14. Mass Effect 2
You must experience: Trying to get your whole team through the Suicide Mission. Sure the first
Mass Effect leans a bit more into RPG territory than out n' out action, but with ME2 Bioware decided to make the whole thing essentially play like Gears of War, bringing in the stop n' pop cover system therein, a host of easy-access squad commands and some special powers that rounded things off nicely. The real hook with this middle instalment is the story, as following ME1's establishing of where humans are at in the overall hierarchy of the galaxy (that is to say, fairly low) Bioware took a slightly more personal take on matters right away, killing main character Shepard and resurrecting him as a half-synthetic being with ties to the questionable organisation Cerberus. How your relationship with boss-character The Illusive Man plays out is up to you, but it's in positing you against a galaxy-wide invasion threat that lays out the rest of the game as something that's not going to go smoothly - and come that final mission where you throw your all into the biggest battle of your entire squad's life, the results of which will stay with you forever.