Gaming Mass Effect 2 Review

This. I've only just begun the campaign, the new streamlined Mass Effect works wonders, great dialogue, voice-acting, and production values.... until you've been playing a couple hours and keep getting distracted by all the jagged edges, very annoying. As above, I've got a 5850 and had the same trouble getting AA working. It's an ugly scar marring an otherwise ace game.

Also, good review Joe, didn't really give anything major away, and the 10/10 is well deserved.

 

I think the best solution to the apparent 'problem' with a 10/10 score would be to simply replace the bit-tech '10' image for the score with a big happy picture of Harry's face. Perhaps even the one of him having FAR too much fun on the big brown beanbag thing.

Problem solved!

In seriousness though, I actually consider the bit-tech scoring scale to be the only legitimate one of any of the reviews I typically read.
I haven't played ME2 yet, but the score of 10 fits the tone of the review and Joe's apparent opinion of the game, which is all it needs to do as far as I'm concerned.

If people are really that bothered by it they can console themselves with the fact that a 10 in a 0-10 scale can account for anything from 91-100 in a 0-100 scale.
91 is more tolerable, amirite?

 

Very good review Joe, now I'm really anxious to play it. I'm forcing myself to finish one more run-through of ME1 first though, just to make sure I have a truly evil save to load first. I wimped out on a few choices in last time, time to correct that.

Also, just wanted to say kudos to Bioware for getting the PC version out on time and working OK. That really ticked me off on ME1 and I didn't play it for a year as a result.

 

i got my copy early, the collectors edition (for £40 i might add ouch), i loved the first one and over half way in and its just amazing for me (love Sci-fi)

 

Another one thinking the review was well done.

It would be one thing to have a review that fawned over a game and then give it top marks. But its another thing entirely to have tops marks given with some downsides of the game and adverse remarks covered in the review. One is blind, while the other shows some care and interest taken in the review.

Those upset by spoilers, first of all its just a game. Second, as has been pointed out you had two years to complete the game. Personally I'm in the midst of playing through the first in preparation for the ME2 release, but I didn't get upset. Its like watching a movie about the moon landing or titanic, its not necessarily about knowing how it ends, but the journey getting through the story. Even more so for games where you play such an active role.

The scoring system is another 'get over it'. For a review thats as thorough as this one is, the opinion of the reviewer giving it a 10 seems fair. Of course I'll have a better idea when I get home to play it for myself, but once again its all about opinion.

Another quality article from BitTech

 

In the states it comes out today. It should be here by three thats usually when the UPS lady comes.

On the topic of review scores I really dont see that many 10's. Depends on how picky you want to get. WIll you spend 30 hours playing this game and want to play it again? If the answer is yes I would say that constitutes a 10 for sure. Especially if youre just scoring the overall experience.

If you want to get super picky and score in categories, sound, graphics, gameplay, voice acting ect... Then you probably wont see a perfect score. Thats why theres a description.

I know you gave Dragon Age an 8 which I didnt agree with but it was pretty clear why you gave it that number and it was stuff I could look past. Example: predictable plot line, over done stereotypical characters, cut scene issues and so forth. But It was made clear that it was a solid RPG and if youre into the D&D world it will work for you and those were valid reasons to deduct points becuase thats what the game was. It was a very well done and descriptive review. Its subjective. That stuff didnt bother me at all where it does for others.

Same thing here. Maybe its not a perfect 10, but if you compare it to the sequal genre and if it adds to the plot rather than muddies it, if they reduced the texture popping, and delivered an improvement on awesome well then 10 away. Another great review, keep up the good work.

Aurora Native (suburb of Chicago) Wayne Campbell said it best: "I mean Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes everybody liked. They left that to the Bee Gees."

Ill take Zepplin all day.

 

ROFL!! +1

 

I agree. I'm about twenty hours in (ahh the joys of the job) and though I may have to contemplate things further when I'm done with the game I'm actually almost entirely sure that Mass Effect 2 is not only the best game ever made, but it's the best game ever made by a very significant margin. The Bit-Tech scoring system actually works in this instance because a 10 is a recommendation to buy, not really a comparative score. If scoring was done on a basis of just attaching a number to a game based on how good it is relative to everything else you'd either have to give it a 15/10 or retrospectively kick everything that was a ten or a nine down to a 5.

Must confess I haven't read the review all the way through, just bits, I'm paranoid to avoid spoilers, but I think only calling it the likely game of the year is a bit of an understatement. This is to gaming what Kind Of Blue is to jazz. This is a masterpiece.

 

To make it simple: You are basically saying that everybody who is not a fan is an idiot.

Wow.

