It's been over 10 years since I played this. Replaying it on the Mass Effect Legendary Edition has been an absolute joy and it's surprising how much it held up under the scrutiny of my rose tinted glasses.

Firstly I must say the main plot to Mass Effect 2 is engaging with some stunning moments, but it doesn't quite deliver the impact of the first game overall. The majority of Mass Effect 2 is in fact made up of recruitment quests to bulk up Shepard's squad before making the final attack. Those characters you recruit are the heart of Mass Effect 2 and are what really make the game memorable, their personalities keep the game engaging and very addictive.

At the start of the game you choose what class Shepard specializes in which varies from being a tech specialist, pure combat specialist, using telepathic biotic skills or a mixture of all three. No matter which choice you make there will be other characters available that can make up for what you can't do, and against certain enemies having certain skills is important so having a balanced party is key, especially on harder difficulties. (Engineer all the way, go my drone!)

In combat Mass Effect 2 is a mixture of third person shooter with RPG abilities. Though you always progress with a party of three characters Shepard is the only player controlled character, with the other two AI controlled. Bringing up the wheel menu they can be directed to a certain location or to use specific abilities, but for the most part they handle themselves fairly well bar the odd suicide run where the AI does something unexplainable. Like a lot of third person shooters of that generation Mass Effect 2 is cover based with plenty of low lying walls, crates and door ways to hide behind when the situation gets risky or to wait for Shepard's shield to recharge. The combat is fun but feels a bit wooden in places especially in controls and aiming and although the melee attack is a huge improvement in close quarters things still feel ridiculously clumsy.

When enemies are defeated or quests are finished you are awarded experience points, when enough are gained Shepard and crew will level up getting more health and ability points to put into skills. I am a little torn about Bioware's choice here, in the first Mass Effect there was a lot of option when distributing points in stats and skills, it felt like an RPG, Mass Effect 2 feels stripped down in comparison as there are only ever about 4-5 options which are all invested in attack based abilities rather then stats or more subtle things. That isn't to say it doesn't work, it does, and outside of the stat screen you would never know the difference, it's just it feels less like a full role playing game at first, though over time I have to admit it made things smoother.

This isn't the only area that has changed as there are no longer armor to collect and equip for your crew. Having amazing armor and a billion omni-gel from melting down gear didn't quite work in the original game so Bioware have instead implemented an upgrade system where your equipment never changes, it is merely upgraded. Spread throughout the universe are various upgrades not only to weapon stats but they sometimes give added effects, not to mention health boosts, shielding, some odd new weapons and even ship upgrades available and it works. Once a weapon is upgraded any of your crew proficient in that weapon can use that type with all upgrades.

While exploring Mass Effect 2 is simultaneously brilliant and disastrous. Those upgrades need raw materials of varying types like Platinum or Iridium to use. Some of these are found in lock boxes in dungeons and towns but the majority of it is found though scanning planets which is the most tedious side questing you can do in an RPG. Seriously it's insanely awful. When traveling from star system to star system or planet to planet you actually fly the Normandy, Shepard's ship, manually on a giant space map. When going into orbit around a planet you are giving info on it and sometimes will detect anomalies like distress signals allowing you to land and explore around. It's a fun way of exploring. When there aren't these anomalies though there is only the scanning where you control a cross-hair spinning around a planet measuring for large material deposits which isn't too bad a few times but you need a fair amount of material to fully upgrade everything and it gets seriously boring quickly. The amount of probes the Normandy can hold to pick it up is also limited meaning you have to travel back and forth to buy more. I had over a million Iridium by the end of the game as I never knew I wouldn't need it, terrible....

Visually Mass Effect 2 is a huge improvement over the original game (though hilariously actually is now a downgrade in the legendary edition) and more importantly just a great looking title generally. The game has a really smooth frame rate now, decent particle effects and great art to hold it all together. Except....except some of the characters. Samara's tit top, Jack's entire design and Miranda's weird one piece costume are just ugly and objectifying nonsense. I'd like to say it's a product of the times but some games are actively worse in this regard. The audio is on par with the visuals with an epic score (My favorite track in the game)matching the space opera theme. As mentioned before the voice acting still really stands up and excels in some areas, Garrus, Tali and Mordin especially sound so unique.

Mass Effect 2 is a good 30 - 40 hours long if not longer depending on the amount of exploring you do. (I finished NG+ without side quests or much planet scanning on Insanity in less than 10) There are a ton of side missions, and depending on what edition you have a lot of DLC content, and new characters.

Overall this game is still a fantastic ride that holds up really well over 10 years later. While there are flaws here and there, the amazing characters, compelling universe and overall style of Mass Effect 2 is hard to beat.

Recommended.

+ Fantastic characters.
+ Great lore and world building
+ Large variety of things to do.
+ Space map exploration is a nice addition.

- Combat still feels wooden in certain ways.
- Planet scanning is just a waste of life.
- Some of the character designs are...questionable.