How 4 Out of 5 People Play Mass Effect 2 Wrong

Four out of five gamers play Mass Effect 2 as a man, says BioWare. And that’s a huge mistake.

BioWare executive producer Casey Hudson shared a wide array of Mass Effect 2 gameplay statistics with IGN.com on Monday. The data the company collects tells it all kinds of things about the way people play their games.

But one data point in particular says to me that most gamers aren’t getting the most out of Mass Effect 2.

[WetN00dle69]

I play as the male on my 360 BUT for the PC version im using the female character!
Yeah i bought both versions of the game and ill be getting the PS3 version as well!

[omi25p]

why?

[WetN00dle69]

Why not?
The PS3 version might have exclusive content.

[omi25p]

no it wont, it has bonus content which is the dlc already on xbox version.

Also i couldnt finish campaign with female shepard she anouyed me to much, male shepard is much better

[RH06]

Yes but if they don't release the first, then it's not worth it. A trilogy without the first is like watching the Empire Stikes Back without watching Star Wars. A Trilogy story to me matters...

[theonlylolking]

because he has the money to do so

[IcarusOne]

And I completely disagree with this article's assessment of Jennifer Hale. I created a female Shephard for both games but only got a few hours in before her voice just annoyed the hell out of me and I stopped.

[ExplosionSauce]

I thought the content on the PS3 version is going to included for free.
I may be wrong.

[MysticStrummer]

I agree in a way, but mostly disagree. If there was no way to watch Star Wars, I would still say to watch Empire Strikes Back. Story wise, you won't exactly be lost if you do that, and Empire is the better movie. Mass Effect 2 will be the same way. They'll have a recap of the backstory, so you'll just miss out on making decisions that would effect Mass Effect 2. I have a PS3 and hate PC gaming, so there's no way for me to play Mass Effect, but since that series is one of only two on the 360 that I would play, I'm looking forward to playing Mass Effect 2. Left for Dead is the other series, and it may be coming over as well now that Valve has come around.

[Perjoss]

there is a fantastic video on youtube (***may contain many spoilers***) http://www.youtube.com/watc... that shows all of the aggressive responses that female shephard can say, and she is MUCH better at the aggressive stuff than male shep is by far.

[ReservoirDog316]

Hmm, guess I'll replay it with my female Shepard from ME1.

[SonyPS360]

Key word being "might". Sorry but it won't have any exclusive DLC.

Also you owe to to yourself to play the first game and carry it through to the second.

Also you're having to wait a while for it to come on the Ps3.

Do yourself a favor and get both on the PC (steam). The DLC is free and you can actually play them TODAY.

[Montoya]

I`ve played it both ways, the game is just amazing. Period. I`m buying it for my PS3 aswell.

[The Matrix]

I go both ways.

I mean, I do both Shepards.

No, wait, I mean I’ve tried them both out. Not like at the same time or anything, but one after the other. To see which I liked better.

This isn’t sounding any better the more I type.

[Scrooge]

@ Matrix: LOL!

This is a fantastic game! I played through as a good male Shepherd, and started to play through it again as jerk male shepherd. Maybe I'll get this for PS3 if it's just as good or better and play through as a good female shepherd. This might be GOTY for me, well, I really enjoyed Red Dead Redemption too, maybe that's GOTY for me. IDK, too many good ones this year!

[RAZORLAND]

I'll play as a chick next run-thru...

[Reibooi]

I always played the female Shepard.

The main reason I started playing that way was because Female has WAY better voice acting them male and it made me switch from male after the first few hours of the first game but sense then I have just found it more interesting to play as a female character anyway.

it's a role playing game after it's nice to play a role you otherwise would not be playing.

[jakethesnake]

Totally agree. The voice acting for the female Shepard makes the male Shep sound a bit flat. I just couldn't go back afterward!

[bobcostus]

You can romance Liara in the new DLC they just released (If you romanced her in the first game)

[pustulio]

I always play once with my male character and i have a secondary story as a female character.

[presto717]

Playing as a chick is so much better. The voice is awesome. Its just that romance felt kinda awkward for me since I mostly play as guys.....

[NYC_Gamer]

well i just like playing as male charactors in all rpgs when given the choice..

[bjornbear]

i like to be put into their shoes, and as a guy I understand better what its like since...well I'm a guy

but knowing this, I will be inclined to play as the female, but after I play as John since, well ME1 i'm playing as john =)

[PandemicPrawn0]

If fem Shep is so great then why is the Dude Shepard on the cover of both games?

[ndibu]

Not just the cover, trailers, and magazine promos. Even the in game trailer. I'm not my 3rd playthrough, I wanna maximize all my abilities, and now you tell me I should have played as the chick? Urg!

[Cevapi88]

bioware could have went the kotor way and just had a cover that showed off the game rather than the main character....kotor did this perfectly....the cover was very intriguing, had all of the main characters on it except the protagonist which was you....

