Mass Effect 2 - DLC.

Original Release: Jan. 26, 2010 - Mar. 29, 2011. Released for PC, XBox 360. Version Reviewed: Playstation 4 Legendary Edition, 2021.


INTRODUCTION:

The first Mass Effect offered two pieces of downloadable content: Bring Down the Sky, which introduced the Batarians, and Pinnacle Station, which... um, existed. While Bring Down the Sky slightly expanded the fictional universe and introduced a character who would later (potentially) appear in Mass Effect 3, neither could truly be labeled an essential piece of the saga.

Mass Effect 2 was considerably more aggressive with its DLC content. There were multiple weapons and armor packs, which I won't be reviewing; they're inventory items, there's really nothing to review. There were also seven pieces of narrative DLC, two of which added squadmates to the full game and two others that I would rank as essential parts of the overall series narrative.

As ever, I will look at these individually, according to release order.

Shepard explores the crash site of the original Normandy.

NORMANDY CRASH SITE:
Release Date: Jan. 26, 2010

After coming back from the dead, Shepard travels to the Normandy crash site. While recovering the dog tags of the fallen crew members, Shepard also finds the personal logs of Executive Officer Pressley and recalls the old ship and its crew.

Best played early, this is a small-scale mood piece that adds a bit of closure to the ship from the first game. There is no combat. You just wander around the wreckage of the ship that was once Shepard's home, recovering dog tags, reading personal logs, and eventually placing a memorial. There is no combat, no villain, no pirates seeking to scavenge the site... which I actually like, because it makes a nice contrast with the rest of the game.

Zaeed wants revenge and will stop at nothing - nothing,
that is, except becoming an interesting character.

ZAEED - THE PRICE OF REVENGE:
Release Date: Jan. 28, 2010

Shepard receives a recruitment dossier: Zaeed Massani (Robin Sachs), a legendary mercenary who formed the infamous Blue Suns group. Zaeed is willing to join the attack on the Collectors, but he has a price: Revenge against his old business partner, who betrayed him and left him for dead long ago. Shepard accompanies Zaeed to track down and kill the man - only to be faced with a choice between Zaeed's vengeance and the lives of innocents!

In addition to the mission, this DLC adds Zaeed as a team member and presence on the Normandy for the full length of the game. If he's in your party, he will appear in cutscenes and comment on missions. In between missions, he will reminisce about his past adventures. All of which makes this a pretty high-value DLC, except for one small problem...

I hate Zaeed. His every piece of dialogue amounts to him bragging about how tough he is. "Did I ever tell you about the time I got stranded for a month and had to cook a steak out of my own left thigh?" He's like the embodiment of the running gag in Spy, in which the Jason Statham character related increasingly implausible stories about himself - only here, it's not played for laughs.

Shepard takes control of the Hammerhead,
initiating a series of generic vehicle missions.

FIREWALKER
Release Date: March 23, 2010

Shepard is sent to investigate after a Cerberus research ship disappears. The researchers are long gone, but Shepard is able to take control of Hammerhead, the prototype vehicle it was carrying. Using the vehicle, Shepard is able to retrieve data indicating that Dr. Cayce, the lead scientist on the project, is being tracked by Geth - leading Shepard to try to track the missing scientist across a series of worlds, battling Geth along the way.

I had to re-read mission briefs to prepare that summary, because the story for Firewalker is what the website TV Tropes labels "an excuse plot." You get the story mainly through opening and closing mission reports, which give context to the five vehicle missions that make up this DLC.

There's some fun to be had with the Hammerhead, a hovering vehicle that can hoover up minerals and data packs and can also leap tall mountain ledges in a single bound. It's not so good for combat, as the ship appears to be made out of papier-mâché; get used to hearing the "ship is about to blow up" alarm. Unfortunately, the entire mission pack is entirely expendable, adding nothing to either the main plot or the larger universe. If you enjoy vehicle missions, then you'll probably have fun with it. Otherwise, you won't miss anything if you choose to just skip it.

Kasumi targets the man responsible for her partner's death.

