You're certainly more generous than I
Yeah, but I wouldn´t say "certainly", because likely a big part of it is simply me giving them more benefit of doubt in the case of this particular game, even though I´m aware that the current realities don´t quite justify it - I enjoyed both previous games (enjoying a replay of ME1 right now, actually) and I really want the concluding part not to suck across the board because it would ruin the first two games in retrospect.
As for the second section - it certainly looks better, but the actual content was, like, 90% filler combat - and 10% dialogue/button pushing.
I remember seeing some leaked footage of that section some time ago and that included some running around and talking between arrival to the base and shooting, which was cut from the demo. Also, supposedly there will be more dialogue options in general in the full game - could be a dev bullshitting, but again, a benefit of doubt from my side.
In this regard, I think the moment of truth in the full game will be, at the latest, the Citadel.
I simply can't fathom how people can keep enjoying the same exact fight over and over and over. But that's just a subjective observation.
Speaking for myself, my reasons would be:
1. Context - ME2 has some running around hubs and a lot of dialogues and this can be utilized to pace the overall experience.
2. Powers - it´s not just shooting (I would never play ME2 with the soldier class)
3. Encounter design - because I actually disagree it´s the exact same fight over and over. The covers are almost always there for sure, but personally I´ve found there to be a good variety due to (some subtle, some more obvious) differences in level design (even if too game-y and unnatural) and enemy composition. Part of it may be the insanity difficulty where you usually can´t just sit behind one cover till everything dies.
Missions mostly feature a fair share of unremarkable encounters, but usually make up for it with one or two scenarios which bring something new to the table and some of these I´ve found to be really good (Horizon ending, Geth colossus piece or saving "Archangel"). Eventually it does get repetitive for me too, but that´s mostly because ME2 is a quite long game if one doesn´t ignore the optional content.
4. Companion variety - at least on insanity the squad composition makes a difference in how encounters play out. Not a striking difference, mind you, but it does allow for some synergies and lessens the potential repetitiveness a bit.
5. Character development (very funny, I know) - in the beginning pretty much every class is strongly dependent on covers, but part of the fun for me was playing and developing my protagonist in a way that progressively led to more dynamic opportunities how to go about combat. That very likely doesn´t work for all the classes, but it somewhat worked for an infiltrator and it definitely worked for vanguard and sentinel.
That said, I think that the first point colours the other four quite a lot - I definitely give this game´s combat more leeway than I would if the game was only combat.
Somehow the combination of running around, talking and fighting in its pretty well developed setting just hits the spot for the occasions when I´m in the mood to grab imaginary popcorn and relax
.
If you like cover shooters - then it seems ME3 will be very good.
I know this isn´t addressed just to me, but personally I wouldn´t exactly say that I like cover shooters - ME2 and, to a lesser degree, ME1 are pretty much the only cover shooters I´ve played (I´ve never used a sticky cover in DE:HR
) so maybe I don´t mind it simply because it´s something different compared to what I´ve experienced in other games.
I will concede that the branching skill trees seem like a marginal improvement - but it remains to be seen how much of an impact choices have on playstyle. To me, it seems you'll still be popping out of cover a bit - over and over and over. No matter what skills you use. No meaningful alternative approach to combat. I hope I'm wrong.
Well, there´s the new heavy melee option, enemies usually don´t just sit behind cover and they use grenades regularly (also, I think some might even be able to shoot you through cover, judging by the new armor piercing ammo properties).
It seems that the combat is designed to encourage more dynamic playstyles than in the previous game and on insanity I certainly had to move around all the time.
What level of changes will the skill trees, encumbrance and weapon mods bring to table is certainly to be seen, as well as whether these changes will be for the better or not. For example, I already suspect that sentinel´s tech armour has been changed in a way that might result in this class being less enjoyable for me to play.
