Legendary Review ME2

Let me just say that this MAY HAVE SPOILERS. I'll try to keep it to a minimum but be warned.

Mass Effect 2

First off, I initially had severe performance issues with LEME2 that I didn't have in LEME1. I'm not sure why. However, changing the game to High Performance mode in Windows' Graphics Settings completely cleared that up. Have no idea why it was an issue with LEME2 when LEME1 ran more or less fine.

Haven't played much of LEME2 yet. The graphics are quite a bit better than OldME2. It's not as big a change as OldME1 to LEME1, but it's still good.

One misconception I had was that Bioware/EA Claimed the game's UI had been changed. This WAS the case for ME1, but absolutely NOTHING was changed in ME2. Other than the graphics quality improvements, the UI is 100% identical to OldME2.  I could have sworn I read that they had developed a uniform combat UI for use across all three games. This is definitely NOT the case.

I do love the new "Photo Mode" in all the games.  I'm getting a kick out of taking cool screenshots of my Shep and favorite characters. My Windows Wallpaper switcher is full of Mass Effect shots now. 🙂  However, it is a little annoying that the camera can only go where "Shepard" could go. This severely limits the potential screenshots.  The camera should have NO CLIPPING turned on so it can go anywhere.

I'm hard-pressed to even see anything different at all. The entire game is completely like OldME2 with a high-resolution texture mod.

** Also, It appears the Ages old Conrad Verner paragon bug STILL exists! However, recent updates to the new Save Game editor allows that flag to be changed back to normal.

Combat is MUCH harder, even at the same difficulty levels. Shields are almost useless. I have almost every armor upgrade possible that includes Shield strength, and in EVERY combat situation, ONE hit from an enemy completely breaks all my shields. I end up spending a TON more time in cover waiting for shields to regen because ONE hit always obliterates my shields. Shields are WAY TOO UNDERPOWERED.

I think the new enemy AI is a lot smarter than before. It's like I'll be in cover, and the instant I pop up, EVERYONE instantly fires at me. It's like that to a fault. I can even use it. I pop up and immediately take cover again. This will INEVITABLY cause everyone to fire at me. Once the shots hit the cover, I can pop out while they're reloading and do damage freely. It's easy because they do that EVERY TIME. Enemies will also tend to circle around and get behind you. More than a few times I took rockets to the back of my head.

The Firewalker mission on the cold planet apparently has been fixed. It was WAY to OP before. Previously you had to do it ABSOLUTELY PERFECT in order to even complete it. The hammerhead now has a MUCH larger cooldown on the jumpjets so you can use them WAY less often. However, the cold effects are much slower so you have more time anyway.

Seeing more new bugs. I was on the derelict reaper mission about half-way through the game. My squad, Miranda and Grunt, saw fit to VANISH about half-way through the mission. They weren't dead, they were just GONE. Didn't show up again until after the boss fight. It was quite a job taking down two Scions, a Praetorian, various Collectors, husks and flaming husks all on my own... especially with the new combat difficulty.

One thing I just noticed... The huge major bug during Thane's loyalty mission where Talid's guard throws the pad on the ground and it magically transports itself back onto the counter... HAS BEEN FIXED! ;P

The memory minigame has a minor bug where more than HALF the clicks on the circles don't register. I think it's timed. You need to move to a circle and wait at least a second before you can click on it. It always fails if you try to do it too quickly.

The bug I reported in LEME1 where your Shep will randomly just stop moving with the camera and face only one direction appears to exist in LEME2 also. Spent most of Overlord on the satellite dish only facing one direction. If you take cover, Shep works fine. But as soon as you get out, Shep locks to only one direction again.

Overall:

When it comes to the UI, LEME2 is absolutely no different at all than the original.  There are a few minor changes here and there. A LOT of the old bugs still exist. A lot of new bugs are now here. Combat is MUCH harder. Nothing game-breaking.

LEME2 has slightly better graphics, but other than that, it's basically the same. Since ALOT can accomplish the same thing, it's not really worth another full price but being lumped with ME1 and ME3? Not sure yet.