KASUMI - STOLEN MEMORY:
Release Date: Apr. 6, 2010

Shepard receives a dossier for Kasumi Goto, a master thief who volunteers her services in return for help in recovering her late partner's memory box from the vault of interstellar gunrunner Donovan Hock. The two infiltrate a party Hock is throwing, with Shepard locating the items and information needed to bypass security and access the vault. But once inside, it becomes all too clear that they have walked right into the criminal's trap!

Kasumi is the game's second DLC character. Unlike Zaeed, I actually like her quite a lot. Once she settles into the Normandy, her dialogue is chipper and upbeat as she comments on missions and shares crew gossip.

The Stolen Memory mission is genuinely enjoyable. The first half strikes a contrast with the main game's endless cover shooting as you infiltrate the party: exploring Hock's mansion, working your way into restricted areas, and taking down the various pieces of his security system. Hock's collection inspires some entertaining commentary, with an amusing Planet of the Apes reference thrown in. It eventually turns to combat - but the cover shooting doesn't overstay its welcome, and the final fight against a heavily armored airship is actually a nice challenge.

In short: I liked this one.

A failed experiment threatens to unleash a Geth invasion!

OVERLORD:
Release Date: June 15, 2010

Overlord is a Cerberus research project under the direction of Gavin Archer. Its goal is to find a way to to control the Geth, thus making impossible any other attacks like the ones on Eden Prime or the Citadel. An experiment using a human volunteer as a hybrid Virtual Intelligence has spun out of control. The VI has gone rogue, and Geth are swarming the base... leaving Shepard in a race against time to shut the experiment down before the Geth escape to wreak havoc through nearby systems.

Overlord melds narrative and gameplay to strong effect. The first section presents the standard corridor crawl/cover shooter combat, building to a large-scale fight to prevent the Geth from escaping the facility. Once this opening Act is concluded, the DLC opens up, sending Shepard to a pair of substations. One utilizes the Hammerhead to vehicle-hop around a volcanic setting. Another evokes a survival horror atmosphere, as you move through a substation full of dormant Geth while learning what happened building up to the fateful experiment.

The final Act is also the most memorable part. Shepard enters a virtual world to confront the rogue VI. While gameplay is standard, the visual design is extremely well done, as are the bits of memory that allow the last pieces of the story to fall into place. The ending cutscene is effective, and the music score enhances the emotion to a strong degree.

Though almost universally praised on release, Overlord has earned some retroactive criticism for reinforcing some stereotypes about autism. It is absolutely guilty of this, which could have been avoided by ten minutes of Google searching and a very modest rewrite to a handful of lines. That said, the base story is quite good, and the entire DLC does a splendid job of making the gameplay truly complement the narrative. I can understand the criticisms, but I would still rate this highly in spite of them.

Shepard must save Liara when she gets
too close to uncovering the Shadow Broker!

LAIR OF THE SHADOW BROKER:
Release Date: Sept. 7, 2010

Shepard's former squadmate, Liara T'Soni, has been hunting the Shadow Broker for two years. When Shepard passes Liara new information, it triggers an assassination attempt, sending her into hiding. A search of her apartment unveils a secret meeting she had scheduled with a contact - but the meeting turns out to be a trap, one that Shepard and Liara will be lucky to escape alive...

Lair of the Shadow Broker is widely regarded as Mass Effect 2's best DLC. I would agree wholeheartedly, with one proviso: I'm not sure if this and the remaining DLC pack, Arrival, are truly part of Mass Effect 2. They don't relate to the Collector plot; Cerberus is namechecked, but not particularly important to the story; and the focus is very much on setting up story points for Mass Effect 3.

This expansion is divided into two halves. The first half takes place on the Asari-controlled trade world of Illium, as Shepard searches for Liara with the aid of fellow SPECTRE Tela Vasir. Then the focus shifts to the Shadow Broker's lair: a giant spaceship that maintains itself within a permanent storm.

As with Overlord, there is a nice variety of gameplay. You investigate Liara's apartment, clicking on items and receiving information and insights from them, until you eventually find the primary clue. The search for Liara is mainly the standard corridor crawl/cover shooter. However, it's well-paced, with no one group of enemies blocking progress for long enough to become tedious. This is followed by a brief vehicle level, then a hunt for the level boss, and finally a boss fight.

