Mass Effect 2: Overlord is the latest piece of downloadable content offered for Mass Effect 2, and the second that requires payment to be experienced. Like its predecessor, Kasumi's Stolen Memory, it costs 560 Microsoft Points or EA points, depending on if you're playing on the Xbox 360 or the PC. The value offered by Overlord is simple and succinct: in exchange for your point you will receive a package of assignments, four in total, with an original plot and two new Achievements for you Achievement hounds.
Nothing bad could possibly happen here.
Overlord as a pack forgoes the introduction of a new character or even a new weapon, focusing all of its content on the presentation of an interesting and pleasing sidequest which can stand on its own as a self-contained narrative that still functions as part of the larger Mass Effect 2 universe. The four assignments that make up the pack are linked together by the mission to stop a rogue VI from broadcasting itself into space and spreading through the galactic extranet. The threat sounds cheesy, but as you go through the mission you will begin to believe in the VI as a creature of menace and fear.
The missions in Overlord represent a shift in tone for the series: more than any other mission in the Mass Effect saga so far, Overlord is dark and grim and foreboding, giving the impression that it was designed by people who deeply enjoyed System Shock. The facilities you stalk through are full of the dead, most of them killed messily by geth who have come under the control of the VI, and the audio logs they've left behind serve to enhance the sense that whatever doom they came to was inevitable and unavoidable.
The atmosphere is aided by both the visual and aural design of the mission: the serene exterior of the facility is thrown into stark relief against the chaos that unfolded within it, and new musical pieces written just for Overlord crank up the adrenaline in both excitement and panic. I won't go into details so as to avoid spoilers, but when you play Overlord you will both see and hear things that you've never seen or heard before in Mass Effect, and one sequence in particular is a complete break from the style of the series. In spite of this, Overlord consistently retains the feeling of Mass Effect and never comes across anachronistically.
The assignments themselves consist primarily of moving through facilities, solving rudimentary puzzles, listening to audio logs, and engaging in combat. The puzzles are fun, if simplistic, and the combat is arguably the best in the game, built around set-pieces and missions that feel as if you're playing an action movie or horror film in turn. You will believe yourself extremely vulnerable and incredibly bad-ass in equal parts, and the pace is carefully controlled to maximize both of those experiences.
Freakier than it looks.
The four assignments are split up by sequences in the Hammerhead, the hovercraft from the Firewalker pack that replaces the first game's Mako. Instead of being throwaway sequences that all feel the same, every moment spent piloting the Hammerhead is fulfilling and satisfying, with combat working satisfyingly and the driving mechanics, barring a few glitches where one can clip through rock faces, working very well. Creative use of the Hammerhead's capabilities has resulted in certain sections of Overlord playing almost like a platformer, and instead of feeling shoehorned and stupid it comes across very naturally and feels fun. And, for what it's worth, I never clipped through a rock badly enough to get stuck in it.
Overlord is an immense labor of love, and wants you to know it: your hovercraft's computer will point out when you're moving past a picturesque canyon, and those who take the time will be able to marvel at the kind of attention paid to a piece of scenery that most players will probably just fly past. Every piece of it oozes quality, enough that you can rest assured that the developers tried their best to earn your money.
Overlord is not without its faults: as a focused mission pack, it lacks any character-building opportunities for members of your squad, and you don't receive any new weapons or anything like that. It is exactly what it purports itself to be: a tightly focused narrative mission that will attempt to take you places that Mass Effect has never gone before. It's creepy, exciting, morally gray, and packed full of imagery you'll probably never see in the series again. If the Hammerhead sequences didn't have clipping issues and if your squadmates reacted to any of the things around them, then this would be the best mission in the series so far. On its own merits, it might be anyway.
Overlord is fun, a little frightening, emotionally genuine, well-crafted, and it's worth your 560 points. If you enjoy Mass Effect 2 at all, you owe it to yourself to try something a little different, a little freaky, and dive into Overlord.
Rating: 8.5
