Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 - a video game for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC in the genre of role-playing games with action elements, released by Canadian studio BioWare in January 2010. The second part of the Mass Effect trilogy. In 2021, an updated version of Mass Effect 2 is released along with the first and third parts in the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition collection for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

The plot of the game is a continuation of Mass Effect. Development of the game began almost immediately after the release of Mass Effect. The events of the second part of the game will follow immediately after the events of Mass Effect: Ascension. Casey Hudson, project manager at BioWare, stated that players should not delete their saved games of the first part; the choices made by the player in the first part will have an impact on the second part. Players who have not played the first part, will be able to create a new character and receive a summary of the previous events in the series.

Storyline

After the attack on and destruction of the Normandy SR-1, Commander Shepard has been on the operating table, at one of Cerberus' stations, for 2 years. After an unexpected and untimely awakening, Shepard meets the head of the Cerberus organization, Ghost. In two years, much has managed to change in the universe. The Citadel Council is mired in bureaucracy and rejects all "speculation" that the Overlord was only the first of many invaders known as the Reapers. The former crew is scattered all over the galaxy and everyone is busy doing their own thing. The settlers of several human colonies have disappeared without any hint as to where or how. Neither the Council nor the Alliance pay any attention to this, believing that ordinary slave-traders were at work here. Ghost has a different opinion, and asks Shepard to find out at least something about the newly deserted colony. Despite his differences with Cerberus, Shepard agrees to the mission in order to save the survivors. It turns out that the attack was carried out by the mysterious Collectors. In this connection Shepard, with the help of Cerberus, decides to assemble a team of various specialists in order to penetrate into the Collectors' territory and find out what they need people for. Since the Collectors possess many advanced technologies, Shepard(s) mission may well be the last for both his/her team and himself - a "suicide mission".

Classes and their features

Specialization in Mass Effect 2 is represented by 6 classes, of which you can choose when creating a new character. In addition, when importing the character from the first part of the game, the class can also be changed. The developers promise that the game will explain why and how to change the class. Just as in the first part of the classes will be divided into "pure" and mixed. The first ones imply the development of the character's skills in only one area (biotics, engineering or combat). The second - the development of the character at the intersection of two "pure" areas.

In the second part of the game, there will be no need to develop abilities that are not necessary for the class - they simply will not be in the development tree. In addition, when you reach the maximum points in some ability, you will be able to choose one of two options to enhance it. The number of simultaneously available enhanced abilities will not be limited, but according to the developers, for the passage of the game can not accumulate the number of points needed to pump all the abilities to the maximum, that is, you have to choose what to strengthen and what to leave as is.

Soldier

The Soldier is a class that prioritizes direct combat. The only class that can use all weapon classes and skills related to ammo types, except the Submachine Guns or SMGs class. Has a unique Adrenaline Rush ability, a skill that can be used to slow down time for better aiming. Weapons - Assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, large-caliber pistol.

Adept

Adept - a class that fully relies on biotic abilities and succeeds at it. Has a unique ability Singularity, which is a local black hole. Damage is inflicted through very strong compression of the enemy. This class is also best suited for biotic explosions. Weapon is a large-caliber pistol, submachine gun.

Engineer

Engineer is a class specializing in technical gadgets. Able to summon a combat drone, which diverts fire on itself or explodes in a specified place. Weapon is a large-caliber pistol or submachine gun.

Scout

Infiltrator - a class with equally good weaponry and technical skills. The ideal killer because of the unique skill "Cloak" (disguise), which allows for a short time to become invisible to both eyes and radar. Weapons include sniper rifle, large-caliber pistol, and submachine gun.

Sentinel

Sentinel - a class with advanced abilities in both biotics and technology. Has a unique ability to activate technical armor, which allows you to extend the life under direct enemy fire. Weaponry - large-caliber pistol, submachine gun.

Stormtrooper

The Vanguard is a class that combines the advantages of a hardened soldier and a skilled biotic. A unique ability is the "Charge", an attack that allows the player to move at high speed to the enemy and knock him down, stunning him and dealing damage. Weapons - shotgun, large-caliber pistol, submachine gun.

Characters

Shepard(s) Partners.

Shepard has the ability to choose two companions for his team, but the number of possible companions is increased to 10 (including additions - 12). Also, unlike in the first part, Shepard will have to earn the trust of his companions (we could see a similar approach to team building in Dragon Age: Origins). The outcome of the game will largely depend on the loyalty of his companions. In addition to the usual abilities corresponding to the class of the partner, each of them will have its own unique ability, to unlock which will have to perform the related quest. Classes of partners are mainly modified classes, which are available to Shepard(y). In addition to the fact that the partner after completing his quest gets a new unique ability, he becomes loyal to Shepard(s), which increases his (partner's) chances of survival in the final game. Shepard can also learn any (only one at a time) of the companions unique skills (after completing the loyalty quest) and can be retrained as needed.

