The Sky Was Not, In Fact, Brought Down (DLC Review)

This evening, I finally got the chance to sink my teeth into the first content pack for Mass Effect, "Bring Down the Sky," which was released on Monday, much to the glee of sci-fi nerds everywhere. After downloading it, I started up a new game with an existing character profile, and made quick work of the beginning parts on Eden Prime and in the Citadel. Once I got control of the Normandy, I jetted off to the Asgard system to kick some Batarian ass.

Basically, there's an asteroid orbiting the planet of Terra Nova, which is the home to some 4 million people. A group of Batarians (those nasty slavers we've heard whispers of in the game, but haven't actually seen until now) has hijacked the facilities on the asteroid and are using three fusion torches to blast the asteroid on a collision course with Terra Nova. Of course, our delightful Commander Shepard is the only one ballsy enough to go in and save the day.

It was a pretty standard mission, mainly just "go disable these things, then go there and do that" sort of thing. But it introduced some interesting characters and had some good action, and the scenery was pretty. Overall, it was a nice little 90 minutes of alien fun. I wish that all, or at least some, of the side missions in the core game were as solid as this, rather than the same ol' probes on the same ol' maps with the same ol' dead Salarians.

Now I'm going to try and get the rest of the achievements for the game, then sit tight for Mass Effect 2, which is totally going to blow my panties off.