Mass Effect 2 Complete

Finished the single-player story of Mass Effect 2 last night. I'm really at a loss for words.

I was having a conversation with a friend a couple nights ago, about how there's a certain plausibility that I like about the universe of Mass Effect 2. It feels genuine, everything is explained, and even the science isn't too far removed from what could be possible. You can buy into what they're selling, and I think that makes the events that take place in the universe between the characters that much more impactful. You believe that the character exists, and you can feel sympathy to what is going on with them.

Throw all that out the window in the final mission in Mass Effect 2. Without going into too many details, they break every rule and throw realism out the window. The ending was fun, don't get me wrong, but it was so incredibly outlandish that it seemed I lost the actual Mass Effect 2 somewhere along the way and played the end to some other game that happened to have all the same characters as Mass Effect 2.

There were some great moments, though. Some of the best run-and-gun action with a real reason to hurry, as someone's life depended on you being quick about it. The interpersonal events, the choices that you make, will make you second and third-guess yourself, and that's the game's strong point. I think I can write off the ridiculousness and take hold of the grounding effects of the relationships between the strong characters, the love and loss and shared trials of the cast of great individuals. No matter how implausible or outright silly their task, they accomplished it at great odds and did it together, and that's how I'll remember the game.

Especially because I have no words to explain anything that happened in the story. Seriously, what just happened?