Playing through Mass Effect 2 on my first go was some kind of experience, one that was absolutely amazing in nearly every aspect of video gaming. I breezed through almost all of the missions and clocked in at just under 16 hours to finish the game in it’s entirety. Like many reviewers I was amazed by what Bioware had accomplished with the title. Revolutionary in more ways than one, Mass Effect 2 has certainly set the bar in terms of visual fidelity and story. It wasn’t until my second play through of Mass Effect 2 did I realize that reviewers probably made a big mistake and here’s why.

After playing through Mass Effect the first time, I was in agreement with the majority feeling that Mass Effect 2 was one of the best games I had ever played. Then I bumped up the difficulty on Mass Effect 2 to the insanity skill level, and there, the game began to fall apart on various levels. While the graphics and story remain the same, the gameplay falls to sub par territory with endless bugs and glitches in the AI and cover system that make the game almost unplayable at that skill level.

Now before you say “Oh he’s just butthurt, because the game is too hard” I thought about the things I was seeing in my second play through , and whether or not the glitches were purposefully placed to make the game harder.   I came to conclusion that they were not. While it is likely that the AI is just as stupid in the lower skill levels it is less noticeable because your leader, Commander Shepard, is so much stronger than anyone on the battlefield. You won’t seem to notice that the AI constantly runs in front of you, knocks you out of cover, and dies easily. But, bump up the skill level and you can’t avoid this, in even the “easiest” of battles. Now, many sites gave this game 10/10 9/10 etc. etc. and I agree with the score if your playing the game on normal or easy. When you bump up the skill level, Mass Effect 2 just turns into a glitch ridden mess, with A.I. that not even Left 4 Dead 2 would envy.

It’s not real hard to see what happened here, Mass Effect 2 was a major release, with a lot of money riding on it’s success for a very large publisher.  Reviewers took a look at the first play through of what is a pretty long campaign, and rated it without going the extra mile by looking at all of its difficulties and settings.  It’s understandable really, but it’s also like judging a book by it’s cover.  The full body of work for Mass Effect 2 is still a great overall package, but I think that it deserves a much closer look before we can go ahead and anoint it the G.O.T.Y. especially if you haven’t played it on the Insanity Skill Level.  So go ahead, I dare you to give it a try.  But only do so if you are willing risk your perception of the game and it’s so called greatness.

http://burn360.net/xbox360/mass-effect-2-overrated/

Burn360? ... yeah... carry on.

Oh he’s just butthurt, because the game is too hard

Who in the world beats this game in 16 hours on their first playthrough? I'm at about 20 hours now and haven't even recruited everyone yet. That alone makes me wonder about the rest of his conclusions.

I kind of agree that the second playthrough isn't half as amazing as the first but not for those reasons.

Yeah, I noticed that as well. I finished the game in about 30 hours and I still have plenty to explore. He must be running straight through the levels and skipping the story. Otherwise I don't think that's possible.

Anyhow, Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games this gen and that goes without question. So the high scores are well deserved.

i'm impressed, this is the first thread about a "overrated" game i ever saw that actually tries to make a valid point.

note that i do not say it HAS a valid point, as i would not know that, but it is far from the fanboy hate these threads usually carry

Games like Mass Effect which appeal to a niche are over-rated whilst games like Mario Kart which appeal to a wide variety of people are under-rated. Its funny that it works that way...

Took me 44 hrs on insainity settings on my 1sy play....and that was doing every single thing in the game..universe explored 100%..scored every single upgrade in the game..all charcters loyal and lost no one period.

My room mate is on normal and doing everything*which I doubt you did in fact im 100% certain you didnt* and he will finish around 38hrs.

As for your AI issues...I think it's just you...mine played alot differnt and used basic tatics to out flank and try to get the upper hand.

It's really hard to take you seriously looking at your history....oh and btw fallout 3 and drgn age can be beat in about 4-6hrs on a speed run...so yeah...you got no cread in my book...almost forgot....look at mw2..3.5hrs...gta4...6-9hrs...Fallout3...3-5hrs...halo3..3-5hrs...etc etc all game of years just about.

I beat the game on insanity on with both a sentinel and infiltrator. Some of the levels are incredibly cheap and I got stuck on more than one occasion. When it came down to it I had to look on online forums to get advice. Thats when I discovered the reason I was failing had to do more with my poor strategy than with the game's cheapness. The developers arent boneheads. They made a game that can be beaten on insanity with any class to start. You just have to go about it the right way.