Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Microsoft Game Studios and Electronic Arts. It was released for Windows and the Xbox 360 in January 2010, as well as the PlayStation 3 the following year. It is the second installment in the Mass Effect series and a sequel to the original Mass Effect. The game takes place within the Milky Way galaxy during the 22nd century, where humanity is threatened by an insectoid alien race known as the Collectors.

Description

Mass Effect 2 is a single-player action role-playing game in which the player takes the role of Commander Shepard from a third-person perspective. Before the game begins, the player determines Shepard’s gender, appearance, military background, combat training, and first name. The player may choose to import a character from a completed saved game of the original Mass Effect or start the game with a new character. Importing an old character allows several decisions the player made in the original game to impact the story of Mass Effect 2 and grants the player a set of starting bonuses. 

The game features six different character classes for the player to choose from. Each class is proficient in a different set of powers and weapon types. For example, the Vanguard class specializes in close-range combat and shotguns, while the Infiltrator class relies on stealth combat and sniper rifles. The game’s overworld is a galaxy map the player can explore to find and complete quests. Most quests consist of combat missions, but some involve the player interacting with non-player characters during visits to settlements.

Different locations and new squad members become available as the player progresses throughout the game. Experience points are gained by completing quests. Each time a sufficient amount of experience is obtained, the player “levels up” and is awarded Squad Points that can be used to develop powers for Shepard and squad members. Powers provide enhanced combat capabilities, with each power having four ranks that can be unlocked. Each rank costs the same number of Squad Points as its rank. For example, unlocking the first rank of a power requires one point, but unlocking all four ranks of a single power requires a total of ten points.

Upon raising a power to its fourth rank, the player must evolve the power into one of two given forms. The player’s primary mode of transportation is a starship which serves as Shepard’s base of operations. Aboard the ship, the player can interact with the squad members, customize the player’s armour, travel to numerous planetary systems, and scan planets for mineral resources. These resources allow the player to research numerous in-game upgrades found in the missions, providing benefits such as increasing weapon damage, fortifying the player’s health, or extending the ship’s fuel capacity, among others. 

Scanning requires the player to move a reticle over a planet and launch a probe when an oscilloscope warns of near resources. Additional upgrades, equipment, and non-essential items such as magazines and decorations for the ship can be purchased from merchants in settlements. Combat in Mass Effect 2 is squad-based, and a maximum of two squad members may accompany the player on the battlefield. The player controls Shepard, while the game’s artificial intelligence controls the squad members. Battles take place in real-time, but the player can pause the action at any time to calmly target enemies and select different powers for the squad members to use. 

The game uses an over-the-shoulder perspective akin to a third-person shooter and emphasizes using cover to avoid taking damage while fighting enemy forces. The player may also issue commands to the squad members, such as sending them to take cover behind a manually picked object or focus their fire on a designated target. In 2183, shortly after the events of Mass Effect, the SSV Normandy, while patrolling for geth resistance, is attacked by an unknown vessel, forcing the crew to abandon ship. Shepard pushes Joker into the final escape pod before being blasted into space and dying via asphyxiation after a suit breach. 

The body is pulled into the orbit of a nearby planet and recovered by Cerberus, who begins the “Lazarus Project” with the sole purpose of bringing Shepard back to life. Two years later, Shepard is revived on an operating table and escapes a research station under attack by its security mechs. Escaping alongside Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson, Shepard is brought to meet the Illusive Man, who reveals that entire populations of human colonies have disappeared all over the galaxy. Now working with Cerberus, Shepard is sent to investigate a recently attacked colony, encountering Tali and a contingent of quarians searching for their missing colleague.

Shepard’s team uncover clues that the Reapers are working by proxy through an insectoid alien race called the Collectors, who have abducted the colonists. The Illusive Man explains that the Collectors reside beyond the Omega-4 Relay, a place from which no ship has ever returned, and tasks Shepard with assembling a team to stop them. Shepard is also given command of a new starship, the Normandy SR-2, piloted again by Joker and equipped with an onboard AI named EDI. Shepard recruits Mordin Solus, Garrus Vakarian, Jack, and (optionally) Grunt, before the Illusive Man informs them that another human colony is under attack.

Shepard defends the colony with the help of Mordin’s studies on Collector biology, but cannot stop a large portion of the population from being captured. Shepard can then recruit Tali, Thane Krios, and Samara (who may be optionally replaced by Morinth) before being sent to explore a supposedly disabled Collector ship. There, Shepard learns that the Collectors were originally Protheans that were turned into slaves of the Reapers. With EDI’s help, Shepard also finds out how to bypass the Omega-4 Relay before being ambushed by the Collectors. Although Shepard’s squad escapes, their relationship with the Illusive Man is strained due to his prior knowledge of the trap.