Mass Effect 2 = Gears of War + Dialogue + Narrative - Chainsaw Bayonet

Mass Effect 2 has been released to rave reviews so I won't go into how awesome the game is. Plenty of people can tell you that. However since Bioware is determined to improve their games by listening to feedback, here's what I think went wrong with ME2. (Not that I think they would actually ever stumble onto this blog orz)

1) Technical Issues
As beautiful as the environment is, I really don't want to clip onto a crate or something and wind up having to reload. It was not a problem in the original Mass Effect and it should be patched sooner or later but it does feel jarring to walk around and suddenly rise into mid air.

2) Gameplay Improvements Break the Lore, Makes it Beg For Mercy
Mass Effect 2 has a much better combat system than Mass Effect 1. However some of the improvements such as the thermal clip system really, really make no sense at all in the universe of Mass Effect. Think about it this way, in a little more than two years they reverse engineered Geth technology (hard to do since Geth tend to self-destruct), send new weapons or conversion kits to every single soldier in the galaxy and have to manufacture, test and ship all those thermal clips. Its a logistical nightmare on par with trying to support an entire city by air and we know how that went for the Nazis. Unless the increase in performance is an order of magnitude greater, there really is no justifying this degree of continuing expense. Logically even if you do include the thermal clip system it would make much more sense to have it as a redundant system to the regular cooling systems introduced in Mass Effect 1. Without thermal clips you can fire but at reduced damage output. Otherwise cutting off supply lines becomes that much easier. If you've ever been in the military, just think about adding a new, essential item to the TOE that did not exist before. One that just entered production which would imply that there probably are not all that many places building it and that there is a good chance of malfunction. Without it, your weapons simply do not function. Yeah, I'd be screaming too.

I can understand that it was a sop to the shooter gamers but scrounging for ammunition (by any other name) is neither fun nor necessary due to the overheating mechanic. I actually admired that in the original ME since it made it feel futuristic. Ammunition really should be a problem solved by the late 22nd century. Even the new minigame to fund minerals makes no sense. Why would you need human input when a computer program would do just as well? It would not be such an issue if all it took out of the game was 15 mins but to get the upgrades necessary for success (let alone those you simply WANT) it can take far, far longer than that. The first game established that such software already exists and it just reinforces the feeling that I'm pretty much an overglorified miner (one easy way to make credits in ME1) not so much a galactic saviour.

At least this time a good proportion of my funds come from Cerberus. As a Spectre I never felt like a Council agent with an operations budget aside from "kill who you want and pry their money from their cold, dead hands". The Humans Systems Alliance also seem to not pay me a salary or very much very often. At least I reckon the Alliance maintain and staff the Normandy but the Citadel Council basically has me doing tricks for free.

3) The New Ammunition Powers Break Logic
While you might need special training to use various kinds of ammo (not that you needed it in ME1), why does it do increasing amounts of damage with more skill? Ammunition is ammuniton and when I reach rank 4 and get squad ammo, do I finally learn how to toss packets of ammuniton underhand to my comrades?

4) The Citadel Council are Still Douches
While I feel a little guilty making Anderson work with those idiots, no way in hell am I making Udina the most powerful man in space. Yes a lot of what Shepard says is heresay to them and not admissable in court but after a track record of being right, you'd think they'd at least authorize an investigation. I SAVED THEIR LIVES AND THEY STILL WON'T BELIEVE ME?! ARGH!

5) Cool Characters Should Not Be Left Until the Endgame
This one I am sure everyone agrees on, Legion joins far too late in the game.