Bioware's latest DLC for Mass Effect 2 is difficult to review for me. For one the gameplay, graphics, dialogue, and sound are all excellent just like the main game. The story is good and does act as a good transition and lead up to Mass Effect 3. The mission is fun and offers a variety of gameplay, from stealth to a survive against waves of enemies. My main gripe with the DLC is how short it is. I played through the entire DLC in around 2 hours, a bit short for 7 bucks. Also, you don't have any of your partners, it's a solo mission. This is a nice change, but I found myself prefering to fight with my comrades. The DLC is good and fun while it last, just don't expect it to last long.… Collapse

This was a far cry from any other Mass Effect related mission and dlc. It felt like Bioware is catering to their purely shooter fans more than ever. The mission forced Commander Shepard to solo, with a temporary companion for a short period of time. What an odd feeling, especially as the rest of the game is mainly focused on recruiting a team. What makes game play and the story both fun and re-playable were the teamwork between Shepard and team members. This dlc was very underwhelming, and at times, comical.… Expand

Very disappointing. Save for the end that lead to ME3, the story is basic, lacking both in interest and choices. The action is basically a 2 bases shoot-out with nothing new or original. Since you're by yourself, there are neither interactions nor dialogues with your crew. What should have been a great final for ME2 ends up being its worst DLC.

Arrival fails to give us a great end of the me2 and it´s the weakest dlc of the bunch.No vehicles, no new gameplay concepts, no real interesting decisions,choices are false.

I loved ME and ME2. And I thought the Shadow Broker DLC was a great addition. I was hoping to see something of that caliber. Unfortunately, Arrival felt like a tacked on grab for money. The story left me scratching my head and wishing I hadn't seen this particular chapter and just waited until ME3.

A very short chapter that really tells you nothing new, nothing that you didn't already know and expect in the upcoming ME 3 game. Sadly, this feels more like a quick cash-in then a true attempt to add something new to bridge the gap between ME 2 and ME 3. Sadly, Bioware was riding high on its DLC, but to make this the last one, is truly a disappointing way to treat its fans! Passing this up will in no way truly impact you in the story telling. Only, and I mean Only pick this up, if you are a Die-Hard Must have it all, Mass Effect Fan, all others may pass it up!… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. You know me. The guy who used to hate Mass Effect 2 and then once he played it, he became a fan. Well I was determined to buy the newest and last Mass Effect 2 DLC on day one. All I knew is that it was about the Reapers and there was something counting down to something. Is that all you knew? And what, you don't have 560 MSP to buy it? Well my friends, let me give you my review on it. Maybe you won't waste your money, or maybe you'll suddenly find money. So according to Bioware, it does not matter at all when in the game you play the DLC, whether it be in the middle of the game or right at the end (to be honest though, it's best to play it half way through, where the DLC will feel like a 9/10 rather than a 6.5/10). Admiral Hackett contacts you, and asks you, and only you, to go on a mission to help rescue a woman who "apparently" knows information on an upcoming Reaper invasion. You go alone and manage to break her out. Not long after, you end up on some strange asteroid that has a big countdowns (we all love countdowns right?) which counts down to when the Reapers will arrive, hence the DLC titled "The Arrival". The aim of the DLC is to find a way to stop "The Arrival" before the countdown gets to zero, but everything goes to hell when you trust someone too much in a short space of time (Hey. I may have blurted the ending a bit, but it may have just saved you 560 MSP). There is nothing really new in the Mass Effect 2 DLC, except there is a segment where you can sneakily past guards rather than kill them to get a nice achievement. Of course, me being me, I just killed them. Other than that, itÃ¢â… Expand

Short. Not innovative. No nice bonuses. Adds nothing to the Mass Effect 2 experience. Takes place in a bland and rather familiar setting. This DLC should have been give away for free to Mass Effect 2's loyal fans; instead they give us a full-price DLC that's half the length and half the originality that it should be. It fails terribly at getting me excited for Mass Effect 3. It succeeds only in irritating me that I actually paid for it.… Expand

The story is solid and enjoyable and some of the combat is very memorable. I'm docking this DLC for all it's glitches.

AI Hacking and Dominate is glitchy as hell. Most of the time dominated enemies will either keep attacking you or freeze up until it wears off. Also in early parts of the level some DLC weapons lose their reticles and fire from somewhere above Shepherd's head.

