finally received my CE of Mass Effect 2 and it's absolutely incredible. I'm not missing the stripped RPG elements at all. To be honest, I don't miss them at all. There were just way way way way too many items in ME1 and it sucked that after a few palythroughs with your character you were busy getting rid of all the stuff a lot. I like the fact that there are so many upgrades that you can get, I like that way more than the item overflow in ME1. The weapons are also way more impressive and there is enough ammo for them. There's at least as much chatting to do in this game as in ME1. I read so many times that it's all shooting and blab blab. After 6 hours of playing I can't say that it's THAT much more of a shooter than ME1 was. Guess it's just die hard RPG fans crying because there's no turn based fighting or whatever. It looks incredible. I had several 'wow moments' already and I have only seen a small portion of the game. The Afterlife club alone makes a place like Chora's Den from ME1 look like a joke. And the framerate has so far been very consistent and great. Scanning planets may not be the most fun thing ever but at least it does not take as long as driving around on a planet forever just to find some crap. Anyways, so far I'm very pleased!

Yea I should mention that throughout the whole game I never once experienced the annoying pop-up textures or anything.

I do agree that some of those elements are gone to a good change. No more micro-managing your squad.

Already a game of the year candidate for sure. Far more than any of the GoW-esque games coming out recently.

I finished ME2 yesterday, at 41 hours. It was awesome. I'm now starting a ME1 character for a "perfect" playthrough to transfer to ME2, and noticing how annoying it is with the items shit. And how clunky and awkward combat and stuff feels in comparison to the sequel.

[EphelDuath666]

when I replayed ME1 a while ago to have a good character available in ME2 (my lvl 60 Shepard was a bad boy in my last playthough months ago) the shitty framerate really annoyed me. For a moment I even thought my xbox must be having problems. ME2 does so incredibly well compared to that. It always seems to run smoothly so it seems like they did achieve their consistent 30 fps goal. And yeah, headshots were not real easy in ME1. In ME2 the headshot achievement was one of my first achievements aleady. That just shows how much they improved the controls. I'll definitely play this one several times. Not just for the achievements but to check out all the different classes and to do missions differently than before.

I finished ME2 yesterday, at 41 hours. It was awesome. I'm now starting a ME1 character for a "perfect" playthrough to transfer to ME2, and noticing how annoying it is with the items shit. And how clunky and awkward combat and stuff feels in comparison to the sequel.

I might actually go and finish my game so I can have a cleared play through and maybe it will let me transfer this time. I'm pissed cause I kept the council alive and all in ME1 but they are "dead" in ME2.

I was about the same amount of time played when I finished. That's a damn solid game, over 40 hours to finish it with a pretty thorough play through.

Played the Aliens Vs Predator multiplayer demo for a bit. Really cool multiplayer concept, giving the aliens the ability to climb on walls and ceilings gives you a whole different kind of game. The Predator has some crazy shit it can use also. Playing as a Marine can almost be scary. The lighting effects play a huge part in it and your flashlight is very weak. Hearing aliens hiss all around you and then having one stare you in the face as it impales you with it's tail can make you jump.

*exclusively plays Castlevania and Battlefield Heroes*

On the offchance there's anymore heroes around, my guy's "Blutnebel", not to be confused with "Pestnebel" from Team Arsenal.

dammit anyone know haw to get screenshots off an xbox? just found a GOZU sign in ME2 and i wannit!

[EphelDuath666]

Played the Aliens Vs Predator multiplayer demo for a bit. Really cool multiplayer concept, giving the aliens the ability to climb on walls and ceilings gives you a whole different kind of game. The Predator has some crazy shit it can use also. Playing as a Marine can almost be scary. The lighting effects play a huge part in it and your flashlight is very weak. Hearing aliens hiss all around you and then having one stare you in the face as it impales you with it's tail can make you jump.

I didn't get to paly the demo yet but I preordered the game because I think it will be great, or hope so. Thank goodness it's not the same guys that developed Shellshock 2 and Rogue Warrior. I was a little worried when I heard that it's done by Rebellion.

also I think I'm close to the end of ME2 and I really enjoyed it a lot, I think it's awesome. I don't know any game where characters were that great and where you actually cared for them. They improved ME nicely. I remember how bad the framerate was in ME1 and so far I have yet to come across framerate issues in ME2. Doesn't matter how much is going on, it runs smoothly. Fighting the thresher maw was impressive. Puts the fights against them in ME1 to shame. The weapons are awesome too. The M-920 Cain is sooooo awesome. Made the thresher maw a piece of cake. It's not perfect of course...planet scanning gets boring quickly (but you still keep doing it because you want all them upgrades) and on the xbox 360 I realized that there's some weird pop-up problems where characters pop in and out of the picture during conversations. That is a bit annoying because it sort of looks pretty weird when it happens. But other than that I'm really digging this.

