Mass Effect 2 Non-review Round-up
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First up is a story primer covering characters, terminology, and decisions from the original Mass Effect on 1UP's RPG blog:
The Rachni Queen: The first truly big decision allowed by Mass Effect's story involved nothing less than a question of genocide. The rachni were an advanced insectile race who threatened to conquer the galaxy and were ultimately only stopped when the krogans wiped them out. Millennia later, Shepard's team found a research facility dedicated to restoring the race as a bioweapon for Saren, and in the end the commander had to decide whether to extinguish the rachni once and for all, or trust the last surviving queen's promise that they'd behave this time. The extinguishing of an entire species seems like the sort of thing likely to factor into later games, doesn't it?
Wrex, Alive or Dead: Once the krogan had wiped out the rachni, they decided that maybe they wanted to conquer the galaxy instead. In the end, they were only stopped by an engineered virus that reduced the number of viable krogan births to one in 1000, preventing the species from overrunning the galaxy. Shepard's team found Saren working on a cure for the krogan genophage, and the prospect of destroying the cure set off Wrex, who felt his people were being sacrificed to protect the rest of the galaxy. A Shepard with a strong enough personality could persuade him to calm down, but otherwise Wrex would go berserk, forcing Ashley (or Shepard) to shoot him to prevent the mission from being undermined.
Then we have a list of films that inspired Mass Effect on IGN:
Apparently, one of the biggest trends in far-future interior design is the observation deck. With some spit, polish and a healthy UV filter, there's no reason that you can't just stare at the sun all day long. Though we suppose that if you're glaring at the sun from a sub-space orbit, technically speaking, it'd be "all day long" all the time. The Illusive Man from Mass Effect 2 would know a bit about this, as would that crispy, blind dude from Danny Boyle's Sunshine.
Moving to GameDaily, this article covers what they feel are the sequel's ten best features:
Mass Effect 2's character classes let you play the game a number of ways. Here, you can choose from six specialties that help define your character, whether you're an all-out soldier, a powerful biotic supporter or a masterful engineer. Each one has specific weapon upgrades and skills that are different from the others. As a result, once you've beaten the game the first time, you can go through it again with a completely different skill set and perspective, seeing all the choices that follow. Furthermore, you can change and enhance your crew however you choose, giving someone an incentive if they're slacking or falling behind. And with so many awesome characters to choose from (go for Thane, he rocks), you'll never grow tired of it.
Followed by another story primer on GamePro:
Revered as gods and referred to as "the old machines" by the geth, the reapers (which is the name given to them by the protheans, it is not their actual name) are an advanced race of vast synthetic creatures (they're like gigantic, scary Lovecraftian space monsters) that reside in an unexplored region of the galaxy known as dark space. The reapers hibernate for 50,000 years at a time before returning to harvest all sentient life from the galaxy. They do this by manipulating developing sentient species with the technology they have left behind as a form of trap; notably the Citadel and the mass relay network that affords intergalactic travel. By dictating the technological development of the galaxy, they are able to "impose order on the chaos of organic evolution." The story of the first game was essentially that of the reaper vanguard referred to as Sovereign and its attempts to signal its brethren and usher in the next reaper invasion.
And we finish things off with an overview of the sequel with commentary from BioWare's Casey Hudson and Greg Zeschuk on Merritt News:
Asked about the company's goals, founder Greg Zeschuk isn't humble.
"Entertain the world," he says.
Asked to boil that down, he says the company wants to deliver the best story-driven games.
"At some level we've actually been competing against ourselves for the last 15 years now. I certainly hope there are not a lot of people out there wondering if we are going to stumble, but we are really obsessed with making each game better than the last."
"Mass Effect 2" is the first instalment in the series to be released since the EA deal, but Zeschuk says players won't notice a difference.
The deal has brought BioWare certainty - it knows its games will be published.
"When we were independent, a large part of our time was spent looking for the next deal, because first and foremost on the minds of an independent company is: 'How do you pay the bills?' " he says.
"That whole chunk of effort for us is gone and instead what we can do is we can focus on how we are marketing it, how we are promoting it - redirect those efforts back into the company." Building a buzz like the one around "Mass Effect" requires a combination of a great game and great public relations, Zeschuk says. And BioWare and EA are pros.