If there were still any doubts about how pathetic Mass Effect 2s RPG credentials were, I hope this final chapter silences them. It takes all but the most idiotic of fanbois to be unable to see that what we have here, is a summary of ME2 in a DLC. That summary contains little more than a thin "go here, do this" objective where 90% of your time is taken up by hiding behind boxes, popping out and shooting enemies. Its what takes up the lions share of gameplay time in Mass Effect 2 itself, and this DLC follows suit exactly.

Worse still, what scant RPG gameplay there was in combat is even further cutback in this DLC, as the pissant RPG and tactical gameplay your squadmates pathetic selection of abilities offers is now gone too, as you play this game solo for 95% of its 1 and 1/2 hours of gametime.

Even the DLCs main story follows ME2s plot exactly, in that all it does is restate the ending of the first game. There is some mild forshadowing going on, but since thats not here yet, and when it does arrive its very like to be the same bland TPS driven crap Bioware is insisting Mass Effect be now, they dont get points for that.

Lair of the Shadow Broker was a mildly promising look at what Bioware can achieve when they actually make the story integral, when they develop characters from previous games (instead of leaving them out or simply reseting them) and when they open their minds, if only briefly, to an ideal that this game shouldnt be just about TPS combat (the carchase, though brief, cheap and rough around the edges was a breath of fresh air in a game filled with linear claustrophobic corridor shooter missions).

This DLC is awful, and it summarises everything that is awful about ME2, and could be awful about ME3:

Stripped out RPG.
Boring characters whose only purpose is to prop up shooter missions.
Pathetic, disconnected story.
Overwhelming focus on cover based TPS combat that just. never. ends.

Unless you are the most rabid, Bioware fellating fanboi, stay away from this DLC.… Expand

I don't understand you guys. What were you expecting from a DLC? I didn't expect to fight reapers, that is CLEARLY reserved to Mass Effect 3 from Mass Effect 2's ending. Do you all honestly think Bioware would make a DLC have an epic reaper battle in a DLC only a fraction of Mass Effect 2 purchasers will get? PRIOR to the game that EVERYONE will buy, Mass Effect 3? I thought that for what it was this DLC was fine. We now know the reapers are actually within the galaxy, and war looms w/ the batarians.Those are pretty important. The ending got me more pumped for Mass Effect 3. I can't wait.â… Expand

Im not sure if its because Mass Effect 2 is such a great game that people had really high expectations for this DLC or if im just a sucker for anything from the Mass Effect universe. I personally enjoyed this DLC quite a bit; however, not as much as i did LotSB or Overlord (i personally loved Overlord). There aren't any 'wow' moments in this DLC, but on the flipside, you wont be bored either. Its simply a fun expansion and that'll last a good couple hours. Definitely worth the 7 dollars.… Expand

I been excited about this DLC for a while. Like many my expectations were high because of hype and the previous Lair of the Shadow Broker. At the very least I expected something of the same quality of Overlord which was the same price. Instead I played the worst DLC the series has come up with and apparently it was "bridging". My mine gripe being I was so detached playing my Shepard, the linear plot and lack of any decisions was frustrating but the way my Shepard reacted was astonishing. There was not a single paragon option through the whole thing. I honest didnt feel like I was playing the character I come to love over the past two games. As said the linear plot was rather predictable and offered no or little surprise. Playing a vanguard too, the amount of times I was unable to charge was crazy despite having a perfect line of site. Very frustrating and disappointing DLC.… Expand

Arrival is probably between Lair of the Shadow Broker and Overlord or maybe behind Overlord but in front of Kasumi's Memory, (aside from Kasumi's DLC giving you the best SMG the Locust). If anything the DLC will be as good as how much you enjoy the story of Mass Effect 2. With Arrival you're tasked to go in alone and rescue a scientist held hostage. Then it really takes off. This DLC may not present anything extremely new, you'll enjoy running through it to overcome the major threat to the whole universe, the Reapers! It will be interesting to see the ramifications of this mission with Mass Effect 3 and it's no denying this is the bridging DLC from Mass Effect 2 to Mass Effect 3. This is a very action heavy DLC that reminded me of watching a kick ass action movie. If you're a big RPG fan you might be a little disappointed with the lack of moral choices and linearity of this mission but you will get a compelling story and one hell of a conclusion. Recommend… Expand

i liked this DLC a lot. it was combat focused. whether that's good or bad is up to you. the first part reminded me a lot of splinter cell, which was a nice reprieve from the standard run and gun game play. the second part was VERY combat focused. the ending was great. i won't spoil it but it's defiantly one of this "holy s***" moments. is it a GREAT dlc compared to lair of the shadow broker? not at all.