The Shadow Broker's ship offers an engaging visual palette as you and your team fight enemies while moving along the outer hull. Disrupting enemy gravity will cause them to fly off into space, while shooting capacitors will cause lightning to strike enemies - and you, if you happen to be in the impact radius! All of this leads up to a final boss fight that follows the patterns of the main game, but that is also quite clever in its design.

Most players should be able to beat the full DLC pack in about three hours. Within that time, however, is a well-plotted, varied, and meticulously designed piece that outshines most of the game it's theoretically expanding on!

A conversation with a Lovecraftian god:
Shepard confronts the Reaper known as Harbinger.

ARRIVAL:
Release Date: Mar. 29, 2011

Admiral Hackett contacts Shepard to ask for a personal favor. Dr. Amanda Kenson, an Alliance scientist, has been arrested as a terrorist by the batarians and is being held in a prison. Shepard sneaks into the prison to break her out. After making good their escape, Dr. Kenson reveals that she and her team have been studying a Reaper artifact. She confirms that the Reapers are coming - and that they will arrive in the batarians' system in just two days!

Arrival was the final DLC expansion, and it is a narratively significant one. It makes clear that the Reaper invasion is imminent, and that the Alliance is not ready for them. Its ending also establishes Shepard's situation at the start of Mass Effect 3. I strongly recommend playing this last, because it really is more of a prologue to Mass Effect 3 than a true part of Mass Effect 2.

Like Lair of the Shadow Broker, the action is divided into two Acts. The first half focuses on the prison break, allowing players a choice between going in guns-blazing or stealth. I recommend stealth: It feels more correct for the situation; a stealth approach offers more of a contrast with the normal gameplay; and the conversations that you'll overhear add more context to the situation.

The second half, focusing on the Reaper invasion, is the more narratively interesting part. Unfortunately, this section gets bogged down by the combat. Shepard is alone during most of this DLC, and it quickly becomes apparent why Mass Effect's combat has been designed around teams. Most players will spend each skirmish huddled behind cover, waiting for shields to regenerate before popping up to take two or three more shots... a loop that gets extremely tedious.

Even so, the story is interesting, and it benefits from a top-notch music score. The cinematics are also splendid. It ends with a confrontation between Shepard and the true villain of this piece: the Reaper known as Harbinger. This is a great scene, man vs. dark god. Shepard is defiant, while Harbinger more or less states that the human is - or by all rights, should be - beneath its notice. It's beautifully framed, playing for all the world like a climactic scene from a particularly good blockbuster movie.

In gameplay terms, I prefer both Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker. Nevertheless, this is the most narratively essential of Mass Effect 2's expansions, and it's well worth putting up with a few combat annoyances.

This playthrough's Shepard runs out of patience
in the midst of a very bad day.

OVERALL:

Mass Effect 2 has a lot of DLC - arguably a little too much in a game that already has issues with narrative focus. Firewalker is the most expendable of the expansions, with a thin excuse plot stitching together a handful of admittedly enjoyable vehicle levels. I enjoyed one DLC companion (Kasumi), but I would have happily dropped the other into an active volcano (Zaeed).

Unsurprisingly, it's the final three expansions that are the most interesting. Overlord isn't important to the main story of either the game or series, but it offers some of the best gameplay of Mass Effect 2. Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival are mainly focused on setting up Mass Effect 3, but both are narratively crucial.

Overall, the best of the DLC offers more engaging level design and storytelling than the main game does, while the worst takes the flaws of Mass Effect 2 and doubles down on them. Still, all are included in the Legendary Edition re-release. If you have the re-release, there's no reason not to play them all. If you don't, then the ones most worth getting are Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and Arrival - and I'd argue that Kasumi - Stolen Memory is worth your time as well.

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Mass Effect 2

Original Release: Jan. 26, 2010 for XBox 360, PC. Version Reviewed: PS4 Legendary Edition, 2021.


