• Release date: January 26, 2010
• Platforms: XB360, PC
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: BioWare
• ESRB: M
• Genre: Shooter-RPG

It’s been over two years since the release of Mass Effect and many gamers are eagerly counting down the days for the second installment to be released. Once again you take the role of Commander Shepard who is on a mission to recruit people and aliens alike to aide him in discovering what the Collectors, an insect-like alien race, is up to. Along the way, you meet up with two Cerberus agents, Miranda Lawson (voiced by Yvonne Strahovski of Chuck) and Jacob Taylor (voiced by Adam Lazarre-White) and the mysterious Illusive Man (voiced by Martin Sheen). You will also be able to recruit members of your party from the original Mass Effect, like Tali (voiced by Liz Sroka) and GarrusVakarian (voiced by Brandon Keener).

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You can choose to load up your saved game from the original Mass Effect or you can start out fresh. Keep in mind, if you did reach the level 60 in Mass Effect, you will not start out in Mass Effect 2 with all of your skills and your high level. Instead, you will be treated to in-game bonuses and other surprises for your character. You can even choose to change your character’s class. For example, if you don’t want to play as a solider, you can choose to be an adept in Mass Effect 2. One of the best things about transferring your saved game, if not the best thing, is that the choices made in the original will bleed over to ME2. If you had a member of your party die in ME, that character will not be seen in ME2.

Mass Effect 2 will feel like you never stopped playing the original but with sleek new improvements and welcome changes. The AI has been tweaked to be smarter and more aware of how you attack. Instead of using medi-gel to heal yourself and your team, your health will regenerate over time. With nineteen different weapon types to choose from, instead of the original’s four, you won’t have to worry about the annoying overheating factor. This time around, you will have heat sinks that will eject once your weapon has overheated. You replace it the same way you would to reload your weapon. Even the feel of combat and the animation for the facial expressions have been improved to feel more life-like.

At release, you will need to choose between the standard edition or the collector’s edition. The collector’s edition includes a 48-page art book, Mass Effect Redemption comic book, in-game content, and a behind the scenes look at the making of Mass Effect 2.

With well over 40 hours of game play, Mass Effect 2 seems to be a huge heavy hitter with an outstanding replay value. Each play through of ME2 could end up being completely different game.