Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Mass Effect 2 DLC

As I mentioned in Monday's post, I really wanted to finish up Mass Effect 2's latest DLC content.  There were two available, Kasumi - Stolen Memory and Overlord.  Each cost 560 Xbox Live points which is around $7.50.  Continue on for some impressions.

Kasumi - Stolen Memory.  This DLC was actually quite surprising.  After I downloaded it, I was on the Citadel finishing up some other business.  On my way to the ship, I started hearing some really strange advertisements.  They called me out by name and were pretty funny.  They even asked for a password.  I just shrugged it off as background flavor trying phishing attempts.

When I was back on board my ship, I had a message waiting for me regarding the DLC.  It seems to start it off, Kasumi will contact me via a special advertisement.  Now it all makes sense.  It was a great way to start up the new content.

As for the rest of the DLC, I won't spoil it for you.  It was fully voiced and filled with new and interesting art.  The mission itself was unlike previous content and very interesting. You do get a new weapon and Kasumi will join the team.  The downside is that it was a little short.  However, I think is was worth the money due to the quality level.

Overlord.  This DLC was released not too long ago.  It starts out when you receive a message from the Illusive Man to check up on a research station.  Something terrible has happened and it is up to you to clean up the mess.  Isn't that always the way?

Again, I won't spoil the story for you.  Like the Kasumi DLC, it is a new adventure and not just a reuse of prior work.  This one even has a few puzzles you need to solve.  It is fully voiced, has new art and even involves some vehicle combat.

The storyline was very well done, as were the voice effects (you'll see).  It took me two gaming sessions to finish it up, so I think the length of the DLC was acceptable.  Sadly, no new characters in this pack.  I was also disappointed in the lack of a Renegade option in one of the scenes. 

Overall, it was definitely worth the money.  When it comes to DLC, we have come a long way since Horse Armor.  The quality level that Bioware maintains is one of the reasons I am looking forward to TOR.  I hope they can maintain it with that gigantic new game.