There is a very clear guilty party in my becoming a
gamer: Bioware. Sure, before I started playing Bioware games, I still played
video games, but they weren’t anything other than a distraction. Then I stumbled
upon (saw the commercials and fell in love) Mass Effect and Dragon Age:
Origins. I had never played games where I cared about the story and the
characters before. I used to just skip all the cutscenes because they got in
the way of the gameplay, but I couldn’t do that with ME or DA:O because the
story had drawn me in. Because of Bioware, I truly became a gamer. Dragon Age
allowed me to become the fantasy hero I always wanted to be—but in a way that was
so much more meaningful and complex than I had imagined. And Mass Effect
allowed me to fulfill my Captain Kirk fantasies—but with blue aliens instead of
green ones. I could talk about how the amazing diversity in both franchises
have helped me to become more open minded, and to accept myself as I am better,
instead I’m going to focus on what is possibly the greatest game ever made:
Mass Effect 2.
The Mass Effect franchise has always been about
personal stories. Your Shepherd was always going to be different from a friend’s,
and how you handled situations came down to personal preference. Through the
course of the first game, your Shepherd became an actual extension of yourself.
The Normandy, your ship, became home, and the crew became your family. So Mass
Effect 2 begins by destroying the ship and spacing Shepherd.
The first time I played, this moment was shocking,
and emotionally devastating. This was a moment of rebirth though, for both the
player and for Shepherd. The story picks up two years after the destruction of
the Normandy, and most of the galaxy assumes you’re dead. A race known as the
Collectors has begun to kidnap human colonies, and the Council still doesn’t
believe in the Reaper threat (and depending on decisions you made in the first
game, they may hate you and not give you their support). Your crew and squad is
scattered throughout the galaxy, and you’re alone with a shadowy organization
(one you fought against in the first game, Cerberus), who wants to use you to further
their own gains. You are forced into working with a new team made up of the
person who rebuilt you and brought you back to life, and a guy that tries way
too hard at the beginning to get your trust.
Gone is the team that you slowly made connections
with, gone is the easy banter. Now you have snarky remarks and an uneasy
alliance. This really strikes home in your first mission when you run into an
old friend and squad mate: Tali’Zorah. Tali is happy to find out that you’re
alive, but she is distrusting of your new squad and refuses to come with you.
At best, she is apprehensive of you, at worst she outright distrusts the new
Shepherd.
You don’t feel hurt by this for very long though; the
Illusive Man (your new boss) has a nice surprise waiting for you when you
return: Joker, your pilot from the first game. This fantastic reunion is capped
off with the reveal of your new ship: the Normandy SR-2. Not gonna lie, the
reveal of the Normandy makes me feel all the emotions every time I see it. Much
like whenever I see the Enterprise on the big screen.
Here is where the game really begins. With the
receipt of your new ship, the Illusive Man gives you a list of the names of
potential squad mates to recruit, and from there you’re almost left to your own
devices. The list contains some familiar faces, and a lot of new ones. The
missions to recruit your new squad are varied and interesting. To recruit
Archangel, you join up with a group of gangs that are trying to kill him. To
recruit Mordin, a doctor, you have to cure a plague. To recruit Subject Zero,
you have to break her out of inescapable prison in space. On top of the
recruitment missions, each squad mate has missions that are personal to them
and that increase their loyalty to you. From elaborate heists to regain a loved
one’s last memories, to rites of passage, these loyalty missions keep things
interesting.
I mentioned some familiar faces? Well, the reveal of
Archangel’s true identity, while not surprising, was certainly welcome and
pleasing. You sneak up on him as he’s sniping; he motions you to wait, takes
his shot, stands up, removes his helmet, and says, “Hey, Shepherd.” And bam,
you’re best friend (ever) Garrus is back on the team. He may question Cerberus,
but he never questions you. You have earned his trust, and he has your back. Something
that doesn’t change throughout the entire trilogy.
I’ve played Mass Effect 2 so many times, and I know
what’s going to happen when I make specific choices, but I still get excited. I
still feel a surge of joy as the Normandy weaves through wreckage and takes
full advantage of the upgrades I gave it. I still get excited to see Garrus
again, and I feel a deep sorrow every time Liara tells me that she can’t come
with me. Why? Because of the story. Because of the writing. Because the game
makes you invest in these characters and events. I still get psyched up when
Shepherd says: “They tell me it's a suicide mission. I intend to prove them
wrong.” Bioware got everything right when they made Mass Effect 2.
Whenever I get tired of other games, I always turn
back to Mass Effect. Maybe it’s because I’m a diehard science fiction fan.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Trekkie. Or maybe it’s because Bioware made a damn
fine game that never fails to make me feel better about things.
One of these days, I’m going to have to sit down and
actually write an outline for an essay about Mass Effect so things will make
sense and not jump all over the place.
