A daring and incredible sequel. The Mass Effect Universe rivals that of Star Wars. A big claim, however true.
The story of Mass Effect 2 takes place several weeks after the events of Mass Effect 1; Commander Shepard has stopped Sovereign, an alien life form called a Reaper with the sole intention of destroying all sentient life in the galaxy. Shepard learns by the end of the first game that Sovereign was just a scout, and there is still an army of Reapers on their way. The second title begins with Commander Shepard being killed by an unknown ship; he then awakes on an operating table two years later after being rebuilt by Cerberus, a pro-human organisation who believe they are the dominant life forms. Shepard's task is to discover why the mysterious race known as the Collectors are kidnapping humans, and what their ties are to the Reapers. Along the way he must gather candidates to take with him for a final assault on the Collector home base, depending on the player's actions, can determine what happens to Shepard and his squad.
The addition of Downloadable Content was very welcome in Mass Effect 2, allowing the player to simply enter new worlds, meet new characters and even drive vehicles; instalments can simply be bought, downloaded and played in the main story.
Whilst playing Mass Effect, you control Commander Shepard, the player can decide which gender their character is, however the game has a heavy basis that the male 'John Shepard' is the canon. After deciding on a gender and customising the appearance as the player sees fit, there is then a choice of multiple classes as is ordinarily evident in Role Playing Game's such as solider which is universally a gun wielding character with enhanced shields, mostly used to 'run and gun' which is a general tactic for most action games. Another class is the infiltrator, who has increased power with rifles and has the ability to 'cloak' and turn themselves invisible, which is ideal for a sniper.
Beyond customisation, the game is generally a third person action game when it comes to combat. The player has a fixed over shoulder view over Shepard and can choose between four types of weapons, handguns, shotguns, rifles and heavy weapons. Other similarities to traditional action games include shields and health, special ammo types which do certain damage to certain enemies, finding ammo on the ground or in special crates, which wasn't present in the first game in which the player had a weapon that would overheat over time, and a cover system.
One of the main aspects always loved about Mass Effect 2 is the paragon/renegade story trees. Every conversation had with an NPC has positive and negative answers, these answers can determine whether or not a player likes or dislikes Shepard. At special points in certain conversations the player will be able to perform a unique paragon or renegade option; such as push someone out of a window or prevent someone from killing themselves. All of these options influence the character in certain ways and can have a huge impact on the story.
In terms of sound Jack Wall and Sam Hullick returned to work on the soundtrack, using a variety of different styles of music for different areas they set the tone for any situation, providing heart-warming sentimental pieces or epic battle music, they are certainly the right people to work on an alien action game.
As Mass Effect is set hundreds of years into the future, the idea is that man has finally reached the deep reaches of space to find that aliens of all kinds have lived, even with their own 'Galactic Council', which incidentally can be saved or left to die by the players choice in the first game. Because of this there are many different species of fantastically designed aliens, such as Asari, a bright blue, humanoid looking race who have psychic powers called 'Biotics', which are a ability that have been passed to humans via implants, giving the player the option to have biotics or not. Another species that stood out is the Elcor, giant elephant like creatures who have very monotone voices and cannot express emotion, because of this they have to say what emotion they are feeling before each sentence, an example of this is "Annoyed: If she were expecting you, you'd be inside". Incidentally the Elcor race won "Best New Species of the Year" from the Official Xbox Magazine.
Due to the game being set in space, the environments are all very unique in Mass Effect, having obvious influences from human landscapes players find themselves going from beautiful green worlds to inside an organic spacecraft. All of these unique worlds have a certain race or alien that is native too it; by using the players ship on the world map screen and exploring different worlds, intelligence can be gathered so that the player can discover what enemies are native to what environments and be prepared for any encounter.
With many action games and many Role Playing games on the market at the moment, it's very difficult to find one that doesn't feel like a clone. In 2007, Bioware got the marriage of action and role playing right in a way that felt new, now in 2010 the game has been significantly improved, any shortcomings from the first one met and rectified. A fantastic title to pick up and play or spend hours exploring planets and preparing for the final mission, Mass Effect 2 is a title any gamer, casual or hardcore, should pick up and at least give a chance.