is it a GREAT dlc for 7 dollars? you bet your a** is it.… Expand

Nowhere near the standard set by Lair of the Shadow Broker. And no companions allowed?? WTF? On the upside, voice acting by Jennifer Hale still superb.

Arrival suffers as it purposely does not incorporate many of Mass Effect's greater features. For example, there are no squadmates to use, limiting your ability to adapt to different combat situations with different approaches. Furthermore, there are no real choices to be made. The DLC is also relatively short and does not add a great deal to the main plot. Arrival is therefore not entirely necessary to bridge the gap between ME2 and the upcoming ME3. The enemies are also entirely generic and get boring very quickly. Nevertheless, the core gameplay is still enjoyable, yet this should only be purchased by those who really love Mass Effect.… Expand

The Arrival DLC is a must own for Mass Effect 2 fans who are going to buy the sequel, it sets the tone perfectly, not only that but it gets you totally pumped for Mass Effect 3, and everything that happens in this DLC will play a pretty large role in the next game, I don't want to spoil anything about the story but lets just say that you seriously need to get this, it's definitely worth the price of admission, and has is decent in length, you will also play this without the help of your followers which makes combat more intense, my only complaints are that, you don't get to make any choices as it's all basically predetermined what happens, and that you can't always control what Shepard says, when your watching Shepard having a conversation in where you don't get to control what he/she says (which happens a lot) it takes out a lot of the RPG feel to the game, but the fact that is so much fun and that it ties in so closely to Mass Effect 3 make this a must download, and makes the wait for Mass Effect 3 almost unbearable.… Expand

The negative reviews of this game are just angry drivel for those who never truly loved Mass Effect 2. There is nothing wrong with Arrival in any way whatsoever. Other than it being very short (I beat it in a few hours), it still contains all the things we love about this series. It is a little short on decision making, and you can't bring your posse with you on a fight, but so what? Is it going to kill you to take a mission alone for once? Any time there is more Mass Effect 2 to be played it should be celebrated, not whined about. Bioware is insanely busy working on Mass Effect 3 right now, and I for one am happy they made time for yet another DLC pack for Mass Effect 2. Yes, it's short, but I was totally engrossed for the two hours it took me to beat it. It leaves you wanting more which is exactly what it should do!… Expand

The Arrival was a very good expansion. It really show us how close the reapers are from earth in it. I don't understand why this is getting bad ratings its far better than what people have been saying. Stop comparing this to Lair of the Shadow Broker Bio-ware did a good job with this considering they are busy with Mass Effect 3. My only complaint about this DLC was that it was short I beat it around an hour and a half. This was not as good as Overlord, or Lair of the Shadow Broker but its story really sets up Mass Effect 3 and for that it was pretty darn good.… Expand

With Mass Effect 3 deep in the minds of all of the engineers at BioWare, I had a feeling Arrival would only be a small expansion. I was keeping my fingers crossed for a longer DLC than what I got, but that's okay for it did many good and slightly less than good things. For the bad: the fighting was sort of linear, nothing new there. The good: Highly detailed and interactive environment; Mark Meer improved in voice acting, maybe took some classes; New cinematic techniques were shown during the cut-scenes; and the best of all, it did a really good job setting up for ME3. This was definitely not ME2's best DLC, but it was good non-the-less.… Expand

While it still a good piece of DLC for ME2, the biggest problem with Arrival is that it is to short. If it was an hour or 2 longer I would give it a 7or 8. It is just to short.

Short: Its the worst DLC ever... They didn't anything right, all is just so ridiculous I cant belive it. They even use human-models for Batarian... Story is same ridiculous (for example: now a astroid can do what a supernova cant ?) .... Did noone cheked it before they released it ? So complete DLC is so bad, Bioware should recompense all who waste time on this ... Waste of money; Waste of time or Short: DONT BUY THIS ****… Expand