Mass Effect 2 - Arrival Review @ Joystiq

[Dhruin]

Joystiq has posted a review of the new Mass Effect 2 DLC, Arrival. They weren't particularly impressed, suggesting you only buy it on discount:

I'll stop the story revelations there, because frankly, story's about all "Arrival" has going for it. There's one new (boring) character, a single (less boring) new environment and an A-to-B murderfest with some cursory button pushing interspersed.

No vehicles, no new gameplay concepts, no real interesting decisions. And get this: It's a solo mission, which of course means no new interactions with your beloved crew (assuming you, you know, have kept them alive).

In other news, Arrival has been officially released:

Mass Effect Arrival, the final DLC for Mass Effect 2, is now available for the PC and Xbox 360. It will be available later today for the Playstation 3.
A deep cover agent is missing in Batarian space, after reporting evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion. Shepard must travel to the edge of the galaxy, rescue the agent, and discover the truth behind the Arrival.

More information.

 

[Couchpotato]

Its basically a setup for Massefect 3. You do a mission solo solve it either good or violently with consequences. Given a warning to appear on Earth when summoned. These aren't spoilers just generalizations of the dlc. Play to see what the choices are. Enjoy another Bioware DLC.

Also yes you play solo no companions probably couldn't afford the voice actors.

 

[rich ruffo]

It would have been nice if Bioware did a proper expantion, leading you to Mass Effect 3. Bioware would have raked in the cash, giving them more time for production on ME3 . In a perfect world right.

 

[DoctorNarrative]

I enjoyed it. It was not as good as Shadowbroker or Overlord but it was better than Kasumi and most of the free stuff. I don't think it set the stage for ME3 much though, since ME2 already ended with the reapers starting to invade.

 

[dagoo7]

" .. A-to-B murderfest with some cursory button pushing interspersed ... no new gameplay concepts, no real interesting decisions."

Sounds suspiciously like they are describing/reviewing the full original ME2. That's about how I would sum it up.

 

[Kardiophylax]

I hope ME3 increases the diversity between the classes. In ME2, I ended up using a mod to swap between several classes after getting bored with the one I had picked (Infiltrator, I think). They all ended up being very much the same to me, so I ended up just going soldier to finish the playthrough. Then I never started the game again.

Compare that to ME1 which I played through three separate times.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Hope they'll do a package one day with all ME2 DLCs combined ...
But I rather fear they'll use these DLCs as tools for getting more money from the secondary market which means to me that they probably won't release them in one big package ...

 

[northreign]

Obviously, their sales expectations were quite low.

 

[ChienAboyeur]

Its basically a setup for Massefect 3. You do a mission solo solve it either good or violently with consequences. Given a warning to appear on Earth when summoned. These aren't spoilers just generalizations of the dlc. Play to see what the choices are. Enjoy another Bioware DLC.

Also yes you play solo no companions probably couldn't afford the voice actors.

Summed up quite well: all about not caring for your actions'consequences or trying to mitigate them.

One track action, you are allowed to watch through the train windows. And get lost in a complex.

Probably the biggest interest: bonuses/upgrades accessible in this DLC if you are a powergamer and if all upgrades are carried over in ME3.

Save that…

Maybe there is additional content in the Shadow broker's base, I did not check that.

Hope they'll do a package one day with all ME2 DLCs combined …

They will probably release a special edition as they did for DA:O.