Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is a science-fiction role-playing action game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and PC. It is the sequel to Mass Effect and the second game in the planned Mass Effect trilogy.

Release
Mass Effect 2 was released on the dates, and at the recommended retail prices, indicated in the table below.

1Exclusive to EB Games 3Without Cerberus Network key
 * Out 26th in Europe (confirmed in the Netherlands) for Euro 59.95 (Xbox 360)

39.990

Retail Bonus Items
Depending on where the game is purchased, what edition is purchased and whether or not it was pre-ordered, the customer may be entitled to one or more Retail Bonus Items. There are three bonus armors and two bonus weapons that are unlockable in Mass Effect 2 depending on how the game is purchased. There is also one additional bonus armor available for those who have purchased BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins.

The following table details which items are available based on which version of the game is purchased, and whether or not the game was pre-ordered.

Promotional Bonus Items
Electronic Arts Inc., Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., and 7-Eleven, Inc. has teamed up to offer Promotional Bonus Items through the 2010 Dr Pepper EA Games Every Bottle/Cup Wins Promotion when any specially marked Dr Pepper 20oz. bottle, with a yellow cap, or a 7-Eleven Big Gulp is purchased from 7-Eleven in the United States. The codes found under the cap of the bottles or from the label of a Big Gulp is entered and redeemed at the Dr. Pepper website for downloadable content for Mass Effect 2 as well as other EA Games. Mass Effect 2 prizes are downloaded via the Cerberus Network and is available for both the PC and XBOX 360. At this time there are only three Mass Effect 2 Promotional Bonus Items which were made available through the promotion on January 28, 2010. These Promo DLC items could previously all be obtained by following instructions on this page, yet these universal codes are no longer active as of June 2010.
 * Umbra Visor
 * Recon Hood
 * Sentry Interface

Details

 * Players: 1
 * Resolution: Xbox 360: HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p // PC: Screen & Card Dependent
 * Publisher: Electronic Arts, Inc.
 * Developer: BioWare Corp.®
 * Format: 2x DVD (Xbox 360 and PC)
 * Rating: "M" for Mature (US), MA15+ (Australia), BBFC 15 (UK), PEGI 18+ (EU)

Shepard's Fate
In Mass Effect 2, it is possible for Commander Shepard and members of the team to die at the conclusion of the game's final mission. Throughout the middle of the game the player will be building up the team, resources, information and ship necessary to succeed in the final mission. Should the player enter the final mission unprepared they could end up with an ending where Shepard dies, members of the team die, or there is a total bloodbath where everyone dies.

Should the player's Shepard die they will be unable to continue playing the game after the credits, and will be unable to import their character into Mass Effect 3. As with Shepard, death is final for all characters, and any that die during the ending will not be appearing in Mass Effect 3. Shepard's death will cause the player to be unable to import the save to Mass Effect 3, according to BioWare.

Squad Members
In Mass Effect 2 the player has the opportunity to build a team of twelve at any one time. Possible companions include:


 * Garrus Vakarian
 * Grunt
 * Jack
 * Jacob Taylor
 * Legion
 * Miranda Lawson

1Downloadable characters.
 * Mordin Solus
 * Samara or Morinth
 * Tali'Zorah vas Neema
 * Thane Krios
 * Zaeed Massani1
 * Kasumi Goto1

Shepard's success greatly depends on gaining the loyalty of these recruits. Loyalty of a crew member is gained by completing their missions.

The following old acquaintances may appear at some point in Mass Effect 2, provided they survived the original Mass Effect. However, none of them are recruitable as squadmates.


 * Liara T'Soni
 * Ashley Williams
 * Kaidan Alenko
 * Urdnot Wrex
 * Jeff "Joker" Moreau
 * Helena Blake
 * Gianna Parasini
 * Conrad Verner
 * Nassana Dantius


 * Navigator Pressly
 * David Anderson
 * Donnel Udina
 * Doctor Chakwas
 * Rana Thanoptis
 * Shiala
 * Fist
 * Emily Wong
 * Khalisah Al-Jilani
 * Harkin

Locations
Commander Shepard and the team will visit a wide variety of new locations in Mass Effect 2, including:
 * Omega
 * Illium
 * Korlus
 * Purgatory
 * The Migrant Fleet
 * Freedom's Progress
 * Horizon
 * Tuchanka

Locations returning from Mass Effect include:
 * The Citadel

Save File Transfer
Mass Effect 2 allows the player to import their characters from any completed Mass Effect playthrough. This means that several decisions made by the player in Mass Effect will carry over, and have the potential to impact the story. Examples of events that particularly influence Mass Effect 2 include who was rescued on Virmire, the fate of the Council, and any romance interest.

