Mass Effect 2: Empire Strikes Back

In our recent opinions on Assassin's Creed II, I mentioned how Ubisoft Montreal has managed to completely improve on many aspects of the first game in the series, while adding even more assassiny features to the franchise.

Similarly, Bioware has taken Mass Effect, a great game-of-the-year quality game, and outdone themselves with Mass Effect 2, an even more incredible experience that is on many people's radar as 2010's GOTY. What Bioware promised - and delivered - in Mass Effect, namely, an intense third-person shooter/RPG hybrid with branching storylines, amazing dialogue and uber character customization, was realized even further in the sequel.

Mass Effect 2, simply put, is incredible. Like, if Battlestar Galactica and KOTOR had a baby, and that baby was raised by android cyber wolves, sent to psionic tech school, graduated with top honors in laser shooting, and starred in an 80's rock opera about jetpacks kind of incredible. Bioware took the template of the original Mass Effect and created a masterpiece by developing an amazingly complex storyline that changes based on how you play, where your decisions matter in the way the game unfolds and you feel as though your actions are making an impact on the people and galaxy around you.

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Even your choices from the original game can be imported, affecting the way the sequel's story develops and how people interact with you. I can't tell you how many times someone ran up to me in Mass Effect 2, exclaiming something like "Commander Shepard, thank you so much for your help back on [planet x] with [side quest y]!" My response was usually, "OMG IT'S AN ALIEN WHAT DO I DO," but it's still pretty awesome to feel like you can walk in a room in the second game and people recognize you for your badassity in the first.

Love it or hate it (love it), Bioware also tweaked the gameplay to be more action-oriented than a standard RPG, including features such as regenerating health and streamlining its RPG elements within character customization and progression. They also cleaned up the few issues most people had with the inventory system and loading times, and created an incredibly gripping story and cast of characters that will have you pre-ordering Mass Effect 3 two years in advance.

Simply put, I loved Mass Effect 2. It took everything I was impressed by in the first game and built upon it exponentially, adding a good measure of new hotness to boot. Having played it immediately after Assassin's Creed II, I started thinking about the trend in games of sequelization (related to trilogization and franchisization, which are also not words) that has been getting a lot of attention recently.

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For example, IGN's Hilary Goldstein wrote an editorial this summer about the nature of game publishing and the stability of iterating on franchises, while Rus McLaughlin has written critically about the nature of sequels in games. Rather than rehashing other people's stories and giving my own politically sensationalist spin, which is the job of corporate news networks, I'll say that I think that games such as Assassin's Creed II and Mass Effect 2 are great examples of how developers can create excellent franchises in which each game builds upon the previous to refine and expand the scope of their gameplay, story, visuals, and game systems. Other games, such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, are experiencing a backlash because of their plethora of iterations without any real advancement in their presentation or gameplay, but some franchises, including Uncharted, Killzone, Halo, Civilization, and Call of Duty, are upping the ante with each release and are achieving popularity and acclaim accordingly.

When I pick up a game like Mass Effect 2, I feel like I'm putting on an old pair of rocket laser boots which feel comfortable and new at the same time. Sure, not all sequels can be an Empire Strikes Back or The Two Towers, or even Kronk's New Groove (nothing? anyone?), and I'm into new IP's and fresh takes on existing genres as much as the next person. Still, if sequels can advance gameplay, progress a franchise's story and keep us coming back for more greatness throughout a trilogy, then for my money, great things come in three's.