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 Mass Effect 2 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 Developer video that gives a critical first look at the game.

Release date
Officially, Mass Effect 2 is scheduled for release sometime between January and March of 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms. The finalized release date has yet to be announced by BioWare, although Amazon.com estimates the pre-order ship dates as 12/31/2009 for the PC version and 1/30/2010 for the Xbox 360 version.

Plot
Mass Effect

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. "

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.

Save File Transfer

 * Decisions made in Mass Effect will impact its sequel, most notably those made on a personal level. Casey Hudson has recommended keeping saved games from the original Mass Effect. Events confirmed to affect your save file include:
 * The decision to save either Kaidan or Ashley.
 * Whether or not the player kills Wrex on Virmire.
 * Whether or not the player decides to save the Citadel Council at the end of Mass Effect.
 * The player's choice of love interest.
 * Whether the player spares or destroys the Rachni Queen at Peak 15.
 * The player's treatment of Conrad Verner.
 * Due to massive gameplay redesign, your level will not transfer over to Mass Effect 2 and you'll start out with basic abilities.
 * The game will acknowledge if you were a level 60 character, or if you were highly Renegade or Paragon and adapt it in ways that map across to the new system.
 * 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 Squad Members

 * The main characters of Mass Effect Galaxy, Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson, who can be seen accompanying Shepard as squad members in preview footage released at E3.
 * Thane, a drell assassin..
 * A female quarian squad member shown flanking Shepard and Grunt in screenshots and trailers.
 * Grunt, an unpredictable krogan mercenary.
 * Subject Zero, an extremely powerful former biotic test subject and the first potential romance option unveiled so far. It has been speculated she is likely the mentally unstable biotic convict that must be rescued from the prison ship Purgatory. She was first revealed at the Tokyo Game Show '09.
 * An as of yet unnamed salarian, described by Bioware as the "Clint Eastwood of scientists.". The official site for Mass Effect 2 describes a mission where Shepard must rescue a salarian scientist from the krogan homeworld of Tuchanka, which may or may not be the same character.
 * An "apparantly friendly" geth squadmate; the same shown wearing Shepard's armor in the first teaser trailer.
 * Based on the TGS footage there are a total of ten squad member spaces, leaving two open spaces for as of yet unknown characters.

New Gameplay and Story Features

 * A heavy weapons system is set to be introduced and new weapons will be added, among them a rocket launcher.
 * The regular pistol has been split into two seperate pistol types, machine and heavy pistols.
 * New biotic abilities including pull, which can be used to pluck enemies from behind cover.
 * New combat moves including an arcing concussive shot attack that delivers a "physics punch" to foes and heavy adrenaline rush which slows down time and allows the player to close the gap between themself and the enemy.
 * The individual limbs of enemies can now be targeted, and in some cases shot off. Enemies with damaged legs will limp or crawl.
 * 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 interrupt system intended to be in the original Mass Effect has now been implemented. In longer conversations, button prompts may occasionally appear that allow Shepard to intervene and control the flow of the conversation. Interrupts will add renegade or paragon points just like normal options.
 * For purchasing and registering a new copy of Dragon Age: Origins (regular or Collector's Edition) access will be given to an armor inspired by Dragon Age: Origins known as "Blood Dragon Armor" for use in-game.
 * There will be "a lot more DLC" this time around, which will also be a lot more user-friendly in the way it is integrated.


 * New creatures, enemies and interest groups will be introduced. These include the troopers and commandos of the Eclipse mercenary corporation, as well as Loki mechdogs and assault mechs.
 * The Illusive Man, the leader of the rogue Alliance black-ops organization Cerberus, has been confirmed to make an appearance in the game.source
 * Two new alien species, the drell and the vorcha, have already been shown, and others are yet to be revealed.
 * New locations, including the lawless space station Omega, the krogan homeworld of Tuchanka, the prison ship Purgatory and a significant Cerberus station located in the Horse Head Nebula. The new areas the player visits are described as being similar to the "wild west" with warlords and crime gangs playing prominent roles.

Returning and Removed Features

 * Improvements have been made to the engine, including better AI for squadmates and enemies, technical changes to improve general performance and a more refined and dramatic lighting system.
 * Romance subplots and sex scenes will be returning.
 * Hudson stated in Game Informer  magazine that characters from the previous game will come back, provided that they were not killed. So far Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Liara T'Soni, Jeff "Joker" Moreau, Conrad Verner, Nassana Dantius and Urdnot Wrex have all been confirmed to be making a reappearance.
 * 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.
 * Casey Hudson has stated that the elevator loading scene transitions are gone and have been 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
 * The shotgun has been modified to deal more damage and have a larger focus on up-close combat.
 * 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.
 * Battlefield pausing is still in place but now lasts indefinitely, placing greater emphasis on tactics.
 * The Normandy will return, and possibly be destroyed during the events of the game.
 * The Citadel is a returning location and hub area.
 * The geth and their husks return, despite their defeat in Mass Effect. Shepard must uncover the reason for their suspicious reappearance.
 * Medi-gel packs have been removed in favor of a regenerative health system.
 * The M35 Mako is going to be replaced by a different vehicle due to the Mako's reputation for poor controls.