{"id":5164,"date":"2010-01-12T22:37:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T20:37:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T22:00:00","slug":"everything-you-need-to-know-about-mass-effect-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/5164-everything-you-need-to-know-about-mass-effect-2","title":{"rendered":"Everything you need to know about Mass Effect 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mass Effect 2 is the highly-anticipated sequel to Bioware’s 2007’s blockbuster Action-RPG Mass Effect. Below is a detailed outline of everything you need to know before the game is released on January 29.

Commander Shepard is not dead<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the early Mass Effect 2 teasers showed Commander Shepard’s date of birth, enrolment into Alliance date and serial number with current status listed as K.I.A (Killed In Action). Now why Shepard is believed dead is explained very early in the game. Suffice to say he is alive and kicking. <\/p>\n

Mass Effect save games are carried over<\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably one of Mass Effect 2’s most talked about features is that save files from Mass Effect can be imported into it. According to Bioware, even seemingly small and insignificant choices made in the first game will have ripple effects in Mass Effect 2. Did you kill Wrex? How did you treat Conrad Verner? Did Ashley or Alenko survive Virmire? <\/p>\n

Combat has been Improved<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the combat in Mass Effect was by no means bad it wasn’t nearly as good as the RPG aspect of the game. The cover mechanic was also a bit flawed and some of the animations were a bit stiff. Shepard now has over 200 animations while in cover instead of the meagre 20 he had in Mass Effect, and players will be able to jump and slides into cover.<\/p>\n

There are also now 19 different weapon types instead of the 4 from the first game. These include the heavy pistol, sub-machine gun and some sweet looking heavy weapons like a grenade launcher and guided missile launcher. Players will also be able to use any weapon their class is trained to use, effectively meaning no more spending skill points on weapons skills. The old overheating system has also been changed, and players will now use replaceable heat-sinks that allow the weapon to fire X amount of shots before needing to be replaced, effectively fulfilling the role of an ammo clip. Luckily these heat-sinks are universal and can be used on any weapon. <\/p>\n

Weapons have been revamped to make them feel more hard hitting and not like the peashooters from Mass Effect. The medi-gel health system has also been replaced with a regenerating health system and medi-gel is only used to revive fallen comrades.<\/p>\n

Classes have been better defined<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bioware has said they tried to make each of the 6 playable classes more clearly defined and have a unique feel rather than simply feeling like a mix of each other. Armour restrictions have been removed meaning any class can wear any armour, and armour can also be aesthetically customised to give each character a more unique look. It has also been mentioned that armour is modular and players will be able to build custom armour from parts collected.<\/p>\n

The Biotic powers look awesome<\/strong><\/p>\n

Powers like “throw” can now be angled to hit enemies from behind cover or throw them in a specific direction after they have been lifted. Bioware also mentioned that the cool down periods for biotic powers have been reduced so that they can be used more regularly. There are also a few new abilities spotted in some of the game play videos including a sort of of Biotic Rush\/Slam ability that sees Shepard launch himself across a room crashing into an enemy. <\/p>\n

There is a new Normandy and you have a Fish tank<\/strong><\/p>\n

We won’t say how or why there is a new Normandy, but the fact that there is is reason for excitement. The SR2 will have 4 decks and not just the 2 the SR1 had. There will also be many new areas onboard for the player to explore like a tech lab where research on new weapons and armour can be done. <\/p>\n

Shepard’s quarters are reminiscent of Ezio’s villa in Assassin’s Creed 2 with a display case for achievements, a stand where miniature ships can be collected, a personal terminal and 2 fish tanks. Now apparently as Shepard travels through space he can collect fish – which he must feed – to inhabit these tanks. The extent to which this is possible remains to be seen but it certainly is an interesting idea. There are also crew members which must be recruited to complete certain tasks: a science officer for the tech lab and a gunnery officer for the weapons turrets. Details on these features are still scarce but it would seem as if Bioware went all out implementing new ideas for Mass Effect 2. <\/p>\n

Another interesting idea seen in one of the videos is that players will be able to see into other areas of the ship when in a specific room. For example there will be a window in the crew quarters looking into the ship’s core, and the med bay will have windows that look into the mess hall. According to the developers this is done to make the Normandy feel like a working ship not just a series of interconnected rooms.<\/p>\n

No more long elevator rides<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most publicised technical flaw from Mass Effect – along with texture popping – was the long elevator rides used to hide the load screens. Bioware has addressed this and created small loading movies – some of which are apparently interactive – that convey more information about the game world. <\/p>\n

New & Old Faces<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mass Effect 2 boasts 10 possible companions; a whole 4 more than the original although 2 of these are returning characters. Garrus and Tali are set to return as companions with the other 8 being mostly new. They include the elusive Samara the biotic bombshell, Grunt the youthful Krogan warrior, Subject Zero the biotic power house, Thane Krios the Galaxy’s most feared Assassin and Miranda Lawson the perfect woman.<\/p>\n

There is also the less talked about Mordin Solus, a Salarian, and Jacob Taylor a human survivor from Eden Prime. Other old faces are set to return on the condition that they lived through Mass Effect. Wrex, Liara, Ashley, Alenko and Captain Anderson all make an appearance and the player’s chosen love interest from the original game is also alive and well in the sequel. This is also why none of the possible love interests from the first game have been made recruitable characters as Bioware wants the potential relationships to grow all the way to Mass Effect 3.

A bigger Galaxy to Explore<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are more planets, and importantly, more interesting planets to explore this time around. Bioware has also said it has done its best to make the planetary exploration more interesting as it was just a little tedious and predictable in Mass Effect. There is also a replacement for the Mako, however details on this are scarce. Planetary surveying and mining have also been revamped and now entail a small mini-game, details about which Bioware is staying tight lipped. <\/p>\n

From the list of new idea’s, new features and new characters it’s clear that Bioware has gone all out to not only improve upon the original but blow it completely out of the water. Mass Effect 2 is released in South Africa on Friday 29th of January 2010 on PC and Xbox 360.<\/p>\n

Discuss Mass Effect 2<\/a> in the forums<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rundown of what to expect in Bioware\u2019s sci-fi RPG sequel <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}