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Summary

So features from the first game have changed which is for the better. They made upgrades easier, weapons are better than the first. So in this game you can forget about Ashley William and Kaidan Alenko and go after crew members depending on your gender. Which I shall admit I took full advantage of that. Though you don't get in their pants right of way first you must continue the story. Building strong relationships with each member to help at the end of the story. Don't worry no spoilers here. Then you can start flirting with everyone that your gender is allowed in the game.

Exploring the planets for element is also different which I thought sucked a little. Of course the certain plants you do explore through out the galaxy could possibly kill your Shepard from the elements or climate on the planet.

Summary

If you like role-playing games I guarantee you will love this game. As I said this game takes the best elements in an RPG and perfects them, then gives it that Mass Effect style, its Amazing.
Game play
The combat in Mass Effect 2, is similar to Mass Effect 1's combat but improved, the battles are fast paced and more exciting. The Role-Playing elements for the most part are still there, like the database that tells you about the galaxy. Some of these data logs are even fully voiced. Unfortunately some of the good elements from the original are gone, mainly in the guns. In the original you could put poisons and make all these damage adjustments to your weapon, these are unfortunately gone. Although they added in things like armor upgrades and different guns, which are unlock able through different resources that you find by scanning usually non enter able planets. Though this scanning mini-game is slow and pretty tedious.
Story
There is not much I can say about the story other then that it is excellent, it will keep you interested and immersed for ever. Excellent dialogue and fun and EPIC mission objectives, and the best climax to a video game in a long time. There is also a lot of side missions that extend the total play time to hundreds of hours. This is the kind of experience that will stay with you forever.
Presentation
The presentation is perfect, from the music to the graphics. First of all the music is excellent, it adds to the style so much, most of the time its this really cool techno music. Which adds to the style of the game, especially when your on planets which usually have clubs, these planets look so futuristic and vibrant. I felt that the music did the same thing for the style of this game, that the music for Tron Legacy did for its style. The graphics are also excellent, both visual and technical. The visual graphics are beautiful, with detailed skies and vibrant cities. The visuals really add to the immersion of the space theme. The technical graphics, leave the game polished and with very good textures that really drive home the excellent artistic graphics.
Overall
Mass Effect 2 is a MASTERPIECE with every element coming together in perfect harmony. True there were some role playing elements that should have been added, but these few flaws don't even dent all the other perfect elements.

Final Score - 10/10 (a masterpiece of modern gaming)

Summary

Humans and politics in a more sci-fi context. Mass Effect 2 is an action RPG, thats very lite on the RPG elements. (a backstep from its successor) You play as Commander Shepard, a uni-sex charcter who you pick gender features and everything you would expect from your standard create a character interface, on a mission to save the universe from a dark and ancient evil. Pretty standard for the sci-fi genre but whats not is the level of detail and back story. The amount of detail in the universe is beyond the average hackneyed sci-fi story being matched only by great sci-fi classics such as Star Wars or Star Trek.......

The one shortcoming is combat and controls. Less to do with the skill of player and mopre to do with a stats tree and playing defensively till you whittle your oppenent down. Exciting it is not....

shallow gamers need not apply and should stick to a casual MP shooter, this game is for the core gamers who miss good games with good story and charcters if your a MP heavy person stick to your shooter of choice and don't mind this series.........

Review still under construction. Check back soon!

Summary

Audio: 9/10
Great voice acting. Good sound effects that sound recycled from the previous game. Great soundtrack.

Visuals: 9/10
Character models look a lot sharper and well defined then the previous game. Environments ,while fewer of them, have a lot more variety between them. Also a lot less bugs and glitches but there are still more then a few noticeable ones.

Playability: 8/10
While its still the same gameplay from the previous game with no real changes to it. Instead of infinite ammo, They added clips and I feel it just makes it more a challenging shooter because you now have to conserve ammo.

Delivery: 6/10
Main quest is longer but can still be finished rather quickly. Not as many side quests this time around. Plot is a little better but still isnt that good. Plot gives far more questions then answers. No replay value. The hammerhead is a way better vehicle them the Mako and vehicle controls have improved a lot as well.

Overall: 8/10
It still suffers from problems but Mass Effect 2 is a solid sequel that is just as good as the first game.

Summary

Mass Effect 2 is a action role-playing game in which you play the role of Commander Shepard. Unlike alot of past games if you have a save file from the first Mass Effect then you could import that save to Mass Effect 2 and the choices and look of your game and your Shepard will be differant to others. But i am getting ahead of myself as always. Mass Effect 2 takes place two years after the last game but that is not when the game starts you at...You start out on the Normandy which is attacked by an unknown starship and the events that take place on that day shape and form the events for the rest of the game.

Before i dive deeper into the story of Mass Effect 2 it is only fair that i first take a look at the gameplay and see what differance there is between the two games. Now for people who have ot played the Mass effect games they would not realy expect there to be a major differance at all. I mean this is not Final fantasy in which there are over 13 main games and many many more spin offs. At this moment in time there is only two mass effect games...But there are differance that change the game up alot for starters there is no Mako driving sections...This has been replaced with a planet scan system mini game is which you scan the planet for things that can be used to pay for or supply the upgrades for you your squad and your ship.

