The last few months have seen a flurry of activity in the Mass Effect universe, what with Mass Effect 2 finally becoming available to PS3 owners, as well as the formal announcement of the third and final installment in the series coming late this year. Not content to let its award-winning middle child rest on its laurels while we patiently await the conclusion to Commander Shepard’s epic sci-fi tale, BioWare has already released several DLC content packs for ME2. While we enjoyed the Kasumi’s Stolen Memory and Overlord DLC, they offered relatively little in the way of incentives to players who already beaten the game. Enter Lair of the Shadow Broker, Mass Effect 2‘s most ambitious (and expensive) DLC pack yet, aimed squarely at addressing that very issue. Is Shadow Broker worth digging out your copy of ME2 (and $10)? Read on to find out.

What separates Lair of the Shadow Broker from all of the DLC preceding it is first and foremost the fact that rather than adding a one-off sidestory mission, it’s actually set after the events of ME2. Technically you can do the LotSB missions as soon as you have access to Illium, but much of the dialog within assumes that the player has already completed the main game. In fact, this is the first DLC pack that BioWare has planned to “bridge the gap” between the second and third Mass Effect games. It’s an interesting approach to the challenge of offering players enticing DLC in a genre in which it is notoriously difficult to do so, given its heavily story-driven nature. Besides, it beats having your Mass Effect 2 disc collect dust after you beat it for the third time on Insanity without getting any upgrades or spending a single squad point, you crazy junkies.

The title of the DLC makes the plot pretty self-evident: Liara, your crazy, obsessive cross-species lover/platonic friend has devoted the last two years of her life to hunting down the Shadow Broker, and her chance for revenge has finally arrived. Turns out, all she apparently needed to do was slip BioWare like ten bucks, because after purchasing the DLC, Cerberus HQ literally sends you an email saying, “Hey, we totally found that Shadow Broker guy your pal is looking for.” Yep.

Anyway, there’s no time to worry about how your sources were suddenly able to track down the single most elusive being in the known universe — you have a Shadow Broker to catch! The gameplay does a pretty good job with the pacing, building suspense until the moment of your climactic showdown with the Shadow Broker himself (or… herself?!). The vehicle-based sections in the Hammerhead tank from the last two DLC packs don’t make an appearance here, but there is a surprisingly decent car chase scene. Otherwise, the action is much the same you’ve come to expect from Mass Effect: shoot some dudes and make some tough choices, which may involve shooting more dudes. Liara fans should rejoice, though — for the first time since the original Mass Effect, Liara rejoins the squad for some biotic ass-kicking, albeit temporarily. What, did you really want another freeloader taking up space on the Normandy?

The action and story elements are both very well and good, but the real standout element of Lair of the Shadow Broker is the new environments the missions introduce. Locations like Liara’s apartment and the Shadow Broker’s ship are just plain cool-looking, and a new hub area opens up after completing the mission pack. The hub is packed full of all sorts of goodies, including daily deliveries ranging from small amounts of research materials to weapon upgrades (!), research files on all of your squad members and the option to reallocate your allies’ squad points. These are all nice touches that help extend the game’s replay value beyond the LotSB missions themselves, though, sadly, they still aren’t of much use to people who’ve already beaten the game. What good is a shiny new weapon damage upgrade if you’ve no one left to shoot? Lair of the Shadow Broker may be intended for players who have already completed Mass Effect 2, but you’ll get more out of the content if you do it in the midst of a playthrough, rather than at the end.

Finally, there is the issue of price. Call me a miser, but I like to get my money’s worth out of games (it’s not all sunshine and free review copies over here,  you know), and while I would say that Lair of the Shadow Broker is easily the best DLC pack yet for ME2, it’s also the most expensive. Ten space bucks are what you can expect to part with if you want to aid Liara in her slightly creepy quest for revenge, and for that you can expect two or three hours of new content. I guess at the end of the day, I’ve eaten more expensive sandwiches that — while undeniably more delicious than Lair of the Shadow Broker — were nowhere near as entertaining, so go ahead and splurge on this one. Hey, you’re worth it.

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Things We Liked: A new hub area with lots of neat stuff inside. The car chase scene was a pleasant surprise. More filling than even the heartiest of sandwiches. It’s nice to see BioWare offer up some plot development through DLC while we wait for Mass Effect 3.

Things We Disliked: Increased price tag relative to other ME2 DLC for only marginally more content. Still lacking in incentives for those who’ve already beaten the game — and at this point, who hasn’t?

Target Audience: Hopeless Mass Effect addicts. Folks who got a glimpse of alien side-boob in the original Mass Effect and were hoping to continue their relationship with Liara.

(Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC – Developer: BioWare. Publisher: Electronic Arts. Available for PC and Xbox 360, also included in the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 – PC version reviewed. Unfamiliar with CFD!’s review system? Read our newly revised explanation here.)