However, due to changes made to the game's leveling system, your character's level and abilities will not transfer over to Mass Effect 2. The player will start out with basic abilities, however, the game will acknowledge your character's level and morality and adapt it in ways that map across to the new system

If desired, the player will be able to choose an new appearance, or choose a new class. Pre-service history and psychological profile cannot be changed. It does not seem possible to make minor changes to the previous appearance (e.g. change hairstyles). You must either take it exactly as it was before (though the visuals will be somewhat enhanced in the new game), or start from scratch with a new custom appearance. It should be noted that any facial scars from Mass Effect are not carried over, however, your character will receive brand-new scars at the beginning of the game Mass Effect 2.

If a player beats Mass Effect multiple times on a single Shepard, either by saving and re-loading or by starting a new game plus, each "victory" will be a seperate Shepard that the player may import to Mass Effect 2. The player need not worry that they are over-writing one of their Shepards, and may review all the major specifications and decisions of a Shepard before they choose to import the file to ensure it is the right file.

Note that it is not possible to move the End Game save file from one Xbox to another. There are two options to get around this; either move a Mass Effect save game to the new Xbox and finish the game again on the new Xbox (thus creating a new End Game file), or import the ME character into Mass Effect 2 on the old Xbox, and move the resulting save file to the new Xbox before continuing.

Combat
Mass Effect 2 makes a large number of additions and changes to Mass Effect's weapons and abilities, including: A larger variety of weapon classes, including: (Detailed weapon statistics can be found here
 * Heavy Pistols
 * Submachine Guns
 * Shotguns
 * Assault Rifles
 * Sniper Rifles
 * Heavy Weapons

There are a large number of changes and improvements to the core shooter gameplay, including:
 * An ammunition system based on "thermal clips". Instead of cooling down automatically, weapons dissipate heat into thermal clips. Thermal clips have a finite capacity and guns are 'reloaded' by ejecting the clip and inserting a new one. Replacement thermal clips are found lying around, or dropped by defeated enemies. All small arms utilize the same type of thermal clip.
 * Weapons skills from the first Mass Effect have been removed. The player is proficient in the use of all class weapons at the beginning of the game.
 * Heavy Weapons, which require Power Cells to be fired and can be fired to devastating effect.
 * Targeting of individual body parts. Headshots inflict additional damage, while enemies who are shot in the leg may be crippled and drop to the ground.
 * Cover is now entered manually, instead of automatically as it was in the first Mass Effect. This allows for a smoother transition from cover to cover than in Mass Effect. If the cover is waist-high, characters can also choose to leap over it.
 * A modified health system. Medi-gel is no longer used in the same way. Shepard and squadmates now automatically regenerate depleted health and shields if they avoid being hit by enemy fire for several seconds. Medi-gel is used by the Unity power to revive fallen squadmates during a firefight.
 * On the Xbox 360 it is now possible to map powers to the Y and LB buttons, as well as the RB button, allowing the player to cast up to three powers without pausing and bringing up the power wheel.

Powers
Mass Effect 2 includes a variety of new talents, which are now called "Powers", including:
 * New biotic powers:
 * Pull
 * Shockwave
 * Charge
 * Slam
 * Reave
 * Dominate
 * New tech powers:
 * Combat Drone
 * Cryo Blast
 * Incinerate
 * Tech Armor
 * Tactical Cloak
 * Energy Drain
 * Geth Shield Boost
 * Overload
 * New combat abilities:
 * Adrenaline Rush
 * Concussive Shot
 * Inferno Grenade
 * Fortification
 * Flashbang Grenade
 * Ammo powers, that act as replacements for ammo upgrades.
 * Disruptor Ammo
 * Incendiary Ammo
 * Cryo Ammo
 * Armor Piercing Ammo
 * Shredder Ammo
 * Warp Ammo
 * Powers returning from Mass Effect
 * Barrier
 * Singularity
 * AI Hacking
 * Throw
 * Warp

There are a number of changes to how powers work.
 * Using a power now trips a cooldown on all other powers as well as the cooldown on the one the player used. However, to compensate, the cooldown on powers has been significantly lowered, from between 120 - 45 seconds to between 9 - 3 seconds. Shepard's cooldowns on powers are often much shorter than the cooldowns on the same power used by an NPC ally.
 * Tech and Biotic powers can now arc over cover to hit their targets, no longer requiring direct line of sight to use them. They can, however, still miss if poorly aimed.

