Hands-On: Mass Effect 2

Nov 6, 2009

Interested in learning about what's new in BioWare's Mass Effect 2? I had the chance to play it recently, and it's time to spill the beans. Whether you're curious about the new weapons, intrigued about the new characters, or desperate to learn who's making a comeback, I've got you covered. Let's go down the list.

Powerful New Weapons

Were you in love with a particular weapon from Mass Effect, perhaps the shotguns or sniper rifles? Even the pistols could be remarkably effective, if you specced your character to specialize in them. Well, the same weapon types make the return in Mass Effect 2, accompanied by many more options for sci-fi gun nuts to drool over. This time around you have assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, submachine guns, heavy pistols, and heavy weapons, which replace grenades as your "gotta kill the big boss as fast as possible" option. Heavy weapons include grenade launchers, missile launchers, and other dangerous toys.

You won't see a huge expansion of the character skill trees because of these new weapons, though. The options are being expanded so that biotics or tech classes that could only really use pistols effectively before can now also add heavy pistols to their repertoire. Apparently even non-soldier classes will now be able to fairly effectively use weapons like sniper rifles and such, instead of being completely worthless with them.

The interface and visuals have also changed to some degree in the effort to make the game less UI-heavy and more intuitive. For one thing, ammunition counts are now visible on the weapons, much like they are in Dead Space, so you lose that one HUD element. All weapons now reload with a thermal clip system, overheating after a set number of shots. The overheat system from the first game may have angered a few game reviewers or something (I didn't really have a problem with it) but this new system is intended to address that. You can still do interesting things with gear like pack your guns with cryogenic ammo to freeze enemies and so on.

Better Combat

Mass Effect was an RPG first, a shooter second as far as I was concerned. With ME2, the line becomes far more blurred. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because the quality of the gunplay appears much-improved. For one thing, you now have locational damage, so headshots count, and shooting weak points on enemies will have actual noticeable effects. Large mech-like enemies, for instance, will topple if you shoot the legs out from under them, while those aforementioned blasts to the dome will generally deal far more damage than shots to the chest area. Even the cover mechanics have been improved, as you can now slide in and out of cover and more naturally peek out for shots than you could in the first game. You'll still pop out of the real-time combat to relay orders, activate abilities, and do all that nerdy RPG stuff, but the core shooting gameplay has been overhauled considerably.

Rack Up Achievements

People love achievements, and not just of the variety that appear outside the game as some metascore. The team has drawn inspiration from Valve's franchises, in that there's a lot of in-game stat-tracking that'll help direct you towards performing particular moves or unique playstyles. For example, when one ally was floating an enemy in the air with the Biotic Lift ability, there was an achievement tally pop-up that was counting down how many times I could "make an enemy scream as they fall." Sadistic? Yes. Fun? Indubitably.

Smarter Tactics

Were you annoyed by companions who were impossible to manage and more hindrance than benefit? In Mass Effect 2 it's super-easy to relay orders to your allies: Tap the d-pad left to give an order to one ally, tap it right to command another. During my hands-on demo my squaddies also appeared to be smarter in terms of personal AI. They'd move to flank enemies by approaching from different angles, and would take cover to save their own skins. I could focus on keeping myself alive without having to hold their hands to keep them in the game. Sometimes one would get unluckily blasted by a heavy weapon, though, at which point getting a save from good old Shepard was still necessary.

Explore the Seediest Reaches of Space

In Mass Effect 2 you're outside of Citadel space, in the galactic equivalent of the Old West: the fringes of the Terminus system. My journey began on planet Omega, a new planet that, much like Tatooine in the Star Wars universe, is home to a black market economy and ruled by lawlessness. Shepard was on the hunt for information at a nightclub called Afterlife, complete with the requisite sexy, scantily clad blue-skinned Asari table dancers. I'd refer to this place as a wretched hive of scum and villainy, but it actually looked quite nice inside, showcasing the improved visuals in this sequel, with plenty of fine detail to soak in, from the mood lighting to the random patrons enjoying themselves. It'd be the kinda place I'd like to get a drink and just hang out in, if I wasn't too busy trying to build an elite squad of killers.