Then there are the changes to the combat and inventory system. The main change to the combat system would be how the guns work. In the first game you would not have an ammo count but rather your guns would overheat and you would have to wait for them to cooldown. In mass effect 2 you now have ammo clips that have a set amount of shots and reloading them is ment to get you back in the fight faster. Then there are the ammo upgrades they for the most part are gone and are now part of the powers. They do not how ever have to be turned on after every reload or use...you just start the level with the ammo power you want (if you have any) and it will stay on till the end of the level or untill you change it over.

Also in combat you can no longer heal yourself or your team with medi-gel instead, you now have regenerating health and can only use medi-gel to revive downed squad mates. Not only that but the Grenades from the first game have been replaced by heavy weapons and sub-machine guns have been added as a weapon class.

Then there is the armor and guns them selfs (again) this time you do not pick up more of the same gun you already have but it works more like if you have say three people who can use a sniper rifle and you find a better version then from that point on all three of them can have that version of the gun. Armor on the other hand is differant you can only change your armor and what it does for you. Your squad mates near enough keep there look and armor as you find them.

With most of the changes out of the way it is time to look at the impact you may well have on the game as you play. If you just play the game and not do any sidequests or do any of the loyalty missions for your squad mates or if you do not do any of your ship upgrades then at the end of the game you and most of your team could and can die. This is a game about choice...do you go right into the fight or do you build up your team upgrade as soon and as often as you can...do you buy every upgrade you can find...do you try and get the whole loyalty of your crew or just pick a select few and wrk from there? These and many more await you when you play Mass effect 2.

With the gameplay out of the way it is time to move onto the story. Weeks after the events from the first game. While patrolling for geth, the Normandy is attacked by an unknown starship, and many crew members die, including Navigator Pressly. The remainder of the crew is then forced to evacuate. During the evacuation, Shepard tosses Joker into the Normandy's final escape pod before being blasted into space. After a suit breach, Shepard asphyxiates and falls to the planet below. Now this is the kind of ending you would expect from a game but this...This is Mass effect 2 intro....

With the help of former squadmate Liara T'Soni, Shepard's body is retrieved by a human supremacist organization called Cerberus and they spend two years resurrecting you. Once revived, Shepard awakes aboard a besieged station, where you help Cerberus agents Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson escape. Immediately after, Shepard is given an audience with the Illusive Man, head of Cerberus. The Illusive Man informs Shepard that entire populations of human colonies are disappearing all over the galaxy; he believes the Reapers are responsible, and are working by proxy through an insect-like species called the Collectors. Shepard is convinced of the Illusive Man's theory after visiting a recently-attacked colony called Freedom's Progress, and agrees to help him stop the Collectors by eventually traveling through the Omega-4 Relay, from which no ship has ever returned. Shepard is given command of a new Normandy, piloted by Joker and equipped with an onboard A.I. named EDI (and yes them two do get on like a house on fire).

Shepard recruits four new squadmates – salarian scientist Mordin Solus, former squadmate Garrus Vakarian, convict Jack and genetically engineered krogan Grunt – before receiving intel from the Illusive Man that another human colony called Horizon is under attack. Despite the influence of Harbinger, a powerful Reaper with the ability to assume direct control of random Collectors at will, Shepard successfully stops the attack, though a large portion of the colony's population is captured. Following the mission, Shepard's reunion with former squadmate Ashley Williams or Kaidan Alenko (depending on the choice you made during Mass effect) turns sour due to Shepard's alliance with Cerberus...This is where i will leave the story for the people who have yet to plat the game.

Mass Effect 2 came out for the Microsoft Windows & Xbox 360 in north america on January 26, 2010 in austraila on January 28, 2010 in europe on January 29, 2010 and in japan on January 13, 2011. It also came out for the PlayStation 3 in north america on January 18, 2011 in europe on January 21, 2011 in austraila on January 27, 2011 and in japan on June 23, 2011.

The system requirements for mass effect 2 are:

Minimum:
Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, or Windows 7.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 or equivalent AMD CPU.
Memory:1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista and 7).
Hard drive space:15 GB.
Graphics hardware:NVIDIA GeForce 6800 256 MB or ATi Radeon X1600 Pro 256 MB.
Network:Internet connection not required for activation. Required for one-time Cerberus Network activation and extra content download.

Recommended:
Operating system:Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, or Windows 7.
CPU:Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 or equivalent AMD CPU.
Memory:2 GB RAM.
Hard drive space:15 GB.
Graphics hardware:NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB or ATi Radeon HD 2900 XT 512 MB.
Network:Internet connection not required for activation. Required for one-time Cerberus Network activation and extra content download.

Do you have to play the first one to be able to enjoy this one...I would say no but taken as a whole they make for a much much better time as you feel the choice you have made take effect be them big or small. You never know what effect they might have on mass effect 3.