Mass Effect 2 - Xbox 360, Playstation 3 Previews


	Platform PC, Xbox 360 Genre Role-Playing Publisher Electronic Arts Developer BioWare ETA Early 2010
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Mass Effect 2

Perish the thought, but we might start to get spoiled from all the good stuff BioWare is going to be cranking out over the next year. Dragon Age is slated for November 13th, and the MMO crowd is drooling over Star Wars: The Old Republic. But somewhere between those two releases, another title is getting ready to deliver another shot of BioWare goodness to gamer'sarms (and computers), the highly anticipated Mass Effect 2.

What made Mass Effect so damn appealing was that it wasn't fantasy (a la Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights) nor was it space opera (Knights of The Old Republic). It was almost pure science fiction of the hard and crunchy kind, what Arthur C. Clarke and Joe Haldeman might have cooked up if they'd gotten together. Humans were the new kids in town as far as galactic society, the aliens were diverse, and virtually every technology in the game was given a very plausible explanation of its

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basic function and principle. The storyline was broad, sweeping, and surprisingly adult. It was the kind of sci-fi gamers didn't just deserve but desperately needed.

The teaser trailer set the tone for this new episode in the Mass Effect universe, and the tone was dark. Rattling off a list of accomplishments, it finishes up with the status of our hero

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Commander Shepherd as "deceased." What?! You don't kill the hero off in a video game! How else do you make more sequels?! As word came out later, rumors of Shepherd's death were greatly exaggerated. However, the developers have also said that there's no guarantee that they'll stay that way. There is the risk in playing the game that, at some point, Shepherd will die and stay dead for good. Why would BioWare do this? Considering that a third Mass Effect game is already in the works, there's the possibility that you as the player are going to take control of a different hero and explore how the galaxy is different with Shepherd gone, or it might be that you'll take control of a different Shepherd (close or distant relative) and you're trying to deal with the repercussions of his death. At this point, BioWare probably doesn't have all the details nailed down for the third game. But the second game is getting closer to release and it looks like it's going to be a really bad day for a really good guy.

The premise of Mass Effect 2 centers around the mysterious disappearance of human colonies throughout the galaxy. It's not a case of raids by Batarian slavers (hinted at in the original game and its DLC expansion "Bring Down The Sky"). It's not invasion by the Geth where the corpses are turned into the chilling husks that you fought so often. They're just disappearing and not even the Citadel Council knows why. So, of course, they're going to send their human Spectre out to discover the truth and put a stop to it. Of course, doing so isn't going to be easy. Even Spectres need support staff, and you're likely to pick up a lot of the same crew members you got through the last game with, such as the burly and surly Krogan warrior Wrex, the mysterious traveler Tali, and the inquisitive scientist Liara. Of course, with a new game comes new faces, and the chance to add new crew members to your complement. So far, two of the new characters have been revealed, and both of them tend towards the Renegade side of Mass Effect's morality system. The assassin Thane is one of the new alien species in ME2 and, very much like Jean Reno's Leon, he's a professional who knows how to get in close. Unlike Leon, however, he has no compunctions about killing women as evidenced in the E3 trailers where he snaps necks and gut shoots several Asari with speed and fluidity. The other new reveal is enigmatically referred to as Subject Zero. Whether this is her given name, an alias, or something more sinister, it's hard to say. What isn't hard to say is that she is certifiably insane. Tattooed head to toe and in command of ME2's biotic powers, she seems to be a one-woman wrecking crew with very little regard for her own life, much less those of her enemies. Of course, when you're looking at a suicide mission, maybe these two aren't so bad.

Several changes are being made to game play. The control schemes for your teammates are being revamped so you can quickly move them into position. Inventory control is reportedly being cleaned up but no specifics so far. One change which might cause some consternation is the role of space exploration. Before, you could pilot the starship Normandy anywhere in the galaxy, exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, and occasionally exterminating them. Now, fuel considerations must be made. On the other hand, when it comes to planetary exploration, you're being given more control over your landing zone and scanning a planet for resources or mission objectives is no longer a one-click affair. Perhaps one of the big changes comes in the form of the all new "heavy weapons." In the first game, you had a virtually limitless supply of ammunition and were really limited only by your weapons' threshold for overheating. While those weapons are going to remain the bread and butter of combat, heavy weapons are going to be the sort of thing that either evens the odds in an unfavourably lopsided contest or puts a definitive end to an unfavourably well defended position. The downside is that such weapons will be ammunition limited, so you won't be able to blast away with the big guns like they were a button marked "I win."

Just as The Empire Strikes Back is lauded for being a much darker toned chapter in the Star Wars saga, Mass Effect 2 looks to be on track for being the darker and much more successful sequel to its originator. There might be too much good stuff coming out of BioWare in the coming year, but I don't think we're going to mind much.

- Axel Cushing

(November 5, 2009)