienced. On Mass Effect 2 though, I had control of Shepard for all of two minutes and I managed to...
- Kill Navigator Pressley and assorted crew
- Destroy the Normandy
- Kill Shepard by being blasted out into the vacuum of space.
Huh, I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on myself as this is clearly meant to happen. The sequence where you're walking through the Normandy as she's being torn apart was awesome though. The navigation room was a particular highlight as it was open to the elements; assorted debris flying past. Amazing. I was also happy my lovely Liara managed to save some crew and escape herself.
Clearly though, death isn't the handicap it used to be in the olden days. It doesn't quite screw your career up in the same way. I was treated to a lovely cinematic of high-tech medical equipment recreating my entire body á la The Fifth Element. I woke briefly to see a couple of what I assumed were med staff. One was a baldy man and the other was a hot lady (Miranda) with a sexy Australian accent. Nice to look at but she was like... right in my face. Like, RIGHT THERE. Look love, you're pretty but get out of my personal space!
I remembered what Freya said about being able to change your appearance for "plot reasons" and that finally made sense. Thinking back on the inbred monstrosity I created at the start of ME1, I stuck with handsome bastard Shepard. I was hoping for a nice gentle wake-up followed by a leisurely stroll around my new surroundings. Nope! This game doesn't let up! Miranda's voice appears telling me to get the hell up, even though my scars hadn't fully healed. Easy lady!
I grabbed a pistol from the corner of the room and Miranda's voice piped up saying that the cannisters near the door were about to explode. How she knew this when she wasn't in the room I'm not quite sure. Anyway, we had to press X next to a desk to take cover. I retreated to the back of the room and tried to hide behind the desk here. No joy. After a few more attempts I started to panic. Everyone on EoFF will never let me forget it if I died within the first ten seconds of proper gameplay! As it turns out there was a specific place I had to hide (much closer to the bloody explosion!) indicated by a giant orange blob thing. I hope this is just for the hand-holding beginning section and not the whole game. The cannisters exploded I grabbed some ammo and left the room.
After vaulting into the adjoining room, some mech enemy was nonchalantly strolling down the far stairs shooting at me. I was behind cover and ready to confidently pop up and blow the smurfer to smithereens. What actually happened was I kept popping up and down like a jack-in-a-box with attention deficit disorder... and taking heavy damage. What the hell, game? Why change the bloody shoot button?!
The next area had quite a few more mech enemies. I was struggling a bit with the shooting, to be honest. Also, I'm not sure I care for the new ammo system. I suppose it makes sense but I actually really liked the overheat system on the original. I'd not seen that in any other game and I thought it was quite unique. I mean, there seems to be loads of ammo but it's still something I need to stress about, along with remembering to reload. I DON'T LIKE CHANGE.
Grabbed a grenade launcher (whoo hoo!) in the next area and took out a load of mechs. Noice. Found my first safe to be hacked *cracks fingers* well I'm a seasoned pro at thi... WHAT THE SMURF IS THIS? My first attempt at ME2 hacking was akin to a chimpanzee trying to fix a photocopier. I kind of got the gist the second time around and managed to grab the loot just in time. After my initial shock, I think the new hacking mechanic is a brilliant alternative to just button sequences.
Next room consisted of a walkway and a meeting with Jacob. I assume he'll be a team member as I remember this guy as the cad who cheated on Pumpkin's FemShep and knocked someone up behind her back! I decided to put that aside on our first meet as I needed information. After dispatching more mechs we had a brief chat. He told me about the Lazarus Project in which I was resurrected. They hired all the top scientists to try and revive me and eventually managed it after two years. I then asked about my Normandy crew and... wait, what? TWO YEARS? TWO SMURFING YEARS? My lovely Liara will have gone off and had blue space babies with some knobhead like Conrad or someone. GAAWWWWWWD. I'm gonna have to sleep with so many new crew members to get over her...
Right, I'm waffling again. Anyway, we push on to the escape pods and come across Wilson. He's in a bad way so I cure him and the three of us push on. Lots of mech killing ensues. We eventually find Maria who seemed pleasant enough until she shot Wilson in the face. I'd only just met the guy! She informed us that Wilson was the traitor and Jacob says "Yeah, I buy that" and we all push on ignoring the cold-blooded murder that just took place.
We manage to board an escape pod and hotfoot it out of there. A little bit of exposition as Miranda informs us that she's taking me to see this illusive-sounding man called The Illusive Man. Illusive. This guy apparently funded my resurrection and was clearly eager to meet me. You'll be glad to hear I called it a night at this point.
Future updates will hopefully not be as convoluted but quite a lot happened at the start of this game! First impressions: I think this is gonna be epicEverything seems to have been stepped up for the sequel. I just need to get the hang of shooting but very impressed so far!
Reply With Quote
Master of the Fork
it prepares you for the holy smurf of ME3 and also a ton of people can die.
Originally Posted by Vivi22
