video game reviews

October 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

‘MASS EFFECT 2: LAIR OF THE SHADOW BROKER’

Grade: A

Details: Published by Electronic Arts for Xbox 360 (also for PC); $10 (800 Microsoft Points); rated M

Sometimes, post-release downloadable content feels like a money grab, a way to squeeze a few more dollars from consumers after they’ve already bought a game. But at its best, it can be a valuable addition that can help flesh out a game and tie up loose ends.

Such is the case for “Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker,” which allows players to team up with former comrade (and possibly lover) Liara T’Soni, one of the main characters of the original “Mass Effect.” Liara spent “Mass Effect 2” behind a desk, searching for information on the elusive Shadow Broker, a dangerous information dealer who tried to sell player avatar Commander Shepard’s body to the evil Collectors before Liara stopped him, thus allowing the human-supremacy organization Cerberus to revive Shepard instead.

Now, Cerberus returns the favor by giving Shepard information that could lead to the Shadow Broker’s hideout.

The result is an action-packed mission to find and defeat the broker, complicated by an attempt on Liara’s life, assistance from one of Shepard’s fellow Spectres, and eventually a journey to the heart of the Shadow Broker’s information empire, where many secrets are revealed.

‘BIOSHOCK 2: MINERVA’S DEN’

Grade: A

Details: Published by 2K Games fir Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; $10 (800 Microsoft Points); rated M

“Bioshock 2: Minerva’s Den” likewise resolves a dangling plot point from its base game: What was Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum up to after she disappeared early in Subject Delta’s mission to defeat Sofia Lamb? Turns out she was busy with a different prototype Big Daddy, Subject Sigma, helping him to free an artificial intelligence called The Thinker from the grip of a madman holed up in Rapture Central Computing.

Sigma starts out armed with just a drill and the Telekinesis plasmid, but he’ll soon find more weapons and plasmids, including a couple of new ones — the Ion Laser, which can be fitted with thermal or burst ammunition in addition to its normal beam, and the Gravity Well, an implosion-bomb plasmid. Players who went through the previous downloadable add-on, Protector Trials, will gain access to a new Gene Tonic as well.

Sigma will face new foes in the Lancer Big Daddy, a model of protector armed with the Ion Laser and a blinding flash, and several new security robots armed with rockets, lasers and lightning weapons — and the bots can be hacked to join the player, as usual.

—Justin Hoeger, Sacramento Bee