Mass Effect 2 Trailer

Mass Effect 2 is an upcoming action role-playing video game under development by BioWare Edmonton with assistance from BioWare Montreal, and set to be published by Electronic Arts. The game is the sequel to Mass Effect, and will be released on Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in North America on January 26, 2010, and in Europe on January 29, 2010.

A "Prelude to E3" developer diary was released on May 15, 2009. The developers confirmed that the combat system has been upgraded, with everything from the feel of the combat and the AI being improved, including realistic damage modeling and downed enemies still continuing to crawl and fight. New to the series is a heavy weapons system that will allow you to "kill a thousand times" over. The tone of the game is similar to that of the Wild West, featuring warlords and crime gangs. The video also confirmed the existence of new alien races and an attack by one race on Citadel-controlled space, wearing armor with an "M1" logo painted on it and seeming to control similarly armored varren, a race of non-sapient animals similar to dogs.

Mass Effect 2 also features regenerating health as its primary health mechanic, instead of being able to heal with "medi-gel" as in the first game. In addition, the overheat system for weapons has been replaced with collectible heat sinks. It has recently been announced that rather than the old overheating system of Mass Effect there will instead be heat sinks that must be ejected and replaced in order to cool down your weapon. This system is functionally identical to the ammunition systems in other third-person shooters, but instead of having different ammunition types for different weapons, the heat sinks are universal across all standard weapons.

The characters in Mass Effect 2 will be more detailed not only graphically, but technically. In the original Mass Effect, Commander Shepard only had 20 animations for cover, while in Mass Effect 2, the character has over 200. The world will also be more open-ended in this installment; uncharted worlds the player could only explore for "cheap thrills" will now be more detailed and have more to explore.

The camera positioning for conversations with AI characters has also been improved, the previously static camera now moving around to provide "a much needed cinematic touch." Another new feature during conversations are context-sensitive controls; as shown in a conversation with Scientist Mordin, Shepard is able to interrupt the dialogue with aggressive tactics when prompted with the on-screen controls.

A new vehicle will be introduced to replace the M35 Mako due to criticism of the Mako's poor gameplay sections in the first game.

Unlike Mass Effect, in which there were four weapon types, there are now nineteen different weapons and the pistol has been broken up into the heavy pistol and the machine pistol. The grenades from the first game do not make a reappearance, but have been replaced by the new heavy weapons. Submachineguns are shown to be another new weapon class added to the game. Characters are now able to use any weapon their class is trained for at full effect, meaning the player is no longer required to or able to invest in weapon skills. Armor skills have also been removed, and there are no longer class restrictions on armor.

Transferring save-files

Casey Hudson, Project Director for BioWare, and Greg Zeschuk, BioWare co-founder, as well as various developers on the official Mass Effect message boards, have said that players should keep their Mass Effect save-files, because decisions made by the player in the first game will continue to have influences on their character in the sequel. Each completed game will be viewable by the player when deciding which save to import into Mass Effect 2, and a summary of some of the key decisions made during the game will be shown to help you make sure you import the save you want.

Players who have not played the first Mass Effect will start a new character in Mass Effect 2, and will be brought up to speed on the story elements that have taken place thus far in the series. Hudson also states that characters from the previous game will come back, provided that they were not killed.

When transferring a file from the first Mass Effect, players have the option to change their class to a different one. For example, if the player wanted to play as an Engineer instead of an Infiltrator, the player may change their character's class while still importing the choices made in the first game. In addition, there is a story explanation as to how the character's abilities have changed.

Character death

The first teaser trailer for this game gives the impression that Commander Shepard has been killed in action, but a later trailer shows that Shepard is still alive at the beginning of the game. Players themselves can dictate whether or not Shepard will die based on choices that they make throughout the game. BioWare Executive Producer Casey Hudson explained that "If you do die in the ending of Mass Effect 2, it will not come as a surprise, nor will it be random. It will be pretty obvious that you headed into the final mission knowing that Shepard probably wouldn’t make it out alive." Hudson also confirmed that team members would be affected by the player's decisions during the final mission: "You might have an ending where Shepard’s entire team survives, or where the entire mission is a bloodbath and everyone (including Shepard) is killed, or anything in between." The ending in which Shepard is killed represents a permanent death, rather than one where the player simply reloads from the last saved game, meaning Shepard would not be available for Mass Effect 3 in that scenario.

Plot

Mass Effect 2 begins in 2183, not long after the events of Mass Effect. While on patrol for geth, the protagonist Commander Shepard's ship, the Normandy, comes under attack by an unknown assailant. The ship suffers extensive damage, forcing the crew to evacuate in escape pods. Shepard is the last to escape the ship before it is destroyed completely, but eventually asphyxiates and dies while drifting through space. Commander Shepard's body is retrieved by the shadow broker, who has been employed by The Collectors. In the events of Mass Effect Redemption, former squadmate Liara T'Soni is employed by Cerberus (A pro human group) to get the body for the organization, before it is delivered to The Collectors. After this Cerberus works to revive the Commander through the Lazarus Project. Two years later in 2185, Shepard is awakened aboard a Cerberus space station that is under attack, and aids Cerberus agents Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor in escaping. Shepard is taken to Cerberus' headquarters and granted an audience with the Illusive Man, who explains that Shepard was "upgraded" and asks for the Commander's help in combating a new threat which has been abducting entire human colonies. Shepard and his team are dispatched to the recently attacked colony of Freedom's Progress in the Terminus Systems to investigate. There, the group encounters Tali, one of Shepard's former squad members, and discovers that the mysterious insect-like Collectors were behind the attack. Shepard reports this to the Illusive Man, who then reveals what Shepard's previous squad members are up to. After receiving command of the Normandy SR-2, Shepard decides to begin recruiting a new team to discover the Collectors' plan.