Game of the Generation Preliminaries: Mass Effect 1 vs. 2

Throw the mechanics of Mass Effect 2 into the first game and... well, it wouldn't be that easy to make it work, but still, that would make Mass Effect 1 take this easy. Mass Effect 2 is the real answer.

This is a topic I had a very long argument with a friend over, but I still stick by my choice.

Mass Effect 2 was a generation defining game, even though the story in 1 is vastly superior. Mass Effect 2 is the right choice!

I love both games dearly, but my vote definitely goes to ME2.

I think highlighting one of the Mass Effect games in particular doesn't properly credit the amazing storytelling and character continuity across three games. The achievements of the franchise as a whole is greater than it's individual parts.

Also Mass Effect 3 is the best game in the series so fuck everybody.

Personally, I prefer Mass Effect 1 for building the overarching plot, characters, and brilliant universe. Implementing things like the new dialogue wheel, seamlessly integrating speech checks into conversations to make it more personal, and having player choices have lasting impact were huge! When you get the unveil of the reapers and you meet Sovereign, when you meet Vigil on Ilos, exploring the Citadel for the first time, I remember this game from start to finish.

Mass Effect 2 will probably win this. I can see why too. It nailed it as a stellar sequel to a great game. ME2 improved the shooting and trimmed the fat ME1 had. ME2 also improved the dialog system as well as adding the paragon/renegade LT/RT system for more branching conversations.

I didn't like losing armor configurations to one single suit, I like number crunching and ME2 didn't deliver on that front. Even regarding criticisms however, I can still critique ME1 more than ME2. ME2 is more polished. ME2 is the game that made ME3 such a blockbuster event.

Conclusion: Objectively, ME2. Personally, ME1.

Thought this would be a closer contest but Mass Effect 2 has taken a runaway lead. ME2 would be my pick as well. As much as I love the universe the first game established, the floaty shooting and Mako sequences really bogged down the game for me. ME2 took away a bit too many of the RPG elements but I really enjoyed jet-setting across the galaxy to build this A-team of Reaper fighters. And it has Mordin.

ME1, mainly because it had a much stronger story. Gameplay wise, it had problems, but I really hate how their fix for most of them was just "let's remove them and make an action game". It was the beginning of Bioware no longer trying to make RPG's.

It's kinda hard and unfair to judge the Mass Effect games entirely seperately considering what they set out to do with this trilogy. Even though they are quite different games in their own right, they were genuinely intended (and ended up being) three parts of a whole. The wheels may have come off a bit during ME3, but that wasn't entirely the fault of ME3. Weaknesses in ME2 were largely responsible for failures in ME3, just like the strong groundwork in ME1 was largely responsible for the successes in ME2.

Regardless of which game is individually 'best', I think they deserve a huge amount of credit for even attempting what they did with the Mass Effect trilogy, even if they (perhaps inevitably) didn't quite pull it off in the end. In an increasingly 'safe' industry, the ME trilogy was one of the most ambitious things anybody attempted during this generation. 'That Ending' may ultimately mean it is remembered as a brave attempt rather than a complete success, but it's pretty remarkable they ever reached the heights they did and came as close to pulling the whole thing off as they did.

Pushed to pick one I would have to say ME2, simply because that was where most of the high points were reached and before the major flaws in the series became noticeable, but really it stands as representative for the trilogy as a whole. This console generation will inevitably end up being remembered for CoD4 and Gears, but it could do a lot worse than being remembered for the Mass Effect trilogy.

I went with Mass Effect 1 largely for the same reasons everyone else who voted for it did: better world building and setting. Mass Effect 2 played better, it had cooler moments, it looked cooler but Mass Effect 1 had a way better story, it kept me on the edge of my seat. The world building was so good - I pretty much read every log, every conversation, mined every planet. It was awesome.

This is why you should have put both. Mass Effect 2 will likely win despite having the lesser story, the lesser characters (minus one or two exceptions), and the far less interesting villain. The only thing Mass Effect 2 did better (and this is a debate) is the mechanics and it did have superior UI.

This is so hard. It's like asking which hand I prefer when I think both are pretty damn awesome since both can pick up pizza slices and open doors and both make playing Mass Effect games much easier... Ugh...

I picked Mass Effect over Mass Effect 2 because it created the universe and set the stage for 2 and 3. I also enjoyed just walking around in that game and exploring planets, much more than the other games that seemed to downplay the exploration aspects that I liked so much.

I almost went with 2 because of the mechanics. The second game plays so much better and isn't as frustrating as the first game. Still, I think I like 1 more just for the story and the universe it created and the promise of it all.

If Mass Effect 1 didn't run like complete shit then it'd be tough. I love the overall story in ME1 way more than I did in ME2. ME2 is simply a better playing game with better characters while ME1 set up the universe which is a challenge in it's own right. The thing that pushes it over the top for me is the suicide mission which is a fantastic sequence of events that ME1 simple doesn't have. I'll have to go with ME2. I love them both but that's how it'll go for me.

ME2 is just a better game to play overall, yeah they streamlined it but IMO losing some of the more 'hardcore' RPGish elements to make it a better playing game was worth it. Looking back on the story though, I'm still not sure how I feel about the collect them all Pokemon aspect of the game, the main meat being loyalty missions, building up your team only for it to all be over in the next few scenes hit me a bit flat. Don't get me wrong though, I loved the characters and the back stories of them.

f*ck you ME2 voters! You're making ME1 looose ;_;

Mass Effect 1 on PC

Hate to say it but there are more casuals than "hard core" gamers. Hence the CoD sales. ME2 is the casual game on this list, so yeah.

