I awoke to find Mass Effect 2 is ready to go this morning (and then spent the next 45 minutes decrypting). My first impressions after seeing the introduction:

  • The game not only looks a lot better, but also runs considerably better on PC than it’s predecessor ever did too.
  • If you don’t already have an EA Online account creating a new one will confuse you because there is an email verification process they don’t mention which you will need to do before having access to the Cerberus Network (it will tell you your email is wrong if you try to log in after creating an account). I didn’t receive the email and had to visit ea.com to get another one.
  • Downloading additional content on PC is done manually via the web. They should have done it the same way they did with Dragon Age, from within the game.
  • The process of importing your save from the original game requires you to manually tell it where the save file is via the configuration tool. You would think they would know where the original save games were and that it would be automatic, but oh well.
  • They’ve gone and changed all the controls from what they were in the original game which is extremely confusing having recently played it.
  • I’m not sure how I feel about the whole thermal clip change yet. I can see it will become problematic since it indirectly makes ammunition a finite resource, whereas the original had unlimited ammunition.

I have a WoW raid tonight so it’s going to be a big night!