User blog comment:Snicker/Mass Effect 2/@comment-170990-20110611062726

I keep swinging between loving and hating this game. The combat continues to be more annoying than fun, including certain "special objectives" that could easily have been completed another way if this game weren't so "on rails." Like the pillar you have to get past when rescuing Tali. Why blow it up? Why not just, I dunno, climb over it? It's not like the door was really hampered, and it would have added to the security! I won't say Mass Effect was free of this problem. I know at least one spot where Shepard even offers an alternative solution, but it's shot down for no good reason (during the "starship troopers" bug hunt, you offer to evacuate them, but they say that they wouldn't fit.  There are only a few marines at this point - I think they'd fit just fine, considering how much room the Normandy has.

Okay, my new favorite character is Kasumi Goto. Her dialogue is excellent, and the voice actress does a great job of keeping her light-hearted even in the most serious moments, without the writers having to resort to cheap jokes. That being said, someone at Bioware really (REALLY) needs to play the Thief series and learn how a "stealth" mission is *supposed* to be played. Seriously. This was the one mission that cried out for a non-combat solution, and at first, seemed like they had a good plan. About half-way through the party, though, everything goes wrong. Seriously, there was no need to require combat DURING the party, even if they felt it was needed afterwards. I've played a lot of FPSneaker games, and it makes me sad that Bioware can't figure out such a simple formula.

Once again, Kasumi's mission ignores the obvious solution (oh, look, a vehicle with a mounted gun! Let's steal it and shoot our way out) for the forced-combat solution (oh, look, a vehicle with a mounted gun!  Let's just blow up those containers over there and hope that there's an empty space on the other side!)  I'm very disappointed in Bioware taking the easy way out - especially since this was paid DLC.