Played the Aliens Vs Predator multiplayer demo for a bit. Really cool multiplayer concept, giving the aliens the ability to climb on walls and ceilings gives you a whole different kind of game. The Predator has some crazy shit it can use also. Playing as a Marine can almost be scary. The lighting effects play a huge part in it and your flashlight is very weak. Hearing aliens hiss all around you and then having one stare you in the face as it impales you with it's tail can make you jump.

I didn't get to paly the demo yet but I preordered the game because I think it will be great, or hope so. Thank goodness it's not the same guys that developed Shellshock 2 and Rogue Warrior. I was a little worried when I heard that it's done by Rebellion.

also I think I'm close to the end of ME2 and I really enjoyed it a lot, I think it's awesome. I don't know any game where characters were that great and where you actually cared for them. They improved ME nicely. I remember how bad the framerate was in ME1 and so far I have yet to come across framerate issues in ME2. Doesn't matter how much is going on, it runs smoothly. Fighting the thresher maw was impressive. Puts the fights against them in ME1 to shame. The weapons are awesome too. The M-920 Cain is sooooo awesome. Made the thresher maw a piece of cake. It's not perfect of course...planet scanning gets boring quickly (but you still keep doing it because you want all them upgrades) and on the xbox 360 I realized that there's some weird pop-up problems where characters pop in and out of the picture during conversations. That is a bit annoying because it sort of looks pretty weird when it happens. But other than that I'm really digging this.

I actually finished my game of ME1 last night, and I have to say the improvements in ME2 are staggering. The framerate, pop up textures, and bad combat are all gone. So I'm officially starting my second play through of ME2 but with a cleared character from the first game (all of the right choices too, in my opinion)

The Cain is a beast of a weapon, I also used it on the thresher!

A friend of mine is playing it on PC when I was at his house the other night, planet scanning is incredibly fast and easy on there, due to the mouse being much more accurate to control and the sensitivity. It kind of made me mad at how fast it was compared to Xbox...

Aliens vs Predator demo is pretty fun, kind of dead atmosphere though when there's no combat occurring.

BIOSHOCK 2!! Gotta ship a seemingly endless amount of them on Monday but I'll be taking my copy home as soon as I'm allowed...so excited!!

I *loved* the first one, so I'm incredibly keen to see how the second one pans out.

I'm also givin' Dante's Inferno a go this weekend. And (apparently because I have ovaries, lol) I picked up the (old now) expansion to Sims 3, plus the addon pack 'High End Loft Stuff' so I can be a wanker with a poncy virtual mansion.

[EphelDuath666]

finished Mass Effect 2 today and actually my first playthrough in fact was a perfect one, everyone survived and I'm only short of 3 achievements, 2 of them tech achievements (warp specialist and incineration specialist), those 2 should be easy....plus beating the game on 'insane' difficulty. That shouldn't be as easy. I already thought it was not too easy on 'normal'. But I'll try anyways. Took me 43 hours to beat the game so that should be about the time it takes to see most of what the game has to offer. This is certainly one of the best games I've ever played.

[Keeker]

Played the Aliens Vs Predator multiplayer demo for a bit. Really cool multiplayer concept, giving the aliens the ability to climb on walls and ceilings gives you a whole different kind of game. The Predator has some crazy shit it can use also. Playing as a Marine can almost be scary. The lighting effects play a huge part in it and your flashlight is very weak. Hearing aliens hiss all around you and then having one stare you in the face as it impales you with it's tail can make you jump.

My son's been playing it as well. I only watched a bit of it but could hear the sounds of those Alien detector-radar-doofers all over the house.

finished Mass Effect 2 today and actually my first playthrough in fact was a perfect one, everyone survived and I'm only short of 3 achievements, 2 of them tech achievements (warp specialist and incineration specialist), those 2 should be easy....plus beating the game on 'insane' difficulty. That shouldn't be as easy. I already thought it was not too easy on 'normal'. But I'll try anyways. Took me 43 hours to beat the game so that should be about the time it takes to see most of what the game has to offer. This is certainly one of the best games I've ever played.

That game is hard as can be on Insanity. I finished the first part, as soon as I got to the first real mission I couldn't even get through the first fight.

[EphelDuath666]

That game is hard as can be on Insanity. I finished the first part, as soon as I got to the first real mission I couldn't even get through the first fight.

yikes...oh well, I got 1200 points in ME1. So I guess I can live with just 940 points in ME2, hehe. But I think I'll at least give it a try anyways.
And I assume you get the very same upgrades and weapons on veteran or extreme difficulty settings.