Commander Shepard’s last mission of the Mass Effect 2 era went live today, and the early verdict on its length is in: if you are playing on a normal difficulty with a seasoned Shepard, you can expect to wrap up Arrival in roughly an hour.
That estimate comes from the first wave of impressions to hit the web following the release. In its review, Destructoid found that Arrival runs about one hour on Veteran, with a run on Insanity stretching things to a little over an hour and a half. Game Informer’s Joe Juba reported a similar experience, clocking roughly 90 minutes on Veteran with an end game character and describing the episode as compact with very little filler.
Hackett Sends Shepard Alone After A Reaper Artifact
And the story is the real selling point here. BioWare has positioned Arrival as the bridge between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, which is currently due this holiday season. The setup sees Admiral Hackett, once again voiced by Lance Henriksen, contact Shepard directly with a personal request. An Alliance deep cover operative named Dr. Amanda Kenson has been captured by the batarians while investigating a Reaper artifact, and she may be holding evidence that the long feared Reaper invasion is far closer than anyone thought.
Unusually for the series, Shepard heads out alone. There are no squadmates to bring along, so the mission plays more like a solo infiltration than the team based firefights fans are used to, and it takes place after the events of the main Mass Effect 2 campaign. Reviewers have also pointed out that the episode ends with a major decision that the player does not get to make, a choice that is clearly meant to set the stage for the next game. We will not spoil the details here.
Seven Dollars For The Bridge To Mass Effect 3
Arrival costs 560 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360 and 560 BioWare Points on PC, which works out to around $7, while PlayStation Network users in the UK pay £5.49. That puts the price per hour well above what most players got out of Lair of the Shadow Broker, BioWare’s meatier add on from last September, so expectations around value will vary depending on how much you care about the story it tells.
Arrival is the final piece of story DLC BioWare has planned for Mass Effect 2, following the likes of Kasumi’s Stolen Memory, Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker. It is available now on all three platforms, so there is no waiting around for anyone on PS3 or PC.
So is an hour of Shepard worth seven dollars? Early reaction suggests that depends on how invested you are in the larger Reaper storyline. If you are planning to carry your save forward into Mass Effect 3, Arrival looks like essential homework, short as it is. If you were hoping for another Shadow Broker sized adventure, you may want to adjust your expectations before you hit the download button.