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Developer(s): BioWare
Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
Designer(s): Casey Hudson (director)
Writer(s): Mac Walters (lead writer) Drew Karpyshyn
Composer(s): Jack Wall Sam Hulick David Kates Jimmy Hinson
Series: Mass Effect
Engine: Unreal Engine 3.5
Version: 1.01 (PC)
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360,Onlive
Release date(s): NA January 26, 2010 EU January 26, 2010 AUS January 28, 2010
Genre(s): Action RPG
Mode(s): Single-player
Rating(s): BBFC: 15 ESRB: M OFLC: MA 15+ PEGI: 18+
Media: 2 DVD-DLs,[10] download

Input methods: Gamepad, keyboard and mouse

Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The game is a sequel to Mass Effect, and the second game of the series. The game was released on PC and Xbox 360 in North America, Europe and India on January 26, 2010, Australia on January 28, and New Zealand on January 29.

After the events of the original game, Commander Shepard is killed in an ambush by a mysterious alien species called the Collectors. Shepard is revived two years after the attack by an enigmatic organization called Cerberus, and is tasked with finding out more about the Collectors and why they are abducting entire human colonies. Shepard must build a team in order to accomplish what seems to be a suicide mission. Many elements and locations from Mass Effect return, in addition to ones new to the series.

Gameplay

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 to the A.I. 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 players to "kill [somebody] a thousand times" over. The tone of the game is similar to that of the Wild West, featuring warlords and crime gangs.

Mass Effect 2 also features regenerating health as its primary health mechanic, instead of the ability to heal with "medi-gel" as in the first game. However, "medi-gel" is still used to revive downed allies. In addition, weapons now use ammunition and no longer rely on the overheat system of the first game. This system is functionally identical to the ammunition systems of other third-person shooters, but instead of having differing ammunition types for different weapons, the heat sinks used are universal across most standard weapons.

The characters in Mass Effect 2 are 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 is also more open-ended in this installment; uncharted worlds, which the player could explore for "cheap thrills" in the first game, are now more detailed and include more to explore.

The camera positioning for conversations with A.I. characters has also been improved; the previously static camera now moves around to provide "a much needed cinematic touch. Another new feature during conversations is a context-sensitive interrupt system: in addition to Renegade and Paragon dialogue options, Shepard is able to interrupt the dialogue when prompted to do so with on-screen controls, again along Paragon or Renegade paths.

The M35 Mako is not included for planetary exploration in Mass Effect 2 with improved gameplay sections from in the first game. Instead, a Kodiak drop shuttle, which the player cannot directly pilot, transports the player to areas of immediate interest. A new pilotable vehicle called the Hammerhead was recently released via downloadable content file and is stated by project director Casey Hudson to be more user-friendly.

Slow moving elevators, which disguised loading times in the first game, have been removed entirely, replaced by loading screens.

Unlike Mass Effect, in which there were dozens of different weapons grouped into four weapon types, there are now nineteen different weapons divided into 6 types. The grenades from the first game do not make a reappearance, but have been replaced by the new heavy weapons. Sub-machine guns make up another new weapon class. Characters are now able to use any weapon their class is trained for at full effect, meaning the player is no longer required or able to invest in weapon skills. However, you may research damage upgrades, increased ammo capacity, accuracy, and other upgrades, which differ by weapon type. Armor skills have also been removed and there are no longer class restrictions on armor. Instead, armor is controlled through purchases of upgrades or individual components and is applied piecemeal, with different armor components providing different bonuses to damage, health, and other skills.



Characters

Commander Shepard - The main protagonist of the first game, Shepard is killed during the opening sequences of Mass Effect 2 and is later resurrected by the pro-human organization, Cerberus. Shepard is sent on a mission to hunt down the Collectors, who have been abducting whole human colonies and are suspected to be working for the Reapers.

Illusive Man - The ruthless and mysterious leader of the Cerberus organization, the Illusive Man is responsible for the funding of Project Lazarus and the revival of Shepard following his/her death in the beginning of the game. Little is known about the Illusive Man, except that he is apparently extremely wealthy. He forms an alliance with Shepard, providing guidance throughout the game as Shepard investigates the disappearance of several human colonies.

Grunt - A prototype krogan super-soldier, he is the brainchild of the krogan Warlord, Okeer. Bred and programmed with the memories and skills of various powerful krogan and having undergone extensive genetic engineering, Grunt is considered the most "perfect" example of the krogan species. However, he has no clan and little knowledge of krogan customs and tradition, leaving nothing to act upon except his instincts to fight.

Mordin Solus - A brilliant salarian scientist, yet also a competent soldier due to his membership in the Salarian Special Tasks Group earlier in his life, Mordin Solus is found on Omega and possesses a hyperactive and eccentric personality. Mordin believes in acting in the best interests of the galaxy; his scientific work is governed by strong moral standards and unquestionable respect for all forms of life.

