Mass Effect 2 Review

Here it is, very excited for this.

 

Amazing!! So it seems all (or most) of the decisions made in ME1 are reflected on ME2!!

 

looks like my faith in bioware was well placed.

 

Any spoilers in the video review?

Also, the Steam preload is up and ready.

 

Very excited I am getting my Bioware RPG fill. Dragon Age was amazing and if ME2 is truly better in nearly every way in comparison to ME1 then I am in for a treat.

Really just waiting for the witcher 2 though

 

Nice, thanks for the link!

 

HOLY CRAP. YVONNE STRAHOVSKI!

 

^Yep, she's also the voice actor.

I just caught wind of this:

PCGamesHardware has released ME2 benchmarks.

1280x1024, 1680x1050, and 1200p were tested.

Any 9800M, 260M user will be very happy.

 

indeed, very hot - she did voice and was modelled

 

IGN did the PC review on a q9000 260m SLI setup and said it ran great

 

I am not even 1% through the first one yet but this sequel looks like it will definitely be worth picking up when I am done. So many great PC games!

 

Would a 4650 be close to the 3870? Sorry still don't know much about this stuff. I can play ME 1 perfectly on my laptop so I guess I shouldn't worry right?

 

No, it's not close to the 3870, but you shouldn't worry, at all. Consider is superior to the 7900 GTX, then add some fps for a moderate resolution like 720p/1280x800, then add some more for no AA and lower AF. That'll put you comfortably at 30fps.

 

Thanks for answering. I usually play my games at 720p anyway.
And just a warning for people, do not go to Bioware's Mass Effect forums, I went early and it's getting spammed with spoilers big time.

 

looks like high end cards are useless now days, unless you have multiple displays or 30''.
the game is still hard on low end cards though.

 

Crap looks like my CPU might be the limiting factor...
Hopefully I get over 30fps

 

Naw you should be fine, should be similar to the first one.

 

just OC the CPU. I'm going to use FSB to put my processor up to 2.5Ghz from a 2.1. If I can push 2.6 I will. My 9800M GS should hold as well.

 

As I've before pointed out, the Minimum Requirements are identical to the first Mass Effect, soo you should expect similar performance, if not slightly worse.

 

currently playing through the 1st one and am SO excited for me2

 

My Steam pre-load is done, but now the wait is just painful.

 

Found a place out here that was selling it early.
It's playing fine on my laptop. I love what they've done with the combat, don't really like the new hacking mini game though.
I guess I can kiss my sleep goodbye tonight.

 

A few requests;

- To help out other NBR members with similar machines, would you mind running FRAPS and posting your framerate?

- Also, what kind of options are in the Graphics Setting menu? Any anti-aliasing?

 

Under the config it list the following:
Windowed, Window Mode, Aspect Ratio, Res., High Quality Bloom, Film Grain, Motion Blur, Dynamic Shadows, Light Environment Shadows, Number of Cinematic Lights, Use Spherical Harmonic Lighting, and lastly Anisotropic Filtering. That's all, AA is not listed.

I've never used fraps before so give me a minute to download it and figure it out.


Alright I think I did this right. I'll just upload the benchmark in a zip if that's okay? I don't really understand them(I'm stupid I know) but I was for sure in the upper 40's, granted I was just running around the Normandy. Once I find some battles I'll be sure to run it again if you would like.

 

Thank you for your help. That's a nice list of options.

I also appreciate the fps. If you don't mind, running the bench during combat will be helpful. What resolution are you playing?

 

I'm playing at 1280 x 720, Fullscreen, with film grain and dynamic shadows off. I turned off the film grain myself but everything else is default for me.

 

dude your machine will be fine. You should be able to run high settings with ease.

 

This game is fun much better than the first one.

 

Is there any way (besides cheating) to mix up your skills? Like in ME1 where you could pick one extra skill to give your character based on which you had unlocked.

 

Can't wait for this game.

To bad I switched to Windows 7 the other day, so I had to delete all of my games (forgot to make a backup of save games), and I didn't know the 1st ME save would be able to load in the 2nd game, and have an impact on it.

Now I am playing through it all over again, when I did it last week, lol.

 

GAME OF THE YEAR!!

No doubt about it...

IGN gave it 9.6!!!!!

Loved the first....And im 100000% sure i will love the second.

Cant waaaaaait...

 

play the game before you call it game of the year ^ ^ (also its only January )

 

how do you think the game will run on my lappy? will I manage settings better than minimum?

 

Yep.

It will run fine, 30fps minimum. most settings set to on.

barring dynamic shadows, no aa etc.

 

Great to hear, I can play ME1 in native resolution with everything set on ultra and "on" and I have hardly any slowdowns durning that time.

 

I saw you're sig so i changed mine, it was boring lol

 

Just preordered my 360 copy from Amazon

 

damn I still have to play ME1. Only got part way through on xbox. THen got it on PC for $5 steam sale. I guess by the time I beat this and DA:O I can get ME2 for a reduced price =D

 

Man, IGN and me are on the same page, I agree with their ratings most of the time...

hmmmm from the review, its better to finish the first game to fully enjoy the second

I advice you to do so, MassEffect 1 was EPIC!!

If your a Sci-Fi fan....you will love it

Take my word for it

 

I'm not asking for myself. I want to get the info out there for the people with the mid-range systems.

 

::twitch:: When can I start my Stardock downloading.

Irrelevant until I start downloading.

::twitch::

I really hope that as a female shepard I can romance Tali. I know you can as a male, but I've loved her character since she threw an engineering bomb to protect herself.

Give the women who love gorgeous personality girls some love. As a woman, I could have children, build a new ship, and create an entire flotilla of awesomeness with Tali.

 

I'm not sure there's romance options in ME2

 

Oh thank god! I hope you're right!

No more cheesy, 2-dimensional dialogs you have to do in the "correct" way with no purpose whatever except for half a second of naked alien arse before the big boss fight. No more falling in "love" with someone who has only a few dozen lines of dialog to define a character, whom your character has known for all of about a week by the end of the game.

In my opinion, game writers should either make romance a central, impactful part of the story progression (rarely done), and therefore make it actually worth doing for more than the sake of itself, or they should do away with it altogether.

Eh, maybe I'm alone on this. If so, you guys go enjoy your alien/elf girlfriends .

 

finished Mass Effect for the third time today and jumped right into ME2.

Runs on all settings maxed, 1680x1050, 38fps avg on my machine. A very well done port.

 

I saw a commercial for ME2 during the Saints vs. Vikings game. It was insane.

 

ME1 PC is a port thrown together from the already done console version.

ME2 PC is a real PC game developed alongside its' console version.

 

oh don't you worry your pretty little head, you can romance most of the characters in this installment, assuming they are of the correct sexual preference.

 

Three times in one day? That must have taken all day!

Yea I was surprised how long the commercial was. It was nicely done, very epic.

 

i can run me1 on med-ish on my laptop (not at native res though, at 1024x768), i'm just wondering how it would run me2 cause its seriously gonna be annoying having to start my character over if i play on 360.

 

you realize you don't HAVE to do the subplot.