Advancement
The new level cap is 30. Further advancing powers no longer is a simple point per power advancement system. Powers now cost an increasing number of points to advance and offer a specialization choice when maxed out. Since you can only max out five powers this greatly affects play style of the characters. As such it is now possible to reset your advancement and reset your character in-game. Your main character can however gain new powers through out the game and unique powers can be unlocked for team mates through game play.

As was in Mass Effect, all party members gain experience and level up simultaneously regardless of their participation in missions or if/when they are recruited. Each time the party levels up, Shepard is awarded two additional squad points to spend on skill development. Other party members receive two squad points at each new level from levels 1 to 5 and two points every two levels from level 5 to 19. After level 19 party members receive only one squad point every two levels.

Infinite Squad Points Glitch
To use this exploit you require: Mordin Solus and the Research Terminal, 7,500 Element Zero (5000 for Advanced Training, 2500 for Retrain Powers) per point desired, Retrain Powers research, Advanced Combat research, and "Dominate" (Morinth's Loyalty ability) availiable.

This glitch only works on Shepard; it does not affect squad members. First, you must acquire the tech lab by recruiting Mordin Solus from Omega, then finish the events at Horizon in order to unlock the retrain powers upgrade; you must have "Dominate" unlocked from a previous file or from choosing to save Morrinth on Samara's loyalty mission. Simply choose "Retrain Powers" to reset your squad points then choose "Advanced Combat Research" and select "Dominate." You will now have 1 free point invested in "Dominate." Simply Retrain Powers again, and repeat. This only works (as of 1.01) with "Dominate."

On XBOX 360: To get the Infinite Squad Points, you will need at least 4 available points and a power ready to be evolved to its 4th level. Go to the Squad Menu and instead of pressing A to evolve a power, press X + A. This evolves the power, while "undoing" points transfer at the same time, leaving you with having both results. Now, repeat. NOTE: to get maximized results, make sure you have 10 available points so you can repeat the whole thing over and over again in one single session without leveling up your character. This allows you to upgrade all skills. Should you make a mistake, first press B to cancel the evolution then press X calmly to remove the points you added and retry. Also it is posible to regain previosly spent points with this method. For example, if you have a level 3 ability and 4 unused squad points, you can regain the points spent on the 3rd level skill and get 7 points in total. This happens randomly, or the exact method is yet to be revealed.

Infinite Points Glitch Fixed
The Infinite Points Glitch will not work if you have downloaded any Xbox title updates after May 17, 2010. Christina Norman gave the reason for why this glitch was fixed. "The extra skill points glitch could worse the play experience for players. Specifically, we can not guarantee the character import process will work properly for characters with extra skill points. These characters may fail to import, or their skill information may not import correctly."

Inventory
Changes to the inventory system include:
 * Weapons and armor are chosen at the beginning of missions and can be swapped out for newly, or previously, acquired equipment at lockers found throughout the various environments in the game, or aboard the new Normandy.
 * Armor is modular and custom N7 armor can be built from parts bought from merchants, or acquired on missions, through the player's armor locker aboard the Normandy SR-2. These parts can have different behaviors and influences on gameplay. At the armor locker players can also customize many aesthetic aspects of their armor, including color and shininess as well as choose between helmets and visors. Shepard can also equip alternatives to helmets including a visor similar to the one worn by Garrus, goggles or a recon hood.
 * The player can modify aspects of armor and weapons, such as accuracy or ammo mods, by collecting research projects and working on them at research terminals in the science lab aboard the Normandy SR-2, provided Shepard has recruited a scientist to work there.

Dialogue and Cinematics
Instead of Intimidate and Charm skills, Shepard's ability to pick persuasive options in dialogue is determined directly by his or her Paragon or Renegade score.

Mass Effect 2 adds a large new feature to the dialogue system: Interrupts. The interrupt system will allow Shepard to take more physical action in a conversation, either through a Renegade hostile interrupt or a Paragon heroic interrupt.

