When I was first compiling a list of questions I wanted to address during this challenge, I was going to have a least favorite of each (mission, loyalty quest, and DLC), but then I got to thinking. Which one do I absolutely loathe playing? I mean, yes, I am annoyed that I have to waste my time aboard the corpse of the Estevanico; I don’t enjoy updating Thane every time Talid moves during his loyalty mission; driving the bulky Mako over all of that stupid terrain to get salarian IDs, resources, asari matriarch’s writings, etc. is mind-numbing. But I shrug and just do them. Because they, for the most part give me war assets in the end (not the Estevanico one, but whatever – it’s a quick mission, and those museum people send me a nice email afterward).

Not so with the Firewalker DLC for Mass Effect 2. I actually whine whenever I choose to complete them, and you know what? It’s not even necessary to the plot to do any of the missions. I am often reminded that I could just skip it altogether, but the completionist in me sometimes gets the better of me.

But anyway, where to start? Well, I hate the Hammerhead and was so fucking happy when I found out, via Cortez in Mass Effect 3, that it had probably been destroyed in a Reaper attack. The damn thing cannot handle enemy fire – it gets shot, like, two times and then starts smoking – and anytime I need to pick up supplies, it was so unwieldy that I just gave up on most. I mean, it’s not like I don’t already have a ridiculous amount of ore already. Racing around on that ice planet was purely maddening, and I found myself actually missing the Mako.

Second, the missions are … kind of boring. I am all for exploring different stories that don’t necessarily pertain to Shepard’s main goals, but good gravy, Bioware missed the mark on this one. The plight of Dr. Casey and Dr. O’Loy just didn’t do it for me, and that little orb (that we find out in ME3 was one of the objects the Leviathans use to control people) was a letdown in terms of rewards.

This DLC just didn’t really add anything to the game. I guess it kind of introduce the Leviathans, but instead of making want to know more about whatever they were trying to hint at, I ended up mainly just staring at the screen, wondering why I wasted my time on it. It’s a video game, I know, but still. I expected better from the people who were able to wow me with DLC like Lair of the Shadow Broker, or hell, even The Price of Revenge (Zaeed).

Art Credit: eTeknix, Mass Effect Wiki