Hey, remember when I used to write about video games? Yeah, me too.

I completely skipped over the first game in the Mass Effect universe because 1.) I don’t usually like western RPGs, and 2.) I’d heard bad, bad, things about the in-game menu and inventory.  When Mass Effect 2 came on sale, I was in the mood for something sci-fi, so I gave it a go.

Like most games with highly-customizable character appearances, I spent a great deal of time on perfecting my character. In the end, it didn’t matter since my character was in a helmet most of the time, but I guess it was nice to see her face during in-game cut-scenes.

I’ve heard people describe Mass Effect 2 as rpg-lite, and I can see that, but to me, this was a good thing. I completed the game in less than 20 hours, which is about as long as my game attention span is these days.  I liked that once the game got started, it was straight forward to choose a main or side mission, find the appropriate planet to explore, and shoot bad guys.  For those who like tons of side-missions, they were easy to find by talking to the tons of NPCs around each space hub or city.

Because my squad was customizable, I ended up playing favorites and picking the same characters to accompany me, unless a mission needed one particular character.  I usually went with Thane as my sniper and Jack as my bio-user and shot gunner.  For myself, I’d usually hang back and snipe if I were in an open area, or just run through with the assault rifle.

Although there were a handful of guns and upgrades to be had, I didn’t think they were that customizable.  There seemed to be only one good setup or weapon configuration so once I got to that, I didn’t change it up as much.  I also only used powers sparingly. Maybe because of the way I set up my character in the beginning. It just seemed easier to shoot things than pushing the buttons for different powers.

The only bad thing I have to say about Mass Effect 2 is that space exploration part was pretty lame.  Having to buy fuel and probes from the fuel station in order to explore was so trivial that I thought it was a waste of time they put it in. I never really ran out of money, so I could always buy more, but it was just a hassle.  I didn’t have any problems with finding resources on planets and thought that was pretty streamlined and fun whenever I did it, but just getting to that planet — boring!

Wait, I have another bad thing to say. Even though I tried to develop my character’s relationship with Thane, and I successfully completed his loyalty mission, they never sexed it up and he ended up dying in the last mission anyway! What a disappointment.  It was the only part of the story I cared about.

I’ll probably play the third game when it comes out, but I’ll probably wait till a price drop too.