Mass Effect 2: An improvement over the first instalment

Mass Effect 2, the follow up to the extremely popular Mass Effect, was released to North American gamers on January 26th. Releases for Australia and Europe will follow a couple of days afterwards. This highly anticipated title from BioWare and Electronic Arts follows a long run of great games from these developers. In addition to Mass Effect other RPG games from BioWare include Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate (one of this author’s favorites), and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Mass Effect 2 picks up where the first installment left off. The Normandy has been attacked and it appears that Sheppard dies. He is revived however and assembles a team to find out what has happened. As you play the game you acquire more and more members slowing solving the mystery of what happened.

Combat in the second installment has been improved but is very similar to the original. Players that are familiar with the first game will find this second one to be a fun thrill ride. New players will enjoy the game as well, although they may be a little behind on the story arc.