Yes, I know that I've done Mass Effect posts to death now, but this will be among the last that I do for the foreseeable future. So while the games were great, the DLCs made them even better, especially the story related ones. Some of them were good, some of them were bad, but for the most part, they made us continue to play these great games. With that in mind, lets take a look at them:
Bring Down The Sky
Our first DLC for Mass Effect, gives the game a very long mission where Shepard is called to prevent an inhabited asteroid from hitting the Terra Nova colony in the Asgard system, which as a result, would save the civilians from certain death. Who is responsible for this? A batarian extremist group lead by the terrorist called Bahak (this also serves as the batarians debut in the franchise). As I said, it is very long, but manages to establish the batarians to give us an idea of what they are like. Its OK for the most part, but the only criticisms that I can say, are it's length, the repetitive gameplay and that's it. 7/10
Pinnacle Station (footage review)
Not much to say about this one. It just adds a battle arena for you to put your combat skills to the test and to be honest, having looked at it, it looks boring. For anybody that owns a PS3, you don't get this DLC with your version of Mass Effect, but you're not missing out on much as a DLC in Mass Effect 3 makes up for it, which I'll get to later, but as for this one, its very disappointing. 7/10
Normandy Crash Site (part of the Cerberus Network)
With the addition of other missions given by the Cerberus Network, this one allows Shepard to travel to a planet where the original Normandy crash landed, 2 years after it crashed. This mission allows Shepard to provide closure on those who died in the attack, as well as to put up a memorial statue (above) to show passers by, what happened. I thought that despite it being very short, it is a very sweet goodbye to what was a great ship, until Cerberus reinvented it. 8/10
Zaeed - The Price of Revenge (part of the Cerberus Network)
This one adds a new squad member to Shepard's cause. His name is Zaeed Massani, a former mercenary turned bounty hunter who can be easily acquired just by talking to him on Omega anytime after completing your mission on Freedom's Progress. Unlike the other squad members, his loyalty mission can be completed after acquiring him, which involves him dealing with an old friend of his, who betrayed him (and this is one of many loyalty missions where you could potentially lose Zaeed's loyalty). He's a great, if not, bad ass character that just wants to get the job done, whatever it takes and I'm sure that all fans of the franchise love him. 8/10
Firewalker Pack (part of the Cerberus Network)
Not much to say about this one. It just extends the experience of using ground vehicles in the Mass Effect universe, but its also a way to get more materials for upgrades to the ship, the characters and Shepard himself/herself. Not much else to say there, but the missions given are quite fun and I have to say that this vehicle works much better than the Mako, believe me. 8/10
Kasumi - Stolen Money
This one adds the master thief Kasumi Goto to Sheperd's list of squad members, when he talks to her on the Citadel anytime after the mission on FP and gives her the password, provided by the Illusive Man. Like with Zaeed, her loyalty mission can be done anytime after acquiring her and it's one of the more unique ones where Sheperd squad is limited to only him/her and Kasumi which I think makes the game even more fun to play. As for this DLC, I like it. The character is great and funny, the mission is one of the best and well thought out ones in the game and I'm sure Kasumi is a fan favourite among us. 9/10
Overlord
Shepard is called to go and investigate a Cerberus research base that has gone quiet. Upon arrival, he/she discovers that the facility is overrun with Geth, but something bigger, lurks within and in a very long mission, Shepard and his team, must find out what's happening and stop the menace responsible. Its a great DLC that can be used to increase exp for Shepard and his/her team, but is also the most heart breaking one so far, especially at the end of it, which I won't spoil here. Also the vehicle from the fire walker pack, returns for this outing as well. 9/10
Lair of the Shadow Broker
In the build up to Mass Effect 3, we get possibly the biggest DLC to date. This one sees Shepard working alongside former Mass Effect squad member, scientist Liara T'Soni to take down the Shadow Broker, who has kidnapped a friend of hers, who helped her get away with Shepard's body after the Normandy was destroyed. Its big because not only does it have story related material, it also gives Shepard a chance to rekindle with Liara, explore the Shadow Broker's ship and it serves as one of the DLCs that serve as a build up to Mass Effect 3. Its a great DLC that lets players see Liara once more which includes rekindling your relationship with her if you had one in Mass Effect, have her as a temporary squad member and more. 9/10
Genesis
Originally, this was made available to all PS3 owners of Mass Effect 2 because those greedy people at Microsoft acquired the publishing rights to the first game, however that's all changed now, but anyway. This was told in a interactive back story comic where players can make six key decisions from the first game. I find this to be very limited in that it only explores the main stuff, not any assignments and the geth who played a big role in that game, are never mentioned here, which kinda sucks, but considering that if both of those things were in it, it would be very long and we would be very angry. So from a personal point of view, you can use this, but be aware of the consequences (like Captain Kirrahe, being presumably dead). 7/10
Arrival
Arrival serves as the final DLC pack for Mass Effect 2. In it, Shepard is contacted by Admiral Hackett (who makes his physical debut here) who tells him/her to go and rescue a deep cover agent in batarian space who has information on a Reaper invasion. However, things are made difficult when he asks Shepard to go alone. Saying that, may make this DLC long and difficult and to be honest, it is long and difficult and it's another DLC that builds up to the events of the next game (and it even plays a big role in the next game as well) and also continues the hatred that most batarians have on Shepard (although that's never really explained as such so yeah). 9/10
Before I begin with this lot, it should be noted that if you have played any of the DLCs in the previous games, they will have closure in this game, such as Bahak from Bring Down The Sky returning and Zaeed and Kasumi needing help on missions on the Citadel.
