Mass Effect 2 - What We Know

22 Comments

Mass Effect 2 is out there; it's been officially named, the teaser trailer has released and it's undoubtedly only a matter of time before the second part of BioWare's sci-fi saga is unravelled in full, either on the internet or in magazine land.

Before that though, let's piss in the wind a little and rummage through the interviews and PR blurbs to get an idea about the second game. Possible spoilers ahead then...

State of the galaxy

Much of Mass Effect 2's setting has already been revealed in the Mass Effect: Ascension book, which bridges the gap between the two games.

After the first game's conclusion and the Citadel's attack lead by Saren and his army of Geth, humans and aliens across the galaxy are stunned by the assault.

As the final pockets of Geth resistance are hunted down and destroyed, the Citadel Council is restructured and the human Alliance Navy is left as the dominant military force in the galaxy, no longer number two to alien fleets.

Ascension's mystery-filled plot concludes with the Quarian race (they're the ones in the breathing masks) deciding to send ships off in search of a new home world outside of Citadel space.

The Quarians, who originally created the robotic Geth baddies in the first game, were kicked off of their original home world when their creations went all Skynet. The Quarians now hope to find a new planet to live on, or possibly discover how to drive the Geth away using an ancient robo Reaper - as Saren did in Mass Effect.

The Ascension book also introduces "The Illusive Man", the mysterious leader of the Cerberus group which appeared briefly in Mass Effect 1 and works non-stop to achieve its goal of making humanity the dominant race in the galaxy.

It's said in the book that The Illusive Man and Cerberus have "many other projects to protect" - plus the group clearly appears on Mass Effect 2's teaser website. So the two are a near-cert to feature in the second game's plot.

Shepard: KIA?

The single piece of Mass Effect 'information' released by BioWare has had the entire community in debate ever since.

The debut teaser trailer, if you haven't seen it already, runs down protagonist Commander Shepard's specs and military achievements on a computer HUD. As the camera pans along a rifle and the trademark K7 armour worn by the good commander, we're shocked as the screen flashes 'status: killed in action'. This is followed by a Geth head, which pans up and appears to look down at Shepard's familiar armour.

Has our clean-shaven hero really kicked the bucket? BioWare has already confirmed that you'll be able to carry over character data from the first game into Mass Effect 2, so popular suggestion has obviously pointed to a ruse on BioWare's part. The second game could possibly have Shepard 'going dark' Jack Bauer-style, say forum fans, thus forcing him to fake his own death.

The theory's backed up by the very likely inclusion of the Cerberus group, who aren't happy with Shepard at all after his antics blowing up their research facilities in the first game.

Then again, killing off the immensely customisable and choice-spawning protagonist from the first game could save BioWare a lot of hassle in transitioning over players' characters. And Mass Effect 2 would definitely be made more accessible to newcomers if a fresh character were to be introduced.

To RPG, or not to RPG?

Story gibberish aside, BioWare plans to expand on combat and exploration gameplay portions of the first game, which is good news.

In the shooting department the developer's official announcement promises "intensified combat" and "expanded weapon options". We're hoping some of the work goes on improving the game's shooting mechanics, which were solid enough but could certainly do with some polishing to meet 2010 standards - especially in the cover system department.

As for "expanded weapon options", we can only assume this refers to the in-depth gun tweaking and customisation options available in Mass Effect 1. To an extent slapping various types of ammunition and modifiers on your guns worked well in the first game, but you could easily ignore it. We're hoping for more meaningful, strategic options in Mass Effect 2.

Elsewhere in BioWare's big list of promises is an area that definitely needs to be improved in our opinion; exploration. BioWare's lining up "increased depth of planet exploration" for the sequel, which is definitely good news.

The increasingly tense and to-the-wire doomsday plot of the original never really encouraged us to explore the galaxy ('all life's about to perish? Nah, we're off to explore the Armstrong nebula'), but hopefully we'll get some gameplay nudges in number 2. Non-plot-essential worlds never proved to be very distinct either, which is something we hope the 30-strong team of artists at EA drafted in for the sequel can help with.

Oh, and more of the wicked 80s sci-fi soundtrack, please. Let us know what your thoughts are for the sequel below.

Andy Robinson