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Mass Effect 2 Best Plot-Point Is Also Its Biggest Weakness

Mass Effect 2 starts with Shepard's death. It's one of the best opening twists in BioWare's history, and creates the opportunity for some of the series' most interesting moments. Suddenly, Shepard's relationships have been left years in the past. Many of the people the Commander knew have moved on. Without Shepard's presence, the Reaper threat has been dismissed, and Saren's charisma has been declared the sole force behind the Geth army that attacked the Citadel at the end of the first game. Fans have had a chance to relive that brilliant moment in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

Suddenly, the victory over Sovereign is a distant memory, many of the allies Shepard gained can no longer be relied upon, and the stakes are increased as the eventual Reaper Invasion of the Milky Way has crawled closer in Shepard's absence. Although this is one of the best plot points in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, it also ends up becoming one of Mass Effect 2's biggest weaknesses as the game goes on.

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Shepard's revival by the Lazarus Project is a feat of biblical proportions, a fact directly referenced by the operation's name. In fact, referencing Lazarus' resurrection is likely an intentionally specific allusion on BioWare's part, helping to avoid fans constantly comparing Shepard's resurrection to Jesus Christ's and diffusing the possible criticism that Shepard had become a Christ-like figure who is too unambiguously good, Paragon or Renegade, for the story to have any moral weight. It may not be by much, but comparing Shepard's revival to the raising of Lazarus at least keeps things a little more down to earth.

The point is, it's a big deal. Shepard's revival after two years is treated as unprecedented in the Mass Effect universe. If Shepard had died at the end of Mass Effect 1 and been brought back in the exact same way at the start of Mass Effect 2, fans would likely have considered it an extremely cheap move. Mass Effect 2 only gets away with the Lazarus Project because it chooses to use it as the second game's premise. Shepard's death and revival cause many of the problems that set up the game's plot instead of solving them. The Commander's two-year absence is partially behind the Collectors' ability to kidnap entire human colonies, kicking off the events of the game.

The problem isn't Shepard's revival. The decision to kill and revive Shepard, completely flipping the character's world on its head, is a great one even if it raises some big questions. The problem is that BioWare doesn't drive home just how unbelievable Shepard's return should be to everyone in the Mass Effect universe, including Shepard themself.

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In one of Mass Effect 2's earliest missions, Shepard bumps into Tali again, who is now leading a squad of other Quarians. If Shepard helped Tali find the Geth data to complete her Pilgrimage in Mass Effect 1, the player can use that to try and prove that they really are the real Shepard. If the player did not complete that quest, however, Tali's reaction is the same.

In both cases, two years after Shepard's death—not just unexplained disappearance in action, but their literal death by being shot out into space as the Normandy exploded, suffocating, and then falling to a planet's surface from orbit—it takes one line of dialogue to for Tali to accept that Shepard is alive. Not only that, but instead of Cerberus' presence making Tali doubt that this is the real Shepard, her belief in Shepard causes her to trust Cerberus almost instantly.

In another early mission, Shepard hunts down the elusive vigilante Archangel on Omega. Finding him trapped by several of the station's mercenary groups, Archangel takes off his helmet to reveal his true identity—Garrus from Mass Effect 1. "Shepard. I thought you were dead," he says. There's little disbelief, no suspicion, confusion, or questions about how Shepard possibly survived the destruction of the Normandy SR-1. Reuniting with Garrus is a great moment, but the Turian's reaction just doesn't read as realistic at all.

Shepard themself doesn't even get many chances to question what happened either. The player doesn't get the chance to question whether or not they're a clone—which not only seems more likely than a resurrection but is shown to be entirely possible in Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC. Other characters like Captain Anderson don't question Shepard's survival, only working with Cerberus. Considering the fact that Miranda mentions that it was possible to put a control chip in the Commander's brain, the reactions of Anderson and the Citadel Council if they survived Mass Effect 1 are remarkably unsuspicious. Shepard even gets their SPECTRE status reinstated as soon as they arrive back on the Citadel.

One of the only times Shepard gets to push the issue is when going through TSA-style C-Sec security when entering the Citadel for the first time. The C-Sec officer says that their scanners are able to prove someone's identity, identifying their DNA from a single skin cell. Although it's unlikely BioWare had thought of the Citadel DLC's clone plotline at this time, the fact that Cerberus kept Shepard's DNA and produced a clone that was indistinguishable from the commander also makes C-Sec's assumption that this really is the real Shepard seem incredibly generous.

Mass Effect 2 does have some good moments where characters who knew Shepard in the first game have a more realistic emotional reaction to their resurrection. When Shepard encounters the Virmire Survivor, Ashley or Kaidan, on Horizon, they are initially confused, then overjoyed before becoming understandably angry. In general, however, Mass Effect 2 drops the ball when it comes to making Shepard's return feel as momentous as it really is. The same applies to Shepard working with Cerberus – which the Commander inevitably agrees to before even having the chance to contact the Alliance or the Council at all. Mass Effect 2 has one of the best openings of any BioWare game, and it is still considered by many to be the best game in the original trilogy, but when it comes to making Shepard's resurrection feel truly miraculous, it falls short.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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