Game Diary: Mass Effect 2 Was a TV Show I Always Wanted to Watch
Remember during the 2010s when it seemed every game was going to get a movie adaptation? Sony keeps threatening the world with an Uncharted film even after that franchise bowed out just a few years ago, but by and large the big screen ambitions of AAA 2010 gaming has died out.
Luckily, there’s been better success on the boob tube, with Castlevania having proven to be a hit, and other games like Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy XIV, and Ubisoft’s many, many IPs planning to follow suit in the near future. There’s plenty of games that fans think should get some kind of adaptation, and BioWare’s sci-fi franchise Mass Effect has been one of the most requested. At one point, it was going to be adapted into films, but those plans fell through. But that ended up working for the best, because the now 10-year-old Mass Effect 2 ended up being the TV show the franchise needed.
ME2 continues Commander Shepard’s story, but in some ways functions like a TV sequel, and more importantly a soft reboot, to a big budget movie. The glory of the Milky Way galaxy gets some grime and dirt on it right from the start, with Shepard’s trusty Normandy getting jumped while out in space and killing the Commander. Brought back to life by the Illusive Man and his organization Cerberus, basically the KKK but in space, Shepard gets tasked with assembling a suicide squad of outcasts and misfits to fight a race of human-kidnapping bugs called the Collectors.
The first Mass Effect, released in 2007, is a solid game with a rhythm and flow that feels janky in comparison to its successors. The game wants to be a sci-fi blockbuster, and nowhere is that more clear than its middle act being unfocused. It’s a large galaxy worth exploring as much as possible, but it was easy for the manhunt for Saren to fall by the wayside. The finale of that game, from Virmire onwards, remains the best part of that game and brings the whole first effort home.
ME2 is smaller in comparison to its predecessor, but feels more immediate and intimate. The Collector threat is very prominent, but the real focus is on the cast and how they relate to each other and the universe they live in. It’s worth playing the game as a slow burn the same way you’d watch a weekly TV series, treating each moment of downtime on the Normandy or hub planets as effectively a commercial break before returning to continue the plot.
I played the original Mass Effect on the Xbox 360 not long after release and bounced off it after entering the Citadel for the first time. I liked the opening, but it felt like its still pretty impressive commercial deceived me. The sequel had me pretty much right from the start with its opening menu of the Collector Base and dark synth playing in the background. Each game’s main menu is of a planet or a similar structure, and this one felt alluring and foreboding, like a real good title card.
The shows that come to mind for me when thinking about this game the most are, frankly, The Mandalorian and The Witcher. Like those two shows, there’s an “adventure of the week” vibe, whether said adventure is how Shepard and crew got caught up in a prison break in the middle of space or had to fight a mercenary outfit on a pair of giant skyscrapers to recruit the amphibious assassin Thane before he reaches his target. The events in each location feel like they tell their own story without feeling pointless or distracting from the main Collector thread. Had the game had come out now and released episodic chunks like Hitman 2016 or a Telltale game, it wouldn’t feel too jarring. (Also, an episodic Mass Effect would likely be interesting in reality! Do that, EA.)
What certainly helps the game feel episodic are the loyalty missions. Each of the misfits in Shepard’s 12 has baggage they’ve yet to wrestle with, and since attacking the Collectors could easily be their One Last Job, Shepard has to help them get some amount of closure. These little vignettes are the moments where Shepard feels less like a space warrior and more like a TV writer working on a character’s storyline for a season. Each squad mate’s scenario is unique to who they are, even if every character’s personal grievance more or less boils down to “daddy issues.” Even if completing the missions didn’t make each character loyal to Shepard and help them survive the final mission, the effort would still be worth it because the cast is compelling and interesting. By the time the actual suicide mission rolls around, it has the stakes and impact of a season finale of a show you’ve become really invested in.
Like all games, Mass Effect 2 is not perfect. Some of its writing hasn’t aged well, and the binary moral system is static. But of the four games, it’s the one that feels the most sure of itself and the story it wants to tell. By comparison, Mass Effect 3 feels like it’s steamrolling to the end, sometimes stopping to let everyone breathe for a few seconds. Think of a show you really liked whose final season made some jumps to get everyone in place for its end. Mass Effect Andromeda, a game I enjoy more than most and am certain will get its time in the sun, is ultimately a season of a show where you know something just fell apart. (So, basically what’s happening with American Gods right now.)
When Mass Effect eventually returns, it’ll be interesting to see what form it takes. I just loved that world and how it gave me a way to feel like I was in a prestige drama every day when I came home from school. Sure, I could just as easily watch The Expanse right now or one of the many Star Trek shows, and I will eventually. But they don’t let me make out with a space raptor and then telekinetically body slam a robot, now do they?