[mistajeff]

probably because it's marketed toward males more than females. i think it all goes back to the perception that gamers are almost exclusively male, even though the last statistic i heard said that something like 40% of gamers are female.
fem shep is awesome, i'm totally a convert. i started as male since i'm a guy, but after playing as female, it's hard to go back. the voice acting is top notch. it really makes you realize how much male shep sounds like he's reciting lines in a recording booth. fem's voice acting is authentic and believable, with the perfect emotional inflections. must be all that practice she got from metal gear solid haha

[Reibooi]

The voice acting for female Shepard was the main reason I played the game as a female it's just SO much better then male.

[lzim]

male shep reminds me of zoolander. Female shep and chambers = riot. female shep wins.

[duplissi]

who is she in metal gear? meryl?

edit: ah, naomi. she was also bastilla from kotor

[kaveti6616]

Gaming is male-oriented.

[Sam Fisher]

mostly "male-oriented"

[kaveti6616]

Right, if you discount the Hannah Montana games and the Barbie games it's full male oriented. The fact that there are female gamers doesn't mean I'm wrong. It just means that females have no problems playing games that are oriented towards males. But males do have problems playing games oriented towards females.

[commander]

Not he is right gaming is male oriented. Just because the Sims and Just Dance exist, doesnt mean its not a male market.

[No Way]

Uhm, not quite. It's shifting. There's games with lead females.
Just because you can't look past playing as a female doesn't mean others can't.

[SonyPS360]

Why's he also in all of the promotions, trailers, and cinematics as well?

[tplarkin7]

The role is made for a man. All of the mannerisms and dialogue are male. It's no fun to play as a female soldier.

[lzim]

very true but with the Ashely character being weird, having 2 weirdo female soldier characters would have been just as bad. Plus a more gung ho female soldier would have very irritating.

[stragomccloud]

I'd actually really like to try it out. I've loved Jennifer Hale in everything she's been in so...

[tonsoffun]

It's not playing it wrong, it's fucking called personal choice

[Syaz1]

exactly. since when am i needed to be told how to play a damn RPG!

[Meowhammad]

I want to plow Tali, not get plowed by Jacob.

[Acquiesce]

A kajillion bajillion times.

[Cueil]

when I figured out you could get some Tali I was all about that

[Spydiggity]

you get absolutely nothing as a reward. with sites like youporn and whatever, how can you get any kind of satisfaction from watching 2 cgi's dry hump each other for 15 seconds?

[Raz]

Because that which we obtain too easily, we esteem too little. No matter how ridiculous the reward, if we have to work to get it, we still appreciate it more. ..Purely hypothetical, of course. ;)

[Raz]

Either way you have to watch a guy in the scene, whether it's a male Shepard or Jacob. So what does it matter if instead of Tali, you get to watch a female Shepard get plowed? ..Just examining the logic here. ;)

[WetN00dle69]

WHAHAHAHAHA, Tali too was my first choice!

[thief]

Did anyone here actually play as a female, then tell us how it was. maybe I can try it out for my second playthrough.

[Draperc]

I did, the voice acting for Jane Shepard was much better in my opinion.

EDIT @ below : No problem, hope you enjoy it.

[thief]

Thanks, worth trying it out then.

[jakethesnake]

Yeah, I'll second what Draperc says. You have to play as the female Shepard - especially if you love good voice acting! Definitely worth your time. I was actually shocked to see 80% playing the male Shepard because the female has (IMO) far better voice acting.

[Acquiesce]

The male default Sheppard is plastered all over their advertising. He's there on the front cover. People see him everywhere and assume he's the official physical incarnation/representation of Sheppard.

[Spydiggity]

that's because it's rare for a female protagonist to do well sales wise. not saying i agree with it...just a known fact. sure, there are counter examples, but not many.

[vampstreak]

yeah Jennifer Hale ftw

[lzim]

reminds me of Laura Bailey (bloodrayne games). Just noticed that there are now 3 movies and only 2 games, such a travesty.

[despair]

played both games with same female character carried over on my PC,then tried to play a new game as a male character, the voice sounded like he was reading from a script with flat delivery of the lines, couldn't make it out of the first area.

[Cueil]

I felt the opposite

[despair]

yea I guess when you get accustomed to the same character for 40 plus hours of talking and gameplay its hard to hear someone else do the same lines.

[KingItachi]

I have 4 male Shepard's and 3 female Shepard's right now I'm burned out on mass effect won't be returning to it anytime soon.

[CobraKai]

I'm gonna step on feminist toes here, but I can never create a hot Jane Shepard.

[asyouburn]

second roll was a female city elf rogue, and it took me almost two hours to get her close to what i wanted, and im still not satisfied completely. they should make it easy to make hot girls

[kraze07]

Funny, I think Dragon Age has some of the best looking female characters in a western made RPG. Maybe they're just an upgrade from all the fem models in Bethesda games I've played in the past.

