Spoilers. It's not possible to review this game without going through some. It's just not possible. Therefore, I imagine not many people will be reading this yet, for good reason. It is also going to cover aspects of Mass Effect 1, that are also spoilers. Consider the entire review a spoiler, and if you're looking to avoid knowing the gist of how things happen before you play them out in either game - Do not read beyond here.

I warned you.



Making the slow trip to the upper deck, poor Normandy.

Reviewing this game without touching on Mass Effect 1 is simply not possible. Unlike most sequels, the stories are so twisted together, so overlapped, the second game is almost entirely dependent on the first game if you want a good emotional experience. Yes, you can play the second game without the first, it is not impossible. The major decisions are made for you, the romance arcs are not followed, and you are given a universe, a galaxy really, that has been built on what are the most likely decisions you would make had you played the first game. I don't agree with the conclusions the game drew for me - I played once through with a non-imported character, and once with an imported character - I don't think they work for the way I play. However, doing this allowed me to see the game in a different angle. There are so many things in the second game that are gender exclusive, so many things that are dependent on the first game, that playing a non-imported character is really not going to do the game, and your experience, justice.

Bioware have, multiple times, said "There will be more Mass Effect games." Something that I am, mostly, thankful for. There is so much that is left unexplored in Mass Effect, and consequently Mass Effect 2, that stopping here would be a disservice to the people who've poured their heart into the dialogue, the scenery, the characters. It is flat out explained during one of the loading screens that you will be seeing the same character import in Mass Effect 3; "The decisions you make could have dire ramifications for Mass Effect 3" being the paraphrased loading text.



Well, paraphrased might be an exaggeration. I did see it a lot

It is entirely understandable, having seen how the game plays out, how things change over time, and the options you're given after completion. One thing in particular stands out - How would Bioware count for that situation? How do they progress from there?

Right then. You've been warned, I've mumbled on for a while, onwards to the review!



Walking towards the bridge on what's left of your shattered ship

Starting, of course, with the plot. It'd be insane to start anywhere else, I think.
Cerberus - The group from the first game, that were mentioned several times and encountered several more, are back. In fact, they are the driving force for the game, and they are the reason you play Commander Shepard again.



How the game starts - Painfully, for Shepard

Everything you do is done under the name of Cerberus. Yes, you are still a Spectre, but you are no longer considered to be Alliance Navy from what I can tell. The weight of your former titles is entirely unfelt in the side of the galaxy you are given to continue your fight in. You are, after all, outside of what is considered Citadel space.



Coming to on a Cerberus operating table

Your return to the Citadel touches briefly on your previous titles, and positions, but there is very little said about it. It comes into play, briefly, when you deal with the side quest for Thane Krios, on the Citadel. As such, you are treated by everyone as a member of Cerberus, including your previous allies, and in some cases, lovers. I initially played with my imported Shepard. Female, paragon, and ended the previous game having followed the romance arc with Kaidan Alenko. Of course, that means that he was the one I saved on Virmire, and left Ash to die, something that comes up as a memory check when you're at the very beginning of Mass Effect 2. Upon meeting Kaidan again, after having been missing (And technically dead) for two years, the meeting is tense. The first game built Cerberus to be the badguys, examples of what humanity shouldn't be, and the first he hears of my Shepard is that she's working with, for even, that very same group. A rocky start, and the last time you see either Ashley or Kaidan. They remained with the Alliance, and continue with their duties, staying away from your band of investigators.

Shepard is, of course, a changed being. No matter what you do, as the player, you cannot disassociate from Cerberus - Everything you do has their stamp on it. Even your casual wear is all Cerberus marked. However, the core of your character that, presumably, you spent Mass Effect 1 shaping is still the same. Your decisions, choices, your actions live on, just under far more suspicion than previously. The oddest thing, for me, about Shepards return is the almost Fable-esque scars that Shepard sports. Granted, it only becomes obvious if you go down the Renegade path and don't buy the Medbay upgrade to heal the damage, and cover up the evidence of the cybernetic enhancements. The further down the Renegade path you get, the more the scars open up and the more they, and your eyes, glow a rather ominous red colour.



The school of Fable scaring

This is never explained, but rather fortunately you don't get the same treatment for Paragon levels, in fact, the scars almost heal themselves if you're a long way up the Paragon tree.

