Mass Effect 2




 *  Note: Please do not add speculation to Mass Effect 2 articles. The wiki only accepts facts, and speculation will be deleted. At most, link us to forum discussions rather than posting it here. 

The teaser site for Mass Effect 2 was launched on February 20, 2009. The website included a teaser video, wallpapers and various downloads. The official announcement of ME2 was made on March 17, 2009.

There is also an additional video documentary bundled with the Platinum Hits edition of Mass Effect titled 'The Future of Mass Effect' which discusses ME2 and upcoming downloadable content. The documentary was outlined in an article on The Escapist.

As of May, the initial teaser on the Mass Effect 2 site has been supplemented with an E3 Precursor Dev video that gives a critical first look at the game and some secrets inside it.

Release date
Officially, Mass Effect 2 is scheduled for release sometime between January and March of 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PC, although Gamestop.com and Amazon.com have the PC version's pre-order ship date listed as 12/31/2009 and for Amazon specifically the Xbox 360 version is listed as 1/30/2010 and on the UK online shop Play.com have the pre-order ship date of the Xbox 360 version listed as 01/29/10. The finalized release date has yet to be announced by BioWare, and there has been no official confirmation that Mass Effect 2 or any other game in the series will be released on other platforms. However on the video game renting site Gamefly it states that the game will be released on 1/26/2010.

Plot
As of June, the website has been completely reformatted to provide more information including a game summary, a FAQ, information on the new species, information on the new worlds, etc. A summary of the game is posted below:

"Two years after Commander Shepard repelled invading Reapers bent on the destruction of organic life, a mysterious new enemy has emerged. On the fringes of known space, something is silently abducting entire human colonies. Now Shepard must work with Cerberus, a ruthless organization devoted to human survival at any cost, to stop the most terrifying threat mankind has ever faced.

To even attempt this perilous mission, Shepard must assemble the galaxy’s most elite team and command the most powerful ship ever built. Even then, they say it would be suicide. Commander Shepard intends to prove them wrong. "

Carrying over files

 * Decisions made in Mass Effect will impact its sequel, most notably those made on a personal level. Certain characters can return provided they weren't killed in the first game. Casey Hudson has recommended keeping saved games from the original Mass Effect. You will be able to carry over your characters from the original Mass Effect.
 * Due to massive gameplay redesign, your level will not transfer over to Mass Effect 2 and you'll start out with basic abilities.
 * Imported characters will be able to choose a different class at the start of Mass Effect 2 if desired.
 * The physical appearance of imported characters can be changed at the start of Mass Effect 2 if desired.
 * If you had more than one file in the original Mass Effect the next one will ask you which file to play as.

New and returning features

 * New Squad members. They include the main characters from the spin-off iPhone and iPod Touch game Mass Effect Galaxy, Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson, who can be seen accompanying Shepard as squad members in the preview footage released for E3. Thane is a drell who is available for recruitment in Mass Effect 2. source. A quarian squad member can also be seen flanking Shepard on the Mass Effect 2 official E3 Trailer. New cover art has revealed a human female and a krogan that are likely possible teammates; the krogan is a new squad mate known as Grunt, and the female appears to be Miranda Lawson.
 * A heavy weapons system is set to be introduced, and new weapons will be added.
 * The Illusive Man, the leader of the rogue Alliance black-ops organization Cerberus, has been confirmed to make an appearance in the game. source
 * The areas the player visits are described as being similar to the "wild west" with warlords and crime gangs playing prominent roles.
 * Two new alien species, the drell and the vorcha, have already been shown, and others are to be revealed.[]
 * A significant Cerberus station is located in the Horse Head Nebula.
 * The Normandy will be attacked and severely damaged.
 * Romance sex scenes will be returning.
 * The individual limbs of enemies can be targeted, and in some cases shot off. Enemies with damaged legs will limp or crawl.
 * Medi-gel packs have been removed in favor of a regenerative health system.
 * Casey Hudson has said the elevator loading scene transitions are gone and replaced with “A completely new system to handle transitions between areas that speeds the load times and turns the loads themselves into part of the game experience." source
 * An improved cover system has been put into place for Mass Effect 2. In the original Mass Effect there was only 20 different animations for taking cover, now there are over 200.
 * In Mass Effect 2 a mechanic much like reloading is used when a weapon overheats. The player can hit a button to eject a small heat sink to immediately cool the weapon and get back into combat without waiting for cooldown times like in Mass Effect.
 * The M35 Mako is going to be replaced by a different vehicle due to the Mako's reputation for poor controls.
 * For pre-ordering Dragon Age: Origins there will be access to a downloadable armor called "Blood Dragon Armor"
 * Characters from the previous game will come back, provided that they were not killed.

Shepard's fate
Following the release of the initial teaser trailer for Mass Effect 2, which showed Commander Shepard to have been killed in action, there was confusion about whether or not the player character would be featured in the game. In a post-E3 2009 blog post, BioWare Executive Producer Casey Hudson explained the situation. He revealed that as a result of the player's decisions, Shepard could be killed during Mass Effect 2's final mission, not in the course of the game: "When you get to the very end of the story in Mass Effect 2, you will get one of a wide variety of climactic and satisfying endings. Depending on how prepared you were, your ending may involve Shepard making the ultimate sacrifice to accomplish the mission. If you do die in the ending of Mass Effect 2, it will not come as a surprise, nor will it be random. It will be pretty obvious that you headed into the final mission knowing that Shepard probably wouldn’t make it out alive. Throughout the middle of the game you are building up information, resources, a team, and a ship that will be able to do the job, and although you can jump straight to the final mission at a certain point, you’ll have a good feel for whether you’re likely to survive it."

Hudson also revealed that the player's decisions can affect Shepard's team as well, saying "You might have an ending where Shepard’s entire team survives, or where the entire mission is a bloodbath and everyone (including Shepard) is killed, or anything in between. And for all characters, death in Mass Effect 2 means they won’t show up in Mass Effect 3."

Relative to the planned Mass Effect 3, Hudson confirmed that if Shepard is killed in Mass Effect 2, the character will not return for the third game. "One big reason you’ll want to be alive after the ending is that after the credits roll, you are returned to the game world - ready to head back out for more adventure. You can complete unfinished missions, explore the galaxy, and download new adventures to play. But Mass Effect is a trilogy about Commander Shepard’s journey - if your Shepard dies in the end of Mass Effect 2, that’s the end of him / her. In that case, you can play Mass Effect 3 as “a” Shepard – just not “your” Shepard. As in real life, not being able to keep living is really the main down-side of death. So if you care about playing the next game with your character, make sure you survive this one.

New Game Plus and Insanity Mode
There will be no new game plus function allowing play of a leveled character after completion of the game as there was in Mass Effect. There will be the allowance of continued play after completing the main missions in order to complete other side missions and possibly unlocked ones. To reflect this change Insanity mode is being tweaked to possibly be available from the start and offer a challenging playing experience rather than a harder one when compared to Normal or Hardcore.