Mass Effect 2 Review

Anyone running this with a single GTX 280m? My copy of ME2 arrived yesterday but my new laptop ( i7-720QM, 4GB DDR3 PC3-10666 RAM at 1333MHz) doesn't arrive until late next week so I can't test it out... The wait is killing me and I was just wondering how high I'll be able to crank up the settings? I'm imagining a fair bit as the 280m and i7 combination seems to be able to handle multiplatform games pretty well but was hoping one of you guys may have had first hand experience on the matter.

 

Dude, your specs are awesome, don't even worry about it.

On a C2D P8700 + 9800m GT combo I get 44fps average with the following settings:

1680x1050
all settings max
default AA and AF

You'd probably be able to play with 4xAA and 16xAF at like 60fps then.

 

^^Dude, you *might* even be able to play Crysis.

 

That's good to hear! It's my first new computer for around 3 years so I'm not really sure what to expect performance wise - even though I've been looking at benchmarks for the past 2 months I'm still a bit nervous as the last time I went searching for a gaming laptop, I ended up with one that was outdated before it even arrived.

 

Works fine at 1920x1200 on my GTX 260M, just don't enable 4xAA from the NVIDIA Control Panel (not recommended in general, but PCGamesHardware.de did it anyway in their benchmarks).

Also, any idea how to switch off Vsync in this game? It's pissing me off (the frame rate keeps jumping between 30 fps and 60 fps, and I'd much rather have it stay at an average 50 fps with occasional tearing.

 

In post #100, I detail how to create an Nhancer profile for proper AA. Once you've done that, there's also an option to force V-sync off.

Try that out.

 

I just realised that the easiest solution is to choose 'Force off' instead of 'Let the application choose' in the NVIDIA Control Panel, under 3D Settings.

 

Yes! you are right....

 

I turned on antialiasing using Nhancer, but damn - performance impact is huge - and this is only with AAx2 multisampling....can't imagine turing on AAx8

 

Guys, don't spoil it for me. Just answer this question for me. When bringing over a character from ME1, does being a max lvl affect anything? If not, I won't bother replaying it to get to max lvl.

 

The higher the level of the character you import, the more credits you gain at the start of the game.

 

Mumble. Is anyone but me a little unsatisfied with the performance of the game? I'm currently running it at 1920x1080, with everything OFF. I still get slowdowns every once in a while. Turning the resolution down is not an option because... well, I'm obsessive-compulsive and anything other than the native resolution (of my external monitor, obviously) makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Oh, and load times. God, load times.

 

I have had zero hiccups playing the game at max settings at 1680x1050. Granted, I am playing it on my desktop.

I haven't had any issues with load times either - the game always loads super quick for me (again, on my desktop).

 

Don't even have a desktop, unfortunately. I'd like to, but I really love the mobility my laptop affords me. How else am I going to raid outside of my own home..

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=944906&topic=53252226

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Maybe that's the problem... I'll give it a try when I get back to my baby. On my netbook, because I'm in a class right now, listening to some idiot students giving a terrible presentation.

 

Hello,

I have a 8710p 3gigs of ram, NVS 320 and the Mass Effect 2 runs faster than the first episode of the game. I have no performance issues, graphics is good and runs awesome, no complaints from here. I run it 1440x900 on my laptop.

Cheers

 

Run everything on max here. (Spec's in sig)

Get 0 lag, really good FPS, nothing to complain really.

Looking forward to my 2nd play through after I finish all the side-quests.

Only thing I don't like is that there is no option to adjust graphics like "Medium" or "High".

 

Yes, the Core Affinity trick does work. Load times go from nearly a minute to less than twenty seconds, even less than five at times. This is only necessary on dual core processors.

I play at 1080p, and never drop below 30. It's most likely your 512MB of RAM choking at the high resolution.

 

Hmmmm. That does make sense.

Here's hoping that I can fit a mobile HD 5870 in an MXM-III slot.

 

What driver are you using? Are you using AA?

 

I have a dual-core CPU and load times are extremely quick, especially when going to my cabin on Normandy (the 'Loading' screen shows up for some 2-3 seconds).

The RAM issue is probably true. I played Mass Effect 2 at 1920x1200 and ran GPU-Z at the same time. Maximum graphics memory usage was 549 MB with 0xAA, and 664 MB with 4xMSAA through nHancer.

Forcing 4xAA on the Unreal Engine has a huge impact on frame rate though (~35-40% drop), I saw a much smaller performance drop with Dragon Age (~15%).

Now I'm comfortably playing at 1680x1050 with 4xAA at 35-40 fps. Looks better than at 1920x1200 with 0xAA, although that runs at 45-50 fps.

 

Yes, the companies try to buy off the reviewers, but all of the companies do this, including the ones who get bad reviews.

You do understand that the review and game don't have to occur concurrently right? Just because you're a line into the review doesn't mean that the reviewer is only 10 minutes into the game.

There's a distinct difference between bias and holding a strong viewpoint. Bias is developed beforehand, or through outside sources. With bias comes omission, where unflattering critical details will be left out. On the other hand, a strong viewpoint is developed deserving. If the game is good, then the game is good. Why would the reviewer not say so?

 

ture but there is very little to be said objectively. it's a video game, not a piece of hardware.

 

Indeed, but all video game reviews are shortsighted in that respect. We can't discount all of them solely because of that.

Anyways, I finished playing through ME2 last night as a (mostly) paragon character. I thought the game was way better than the first one. I can't wait to play it again as a most renegade character (and different class). But first, midterms

 

Mmmmmm. Not too sure, but yeah, I haven't updated in a while. No AA, though; I find that it puts too much of a strain on my GPU for how much extra comfort I get out of it. Pretty much never use AA as a rule, unless it's a Source game or something equally old.