Navigation
In the Galaxy Map, the Normandy is now visible at the cluster and system levels. The player navigates in the cluster and system views by manually flying the Normandy. Moving the Normandy between star systems in the cluster view burns fuel that must be replenished at fuel depots; if the Normandy runs out of fuel it is automatically moved to the nearest system with a depot (with a penalty deducted from the ship's resource stores). Area maps are now only available at hubs; on missions, the area map is replaced by an objective marker pointing to the mission objective. Exploring planets in the Mako is no longer available in Mass Effect 2; the player instead locates minerals and anomalies via the new Planet Scanning mini-game.

Mini-games
Mass Effect 2 replaces Mass Effect's decrypting mini-game with two new mini-games: matching circuit nodes to bypass locks and matching code fragments to hack encrypted files. Mass Effect 2 also introduces a new Planet Scanning mini-game to replace the Mako's planetary exploration.

Downloadable Content
The development team also plans for much more extensive downloadable content than what was available in Mass Effect, with a large portion of the Mass Effect 2 team moving to DLC after release. Episodic combat, weapon and armor packs, characters, worlds and full campaign expansions will reportedly be available for download. Those who buy a new copy of the game get a free activation code to the Cerberus Network, while those who rent or buy used copies will have to pay a 15-dollar or 1200 Microsoft Point activation fee. Periodic updates will be provided via the in-game 'Cerberus Network' as well as external DLC channels. Mass Effect 2 DLC found outside the Cerberus Network will vary in prices.

Cerberus Network

 * Zaeed Massani, a human bounty hunter and mercenary hired by Cerberus to join Shepard's squad.
 * Normandy Crash Site, allowing the player to explore the crash site of the SSV Normandy.
 * Cerberus Assault Armor, a combat armor which boosts health, shields, and heavy weapon ammo.
 * M-22 Eviscerator Shotgun, a longer-range shotgun with armor-piercing rounds.
 * Arc Projector, a heavy weapon that ionizes targets with a non-visible laser to ready them for a high-voltage electrical attack.
 * Firewalker Pack, including 5 new missions for use with the new Hammerhead hover tank.

Paid DLC

 * Alternate Appearance Pack, 3 new costumes for Garrus, Jack and Thane.
 * Kasumi's Stolen Memory, featuring a new squad member and associated set of missions, as well as a new Achievement and the 'Locust' submachine gun.
 * Equalizer Pack, adds the Capacitor Helmet, Archon Visor, and Inferno Armor to Shepard's armor locker.
 * The Squad Picture Pack contains 5 Gamerpics featuring Commander Shepard, Grunt, Thane, Tali, and Samara is now available exclusive to the Xbox 360 for 80 Microsoft points.
 * The Character Picture Pack 2 contains 5 Gamerpics featuring a Collector, the Illusive Man, Legion, an Eclipse Mercenary and Renegade Commander Shepard is now available exclusive to the Xbox 360 for 80 Microsoft Points.

Other Upcoming DLC

 * Overlord DLC will be out on June 15, 2010 for for both the PC and Xbox 360 and costing 560 Microsoft or BioWare points. Bioware has hyped that it will be the "biggest downloadable content pack yet."
 * A currently un-named armor seen in promotional material for the Arc Projector. (Pricing unknown. Chris Priestly has stated we will learn more about this armor at a later date)
 * The M-29 Incisor rifle will be available over Cerberus Network sometime soon.
 * A link between ME2 and ME3 will be told in an upcoming DLC

Possible DLC
 The following information is considered speculation, and has not been confirmed or denied by Bioware.
 * According to an interview with Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, they might consider releasing a "Romance Pack" in the future.
 * Possible Liara T'Soni DLC.

Mass Effect 2 Action Figures
DC Unlimited has produced a set of Mass Effect 2 figures to be released on the 25th of August. The figures will be sold separately for £14.99/$19.99. The stores in which the figures will be sold in a unconfirmed but they are available on Play.com and Forbidden planet.com for pre-order. Series one will consist of four characters: Thane Krios, Commander Shepard, Grunt and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Each Figure will be 6.8" apart from Commander Shepard who will be 6.75". Each figure will come with its own unique weapon, with Thane coming with the M-4 Shuriken, Grunt coming with the M-300 Claymore, Tali coming with the M-23 Katana, and Commander Shepard coming with the M-8 Avenger, along with a removable helmet. DC Unlimited has confirmed a 2nd series but little information about it is known.