When asked about specifics regarding space exploration and the galaxy map, very few concrete details were forthcoming. The approach, as has been revealed before, is to make specific planets and space exploration missions more important, each with their own unique mission, special loot, and a place in the storyline that matters. Mass Effect was criticized for taking a very bland, generic approach to the space exploration, the resource-gathering, and the awkward Mako bits, and from what I'm told that's all been addressed. We'll have to wait and see to find out.

Make New Allies

So the overarching idea is that Shepard has to build the ultimate team of galactic badasses to fight this overwhelming enemy, right? This means that you'll be bringing together a troupe of spacefaring killers of the highest order to have any hope of victory. This includes two of the characters that starred in the Mass Effect: Galaxy iPhone game, Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson. Other characters that are newly introduced in Mass Effect 2 include a Krogan warrior named Grunt who lacks the biotics abilities of Wrex from the first game but makes up for it with the ability to charge into enemies and improved shooting skills.

Then there's Thane, a Drell assassin who's supposedly the most skilled killer in the galaxy. The Drell species is new to Mass Effect, with a fish-like appearance and a pair of unnerving cold, black eyes. You'll also try to recruit Subject Zero, the heavily tattooed female that was unveiled a while back, who's presumably one of Shepard's new love interest options, presumably more compatible (according to eHarmony, at least) if you go Renegade instead of Paragon. I also learned that there's going to be a Salarian party member who's a complete badass, but more details weren't forthcoming.

And Old Friends, Too

Keep in mind that Mass Effect 2, while intended to be entertaining to players new and old alike, is a direct continuation of the story that started in the original Mass Effect. The decisions you made in that first game will carry over to the second, including any love interest you may have had, and what characters you allowed to die. Now's the time to get playing the highly recommended original game if you haven't already. But for those of you who already grew attached to the original cast you'll be pleased to know that fan-favorite characters are making a return in this sequel, in one manner or another. In one scene during my demo, I got to meet up with one of my personal favorites, Garrus Vakarian, the Turian C-Sec agent who was a crack shot with a sniper rifle. It was good to see Garrus back, and he offered direct aid, covering my team as we made our way into an installation filled with armed security bots.

Less Yapping, More Capping

It was during the demo where I encountered Garrus that I got to check out the new dialogue interrupt system first-hand. In Mass Effect 2 you can affect the course of a given scene by choosing to act quickly during specific opportunities. Garrus and I were looking down our scopes to see some enemies mobilizing, and by acting quickly, I could interrupt our conversation by actually taking one of them out. This resulted in having to fight one less of these guys, though I presume that this action also lost me the element of surprise. Generally, these dialogue interruptions will shift you towards Renegade or Paragon, and you'll be able to tell which by whether the on-screen prompt appears on the right or left of the screen.

I Hate Bugs

This whole idea of building a powerful team seems like a very neat way of introducing the coolest characters that BioWare could envision, and they'll be facing off against some very dangerous enemies. The Reavers will return in some way, as will the Geth, though they have a diminished involvement. This includes a Geth character named Legion that has taken a part of Shepard's armor and made it his own. The greatest new challenge comes in the form of a new alien race called the Collectors, a half-insect, half-humanoid race with rapidly flapping wings and the ability to merge multiple humanoid forms into a single grotesque amalgamation. Three former humans might be slapped together to build a monstrosity with a giant cannon arm, for instance, while a whole bunch of bodies could be made into a large, floating beast that means nothing but trouble. Check out the video to get an eyeful of them for yourself.

I got to see more of Mass Effect 2 than I'm allowed to describe in this preview, but I can say that I was impressed, and remain quite excited to play the game again in the near future. To learn more of what I saw, you'll just have to check back regularly. Mass Effect 2 is content-complete and finishing up the polishing and bug-fixing stages, so we expect to see it again very soon.