Mass Effect 2 is a tale about Commander Shepard and his crew recruiting the best warriors around to take the fight to the mysterious Collectors who are abducting human colonies.
They'll look good while doing it too, as the game has a range of outfits for Shepard and his squad to save the day in style. However, not every attire is a winner as some of the clothing in the game is subpar at best.
This list attempts to separate the five best outfits from the five worst. It's worth noting that despite certain armor having combat boosts, their look was the only thing considered for this list to allow for the inclusion of casual and companion outfits.
10 Best: Cerberus Crew Outfit
Cerberus might not be the nicest organization in the world, but they sure know how to make a stylish crew outfit. The mixture of white, grey, and black makes for a sleek look that is far better than the bland blue Alliance attire from the first game.
Its skin-tight nature works better on more muscular characters, as the Cerberus logo does look a bit odd on slim shoulders. Also, the fact that every Cerberus crew member (excluding squad members and Dr. Chakwas) wears it makes it less special, especially over time. However, it is still a beautiful outfit.
9 Worst: Kestrel Armor
From the neck down the Kestrel Armor is fine, it's pretty basic, yet there's nothing outright bad about it. The helmet, on the other hand, is horrible. It wouldn't be so bad if the helmet had covered Shepard's whole face as it could've given that faceless badass look, however having their little mouth poking out makes it look ridiculous and unintentionally hilarious.
One bright part of the armor is the ability to customize it with different colors. Also, it's even possible to take the helmet off, but we are reviewing outfits as a whole, so that doesn't stop it from being on the worst list.
8 Best: Jack's DLC Outfit
This is similar to the Kestrel Armor in that everything above the neck is terrible, however in this instance what's below the neck is so fantastic that it makes up for it. Jack sports a cool sleeveless jacket with a darker version of her usual pants and boots, it all has a biker-inspired vibe to it, and it fits her badass attitude to a tie.
The visor is the only issue with the ensemble, as it looks like something from a comedy in the 80s that tried to guess what fashion in the future would look like. Even with the awful visor, this outfit is still one of the best in Mass Effect 2.
7 Worst: Mordin's Alternate
This will be a contentious pick for one of the worst outfits as the design itself looks pretty good. The issue with it is that it's barely different from Mordin's normal attire. They added black shoulders, some black on the forearms, and a deeper black in the center, and that was virtually the only difference between his original and alternate outfits.
Maybe they could've turned all the white to black or maybe changed up the color of the red stripe. It just seems they lacked creativity when coming up with this one, and Mordin deserved better.
6 Best: Miranda's DLC Armor
Paid DLC outfits have higher expectations, and Miranda's armor blows them out of the water. The Cerberus cheerleader should always don the team colors in the second game, and the black and orange fit together perfectly here.
A bonus is that it's actually armor, her outfits in the base game are skin-tight bodysuits that might look great, but they don't seem like they'd provide much protection. You could argue that many of the squad members don't wear armor, but most of them are reckless rogues who live by their own rules, whereas Miranda is a highly professional Cerberus Officer who should have standard-issue armor. Also, visors can be hit or miss in Mass Effect, yet in this case, it fits the outfit and doesn't obstruct her face.
5 Worst: Jacob's Alternate
Jacob's alternate outfit has the same issue as Mordin's, in that it's very uninspired. They took his original outfit, turned the white parts yellow, and added yellow stripes down his arms and legs.
Nobody is expecting a whole new design, as almost all the squadmates' alternate attires are just color changes, but it works for likes of Samara and Grunt because they change their primary colors, so it feels like a significant alteration, instead of just changing the trimming. However, in some ways, this outfit is perfect for Jacob, as it's just as uninteresting as he is.
4 Best: Blood Dragon Armor
Anyone who has seen plenty of videos of Mass Effect 2 on YouTube will have seen this armor as it is a very popular choice among the franchise's fanbase. The armor mixes the Sci-fi style of Mass Effect with the older style of armor seen in the Dragon Age series.
Shockingly the mix of time periods and game series' works brilliantly, and the design is topped off with a delightfully painted dragon on the chest and shoulder. Additionally, the outfit gets bonus points for uniqueness, as no other outfit in the game looks like it.
3 Worst: Jack's Alternate
What is going on with Jack's shirt in this one? It's supposed to be skin tight, but it looks like somebody painted it on, as it barely looks like a shirt at all. Also, it seems more like a piece of compressed clothing that an athlete would wear, not something an out of control lunatic would put on.
The pants are fine as they're just a different color to what she originally wears, but they're a completely different style to the shirt. Bioware deserves credit for trying to mix up the design with Jack's alternate instead of just changing the colors as they did for others, but it didn't work.
2 Best: N7 Armor
You can't beat a classic, and that's exactly what Mass Effect 2's default N7 armor is. It's a stylish yet simple design with just one stripe down the arm and the glorious N7 logo on the chest.
The helmet is absent from the image, but whether it's the regular helmet or the breather version, they are both strong additions to the already impressive armor. Another great aspect of this attire is the ability to have many different variations of colors, with plenty of them looking brilliant. It's truly iconic Shepard apparel.
1 Worst: Civilian Outfits
For some reason, in the Mass Effect universe, most civilians have horrible fashion sense. Many wear ugly outfits that heavily involve bland colors like dark oranges and browns. Shepard can also wear this outfit, and even the legendary hero can't make it look good.
Male Shepard gets a ridiculous-looking little bomber jacket, whereas Female Shepard gets a slightly better get up that's let down by its odd sleeves and dull colors. Additionally, wearing civilian clothes makes Shepard look like an ordinary person, the hero of the Citadel deserves to stand out more than that.