Yeah, I tried that Set Affinity trick with Task Manager. And hey, surprise surprise. My load times went from minutes [literally - I timed it, once. Took 2 minutes (!!!) to go from my cabin to the CIC.] to seconds (again, literally!).

 

yeah the affinity thing did it for me. I get lighting speeds now.

 

What'd you think of the last boss? And did everyone survive?

 

I really like the game so far. I am only on the mission to help Zaeed. I think the story is great so far. The graphics are outrageous. It plays well above 40 fps on the m17. The rpg aspect is a bet console but not every game has to be neverwinter nights 2. I plan on playing this for weeks to come, several hours at a time. Well worth the 50 bones in my opinion. BW, StevenX

 

I am after my first playthough and everyone in crew survived Nice result, since I only cared about Tali to survive

Final boss was Terminator 5 movie - hehe

 

Not everyone for me survived. No idea why. I had loyalty from everyone, all upgrades purchased and mordin died in the last scene.

Tech-Legion
Leader-garrus
leader 2-garrus
barrier-jack
escort-zaeed

and mordin still died.

 

Far as I have seen this game does not have the Games for Windows Live "system". So, I am right ?

 

Yeah I hear people have had their Mordin die randomly on them so I brought him into my group.

 

I just found out there is a lot of DLC for this game. Is it free?

I am not a big fan of DLC that you have to pay for especially when its out soon as the game is out that means they could have implemented it into the game but held out just so they could leech money from you.

 

The first time buyers get the Cerberus card for free I believe.

 

yes, like Shale in DA origins. you get it unless it's preowned.

 

you get a new character zaeed and the normandy crash pack which allows you to explore the site of the crashed normandy. Personally, its nothing really special. Neat thing about zaeed is the garbage compactor. In his room you can toss garbage into space and watch it break apart.

 

Runs awesome maxed out 4xAA 1920x1200 on my XPS M1730, rarely any FPS drops at all.

 

Without giving too much away to those that haven't finished the game yet, I thought the last boss was a bit too predictable (after seeing him at first) and a little cheesy. But, I suppose it had to be done.

Tali died (seemingly randomly) the first time I played the mission, so I started it over and everybody survived the second time.

Yea I'm not sure what makes people survive/die in the final mission. I had loyalty from everybody and had advanced my relationship and conversation options with all of them fully. As mentioned above, at first Tali died so I replayed the mission, then everybody survived. I used:

Tech: Tali
Leader - Miranda
Leader 2 - Miranda
Barrier - Samara
Escort - Garrus

I think I had Jack and Mordin on my team the first segment of the mission, then Jack and Grunt.

Correct. ME2 does not use "Games for Windows Live".

 

I love how Zaeed is too much of a bad-a for conversation. Just shut up and learn something lol.

 

Haha yea he's an interesting character. Some of his comments during missions made me laugh.

 

So installed ME1 again today, figured I may as well try to play through it. While I do that maybe Bioware will have the eyefinity patch done for ME2.

 

The Normany Crash site is rather an experience boost quest - it's easy to get all those dog tags and place that memorial, but you can also retrieve your old N7 helmet and then it can be found on your desk at your captain's cabin as a trophy
Zaeed is a good addition to the crew, only the lack of direct-conversation with him is a bit annoying...you can only "prompt" him for a quote as if he was a typical NPC, witch is rather wierd on the contrast with other crew members.

 

i caved in and got it on steam, just so i don't have to use a disk.
so far impressed. it's defo more shooter like, a 'sidegrade'. i'm very happy with graphics performance, i disable most effects and it still looked better than me1 while running smoother too.

 

Got it as well . Amazing game . Changes are not as bad as i thought they would be . The only part i hate is how you have to complete a mission before you get XP and a lvl-up .

Tried Vanguard class in the beginning . Fun , but i was having troubles with survival . Its not fun to charge as enemy just to find his 2 friends right around the corner ( im playing on Vet ) . Adept and Sentinel are fun , but i found soldier to be a more balanced class . Plus Collectors assault rifle and Incisor sniper rifle are awesome .

What classes did you stick with ?

 

I played once through as a Soldier on Veteran, and I loved using the different weapons. I started a new game (also on Veteran) as a Vanguard, and it's pretty difficult. Only being able to use a pistol, heavy pistol, and shotgun really limits you. Close quarters combat is tough to survive.

 

very true. i'm on my first playthrough as a vanguard on veteran. died quite a few times.
i thought it would be similar to the sort of battlemage like charactor in ME1. but the new biotic powers are very underwhelming.

 

I found the powers can be quite powerful, but you get so few skill points each level-up that you can't really max out more than two powers. In order to really be effective, the biotic powers need to be leveled-up fully.

 

The way they designed this game, (heavy emphasis on cover based shooting, ala Gears of War) I think the soldier class has it the easiest.

 

Yea, especially because traits like accuracy aren't upgradable anymore - only weapon damage.

 

infiltrator is definitely the easiest. Sniper rifle is almost a one shot one kill for earlier levels (just don't use the viper sniper rifle, the slowdown isn't long enough to let you kill a guy usually). And with the evolved power, time can slow down up to 70% for 2 secs when you peek out from cover letting you line up a headshot. Then you got your stealth cloak to help you run away if you need to or flank around. Once you get the widow sniper rifle on the collector ship you're set. 2-3 headshots will take out a krogan.

Don't forget to use AP ammo as a bonus skill


Sentinel is good too, tech shields can give you up to 100% more shields and their mix of tech and biotic powers is a godsend. A level 3 throw is insta-kill for husks. Good for crowd control. Then use warp for armored enemies and overload for robots.

 

Sniper rifles are super powerful in ME2. I used mine a lot when I played as a soldier.