Krios Drell Male Assassin A skilled assassin, very devout. Shepard the female can have an affair with him.

Grunt Krogan Male Soldier Artificially bred "perfect" krogan, trying to find his place in the world.

Jack (Subject Zero) Human Female Stormtrooper Prisoner in the high-security space prison Purgatory. A male Shepard can have an affair with her.

Mordin Solus Salarian Male Scientist Former GOR member. Participated in the development of a new modification of the Genophage.

Tali'Zora vas Nima (vas Normandy) Quarian Female Engineer Considered one of the best engineers among the Quarians. Was one of Shepard's companions in the first part of the game. Shepard the male can have an affair with her.

Samara Azari Female Justiciar Azari, dedicated to upholding justice by any means necessary, up to and including killing the guilty party. Shepard of either sex can have an affair with her.

Morint Azari Female Ardat-Yakshi One of Samara's daughters. Serial Killer. Depending on her choice, can take Samara's place. Shepard of either gender can have an affair with her (fraught with death).

Miranda Lawson Human Female Officer Cerberus An agent of Cerberus on Shepard's team. Has genetic alterations. Personal acquaintance with Phantom. Shepard the male can have an affair with her.

Jacob Taylor Male Operative of Cerberus Former Alliance soldier. Worked under Miranda Lawson. Protagonist of the game Mass Effect Galaxy. Shepard the female can have an affair with him.

Legion of Geth - Geth infiltrator who wears a piece of N7 armor. Was sent to find Shepard(s). Reason unknown. Tells of the existence of true Geths and heretics.

Garrus Vakarian Turian Male Turian Rebel Former SBC employee. Was one of Shepard(a)'s companions in the first part of the game. Shepard the female can have an affair with him.

Additional Partners.

In addition to the game's main 10 partners, the developers offer two more DLC characters.

Zaid Massani is a human bounty hunter, whom Shepard can take as a team right in the landing zone on Omega. A mission on the planet Zoraya is connected to him, after which Zaid becomes loyal to Shepard.

Kasumi is a human technician, a professional thief, whom Shepard can take as a team on the Citadel near Zaker. A mission to the planet Bekenstein is connected to her, after which Kasumi becomes loyal to Shepard(s).

Normandy crew.

Jeff "Joker" Moreau is the pilot of the Normandy. Despite congenital bone fragility (Vrolik's Syndrome), is the best Alliance pilot and has a wicked sense of humor. Voiced by Seth Green. In the second part of the trilogy, Joker will also be the pilot of the new Normandy. He got his nickname in flight school for his inability to have fun.

Dr. Chakwas is the chief medical officer of the Normandy. Previously served with Captain Anderson and enjoys working away from civilized space. Dr. Chakwas prefers working among the soldiers in a galaxy full of life, more exciting than working in some human colony. After the loss of the Normandy, SR-1 was assigned to a senior position in a Martian colony hospital. Despite the prestige of the profession, she quit and joined Cerberus for the opportunity to be in space and fly the new Normandy SR-2 under Shepard(a).

Kelly Chambers is the administrative assistant for the Normandy SR-2 as well as Shepard(a)'s chief assistant/deputy in his absence. The basis of her duties includes monitoring Shepard(a)'s personal terminal for important new messages, relaying important information to Normandy crew members, and monitoring the condition of the fish in the fish tank. On top of this, Kelly provides a psychological portrait of Shepard(a)'s crew condition, analyzing the situation as a whole and thus giving his point of view on this or that crew member. When asked if Cerberus is anti-alien, she answers flatly and emphatically that NO, she is not, and she firmly believes that even though Cerberus' goal is to benefit mankind, she does not believe it has anything to do with animosity or prejudice towards other races! Kelly is a potential romantic interest in Shepard(a) and a further serious relationship.

Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels are the designated chief engineers of the Normandy SR-2. Longtime friends who have been together since tehacademy. Previously served on the Alliance ship Perugia. Donnelly was the first to receive an invitation to join Cerberus to work alongside the captain. After which Daniels insisted that she, too, be accepted into the organization.

Opponents

The Reapers are a race of ancient mechanical beings whose invasion Shepard prevented in the first part of the trilogy by destroying the Overlord.

The Reapers are a race of creatures first mentioned in Drew Karpishin's second book, Mass Effect: Rise. They got their name among the population of the known universe for their habit of exchanging their technology for certain objects of interest to them. Including cases where they were known to be interested in certain races living in the galaxy. Former Protheans.