Samara - An asari Justicar, Samara is highly skilled in her use of biotics. A member of a highly respected and feared monastic order, Samara has forsworn all possessions and family to fight for absolute justice. She is on a quest to track down her elusive daughter Morinth, who has been killing innocents for hundreds of years by burning out their nervous systems through sexual intercourse.

Jacob Taylor - Jacob Taylor is a former Alliance soldier with biotic abilities. He joined Cerberus after viewing the bureaucracy of the Alliance as hampering the ability of humanity to survive. Taylor is highly respectful of Shepard due to their shared background in the military. Thirteen years before, he had cut ties with his father, who was a First Officer of a lost spaceship, the Hugo Gernsback.

Miranda Lawson - Genetically modified to perfection by her father, Miranda Lawson is the top Cerberus agent on board the Normandy and Shepard's second in command. Driven and devoted to the Cerberus cause, she is often viewed as cold and callous by other Cerberus agents. Providing military and tactical support, Lawson also acts as the liaison for the Illusive Man.

Thane Krios - A drell assassin who is dying of a lung disease exclusive to his species, Thane Krios joins the team in an attempt to provide a purpose to his life and atone for his past actions. An expert assassin, he also possesses powerful close-combat biotics. His wife was murdered many years ago by batarians in an attempt to trap him. This forced him to withdraw from his son, Kolyat, an event that still haunts him.

Jack/Subject Zero - The product of a Cerberus experiment to enhance human biotic ability, Jack carries a hostile personality that is the result of the torture and captivity she endured while she was imprisoned at a remote Cerberus outpost during her childhood. She later escaped and became involved in crime, murder, and religious cults, all in an attempt to gain an identity. She was later captured and imprisoned aboard the prison station Purgatory, where Shepard recruits her upon escaping captivity.

Tali'Zorah vas Neema/Normandy - Tali'Zorah vas Neema returns to the Normandy after a scientific study goes horribly awry and most of her team is taken out by geth. She joins Shepard once he rescues her from the assaulting geth force. She was later charged with treason by the quarian Admiralty Board for smuggling active geth for her father.

Garrus Vakarian - After the Normandy was destroyed, Garrus Vakarian went on to pursue a life of vigilantism. He made his way to the Omega space station, which is riddled with criminal syndicates, and earned the alias Archangel after sabotaging various criminal organizations. When Shepard finds him, Garrus is holed up in his base as three crime syndicates send waves of mercenaries to kill him. During the final onslaught he is injured by an attack from a gunship, leaving him with facial scars and damaged armor.

Legion - During a mission to recover an IFF transponder aboard a derelict Reaper, Shepard encounters a lone and damaged geth who has the ability to speak. Surprisingly, this geth assists Shepard by eliminating several enemies and allowing Shepard to access the core of the ship, but is knocked inactive by several husks shortly afterwards. Upon destroying the Reaper core, Shepard brings the inactive geth to the Normandy. The player may either decide to send the geth to Cerberus for research or reactivate it. When reactivated, the geth claims to be the first pure geth that Shepard has encountered, stating that all previous geth were "heretics" who supported the Reapers while the majority of the geth decided not to involve themselves with the existence of organics. As the Geth is not an individual persona and has a physical body that contains multiple runtimes, it identifies itself simply as geth until EDI decides to give it the name, Legion, after the Christian Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5, Verse 9. Upon investigating further, Shepard will learn that Legion was on the Reaper searching for information regarding a Reaper indoctrination program for the Geth.

Zaeed Massani - One of two downloadable content party members, Zaeed Massani is considered to be the most ruthless and prolific bounty hunter in the known galaxy. He joins the Normandy's crew for the large payment in credits he would be receiving from the Illusive Man. Massani is secretly the co-founder of the Blue Suns mercenary organization, betrayed by his partner twenty years ago.

Kasumi Goto - The best thief in the galaxy, Kasumi Goto joins Shepard's team in return for his assistance in stealing a "graybox" - a hard drive encrypted through use of one's memories - that belonged to her former partner and lover. She is the second downloadable party member, sold separately from the game for $7 USD.



MINIMUM System Requirements

OS: Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
Processor: 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
Memory: 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Hard Drive: 15 GB
DVD ROM : 1x Speed
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Direct X: DirectX 9.0c August 2008 (included)
Input: Keyboard / Mouse
Video Card: 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported Chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300; ATI Radeon HD3200, and HD4350 are below minimum system requirements. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

RECOMMENDED System Requirements

OS: Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
Processor: 2.6+ GHz Cure 2 Duo Intel or equivalent AMD CPU
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 15 GB
DVD ROM : 1x Speed
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Direct X: DirectX 9.0c August 2008 (included)
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, or better recommended
100% DirectX compatible sound card and drivers
DirectX August 2008
NOTES: For the best results, make sure you have the latest drivers for your video and audio cards. Laptop or mobile versions of the above supported video cards have not had extensive testing and may have driver or other performance issues. As such, they are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.