2 made everything easier, plus it pleased my pleasure from one and added to it. Always 2....always.

My problem with this - and I love both these games, let's get that out there right up front - is that I can in some way, like, objectively understand why the consensus is that Mass Effect 2 is the better game, I just didn't love it as much as I loved ME1. ME2 took a lot of the jank out of ME, but they also took some of the complexity out of it, along with some of the soul. I liked the tighter narrative of ME1, and I generally thought that the greater emphasis on character back-story and whatnot in ME2 highlighted the fact that a lot of the characters from ME1 were just more interesting than those in ME2, to me at least. ME1 was just such an achievement in world-building and introducing you to this large, complex, well fleshed out sci-fi universe, and the first time you get to explore that stuff is always going to be more impressive than the second time.

But the big change was in the combat; ME1's combat was rough around the edges, but I'll take a more unique system based on RPGs over a generic third person shooter with a little bit of window dressing any day. But that's just because I prefer RPGs, and that's why it was disappointing to see one of the best RPG studios turning away from that. I also played ME1 a good six months or so after it was released, so maybe a lot of the most janky stuff had been patched out of the game by then, I dunno.

Whatever, Mass Effect 2 will win, and Dragon Age: Origins is the best BioWare game and you're all assholes.

Mass Effect 2 is one of my favorite games ever made.

As a guy who shouted about Mass Effect in the main thread, I always knew it would lose this fight. I'm just happy 1 got a shout out in the completion.

Mass effect 1 is a great game. Mass effect 2 is probably the best game of the generation (or very close behind the ole Dark Souls)

Mass Effect 2 far in a way is a better looking and better playing game. The sad thing is that you absolutely NEED to slog through Mass Effect if you want to understand anything that's going on in ME2. If not for the botched ending drama we could've counted all three as one singular game of the generation instead of splitting hairs on characters vs story vs world building.

Mass Effect 2 is sexier.

ME2. It was the only game this generation I played through 3 times and didn't mind it (okay, that's a slight lie because my Insanity run was frustrating in spots.)

Mass Effect, for sure.

The tone of that game is completely lost in the sequels. There's real mystery in ME. The music is the greatest casualty going forward. ME2 and 3 are quite forgettable musically but Mass Effect is so. damn. good. And while 2 has more "extreme" dialogue options, there are also less. Mass Effect had far more minor side quest dialogue. Also had Rex. Also... did I mention music? You remember the end credits song?

It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that ME2 will win this poll, which is too bad really. Mass Effect has its issues but the promise of the game is out of this world. It's really the closest we ever got to the Star Trek experience games seem born to emulate.

I'll take world building and rpg elements over the dirty dozen. I loved the story in ME, but preferred the game play in 2. As for the way this vote is skewing towards 2, I am not surprised. I gave ME to two friends who couldn't be bothered to play past the first two hours.

Mass Effect 2 absolutely plays better but I have to go with the original. The way that game introduces you to the ME universe is unforgettable and I feel like the story arc is the best of the three games.

Definitely the 1st for me. Mass Effect 2 went in the exact opposite direction I hoped it would, still a great game in its own right.

The overall story in Mass Effect 1 was much better. The individual character arcs and gameplay was bad though.

The overall story in Mass Effect 2 was one of the worst I've ever seen. But the individual character arcs were awesome and it was a pretty competent shooter.

The ending of Mass Effect 2 was so silly and terrible that it soured the entire game for me. It's as if they had a great idea for a story, wrote most of it, then gave the script to a 5-year-old to write the last two pages with absolute nonsense.

I want the scary aliens to put humans in blenders to get blood and guts to pump into a big giant alien robot monster and he'll have sharp fingers with three eyes and will attack commander Shepard on a big floating platform in the spaceship and they save everyone by shooting the alien's blood!

Except this Giant Bomb, not the nebulous "gaming community" as a whole. The people that go to Giant Bomb, engage in the forums, and vote in polls like are hardcore gamers, plain and simple. Also, in what world is Mass Effect 2 a "casual game". The people that play COD and Madden probably don't even know what Mass Effect is, and if they do they certainly don't give a shit about it.

ME2 may be more streamlined than the first game, but calling it casual is ludicrous. The only explanation for the poll results is that a majority of people consider Mass Effect 2 a better game. I can you tell the reason I prefer Mass Effect 2 over the original is not because it's "more casual", but because it's a better playing, better looking game with more worthwhile content (everyone forgets that ME1 was like 50% dialog free Mako missions) and far few rough edges than the original.

Mass Effect 2 is certainly the better game yet I didn't enjoy it as much as the first. The way they told the story in the first game was more interesting to me than the second one. It's weird how sometimes I think gameplay is what makes a game better in my eyes but other times it's the story. In this case the story made more of a impact so ME1 gets my vote.

The overarching story in ME1 is way better, but ME2 has great singular moments. The one that gives me the bigger warm and fuzzy feeling is ME1, so that's where I vote.

I totally agree with this.

The actual main plot in Mass Effect 2 I think was pretty bad but the characters and their mission were really fun. I also thought the idea of the final mission was great... but it was really disappointing. The boss... and how easy it was to make sure all your guys made it.

I just enjoyed the setting of 1 more. I liked how there were bigger open areas. I really think it's crazy that as that series went on in the main games at least, the Citadel was always so small.

And 1 had a better villain. It wrapped up pretty cleanly which I enjoyed.

Only monsters would vote for Mass Effect 1 over Mass Effect 2!

I'm a monster.

Poll's now closed. Mass Effect 2 wins with a whopping 66% and 414 votes cast.