As part of the Mass Effect 2 launch day free DLC, I rather enjoyed everything thing that came with Zaeed's package. Zaeed Masani is essentially the Boba Fett of the Mass Effect universe; the top mercenary on the market and willing to do anything to get the job necessary. Think of him as a renegade Shepard, but about thirty years older. Zaeed's recruitment entails receiving a message from the Illusive Man to visit the Omega, as he's arranged for Zaeed and Shepard to meet. After a quick conversation and a first glimpse into Zaeed's ruthlessness, he joins your crew.
Starting off with the Concussion Blast and Incendiary Ammo, as well as skill in both the Assault Rifle and Sniper Rifle, Zaeed is pretty handy in a firefight if you need a badass gladiator-type guy to tear it up. I prefer him over Grunt both as a character and a party member, as Grunt seemed a little too shallow for me as a personality. Zaeed's deep history with the Blue Suns plays into some major plot points of Mass Effect 2, and I highly recommend trying him out on missions involved with the mercenary group.
Zaeed's loyalty mission, to my astonishment, was actually one of the most enjoyable to play from a combat situation as well as one of the more morally ambiguous decisions the player has to make within the game. The premise of the mission revolves around Zaeed having his revenge on the Blue Suns leader, Vido Santiago. After fighting through some Blue Sun mercs into their base, Shepard and his team face a tough decision. Without spoiling too much, Shepard is faced with either aiding Zaeed's revenge on Vido or in saving many lives. There is no gray area in this decision. However, as with any loyalty mission, a high paragon percentage is able to save the day.
During the mission Shepard acquires a flamethrower, one of the more useful of the heavy weapons in the game. I used it for a majority of my standard campaign with no regrets, so it's a nice little addition to your inventory.
BREAKDOWN:
Cost: A -- It's free! Why wouldn't you get it?
Longevity: A -- I've played the mission each time I've done a Mass Effect 2 campaign, and I don't plan on stopping. Zaeed is an interesting party member and his story is well-worth exploring.
Gameplay: B -- The mission feels shorter compared to other loyalty missions, but it's fun nonetheless.
Overall: A- -- There's no reason why every owner of ME2 should not try this out at least once. Simple.
Ok I just wrote a wall of text only for it not to go through with commenting. Fuck you blog spot.
ReplyDeleteAnyways.
I agree that the Zaeed DLC is pretty good. The loyalty mission was on the okay side compared to the rest. I made a list of loyalty missions and ranking them. I think they go a bit like this.
Grunt>>Thane>Legion>>>>Garrus>Mornith>>Mordin>>Jack>Miranda>Zaeed>>>>Tali>>>>>>>>Jacob
That how I think the loyalty missions should go in order from awesome to blows d.
Anways. 10/10 review.
Wow, I thought Jacob's LM was one of the better ones. Thane's was boring as fuck, although the ending was pretty cool. Jack's made me happy because it made her less bitchy. Tali's was one of my favorites. Grunts sucked, except the Maw.
ReplyDeleteMy ranking:
1. Miranda
2. Legion
3. Samara
4. Tali
5. Mordin
6. Jacob
7. Zaeed
8. Garrus
9. Jack
10. Thane
11. Grunt
Seriously? Miranda? The mission was to get the sister away from the big bad eclipse soldiers, and to make sure daddy doesn't find her. Then you see her cry like a little bitch. The only reason I put her in the middle is for the fact that you get to put your p in her v after words. That is all.
ReplyDeleteAnd Grunts mission was awesome. It was Grunt becoming a badass and defeating some of the hardest characters in the game. I mean I thought it was epic as hell when you fought the Thresher Maw
The thresher maw was soooooo easy, and I was on a harder difficulty than you
ReplyDeleteZaeed ended up not just being one of my favorite squad members in ME2, but one of my favorite video game characters in some time. His abilities as a squad member compliment my playing style very well, the actor who voiced him did an incredible job, his story is interesting but not so chock full of twists like the other squad members. He also looks like a total badass and his disposition is totally likable in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAs far as gameplay: Concussive shot is always a plus. Especially when fighting Collectors on those platforms. You wanna be able to take them out as quick as possible before they can turn into Harbinger. I never upgraded Disruptor Ammo too much for myself, but I learned it's totally worth to upgrade Zaeed's into Squad Ammo. Add to that his nice little inferno grenade, by no means a crowd controlling ability, but nice cause it usually hits its target, and Zaeed is a well rounded squad member that compliments many different classes.
As far as character: What I was saying about his story being interesting, but not too full of twists-see, you got lots of other squad members' stories that involve genetic engineering, test subjects, hardcore idealogies, traumatic pasts, etc. And they're interesting to a point. But I came to enjoy the simplicity of Zaeed's story so much more. He once led a band of mercenaries; they restricted themselves to certain kinds of work and employees. Then an opportunistic bastard usurped Zaeed, tried to kill him, then took control of the Blue Suns. While Zaeed is utterly ruthless, we have to wonder just how humane he is capable of being as he compares what he would've done with the Blue Suns to what Vido did with them.
Nevertheless, after surviving a bullet in the face, what was largely left of Zaeed's compassionate side, was replaced with cold-hearted cost benefit analysis-human expendable attitude toward getting things done. And he did become famous in his own way as being one of the most infamous freelancing bounty hunters in the galaxy-a distinction he may never have come close to had he continued to lead the Blue Suns.
But at any rate, he WAS still shot in the and usurped by Santiago and wanted revenge badly. I once, just once, did the Paragon route with Zaeed where you save the factory workers and Santiago gets away. It was so heart wrenching for me I had to immediately restart the mission and vow never to betray Zaeed again. That's how much I came to love this character.
And he smart as hell too! But not in some obnoxious genius way. He just has a really good head on his shoulders (like Yeoman pointed out while also commenting on the amount of violence he lived through most of his life), he has a fair amount of knowledge on many things, but doesn't really specialize in one thing in particular, and his scar is bad ass. I even love his armor and his boots.
I realize the designers of ME2 were particuarly proud of characters like Jack and Thane, but they deserve more kudos for Zaeed. Thane and Jack's appeal were a bit more gimmicky and contrived, I thought. But with Zaeed, they took a relatively more simple background, casted the character with an excellent actor, gave him an aesthetic that was really awesome but not too overboard, and just added something else I can't even quite put my finger on; but I just loved the guy.