One of the most interesting things about the first Mass Effect was how the guns worked. None of the weapons had ammo counts, because inside there are blocks of material that break off tiny pieces and fire those. The only thing the player needed to worry about was overheating. This was fine. This was interesting. This was different. Now it’s not. Now the guns have a new, “better” technology called heat clips. The guns still fire slivers from inside, but now these clips immediately cool the gun for another shot. But there’s a limited amount on the gun. And they need to be reloaded. And when they run out the gun can’t be used. What does that sound like? It’s disappointing that Bioware has changed both an interesting aspect of the game world and a part of combat that stood out. It would have been nice to at least have been given one holdout gun that worked the same as the first game.

On a positive note, Mass Effect 2 has introduced a feature that could truly revolutionize games. And not one of those marketing campaigns that calls anything revolutionary. Mass Effect 2 allows the player to choose to create a new game profile or use their save file from Mass Effect as the starting profile. It gives the same character model, all the pertinent statistics and how key plot points played out. Depending on what the player did in the first game, Mass Effect 2 will alter its story accordingly. The player may encounter certain characters that others will not because of decisions previously made. There are also stat bonuses and credit rewards for achieving certain levels of success on the Mass Effect save file. One thing it does not do, however, is import weapons, armor and stats to the new game. This is slightly disappointing, but it is hardly a deal breaker. I look forward to more and more games adopting and refining this feature.

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