The development of Shepard is very dependent on the places you go - And in this game it's mostly the Terminus systems, the places that the council hold no sway, and law tends to be open to interpretation. Pursuing the Renegade path is almost encouraged - you're dealing with the scum of the galaxy, those that know nothing beyond violence and threats to get what they want. However, it doesn't stop it from feeling very linear. Yes, you have the freedom to do what you want when you want, but I cannot shake the feeling of a "guiding hand" making sure I meet a set of criteria before they let me do anything significant. I know, given that it's a game, there are going to be no shortage of moments like that, and these are moments that I generally don't mind , but in Mass Effect 2, there are so many situations like this, I find it difficult to believe I'm doing anything but jumping through hoops regardless of what Shepard tells the Illusive Man, or any other Cerberus character (cough, Miranda, cough). I do, however, have an overriding feeling that this is the exact feeling that Bioware wanted to instil in the player. You aren't doing anything but jumping through hoops to please the Illusive Man - He is, effectively, your puppeteer. Yes, your choices are your choices, but it always comes to a head that the Illusive Man is either keen on or willing to deal with.

Of course, the characters that live in the first game are around in the second - Liara, Joker, Dr. Chakwas, Garrus, Tali, Kaidan or Ashley, Captain Anderson, Ambassador Udina and so on. Their roles, though, are hugely varied. Captain (Or Ambassador) Anderson, for example, speaks to you once or twice, but that's it. His previous influence, guidance even, is completely gone. Udina maintains a low interaction regardless of which role he's in. It's not unsurprising, really, given that you are now working for Cerberus - Something that is heavily frowned on by those that knew your character in the previous game (well, the majority anyway), but it still feels like a rapid (In terms of user time, since Shepard has been missing for two years) departure from what was established in Mass Effect 1. Garrus doesn't much care, neither do Joker or Chakwas. They all have their reservations about Cerberus, but in their opinion they're working for you, not Cerberus. Kaidan or Ashley outright hate you for it, Tali is confused (Although she comes around to the idea that you're not in support of what Cerberus is associated with), but again, it makes sense that they're surprised, confused, angry even. You have, after all, teamed up with the group that was demonised in the first game. the only massive departure from character that I cannot stand, though, is Liara.

In the first game she was shy, cut off, and unsure how to deal with social situations. I imagine, given how the game ended that she was not about to change her personality overnight. Yes, you might argue that two years is a long time, but long enough for someone to go from a confused, uncertain, woman to a fully fledged information dealing bitch? The first encounter you have with Liara is shortly after you arrive on Illium, and the first thing you hear her saying is how she's willing to flay the skin off someone for not paying. The transformation is entirely complete, but no matter how well it's voiced, the change feels like such a sharp departure from what Lira was, it's shocking, unsettling, and (Forgive the irony) somewhat unbelievable.

Of course, it wouldn't progress if there weren't additions to the cast, and subtractions from the cast. Most of your old crew have found themselves something better to do with their time than to try and find you, and will for the most part refuse to join you. Tali, Garrus, Joker and Chakwas are the only hangovers from the previous games 'team'. Tali, too, refuses to join you at first. She has her own mission, and only when you encounter her a second time later in the game does the chance to recruit her become available.

Your new team, though, is far from the previous game. Take the misguided violence of some characters, the naivety of others, and replace it with a series of ever more increasingly violent psychopaths. Miranda and Jacob are the least violent of the lot - Though, in earning their loyalty, they both do things that simply cannot be called anything but 'violent street justice'. Morals, then, are out of the window now. In fact, Tali is the only character whose loyalty you have to gain that doesn't end with her killing someone, or even getting into a situation where she might.



Talis' trial, at which Shepard is her defence council. Shouting is fun!

Infact, in the trial, if you go down the renegade shouting path, then you end up with a rather amusingly ironic statement.



Shepard expresses his opinion of politics!



..and his collection of toy ships

Thane Krios, the assassin, is the next on that list surprisingly enough. Earning the loyalty of the characters isn't so much earning their loyalty to you, Shepard, but earning their loyalty to the mission - Removing those last few distractions in their life that might prevent them from performing optimally on your mission. I won't cover them all, but they are usually much of the same. Go to point A, find out something that disturbs/upsets the character you're helping, let them kill someone, and move on. There are some obvious parallels in this game, which are for the most part, surreal and hilarious. Jack, the biotic, for example. She is, obviously, a female. You rescue her from a prison ship, and she has a rather obvious fondness for killing. The similarities between the Mass Effect 2 Jack and the Chronicles of Riddick Jack are quite plain, and very little attempt as been made to hide them, almost crossing the line from homage into "borrowing" characters.