THE PLOT:

In the aftermath of the attack on the Citadel, Commander Shepard and the Normandy are sent to deal with the remaining pockets of enemy Geth. This mission comes to an abrupt end when they come under attack by an unknown enemy, a vast ship whose weapons cut through the prize of the Alliance fleet like a knife through butter. Many among the crew survive, making it to escape pods... but Shepard is killed.

Enter Cerberus. Once an Alliance black ops unit gone rogue, it has become a private entity. It's still officially despised, but it's also well-connected and remarkably well-funded. Cerberus's leader, the Illusive Man (Martin Sheen), shares Shepard's concerns about the Reaper threat, and has given top operative Miranda Lawson (Yvonne Strahovski) essentially unlimited resources to bring Shepard back to life, with no alterations in either memory or personality.

Two years later, these efforts bear fruit: Shepard wakes up in a Cerberus lab. Though wary about working with Cerberus, Shepard cannot ignore the crisis. A mysterious race known as "The Collectors" has been attacking human colonies, leaving each world devoid of survivors or even corpses. Their objective is unknown, but the Illusive Man suspects a connection with the Reapers.

Given command of a new and improved Normandy, Shepard begins gathering allies to attack the Collectors where they live. Then an encounter with the enemy results in a startling revelation: It was the Collectors who destroyed the first Normandy two years earlier. And that is only the first of the surprises to come...

Shepard reconnects with some old friends -
and makes a few new ones along the way.

CHARACTERS:

The single largest improvement made for Mass Effect 2 is in the characters. Returning cast members are more sharply defined than in the first game. Liara and Tali, who were both portrayed too much in "babe in the woods" terms, are remade as decisive individuals. Liara has shifted from archaeologist to information broker, better positioning her to be a key part of the story, and she shows flashes of ruthlessness. Tali is now leading missions for the Quarian migrant fleet, and she is more assertive and decisive than before. Kaidan and Ashley, the least interesting members of the first game's crew, appear only briefly, but they are also much improved. Raphael Sbarge's Kaidan is particularly strong in his major scene, reacting to Shepard's new association with Cerberus as if to a personal betrayal.

Several new characters are introduced. My personal favorite of these is Mordin Solus, a brilliant Salarian scientist whose chipper attitude hides mixed emotions about his past work; he vigorously defends his previous work adapting the Krogan genophage, but he seems to be trying to convince himself as much as Shepard. Dying assassin Thane is haunted by the death of his wife and by his estrangement from his son, and his species (the Drell) is blessed/cursed by the ability to re-experience memories as if living them for the first time. Krogan Grunt has no real layers, basically wanting to just smash things and fight enemies, but that very simplicity makes his every line and action fun. Finally, Tricia Helfer's EDI, the Normandy's "shackled" AI, proves to be a dryly humorous delight, particularly when paired with Seth Green's Joker.

Not every character engaged me. Miranda is well-scripted, with her own issues and contradications, and actress Yvonne Strahovski is good in the role. That said, across multiple playthroughs, I have never once found the character compelling, and her default outfit is the kind of video game fanservice that always annoys me. Justicar Samara is also well-voiced and well-scripted, and is also a character I just don't connect with. Meanwhile, Jack - the edgy, tough loner of the crew - seems to have been precisely scripted to hit every character beat that I find grating. All she's missing are the daddy issues (which were given to Miranda and Jacob).

Speaking of Jacob... I think he's meant to be this game's Kaidan: the primary male supporting character and default love interest for female Shepards. I suspect most female Shepards hold out for Garrus... or Thane... or Liara in a DLC... or celibacy. Jacob is so bland that I took to avoiding the ship's armory to limit my interactions with him. Suffice it to say: Two games in, and Mass Effect has its worst character, one that I suspect the series is unlikely to outdo.

Cover shooting hordes of generic enemies before
advancing to the next room. There is FAR too much of this.

COMBAT:

Unlike the first Mass Effect, the second game's combat was not adjusted for the Legendary Edition re-release. This may be unfortunate, at least from my perspective, as I am no fan of Mass Effect 2's combat.