From Ashes
You can play this after your first visit to the Citadel, but the squad member will become available after completing Palaven's moon. After waiting for eons, we finally now see what a Prothean looks like. In this one, Shepard goes to the place where this whole thing began, Eden Prime, to recover a Prothean artifact while also dealing with the Cerberus presence as well. But this artifact is something that could be key to the Reaper war. The squad member you get from this DLC is great and its great to return to an old planet of the series, even if we only get to explore some of it. 9/10
Extended Cut
There isn't really much to explain here as I've already looked at this, so if you want my review of this, go
here.
Leviathan
You can play this after completing Palaven's moon. With there being a war going on, Shepard gets contacted by Hacket to go to see Dr. Bryson, a man who may have discovered an ancient race that has the power to destroy a Reaper and has Shepard go to investigate. Unlike most DLCs, this gets separated into parts, meaning that you don't have to do it all in one go. It also adds a transit station on the Citadel to make travelling more easier as well as getting back to the Normandy quicker than just going to Bay D24, however, this may cause some glitches to occur with Kaiden/Ashley's encounter after the Coup attempt and Wrex if you sabotaged the Genophage cure. It also adds some things to your room on the Normandy free of charge. Its enjoyable for the most part and gives us more of a history to the Reapers. 9/10
Omega
Early on in the main game, we discover that Aria T'Loak and her mercenaries were forced to leave Omega when Cerberus invaded. With this DLC installed, we see Aria plotting her revenge and in one big DLC, Shepard helps her reclaim her home and in return, she will offer Shepard a lot of assets to his/her cause. Its another unique DLC that not only gives us a chance to use Aria as a squad member, but it also introduces us to the first female Turian in the whole franchise who I won't reveal here so you'll have to play the game to find out. Despite it's length, its a very well thought and designed DLC that is more around Aria than Shepard who for the most part, is just helping her, and that's it. 9/10
Citadel
In the last single player DLC, Shepard and his crew from the past and present are given some shore leave by Hackett and Anderson. Anderson offers Shepard his apartment, which Shepard accepts. But it isn't long before Shepard has to deal with some kind of conspiracy on him (but isn't Reapers or Cerberus which is a change), but his crew are willing to assist with this matter, and even Wrex comes along too. When that is over, you can then explore a brand new area of the Citadel which is best described as being a leisure and entertainment area with a casino, battle arena (told you so) and arcade. For the most part, this is just a DLC that allows you to spend more time with your favourite characters from the series (the alive ones at least) and is in my opinion, a fitting end to what has been a great series of games that I hope continues to make the franchise as a whole, great. 9/10
Genesis 2 (footage review)
Originally set to be an exclusive for the Wii U version of the game which was then later added to other platforms later on, this is an updated version for the interactive back story comic that was originally used in the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2, with additional decisions to make that covers the main events of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but as with before, doesn't explore any assignments, loyalty missions and still misses out big plot details like the geth and even DLC missions as well. It further limits the experience that Mass Effect 3 owners will have and is longer than before, making it very disappointing and limiting. 7/10
So that's your lot and to be honest, the majority of them are quite good, but some of them aren't really that necessary as such. 8/10
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