[Baka-akaB]

The female voice was better , along with the customisations with the original creation screen . So after played a few times as a guy , i went for my mass effect version of Samus aran

[TheColbertinator]

The female Shepard storyline is very good especially if you have Liara as your romance option.Usually with FemShep I choose Renegade

[militant07]

I like male shepard more, it make me feel im playing the game the right way.

[Garrus_Vakarian]

But if I play as FemShep I won't be able to touch dat ass... B {

[Cueil]

but you can get nailed by your avatar haha

[tsunami901]

FemShep + Miranda in bed = The most epic WIN the world has ever seen.

[STICKzophrenic]

Except you can't do that.

I played my fifth or sixth play through of Mass Effect as Alexis Shepard, imported her to Mass Effect 2 all ready to have some HOT lesbian action, and it didn't allow for it. I settled for romancing Garrus to see how it played out.

I plan to have another Fem-Shep ME play though, import to ME2 and romance Thane.

That said, Jennifer hale does a pretty good voice acting job, but I prefer Mark Meer as Shepard.

You can't go wrong either way though because Mass effect is an awesome franchise and both games are incredible.

[AlienFodder]

The voice acting for male Shep may be lame but the character model they made for the default version is ridiculously gorgeous... So much so that I decided to customize mine because I thought it would be too distracting. As in, he'd be on screen talking to someone and I'd forget to choose an answer for him because I'd be gawking at him. I know, for shame... :D

[PS360PCROCKS]

thanks for sharing...

[Mighty Boom]

Weirdo.

[LycanSoldier]

I played as a female shepard. If i'm spending the majority of the game staring at the characters ass in third person while completing missions, may as well make it abit more interesting to look at.

[ddurand1]

if you have fun playing a game, how can you play it wrong?

[teedogg80]

My thoughts exactly. Articles like this should never be written.

[writersblock]

In the canon, isnt shepard male?

I chose a female one first, then my game messed up at some point for some... odd reason

When I re-installed I just switched to a male

[Kahvipannu]

FemShep for me. Tought I play both for full experience.

[Broncos98]

Please stop with the stupid articles and post something newsworthy.

[Darkfiber]

Male Shepard is hilarious. His tone is always wrong for the situation, it's so funny I don't know how anyone can't love it.

[Saryk]

I cannot play a female character. I don’t play games for their story. I play games for my story. If I wanted to be spoon fed stories I would watch TV.

However, I think it is unfair that the male Shepard has 3 human females, but the female Shepard only has one human male.

[No Way]

And, yet.. I went for Tali. >.<

[GarandShooter]

Remember, Tali spelled sideways is 'Tail'.

[Mighty Boom]

I'm playing through the game for the first time right now - it's one of the best games I've played so far and I haven't even finished it...

My only grip about the game is the dialogue - the male Sheppard could be infused with more energy or something.

When I play through on Insane I'll use the the female.

[kraze07]

Male Shep sounds like the captain from Star Trek Enterprise (not sure if it is him but Im too lazy to google it) but after playing with him so many hours then going to a fem shep, she just sounds weird. The same thing happened in ME1.

[CobraKai]

I can tell you that it's not the same guy as Star Trek. That was Scott Bakula. I never watched Star Trek but I did love me some Quantum Leap. John Shepard was Mark something.

[magus]

Says who? I'll play the game how I want to.

[The Milkman]

I picked the male and only used the male. The main reason I personally play Mass Effect is because I feel that I'm the character I create in some way. Which I thought was what they were trying to do with the game. Kind of put you in the game, make the decisions you want, and feel as if you are the character in some way to draw a different emotion from the player. It just throws me off to be a female character when trying to do this. Call me insecure if you want but 80% that played this game did just the same as me. Maybe I should do it on my second play through then.

[Lawrence53787]

............this is what people call journalism , and since when is 2&1/2 paragraph's considered an article. All this is , is lazy uninspired and down right useless .

[Perez]

I'm femshep all the way, Meer aint bad but he does feel stilted and flat compared to Hale's voice imo.

Also ME2 PC you can do femshep-girl romances it just takes a little bit of tweaking and working with Gibbed's ME2 save editor, and ok a lot of patience to see right through lol.

though with Lair of the Shadow Broker Liara jumps back to top the girls!! (no spoilers shes in it and I didnt say nought else)

[Kermi]

Opinion posted as fact, and it's not even a well supported argument.

Since the game gives us a choice there's no way to play it wrong. Regardless of the quality of Femshep's voice acting, playing as a male is not wrong except in the opinion of, hmm, the 20% who prefer to play as female.

Hey, I did a playthrough as both, how does that work?

[ReBurn]

I know I play it wrong. I've had it since January and I've only played it for about 3 hours. Not playing at all is definitely the wrong thing to do.