There are minor but persistent control issues. To reliably enter cover requires the press of a button - the same button used to vault over objects. For me, at least, this too often resulted in me attempting to duck into cover and instead jumping over it into enemy fire. In addition, squadmates will intermittently ignore your commands. Having to order Mordin to "Burn" an enemy three times before he actually does it is annoying - particularly when that enemy is in the process of charging me!

Even more irritating is the structure of the battles. Mass Effect 2's combat is extremely repetitive, at least in the main game (some of the DLCs improve on it). Every battle seems to invoke "horde mode," with the player crouching behind cover to recharge shields while blasting through wave upon wave of generic bad guys.

There's not even much challenge to most of this. You take cover and snipe enemies for ten minutes or so until the field is clear. Then you advance to the next room, where you take cover and snipe enemies again. Eventually, you'll get to a boss... whom you will almost invariably defeat by taking cover and sniping it - though some bosses mix it up by making you run from one bit of cover to the next in between taking your shots. After the boss is defeated, you are rewarded with a cutscene. The game rarely deviates from this structure, and after while it becomes... well, boring.

The most enjoyable part of the gameplay:
Making choices that affect the story.

ADDITIONAL GAMEPLAY:

RPG elements have been greatly stripped back from the first game. This isn't all bad. The first game had a cumbersome inventory system, one which would periodically send me combing through my gear to "reduce to omnigel" all low-level items. That's gone here; when you pick up a higher-level item, it effectively replaces the lower-level version, and you can change and upgrade gear between missions. It's cleaner and quicker, and nothing of value is lost.

The streamlining does carry some disadvantages. There are fewer skills in Mass Effect 2, which gives players less ability to customize characters. You cannot swap out armor. You can adjust a few things, such as an armor's shoulders or textures - but only for Shepard, and not for any of the companions.

The most enjoyable aspect of the game remains making choices. How Shepard responds to situations and conversations can change squadmate loyalty and even the results of individual missions. More often, these decisions are cosmetic, but they still give you a chance to decide who your Shepard is. Whether your Shepard is wary of Cerberus or completely drinks their "pro-human" Kool-Aid has little affect on the story, but it will change the way you view the overall experience.

Finally, an enhancement has been added to the Paragon/Renegade system: interrupts. During cutscenes, a blue Paragon symbol or a red Renegade one will appear on screen. Pulling the appropriate trigger will change the direction of the cutscene. Paragon interrupts will usually involve trying to peacefully resolve an issue or offering comfort; Renegade interrupts involve more direct action, with often very entertaining results.

A Quarian tribunal. Hypocrisy is not exclusive to humanity.

A MORE LIVED IN AND CINEMATIC UNIVERSE...:

Mass Effect 2 does important work in terms of making its fictional universe feel more textured and lived in. The dialogue is sharper, the characters feel more alive, and we get more of a sense of the internal conflicts and divisions within each culture.

The first game mentioned the Krogan homeworld and the Quarian fleet; this game takes us to both places, revealing the petty rivalries and hypocrisies that exist there. In the first game, Liara mentioned that Asari "pure bloods" such as herself are looked down upon. This game expands on that, introducing the Ardat-Yakshi, who are Asari suffering from a genetic disorder that is deadly to those they come into contact with, and that is also exclusive to pure bloods. Even the Geth get additional development, as we learn that these AI enemies are far from the monolith the first game had implied.

Visuals are more cinematic. Cutscenes simulate zooms, rapid pans, focus shifts, and even handheld camerawork at various points. Even in-engine visuals feature more detail in backgrounds, with a more generally dynamic use of color, and (this being 2010) J. J. Abrams-style lens flare. The trade-off comes with a few too many corridors and office buildings; but there's no question that this game draws you in visually much more strongly than the first one did.

Shepard's new enemy: The Collectors.
The game could have used more of them.

...BUT NOT WITHOUT ITS PROBLEMS:

While this game makes me feel more connected to the characters and their universe than the first one did, there are issues that hold it back from being a triumph. I've already mentioned the combat structure, which is repetitive to the point of tedium.

