Mass Effect 2 - Review Flood #1

Not surprisingly for such a high profile game, there are a massive number of release-day reviews.  Over half of the scores are straight 10/10s, though some bugs and graphical issues are noted in a few.  These are almost all X360 articles, though NowGamer is for PC.  1Up is the most critical, feeling the RPG aspect has been too streamlined.

I'm going to line list them, because there are just so many.

• OMX UK - 10/10, "gaming's best told story" and "superb acting and script".
• Videogamer.com - 10/10, "everything is stunning".
• TeamXbox - 10/10, "A game that ranks at the top of the medium", but they note "strange, though infrequent bugs".
• Games Radar - 10/10 - "BioWare's most fully realised work to date".  They have a section at the end that compares to Borderlands, Dragon Age and Fallout 3, saying the game is better than all of them.  On Dragon Age, they say "Mass Effect 2 has a better combat system, better voice acting, better dialog, better animation, better graphics.."
• Eurogamer - 10/10 - "BioWare's greatest success in Mass Effect 2 has been taking a complex RPG and making it effortless to understand, play and enjoy on a constant basis, because it has done this in a manner that should prove utterly essential to veterans and newcomers alike, and more than enough to suggest Mass Effect 3 will be the most important game in BioWare's history."
• PlanetXbox360 - 10/10 - "My journey with Commander Shepherd opened up a new view of what this form of entertainment can do, and allowed me to emotionally connect (and care) with the virtual characters on my television screen."
• Destructoid - 10/10 - "Flawless victory", "So, combat is improved and much faster than before. Part of that reason is because weapons now use clips, meaning there's no more waiting behind a wall for precious seconds as weapon heat dissipates. Guns also now have unique identities and different battlefield applications. The right gun is just as valuable as the right type of ammunition (and there are plenty of ammo options to choose from, all of which exploit some core weakness). The other part is that Shepard now has more effective powers that can be tied to the face buttons. On the AI side, however, a radial pause menu construct is still needed to queue single actions.  Perhaps most importantly, there are no apparent dice rolls. Guns are accurate, and damage is based on, in large part, where you shoot. Headshots are vital to the space cop."
• GameSpy - 5/5 - "With Mass Effect 2 BioWare takes the videogame sequel and shows us how it's done. The combat's better, the space exploration's more satisfying, the writing's as clever as any the studio has put forth, and the artistic vision behind this sci-fi galaxy -- down to the Hollywood-talent voice work -- is top-notch. But it's the way that Mass Effect 2 expands upon the narrative established in the first game that marks a true breakthrough for interactive storytelling."
• Gamer Limit - 9.5/10.
• CVG - 9.3/10 - "Unlike the original, Mass Effect 2 kicks off with a bang and is generally well-paced throughout. Much of the sequel revolves around Sheppard combing the galaxy to recruit an elite team to tackle the Reapers, which naturally leads to you solving each individual's problem before they hop onto your ship.
  
  These missions are, for the most part, unique, interesting and, most of all, fantastically written. Though cinematic wonder Heavy Rain looms near on the horizon, Mass Effect 2 is arguably the closest to an interactive movie we've ever come."
• IGN AU - 9.3/10 - "The determination of Shepard's disposition – the Paragon / Renegade process – has been further tinkered with, too. Now, midway through many cutscenes, you can choose to interject with a positive or negative response to what's going on, ultimately opening up new conversation choices and adding to your overall good or bad, black or white, standing in the game. There is a serious flaw here, though – Mass Effect 2 only offers you one choice during these moments – either Renegade or Paragon. You have to opt out of these moments entirely if your personal preference isn't the one on screen. A better system would've allowed for both options at any given time.
• IGN UK - 9.2/10
• 1Up - A minus - The first real criticism, although still overwhelmingly positive. "Despite this improved balance, I found myself disappointed by the lack of variety within the weapon classes. Worse, ME's unique infinite-ammo cooldown-based weapon system has been abandoned in favor of a bog-standard style that has you picking up rifle magazines -- sorry, "thermal clips" -- the enemies drop as you go. You earn no experience for kills, and there are no random drops at all aside from clips. Vehicular missions are gone, replaced by a tedious planet-scanning minigame and a placeholder promise of DLC, and environments sacrifice non-linearity for improved aesthetic variety. ME2 does a brilliant job of creating variety and choice and freedom in dialogue, but the action-driven and character-building portions feel a lot more limited than before. Much of ME's appeal was the sense of Star Trek-like exploration, something completely absent in this follow-up."
• GameSpot - 9/10 - Again, some mention of bugs but still very positive. "The repetitive nature of Mass Effect's cookie-cutter levels is gone, as are the vehicle sequences featuring the oft-maligned rover called the Mako. Mass Effect 2's missions take place across a wonderful variety of locales, from the creepy interior of a derelict vessel to a deep-space prison. Some of them trip up the pace by throwing in additional challenges, such as one in which you must avoid direct sunlight lest it burn you to a crisp. Most levels are thoughtfully constructed, letting you charge from one cover spot to the next in order to unleash destruction."
• GamePro - 4.5/5
• NowGamer - 9.5/10 - This one is a PC review.  "Is it premature to declare Game of the Year already?", "Having played and completed every BioWare RPG released, we’re still comfortable saying that if the Canadian developer succumbed to the recession tomorrow (and that’s hardly likely) that this would be its magnum opus."

Thanks to Metacritic for many of these.