Summary
While the main story ofMass Effect 2focuses on the threat of the Collectors, a mysterious bug-like species who have been abducting human colonies, a massive portion of the game is spent completing missions that relate to Shephard’s squadmates. These are called loyalty missions, and they’re extremely important to play through since they can decidewhether or not a certain character dies during the final Suicide Mission, so for anyone hoping to keep everyone alive until the end, it’s necessary to finish each one of them.
With that being said, these missions vary quite a lot in their overall quality, with some being very short and forgettable, while others are considered some of the best missions in the entire series. It’s time to take a look back at some of the very best loyalty missions featured inMass Effect 2to understand what makes them so iconic and memorable to a lot of fans of the series.
7Samara
Samara’s Justicar Code Forces Her To Confront Her Incredibly Dangerous Daughter
Because Samara follows the strict code of the Justicars, it means that she’s essentially allowed to kill anyone who’s seen as dangerous or evil, but when her daughter becomes one of her targets, it brings out a slightly more emotional side to the stoic Asari.Samara’s daughter is an Ardat-Yakshi, a unique type of Asari who gets a thrill out of seducing people with their wicked charms and then killing them as soon as they let their guard down.
Shephard essentially acts as the bait in this mission, as the player must try to act as casually as possible in the Omega nightclub to try and catch Morinth’s attention. When she finally sits down to talk, there are a few very specific dialogue options that must be chosen to get her to invite Shephard to her apartment, which eventually results in an intense battle between Samara and her daughter. Not only does the mission expand upon the Asari culture, but the difficulty of pulling the whole thing off makes it very intense, even though it’s a non-combat mission.
6Kasumi
Kasumi’s Hunt For Her Graybox Turns The Game Into A Spy-Thriller
Kasumi’s mission feels incredibly unique compared to many of the others, primarily because of the spy-thriller angle it takes with the gameplay. In an attempt to retrieve her Graybox,a small device left behind by her late lover Keiji, Kasumi and Shephard travel to a luxurious party hosted by the snarky billionaire Donovan Hock where the box is being held in a giant vault.
For most of the mission, the player will need to acquire information, hack into terminals, and sneak around some rooms to try and get into the vault, which itself is packed full of some extremely intriguing items like the Statue of Liberty’s head, and a statue of Saren from the first game. It all ends in a final chaotic gunfight with an airship, and an emotional cutscene where Kasumi finds all the memories she and Keiji shared still stored on the Graybox.
5Grunt
Tuchanka As An Area, And The Thresher Maw Fight, Both Make Grunt’s Loyalty Mission A Real Stand-Out
After Grunt starts becoming irritable and angry on the Normandy for seemingly no reason, players must take him to the Krogan homeworld, Tuchanka, where he can complete the rite of passage to be inducted into a clan. The mission itself is packed full of some incredible action segments,especially the fight against the Thresher Maw, which the player can either leave alone or defeat if they have strong enough weapons.
What makes the mission so memorable is Tuchanka itself and the Krogan who inhabit it. Old, rundown, and barely standing, Tuchanka provides a rare insight into the Krogan’s social situation, and how devastated their species has become after the implementation of the Genophage. It might be on the shorter side, but this mission still does a great job of fleshing out both Grunt as a character and the Krogan as a major species within the universe.
4Garrus
Garrus' Quest For Revenge Is Full Of Thought-Provoking Dilemmas And Exciting Combat Encounters
Garrus may be just as charismatic and witty as he was in the first game, but his personality and moral code have changed quite a bit since he became the Archangel. Garrus proves that he’s more than willing to take matters into his own hands when he suggests tracking down Sidonis, a Turian who left his squad to die a few years ago. Throughout the mission, Shephard will have a few opportunities to either encourageGarrus' thirst for revengeor to try and restrain it.
For example, when the two meet their old friend Harkin, who has been trying to kill them with giant LOKI mechs, Shephard can either let Garrus shoot his legs to paralyze him for good or tell him to stand down. This all culminates in a nail-biting final segment where Garrus finally has Sidonis in his crosshair. Sidonis reveals that he deeply regrets what he did to Garrus' men, and it’s up to Shephard whether Garrus gets his sweet revenge, or if he misses the chance, and learns to forgive and forget.
3Jack
Seeing Where Jack Grew Up Provides An Insight Into How Corrupt And Twisted Cerberus Is
Jack initially comes off as arude and loudmouthed individualwho seems to love nothing more than rubbing people the wrong way, but when traveling to the Cerberus base where she grew up, everything about her character starts to make a lot more sense. While wandering around the base, Shephard and Jack will get to see the cells where Cerberus was holding kids to be experimented on, along with fighting pits, and other gruesome areas.
While Shephard is technically working for Cerberus for the purposes of the story, this loyalty mission provides a grizzly insight into just how evil and ruthless the group is. By the time Shephard and the team reach Jack’s cell, a scientist is trying to retrieve the data that was conducted from the cruel experiments, resulting in a very tense conversation between him and Jack which Shephard can intervene with. The visual storytelling on show in this area is incredible, providing plenty of haunting imagery that lingers in the brain long after the mission is over.
2Tali
Tali’s Trial Has Become One Of The Most Intense And Fascinating Scenes In The Series
After being blamed by her people for sending live Geth to the Migrant Fleet, Tali is threatened with being expelled by her people, but things become much more complicated when it is revealed that it was her father who activated them in the first place. This leads to one of the hardest decisions in the entire series as the player must choose whether to expose Tali’s dad to protect her status as a member of the fleet or to go along with what Tali says and hide the evidence, which will cause her to be banished.
This incredibly compelling personal dilemma is at the heart of the mission, but there’s also a big focus given to the Migrant Fleet, and more specifically,how the Quarians feel about taking back their homeworldfrom the Geth. While some are all in favor of obliterating every last Geth left standing, others defend them, with this political tension playing a big part in Tali’s trial at the end. This single mission does so much to expand the wider universe ofMass Effect, while also having an emotional aspect at its core, which focuses on one of the series' most beloved characters.
1Mordin
Players Learn More About Mordin And His Underlying Guilt Of Developing The Genophage
The Genophage is a deadly manufactured disease that was created by the Salarians to “monitor” the Krogan population so that they wouldn’t grow too large to take over the galaxy, as they have nearly done countless times in the past. It’s an incredibly controversial part ofMass Effectthat often gets mentioned here or there in the games, but in Mordin’s loyalty mission, the player,and Mordin himself who was at the head of creating it, must face the issue head-on.
What results is some extremely deep and philosophical conversations about the morality of the Genophage, and whether Mordin can justify committing genocide for the sake of saving the other species in the galaxy. Mordin also expresses his guilt throughout the mission, pondering whether he really is a monster, or the only one willing to do what no one else could. By the end, it’s revealed that one of Mordin’s students is trying to rectify the Genophage, forcing the player to choose whether this is the right or wrong decision. The whole mission is an emotional rollercoaster that is packed full of great dialogue and some fun combat sections to boot, and it ultimately makes Mordin one of the most fascinating characters in the entire series.