There's also Yeoman Kelly Chambers, a supposedly highly trained psychologist meant to help Shepard gain insight into the crew. She gains new dialogue every time a crew member is added. Unfortunately... Well, let me paraphrase 80% of what she says: "I'd like to sleep with you, him, her, and it!" I suspect even some twelve-year-old boys playing this began wishing for her to give it a rest.

Mass Effect 2's biggest issue, however, is its plot.

The story is basically this: Shepard recruits a group of misfits from various backgrounds; they gradually become a team; and they embark on a mission where death seems the most likely outcome. Yes, it's Seven Samurai in space. This is a perfectly fine template, and the characters' loyalty missions help to fill in a lot of detail about the various races of Mass Effect. But there are too many characters, and their issues are mostly unrelated to the Collector plot - and after a while, the Collectors start to feel practically like an afterthought.

For the first third or so, the game does a decent job of balancing the character missions with story progression. The first full mission establishes the Collectors as a threat. An early recruitment mission namechecks them. After you've recruited about a third of available characters, the story advances by having you deal with a Collector attack. After another handful of missions, you encounter the Collectors face-to-face, at which point a massive plot twist is revealed.

And then... nothing. This is the approximate midpoint of the game - and at this point, it will take most players a good 15 - 20 hours before the Collectors are a factor in any way other than an occasional namecheck. I can't help but feel that one more beat was needed to keep them alive as a threat.

A major contributor to this problem is cast glut. A couple of squad members are optional; other squad members can die. As a result, the game developers had to build some redundancy into the final mission. Unfortunately, if you add in DLC characters Zaeed and Kasumi, you can (and I suspect most players will) go into that final assault with eleven squad mates. The nine main game squad members have two missions each: one for recruitment, one for loyalty. Zaeed and Kasumi receive one mission each. That comes to a total of twenty missions!

Don't get me wrong: Some of these missions are very good, and a few are even great. Tali's loyalty mission may be my favorite part of the game; Mordin's isn't far behind, with some outstanding character writing and superb voice acting by Michael Beattie; and Thane's mixes up the gameplay with a fun stealth section. Others are... less good. The real problem isn't variable quality, however. The problem is that all of these missions end up feeling like individual episodes, as if from a weekly television series. Twenty such episodes is a bit much, and the sense of urgency so well created in the early levels can't help but be drained away.

The Normandy crew plans its final assault.

THE FINAL MISSION:

All of that said, the main game ends with an absolute triumph: The assault on the Collector Base. This is the mission the entire game has been building toward, and everything about it works.

First, it acts as a synthesis of all the choices you've made throughout the game. Which (if any) upgrades you made to the Normandy will determine how the approach to the base goes. If you skipped that annoying scanning mini-game, then be prepared to start the mission with a half-wrecked ship and a depleted squad. From there, choices you've made that have either gained or lost the team's loyalty will affect how each phase of the mission goes.

Oh, and if you did everything perfectly up to this point? You can still lose squad members if you assign the wrong people to critical roles during the mission. In some cases, the assignment calls are easy - but other cases come down to multiple seemingly valid options, not all of which will net an ideal result.

Add in a terrific, adrenaline-pumping score, a last moral decision, and a final boss that offers one of the game's few reasonably imaginative battles, and this entire sequence is a masterpiece.

Mordin sings, in one of many fine character scenes.

OVERALL:

I have very mixed feelings about Mass Effect 2. It is definitely a good game overall, and the series is much the better for its existence. It improves on its predecessor's characterizations, expands and deepens the fictional universe, and delivers a more cinematic look.

I think it falls short of being a great game, though. There are too many squadmates, and I think there would be more focus if 2 - 3 characters had been culled. The combat is so repetitive that it quickly becomes tedious, and about half the game's running time is spent in that combat. Finally, the Collector story loses momentum as it vanishes for entirely too many hours of the mid-game.

The good outweighs the bad, and the main game ends on a high note after a final mission that is a triumph of good game design. Still, if pressed (and if memories of the third game hold), I would likely label this as my least favorite of the trilogy.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Mass Effect 2 DLC

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