lol @ all the "play something else" comments. Post somewhere else if thats all you have to add to the topic.

Its an action RPG yes. But the action elements are half assed a lot of the times. there is very little "RPG" elements when the shooting is happening. Its all action. There is no reason what so ever why they can't improve those while keeping the game intact as an action RPG.

Wow, some of you guys are completely missing his point. There have been plenty of RPGs with timers. Final Fantasy 6 anyone? I'm sure there are others, that's just the first one that popped into my head.

When a situation calls for urgency, why shouldn't a timer be used, especially since the story/setting is such an integral part to an RPG? The factory is BURNING. And I'm sure that there are tons of highly volatile materials stored in the factory that could cause catastrophic failure at some point. Why should you be allowed to explore every nook and cranny to your heart's content.

It's obvious that the developer was going for a suspenseful moment, considering the factory is burning down, but it takes away from the suspense they were going for if you can just stroll through the factory at your leisure. I'm surprised so many people are jumping on disolitude. Isn't the story and setting supposed to be a large part of RPGs?

And as a disclaimer, I have not played Mass Effect 2. So I have no idea about the situation, or the game. But it seems like he's presented a valid point, and everyone is letting the developers gameplay get a free pass because it's an RPG, or because timers suck and we don't want them. Instead of, you know, trying to give logical arguments.

@bobobologna

Thank you. Someone out there gets it.

To everyone else - like I said, game is great. I'm glad I'm playing it. Im not saying they need to implement COD style gameplay any time soon.

But they really could benefit from looking at some other action games to know how to make it a little more intense durring the shootouts while keeping it an action RPG. It will trully push the genre forward.

I can't see how picking up ammo, aiming for the head, and waiting in cover for blood to fall of my monitor are part of an RPG experience. 

It IS a shooter. 

There are some RPG elements, sometimes, between two action scenes, like character creation, morality options, and dialogue choices, similar to many other shooters, adventure games, RTS games, but the metagame still revolves around shooting stuff. 

I have no problem with timers as long as there is no reason to explore then enviroment during a timer section, and to be honest there were a couple points in the game where I though ME2 could benifit from them.

You might only be talking about the action set pieces, but if you expand upon that and comsider the combat as a whole a action element I think ME2 offers a great and unique experience. The reason I think ME2 did a great job with the action is due to Biowares ability to mix gameplay styles. Lets get one thing clear any "action" experience that allows you to pause is a different type of action experience. When I pause the game lock on three different powers and unleash them in a moment of of mayhem it is no way a action experience, its purely tactical at that point. There is the illusion of action when the results take place, but in reality the system I used to unleash them is turn based/cooldown based. When I'm without my powers the game provides a solid 3rd person shooter that is enjoyable yet not really the best of 3rd person shooters. The reason it works so well for me is the flow between these two elements. RPG's have had a hard time meshing turn based and live action combat forever and ME2 does it better then any action rpg I have ever played. Compared to a game like Fallout 3 ME2 combines two different styles of gameplay so damn well.

Having nothing to due with your point although worth mentioning, what makes the Mass Effect series so great for a lot of gamers, my self included, is the story and the characters. This doesn't make the combat/action immune to critism, just though that point was worth getting out there.

Not to be a contrarian but ME2 is NOT an action game. It's an RPG, which means they can't make everything twitch-based lest they alienate the traditional RPG base.

And timers? ME2 has several segments that are timed. You obviously didn't play the game long enough. There are even segments of the game where the outcome can be altered based on how long you take, only BioWare DIDN'T provide the gamer with a timer. That created some seriously intense gaming moments during the last hour.

The way to differentiate is to understand what the main point of a game is.  If you argue that the way you grind makes a game what it is, thus an RPG with shooting is a shooter, then that would end up making Heavenly Sword the same thing as Dragon Age or Diablo, because both involve grinding the same way.

Action-RPGs rely on doing repetitive actions to level up.  These repetitive actions aren't what make them RPGs, it is the other stuff that does.  Of course, we are witnessing more merging of genres, so it gets more complicated.  And you run into level design expectations which lead to feeling disappointed with this or that.  In a lot of RPGs, particularly turn-based, having a timer element is minimal.  I do understand for immersion purposes that you may want to have a timer though.

Like I said, I'm about 14 hours in. All I am saying is that I saw some missed oportunities in the gameplay thus far. Just because they implement a timer later on in a mission doesn't take away the fact they could have used a timer at an earlier mission too.

I really don't understand this "its an RPG" argument though. When I'm playing that level where the collectors have attacked a colony. I am shooting everything that moves... I'd say that part plays 90% like a shooter ad 10% like a rts with you controling your squad. for those segments, I really don't see why the action can't be a little more tense.

I'm not thinking from a standpoint of..."its an action game" or "its an RPG". Just form the point of, how they can make each level a best possible experience.