DLC Review/Rant: Mass Effect 2 - Lair of the Shadow Broker, Stolen Memory, Overlord

I don't know what it is about downloadable content that gets me...perturbed? That'll do. Yeah! It makes me perturbed!

Through Mass Effect 1, 2, and Dragon Age: Origins, I outright refused to even think about having anything to do with downloadable content. My philosophy on video games is that there are things you can sell as DLC, and things you can't. Now, the stuff that BioWare have been putting out lately isn't quite something they can't sell, but it's almost something they can't sell. So, I'm gonna make a ruling on this...Okay, that reference from The Departed doesn't quite work, but you get the point.

Basically, I think there are some add-ons that should never be parted out to gamers. Sure, people will buy them; a lot of people have money to burn. But I think there's a moral factor at play here. We used to believe in things called "expansions" here in the gaming world, but somewhere down the line that translated into: Let's sell single missions for $10 a piece. Let's sell things that should rightfully be in the game, hold them hostage, so people will buy new copies of the game.

This last year saw BioWare put three party members up for sale on the Xbox Marketplace. Party members. On top of that, Dragon Age was hit with a bunch of 1-2 hour quests and items that made chatting up your party members ultimately meaningless.

To put things in perspective: While BioWare was releasing all of these DA mini-quests, which have a total value of $51 and add roughly 10 hours of gameplay (at the very most, since time-spent will depend on how fast you can kill things (since most of that time will be spent on combat)), Rockstar put out an add-on for Red Dead Redemption that added new game modes, a new story, achievements, new weapons, with all of the original voice actors in a remade landscape that took me 13 hours to complete at a sprint (and I didn't try most of the other game modes out; that game is scary) for a measly $10. This add-on should forever set the standard; I feel like I ripped Rockstar off.

Rant over.

But! Recently, there was a sale going on that allowed me to purchase the big add-ons for ME2 for $10 even. Which was a decent enough price for me to fold like a lawnchair on the matter and give these add-ons an honest try.

LAIR OF THE SHADOW BROKER (800 Microsoft Points/$10)

This add-on had me especially conflicted. Mass Effect fans might remember that this Shadow Broker business has been going on since the opening hours of Mass Effect 1, and was a recurring element in the sequel. Since Shepard's death, Liara has since made it her life's mission to track down and destroy the Shadow Broker by any means necessary. Not quite sure how that happened, since I'm sure it was Tali who'd had business with SB in the last game, but whatever.

In this add-on, the Shadow Broker plotline comes to an end. When I had first learned about this, I was reasonably disappointed. I just couldn't see why BioWare saw fit to lop off the ending to a story that had been building across two games and put it up for sale. How very renegade. In this instance, I was thinking with slippery slopes.

But! Then I actually played the thing, and I enjoyed it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and not just because BioWare decided to give Liara a makeover. You hand over some information on the Shadow Broker that Cerberus has conveniently dug up for you, and you're caught in quite the predicament as SB closes in on you. This includes riding along with Liara on a high speed chase through Ilium's skylanes and a subsequent sprint through a ritzy hotel. And, finally, you will reach the eponymous Lair of the Shadow Broker, which actually had me in awe for a few minutes. A lot of work went into that place.

The writing here is pretty tongue-in-cheek the entire way through, with Shepard and Liara wisecracking about omni-gel and the hacking minigame. There was definitely a lot of variety in this add-on, with a bit of mystery, drama, and a satisfying (albeit quick) ending. When all is said and done, your eventual encounter with the Shadow Broker will last a few minutes, then it's over.

Lair of the Shadow Broker does a lot to set up what could be another storyline in Mass Effect 3, and if that's the case, then maybe it was a good idea this was turned into DLC. I think, if anything, this add-on proved that BioWare has to be more open with what their intentions are when it comes to these things. I spent months, BioWare, MONTHS brooding over this, thinking that you were selling an ending back to us. In reality, you were selling a probable sidestory we most likely wouldn't have seen otherwise.

In that sense, I can't say with 100% certainty if this should have been in the game. Part of me says, "Hell, yes!" but another part of me says, "That should be the purpose of DLC: to expand on the baseline experience." Whether or not I was right or wrong will hinge upon how it's handled in ME3.

This is the stuff I think about.

Bottom line: $10 seems a little steep to me (again, RDR: Undead Nightmare was $10, and the two are by no means comparable), considering that most of the add-on involves lengthy stretches of combat, and will take you no more than an hour and a half to finish. But there are some impressive visuals, some great dialogue/drama, and an interesting twist in the legacy of the Shadow Broker that just might have an effect on the next game. Unless you didn't care for Liara too much, this add-on is a pretty safe purchase.

Quality: 4 out of 5 Stars

Morality: 5 out of 5 Stars (Pending the release of ME3)

STOLEN MEMORY (560 Microsoft Points/$7)

This, on the other hand, should have definitely, 100%, been in the vanilla game. Yes, this add-on is fun. Kasumi is a good character, her loyalty mission is enjoyable and well-written. But! Selling party members as DLC? I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever approve of that. Sell me weapons (ugh), sell me items for my avatar (ugh!), sell me armor (rah!), sell me additional missions (meh), but don't sell me things that should rightfully be in the game itself.

If BioWare wants to make an expansion, add a ton of new missions, new character, etc., then by all means, I'll be there to support that, but don't make me do this again. Walk this thing back a few years and imagine paying $7 to have Canderous Ordo in your party.

$2.50 was enough to help me make up my mind on this matter. At full price, I probably would have moped a little longer.

Quality: 4 out of 5 Stars

Morally: 0 out of 5 Stars

OVERLORD (560 Microsoft Points/$7)

Okay, BioWare, c'mere a minute. You see this add-on that you put out? Overlord? Now, granted, it's not as polished as it could've been, but a rather lengthy mission with a palpable atmosphere, interesting story, some mystery, drama, and a climactic tug at the heartstrings...this is what DLC should be all about. It's a mission that doesn't look like it was a leftover from the editing room. It feels unique. I liked it.

But that price tag...I still don't agree with that. I know we can sit here all day and argue whether or not it's "just seven dollars" or it's "just not worth it," but I feel that, at the end of the day, the word of the consumer matters. So here it is: this mission isn't worth $7. It's not that it isn't quality, it's just that you can't charge that much for a 1-2 hour mission. This is a steep price to people who have just shelled out $60 + tax to buy the game itself, and almost an insult.

The Cerberus Network? Great freaking idea to control piracy. It really is. But hows about giving people who actually have it a little bit of a discount on the DLC? That would show people that you care about the fanbase who bought that game at launch (I bought it at midnight) and won't be putting them in the crossfire in this piracy war.

Anyway, I liked this add-on. Anytime that I find myself leaning forward in anticipation, that's the sign of a good game. Fighting to disable a Rogue VI is something that I feel we've done before, but this time around it was decently creepy, and definitely had some thought put into it.

Quality: 4 out of 5 Stars

Morality: 2 out of 5 Stars

I guess the bottom line here is that the Mass Effect 2 DLC isn't as pointless as I had figured it was going to be. I still wholeheartedly believe that the add-ons are overpriced, but not at the price I got them for. Aside from Stolen Memory (and even that was pretty good) I can't say that any of these packs are entirely pointless. They were good, and how much you enjoy them depends on how much they're worth to you after you've played them.

Now, the Dragon Age: Origins DLC...that's a whole other battlefield, my friends. See you next rant.