Mass Effect 2 Arrival DLC Reviews

BioWare’s Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2 continues to receive mixed reviews, which paints a very similar to what we saw with Dragon Age II – people either love it or hate it.

The Adrenaline Vault gives it a 4/5:

Yes, Mass Effect 2: The Arrival is a one-trick pony. Only once did enemies have the courage to rush me while in cover, so I could just hide behind bulkheads and pick them off with impunity. And there was only one enemy that couldn’t be put down with a few bursts from an assault rifle. But the pack is somewhat meatier than the average add-on offering; an average shooter player can get an hour to 90 minutes out of it, not including planetary strip-mining time. You get two large environments on which to fight, and you get the tiniest of glimpses of what is to come when Mass Effect 3 is released next fall.

Game Revolution gives it a “C”:

I’m a big fan of Mass Effect and Bioware, but sadly, there’s a whole lot of things wrong with The Arrival. Even though the combat is thrilling and the premise somewhat interesting, this DLC’s very short and clumsily constructed story in detriment of gameplay makes skipping it an easy decision. You’re better off giving Commander Shepard a little time off from active duty.

Games Radar gives it a 5/10:

The whole point of Arrival is to whet our appetites for Mass Effect 3, but incredibly, this fully fledged $7 add-on is less impactful than the simple, single shot that brought the main ME2 game to a close. That above all else is why Arrival breaks our hearts.

OXM UK gives it a 4.0/10:

For a game so heavily reliant on the impact of choice and consequence, it’s disappointing to realise you’ve got less sway on important decisions than the average Liberal Democrat. Clumsily side-stepping Mass Effect 2’s key themes of companionship and consequence, Arrival feels a bit too much like an unwanted departure.

Gamer’s Guide to Life gives it a 9/10:

Though it’ll take you around an hour or so to complete it, Arrival contains an incredible story that Mass Effect junkies should devour whole. At just about $7 USD, this is an absolute steal. While it may be the last bit of extra content we get before Mass Effect 3 hits, Arrival should sate most die-hards’ thirst for more, and maybe even rekindle the urge to play through the game just one more time before (dare I say) it arrives.

Piki Geek gives it a 2/5:

Clocking in at less than an hour, Arrival is painfully short. Considering it costs $7 (560 MS/Bioware Points), it’s really not a great value, especially considering you don’t even have your companions with you. It feels like it should have been the intro mission in Mass Effect 3, not premium DLC for Mass Effect 2. As it stands, it’s tough to recommend Arrival to anyone but the most diehard Mass Effect fans who need to have every scrap of information about its universe. Considering Arrival is Mass Effect 2’s final piece of DLC, it would have been nice to see the game go out with a bang, rather than a whimper.

Xbox360Achievements.org gives it a 6/10:

After the brilliant Lair of the Shadow Broker episode though, it’s a shame that BioWare ends Mass Effect 2’s run on such a substandard piece of DLC… a piece of DLC that strips everything that we loved from the main game and left us with nothing more than a run-and-gun shooter. With next to no dialogue, no major choices and RPG elements to speak of and no squad interaction, the Arrival DLC unfortunately has left us with a sour taste in our mouth. Going out with a bang, BioWare? Hell no… I’ve had farts that were louder than that and more complex… Hey, at least Mass Effect 3 can’t be as distinctly mediocre as this, right?

The Daily Intersect doesn’t score it:

Despite my deep love for BioWare and my desire to buy everything that reads (N7’³, I have to say that I’m quite disappointed in this. This could have been something like (Lair of the Shadow Broker) with some adjustments, something that was worth the hour I spent and the Microsoft points. Their hearts were in the right place, but unfortunately, (Arrival) failed to deliver.

Guerilla Geek doesn’t score it, either:

Between the kick-in-the-door action and the excellence that’s already been established from Mass Effect 2, this is a perfect flourish to wrap up this amazing game and leave you wanting to wrap up the story. The price is a bit prohibitive, but in my opinion, it’s well worth the investment.

And Crave Online follows the scoreless approach:

In a nutshell, the Arrival doesn’t feel substantial. You’ll be OK skipping this expansion, even if you’re the type of person that starts salivating uncontrollably at the mere mention of Mass Effect 3. The Arrival is just a hollow gameplay experience full of broken promises in regards to this DLC’s implications. I wish it wasn’t like this. I wish the Arrival was the kick-ass finale to the Mass Effect 2 saga that were anticipating. Sadly, the Arrival suffers from a marketing department over-hyping a final product they didn’t have.