God Bless BioWare; not only do they produce KILLER games, but they are becoming adept at keeping their IPs relavant with timely downloadable content, and good content at that.  So after the early game of the year discussion, I felt the itch to get my Mass Effect 2 groove on and try their DLC.  There are three packs available to you right now.  One is FREE (To Cerberus Network users), one is OK but provides something you will definitely want, and the third is quite simply one of the best DLC adventures I have ever had.  Let’s take a look. 

The first pack that you will want to get is the Firewalker pack.  This pack is FREE to Cerberus Network users and gives you the new Hamerhead fighting vehicle to explore planets with.  One of the omitions from Mass Effect 2 that I truly enjoyed was elimination of the Mako.  I found the Mako missions to be rather clunky and they changed the pace of the game in a way that I didn’t like.  People complained about the controls and how some parts of the map were difficult to reach, even with six wheels.  BioWare told us that they were working on a replacement for the Mako, and here it is. 

The Hammerhead is a hovercraft with one rather large cannon on the front.  It provides fast horizontal and limited vertical movement.  Learning how to navigate with the Hammerhead was pretty intuitive and the first few missions with it flew by rather quickly.  The pack itself gives you five additional vehicle missions and trophy that is viewable in your cabin.  It’s not a ton of content, but it is free and provides those who missed vehicle travel and combat something to play with.  Sadly, I’m not one of those people.  In fact, I LOVED not having to tool around in a vehicle getting from one place to another, it kept my Mass Effect 2 pacing right where I wanted it.  Regardless it seems the Hammerhead is here to stay so you better get used to piloting one.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine vehicle and better than the Mako.  I just wish it had a better indicator when shields were failing.  I found myself in may close firefights with Geth Destroyers only to blow up realizing “hey I musta taken too much damage.”  Here’s a hint…THINK RANGED and you will do fine with the Hammerhead. 
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 How do you make an epic game even better?  Just ask BioWare as their latest installment in the Mass Effect trilogy takes everything you liked about the first game, and turns it up to eleven!  Like many folks I know, Mass Effect was one of the first games I ever finished that I immediately started a new play-through; I simply couldn’t get enough of the world of the Commander Shepard and the Normandy, and I was curious what a Renegade play through would feel like.  I was pleasantly surprised that simple changes in choices could have significant impacts on story and game play.  So when BioWare announced before E3 that they would be releasing Mass Effect 2, I was very excited.  I just didn’t anticipate just how good it was going to be.  

The first Mass Effect wasn’t without its faults.  The combat system was pretty clunky and I often wondered what my AI companions were up to.  There were also long sequences of traveling around in the Mako land vehicle looking for story arcs and getting chased by large worms (I hated those guys).  Happily, all of these things have either been upgraded or eliminated in this latest installment.  From a character modeling standpoint alone, we can see vast improvements in an already polished game. For example, in the original Mass Effect, Commander Shepard had twenty animations for cover.  In Mass Effect 2 there are over two hundred animations for cover; quite the difference.  

Gone are your long treks in the Mako, but they are replaced with a dynamic planet surveying option.  In the former, game collecting resources consisted of simply pressing the X button while in orbit of the planet, and there really wasn’t any compelling reason to do so.  In Mass Effect 2, the resources you collect help you research and upgrade your weapons and armor, so you’ll want to do it.  Instead of pressing the X button over a planet, you have to scan the planet manually and when your scanner bars rise, you launch a probe.  The better you are at scanning for resources, the more resources you will receive.  It’s one of many puzzle experiences that BioWare has intricately weaved into your game experience, and dare I say I found it quite fun!  

Also gone is the intricate and somewhat annoying inventory system.  In Mass Effect I would have to carefully kit out my team, deciding everything from heat syncs to ammunition type.  The kitting system is far simpler now and characters can swap out ammunition based on skill sets and not gun type.  Instead of only four weapon types, there are now nineteen weapon types that are divided into sub-types.  Guns no longer overheat, but ammunition is limited.  This inevitably means that I find myself switching guns for the situation as I watch my ammunition levels.  They removed the grenades from the first game and replaced them with new “heavy weapons” like rocket and grenade launchers.  Trust me, nothing feels better than blowing away a pack of Collectors with a grenade launcher.  
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