MASS EFFECT 2: JUST THE FACTS, JACK

In Europe, January 29 is the day Mass Effect 2 steals our lives and forces us to quit our jobs, divorce our spouses and start having sex with our Xbox disc trays. All signs so far point to exciting improvements across the board and a solid evolution of the BioWare formula. In order to purge myself of the hysteria that overtakes my brain and crotch every time I think about the game, I’ve decided the best course of action is to compile all the known facts about ME2’s new features (minus the spoilery story reveals) so that the two-week wait feels just a little more bearable. So I present to you everything I know about the upcoming RPG, henceforth to be referred to as Mass Effect 2: Massive Erection.

Just to get you started, here's a link to the game's ludicrously awesome cinematic trailer.

THE STORY

Some sites have posted articles giving away specific plot details from the opening minutes of the game, which are apparently explosive and far-reaching. I’ve studiously avoided such articles, wanting to actually play the game myself rather than experience it vicariously through the words of a lucky games writer.

I must limit myself, therefore, to the basic premise of the game, such as might be printed on the back of the box. So, while Commander Shepard and crew have saved the known galaxy from annihilation at the hands of genocidal space-squid flesh harvesters the Reapers, two years have passed, and there’s a new game afoot. Entire human colonies are quietly being abducted by a mysterious force of insectoid freakbags called the Collectors, and Shepard must recruit a new team from the darkest corners of space in order to get to the bottom of things. He/she must also collaborate with Cerberus, a shady pro-human organisation headed up by the Illusive Man (voiced by Martin Sheen, which makes me damp with excitement), in order to get shit done. BioWare is pushing the idea of Shepard’s quest being somewhat of a suicide mission, with the main portion of the game being preparing the Commander and his squad for a final showdown with a very real possibility of permanent death, so expect darker themes and the constant spectre of your own mortality this time around.

LINKS TO MASS EFFECT 1

Players can transfer any character they used in Mass Effect 1 to the new game, although you’re still free to change appearance and class before you start ME2. But then what’s the point, right? Shepard’s class will be reset to level one, presumably so BioWare can implement all the class changes they have planned.

Similarly, any major plot decisions made in the first game will carry over into the second. Did you kill Urdnot Wrex? If so, he ain’t coming back, Jack. Did you save Kaidan or Ashley? I hope you saved Ashley, otherwise you’ll have to put up with more of the blandest character in sci-fi history. I’m particularly excited about whether the Rachni, whose queen I saved after she promised to start a colony under the principles of peace and tolerance, will come back to rape me and my human compassion.

CHANGES TO CHARACTER CLASSES

The six classes from ME1 (Soldier, Engineer, Adept and combinations of those three) all appear to be returning for the second instalment, although all are substantially tweaked to make them more tactile and immediate. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the major upgrades:

1. Soldier: Access to all weapons; unique ‘combat mastery’ talent; access to all special ammo types; two new active skills – Concussive Shot(single shot which knocks an enemy off their feet) and Adrenaline Rush (fancy bullet time)

2. Vanguard (Soldier/Adept): Short-range specialist; great with shotgun; unique power – Biotic Rush (charge attack which propels Shepard across open ground to slam into enemies); access to some special ammo; access to most aggressive biotics

3. Engineer: Can summon combat drone to attack enemies; hack enemy AI; Five offensive tech powers including Incinerate and Cryo-freeze; Class Talent – Tech Mastery (bonuses to negotiation, tech power recharge and health)

4. Infiltrator (Soldier/Engineer): Tactical Cloak stealth power; Operative power(slows time and increases weapon damage – great for lining up sniper rifle headshots); can hack enemy AI; Incinerate power

5. Sentinel (Engineer/Adept): Access to biotic and tech powers; Tech Armour power boosts personal shields; Class Talent – Defender (increase to negotiation, health and power recharge speed)

6. Adept: Access to all biotic powers; can now use any armour and expanded weapon skills; ability to evolve biotics once maxed-out – evolutions will affect gameplay use of biotics rather than simply upping damage

NEW CHARACTERS

In the interests of keeping things fresh, BioWare have tossed out many of the companions from the original, in favour of a new gang of violent reprobates to discover and make sweet love to. Based on promotional videos I’ve watched, there’s space for ten characters to join your death squad. The emphasis seems to be on recruiting various hard nuts with nothing to lose and massive sets of steely testicles. The new characters presented are, by-and-large, more extreme personalities who will almost certainly elicit more of an emotional response from players than the first game’s wet blanket parade. Reportedly, a key part of the core gameplay is earning the loyalty and trust of your teammates to ensure as many as possible survive the final onslaught, so prepare to delve deep into their scarred psyches. To my knowledge, six of the ten characters have been revealed, five of whom are all-new. Here they are:

Subject Zero: A human female who has been subjected to scientific experiments, super-charging her biotic powers as well as warping her personality, making her fiery/mental in the Sarah Connor sense. She’s covered in tattoos representing her favourite kills, and her time spent in a cult has left her with a deficiency of hair. At some point in the game, she may slam Shepard into a wall and bone him into submission. Subject Zero's intro trailer

Samara: An Asari biotic user, Samara is a member of the Justicar, a sort of Asari armed police force, but with more murder. She clearly brooks no bullshit, seems to see matters in black and white (not in a racist way), and is definitely of the shoot now, don’t bother asking questions school of policing. From hints released so far, it seems she’ll be tough to recruit, but fiercely loyal once she does enter the fold. Samara's intro trailer

Grunt: A Krogan who just likes to fight, just like the Krogan from the first game. Prediction: he’ll be the dullest character, but you’ll want him around as a bullet sponge. The clue's in the name, really. Grunt's intro trailer

Miranda: A human female, probably a Sentinel class, Miranda joins your squad through Cerberus and the Illusive Man, so her loyalty will clearly be called into question at some point. Seems ruthless and driven. Definitely a potential candidate for the ‘Ultimate Betrayer 2009’ award. Miranda's intro trailer

Thane: Clearly the coolest character revealed so far, Thane is of the Drell race (think Hellboy’s Abe Sapien). He’s described as a ‘warrior monk’, but is clearly the badass assassin of the group. Apparently he used to take contracts for pay, but now chooses targets based on his own moral and philosophical compass. So he’s a serial killer, basically. Thane's intro trailer

Tali: Mild-mannered Quarian Tali is back from the first game, hopefully with a personality upgrade. Since ME1, she has rejoined the Migrant Fleet and is now a respected member of Quarian society. Her rejoining Shepard’s squad seems to be linked somehow into the player’s early discovery of the Collectors and their schemes. She may end up being more of an exposition vendor than a character, but we’ll see. Tali's intro trailer

NOTE: Some videos show Shepard teaming up with Garrus, the Turian from ME1, but whether Garrus will be permanently available as a squadmate is unconfirmed.

OTHER FEATURES & IMPROVEMENTS

· Mass Effect 2 takes up a lot of disc space, so will be spread over two discs. We’ve been promised that there will be no constant disc-swapping, as the disc change will happen at one single predetermined point in the game.

· One of the strongest complaints about the first Mass Effect was the repetitive exploration sections, filled with empty planets and unsatisfying driving sections. Well, steps have been taken to fix these problems. Players will now be more actively involved in planetary exploration, with planet scanning transformed from a button press into a minigame, and BioWare promise a host of diverse, beautiful and engaging galactic locales. And that Mako shit-can has apparently been scrapped in favour of a vehicle that actually drives like it has real wheels. One can only hope.

· Watch any of the promotional gameplay videos and it should be instantly obvious that ME2’s graphics represent a serious upgrade from the original game. Reports indicate that frame rate remains silky smooth throughout, and texture pop-in has been eliminated. So expect much more fluid combat, with the shooting sections of the game much more comparable to dedicated third-person action experiences like Gears Of War. As an example, in the first game Shepard had 2 animations when moving into cover – in ME2 there are over 200 cover animations. Boom, I just blew your mind.

· The conversation system worked well in Mass Effect, but it shared the somewhat stiff camera perspectives with other story-driven RPGs (Fallout 3, Oblivion). BioWare have drawn attention to ME2’s more dynamic camera angles during key conversations, but it remains to be seen if this only applies to a select few scenes.

· The voice cast is pretty incredible. I’ve already mentioned Martin Sheen, but the game also features the voices of such sci-fi luminaries as Carrie-Ann Moss (The Matrix, duh), Tricia Helfer and Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica), Adam Baldwin (Firefly and Serenity) and Michael Dorn (Star Trek: TNG). Seth Green and Keith David also reprise their roles as Joker and Admiral Anderson respectively.

· Mass Effect’s score was a vital key to the game’s space opera atmosphere, so it’s good news that BioWare have re-teamed with original composer Jack Wall.

· Finally, BioWare have heroically responded to players’ understandable frustration with the bewildering lack of fish tanks in the original game. Shepard’s personal quarters now come with an enormous fish tank which can be populated with various aquatic life-forms as they are collected throughout the game. An angling minigame remains infuriatingly unconfirmed.

And there you have it; the sum of my knowledge on Mass Effect 2: Massive Erection. The sickening irony of it all is that my 360 recently died (for the second time) and it’s unlikely that Microsoft will have been returned it to me by the end of the month, so I’ll probably have to make do with crying and staring intensely at the box art for a week or so before I get to start my own intergalactic fish collection. Damn you, universe!