Games of the Decade: Mass Effect 2 gave me characters I will cherish forever

I count myself lucky to have played Mass Effect 2 prior to Mass Effect. As good a game as that was in its own right, had my first exposure to the Mass effect universe been elevator loading screens and Mako drives, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. But gosh, that Mass Effect 2 intro. As a Star Trek fan of several years, the elements of it were just immediately familiar - the hustle and bustle on a huge ship, people using tablets for everything, before suddenly a surprise attack shatters that tranquillity forever.

There aren't many other game intros I remember that clearly for their apparent love for their respective genre tropes - Uncharted, certainly, Far Cry, Until Dawn perhaps. But as you can see from that list, a bombastic intro gives you an idea of the lengths a game will go to pull all the stops and ensnare you. Epic is still the first word that comes to mind when I think of Mass Effect 2, and that goes both for how its action scenes made me gasp and how its power fantasy overshoots into cringe territory at times.

With Mass Effect 2, my dearest gaming wish had come true - finally, a good space game. Of course, being a game, it wasn't interested in the diplomatic nuances of Star Trek quite as much so it could still get you to shoot enemies in the face, and of course the actual goal of the game was quickly overshadowed by the possibility of getting one of the unexpectedly attractive aliens to take a very close look at your captain's quarters. Maybe that was the actual goal all along.

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