Er.. Kyra, is that you?

There's not much more that can be said for the new team. They're all solid characters, and they all have wonderfully written back stories, and all make for interesting conversations, and hats off to the casting department - The voice actors for all the characters do a wonderful job. By far my favourite, though, is Liz Sroka as Tali. I think she does the most brilliant job, especially given that the reliance on facial expressions is not one that the voice actor can make. Pulling it off quite so convincingly is exceptional work.

The enemies, in this game, are something of a quandary. They feel very engineered to force the game into the Terminus systems, rather than the game progressing into the Terminus Systems because of the new threat there. Yes, the story takes a leap through time owing to Shepards death, but there's still very little reason for the player to care, short of successfully getting straight into Shepards mind - Shepard, defender of humanity (Or oo-manity, as Mr. Sheen occasionally says), has a very good reason - The reaper threat appears to be working through a proxy, and kidnapping human colonies. However, as an observer, without the emotional attachment I fostered for these characters, even the ship (I damn near cried quite a number of times through the game, mostly near the start, and later exploring the Normandy wreck site), I would honestly struggle to see why Shepard is so willing to jump into the nearest shuttle and go to a site of human abduction mere hours after being awoken without so much as a painkiller for the still remaining holes in his/her face. That's all I have to say about the enemies in Mass Effect 2 - There's not much to them, and unless you're in Shepards head, you're not going to care about them one way or the other.

Romance arcs are back, as are the corrupting sex scenes. Well, to a much lesser extent. The scene with Miranda involves very little more than a pair of bra-covered boobs and some touching/kissing. Tali is very much more restrained, all you see is her removing the face mask from her suit - And irritatingly enough, you don't see her face! But given the significance of that action for a Quarian, there's very little else needed to show the level of intimacy between the two characters, and the bond they share - Which is what I imagine these scenes are for, rather more than the "omg sex" aspect of the situation. To that end, it does its job incredibly well - Talis' nerves, and so on are well displayed despite the lack of any face to enhance, well, everything.



An idiot, yes, but try not to eat Shepards face. There is still a galaxy to save, afterall

There are a couple of other romance arcs that I didn't get a chance to explore because my other character, the female Shepard, was too in love with the previous games romance arc to press forward with the new games romance arcs on such short notice - I started the romance arc pretty much at the end of the game, rather than early enough on to get all the conversations out.

Something that might frustrate some are some of the adjustments to some of the key aspects of an RPG. The inventory is the main change - There isn't one. Well, in a sense there is, but it's restricted to the armour. You're only, really, allowed to play with a small number of pieces of the armour, and that's about it for the inventory system. Weapons are few and far between, the focus instead being on upgrades for them rather than a huge number of different and varying power weapons. I miss the inventory, yes, but in this instance - Well, it's quite easy to forget that it's missing. The fussy micromanagement of Mass Effect 1 has been thrown away, and instead replaced with an irritating micromanagement of space travel. Buying fuel and probes to scan and travel between planets. It's fine, but eventually gets to be an irritation more than an addition to the experience. I understand that buying fuel is an integral part of travel, but at the same time, getting absorbed into the world of Mass Effect, only to be forced to do the mundane too? It defeats the immersion for me, dragging the player from being willing to suspend their disbelief to forcing themselves to do something oh-so dull.

Graphics, well, they're the Unreal 3 engine. It's as pretty as it gets, and unlike a lot of U3 engine based games, not everything is wrapped in plastic. Competent engine that goes like stink on just about any hardware. The UI and controls are far better than the first time Mass Effect made it to pc - Clearly Bioware learned their lesson from that, and have provided us with a good UI and a good control set from the off.



Not everything is shiney, or beefcaked!

The sounds are.. Difficult. There are parts that are clearly specifically designed, carefully composed, and very well selected. However, my favourite place in the game - Afterlife (Gasp, a club!) on Omega uses a track from a Need For Speed game - Namely Callista, put together by EA.

I've reached the stage of having nothing more to say about the game. It is, by all means, the most enjoyable RPG I've played since I got stuck into Mass Effect the first time around. The pitfalls, lack of inventory, having to manage a space craft, they're easily ignored for me, because the purpose is to tell a story, to emotionally and mentally engage me, the player. This, for me, is something that Mass Effect does with absolute precision. Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 are rapidly climbing to the top of my "You must play these games before you die" list, and Mass Effect 2 doesn't disappoint as a sequel - It carries the enjoyment, the emotional attachment, and enthralling gameplay.