Do you think before you post something? Maybe at least sometimes?

First of all let's narrow down "non-fan" to "non-fan of a certain type of gaming, here RPG gaming".

Now listen, I am a non-fan of RPGs. I can play them, I can enjoy them to a degree, but I am not a RPG gamer at heart. Yet I am not ignorant ("not knowledgeable"), I am not disinterested, I am not biased against them in a non-constructive way (hell, it really upsets me how you can suggest such complete and utter bollow as I am repeating it!). I am just less blinded towards the weaknesses of an RPG game because I am not as prone to be swept away by excitement over its strengths, and I may have a different stance towards such supposed strengths (like the excessive usage of the facial expression system in ME1, which after a while you really have seen enough of). In that sense, having a "second opinion" may hurt a game review far less than glaring praise, completely neglecting dark or at least ambiguous sides of a game.

 

I've been playing it a bit already (in the US here, so don't start!) on the PC and it definitely could have used better keyboard/mouse support. Menus don't support scrolling with the mouse wheel and instead of left clicks, you have to click on a button at the bottom of the list. That means you have to either drag the scroll bar with the mouse or use WASD, and then Enter or move the mouse again and click to select something; frankly, that's an issue Bioware could and should have seen and fixed.

The new combat system is... different. Adding ammo breaks continuity, but it also fixes a lot of exploits - specifically, using heat sinks to make guns never overheat.

 

You're putting words into Joe's mouth. It'd be like my mum writing an architecture analysis on Nvidia's GF100 graphics chip. You'd learn absolutely nothing.

 

I hadn't read the whole review since I haven't played ME1 and didn't care much about ME2 since time for new games and genres are scarce but I must say if I had the time, I would try it since it got the first 10 on BT I ever seen.

So kudos to the game, I'm sure it was earned by merit.

 

Wow Joe, you just got me excited about a game for the first time in a long time. Could it be better than the Half Life games? Could it be compared to the great Final Fantasy VII? Will it overtake XWing Alliance as my favourite game of all time? i'll have to visit the shops!

 

Now if I didn't corrupt my Vista partition where my very nice (and hours long) save game was sitting...

The good thing is that I found this : http://www.annakie.com/me/home.htm
There are a couple of savegames for those like me.
BT readers, send yours if they are not on the site !

 

Tim,

no I don't. CardJoe basically said what I condensed it too; he was quite descriptive of the characteristics of "non-fans" he was thinking of. You (understandably) do not like to hear it that way.

Btw, your comment about your mum shows that you totally disregarded what else I replied to CardJoe. Actually you are putting words in my mouth here. I think it's pretty clear from what I responded that the second opinion should be from someone who is into computer gaming and who can give qualified feedback, but who is less prone to being biased due to his favoring the game genre in question.

 

Any questions about favouring one genre over another are totally beside the point when talking about Mass Effect 2 anyway. If you were to somehow magically strip out all of the RPG elements you'd still be left with a shooter similar too but better than Rainbow Six Vegas 2 or Gears of War 2 (I use those as the example because of the use of cover and 3rd person view). Describing Mass Effect 2 as just an RPG implies a that it's a game of numbers, levels and swords +1. That is like admiring William Shakespeare only for the sonnets, or Roy Keane for the football not the violence. The core gameplay mechanic for dealing with dirty bad guys is that of a balls out tactical shooter and it does far better as a shooter than for example Borderlands, which always wore it's number crunching on its sleeve. But again that said, it does have this gigantic and unsurpassed RPG element to it. So it's just win.

 

didn't read the review cause don't want any spoliers.. read up to the part with him floating in space and that was already too much for me XD 10 seems to be what everyone rates it

 

damn, if the great voice acting didn't convince me.... this did... just dropped the most I ever had on a game....

ya'll suck

 

What the hell would be the point in a review from someone who doesn't like that genre?
The whole point of a review is to get an informed opinion on a product.
If we want to gauge the average disinterested street-person's opinion of a game for similar people then it might make sense, but as gamers interested in a particular title we more than likely care for the relevant genre ourselves, otherwise we probably wouldn't bother reading the review or anticipate the game to begin with.

What separates bit-tech Joe from the average joe (zing!) and makes him a good reviewer is his experience with games and his passion for them.
karx11erx, Maybe you want a review of an RPG from someone who doesn't care for them or who doesn't favour the genre, someone who is more interested in driving games, for instance, but I think you're going against the grain and acting very vehement about it for no sensible reason.

How you could possibly extrapolate Joe's post into thinking he's calling anyone an idiot is beyond me.
You're a vocal minority making very little sense and looking like nothing more than a cranky troll.