Other characters

Ghost is the head of the pro-human organization Cerberus. After destroying the Normandy, SR1 resurrects Shepard through his best scientists for two years and supplies him with a new and improved model of the old ship. Coordinates Shepard(a), sending dossiers on potential recruits against the enemy and supplies information. His goal is to make the human race the dominant force in the Galaxy. Voiced by American actor Martin Sheen.

Aria T'Loak is an Azari, the self-proclaimed Pirate Queen. Unofficially runs the Omega space station.

Navigator (navigator) Pressley is Shepard(a)'s deputy aboard the Normandy SR1. A crew member from the first part of the game. Appears in the game only in the opening video, where he dies along with the ship.

SUSI (Advanced Defensive Intelligence System) - the artificial intelligence installed by Cerberus to Normandy SR2. The task of the OMSI is to protect the ship electronically, and to provide Captain Shepard(a) with useful information. Despite its usefulness, it is distrusted by some crew members, especially the Joker.

Means of transportation

Space

The Normandy (SR-1) is an experimental frigate built jointly by the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. Destroyed in the prologue of the second part of the game.

Normandy (SR-2) - a new modification of Normandy, created by the pro-human Cerberus organization especially for the mission of Commander Shepard, replacing the destroyed SR1. Twice the size of the original Normandy, although it repeats her general shape. New decks and rooms have been added. Also SR2 is equipped with an artificial intelligence system (which makes the Joker and some crew members very nervous). Although Cerberus has invested a great deal of money in building this state-of-the-art ship, it can and should be improved as you travel the galaxy.

Planetary

The M-44 "Hammer" is a new means of transportation on the surface of planets. It is a highly maneuverable flying tank that uses a mass effect field and solid rocket engines. Appears in the game with the installation of DLC: Flame Lord Set and DLC: Overlord Set.

M35 Mako - Used as a ground combat vehicle, and the Normandy SR-1 was used to maintain it. Captain Shepard actively used(ed) the Mako in missions to stop Saren. Later, while visiting the crash site of the first Normandy on the planet Alker, can be found trapped in a chunk of ice.

Facts about the game

Interesting Facts

Mass Effect 2 was developed for 2 years - that's the time passed after the events of the first part, while Shepard was brought back to life.

The appearance of Miranda is taken from the actress Yvonne Strahovsky, who starred in TV series "Chuck", the only difference is the hair color - in the game she is a brunette. In addition to appearance, the game character borrowed the voice of the actress.

If you ask Joker about SUZI, offer him to turn off the sound, then he will say that then SUZI will remind him of a child, ominously looking at his back, and then suddenly starting fires. This is a reference to Stephen King's iconic book and, later, to the movie Flaming Stare. From there the girl Alma was also borrowed into the game F.E.A.R. (the ominous looking one, and afterwards setting fires).

In Citadel, if you listen to the news, a picture of a girl named Emily Wong pops up on the screen. This is a reference to the "Futurama" animated series.

The criminal-controlled Omega station, apparently a reference to the work of science fiction writer Robert Sheckley, where his novel The Status Civilization / Omega! describes the Omega prison planet, where everything is built on a peculiar criminal-caste principle.

A game seller on level 28 of Citadel is very fond of the game and mentions some place important to gamers at the time called Shin Akiba, which is a hint of Akihabara, a real neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan - a mecca for all gamers and anime fans in the country. Ordinary Japanese shorten the name to "Akiba."

Shepard's team is the largest in Mass Effect 2 (12 characters).

If you don't "press any key" when starting the game, a small clip is shown.

Mass Effect 2 is not antialiased by default, but you can turn it on in your video card driver settings by renaming Mass Effect2.exe to Oblivion.exe (you'll have to bypass the launcher to start the game).

Mass Effect 2 is the only game in the trilogy where the opening lock screen doesn't use the view on the planet Earth from space (in Mass Effect 1 there was a standard view of the Earth with the Moon, in Mass Effect 3 - the view when the planet is attacked by Reapers), and it shows the center of the Milky Way Galaxy through the wreckage of an unknown spaceship.

If you run a mineral scanner to the planet Uranus with an initial resource supply of "Exhausted" in the Local Cluster, SUSI will ask in surprise: "Are you kidding me, Captain?". If you do it again, then SUSI will say "Probing Uranus," which is a play on words that Ango-speakers regularly use, since it is consonant with "Probing your anus," which translates in an obvious way. Video

In the game World of Warcraft, in the 2015 addition Warlords of Draenor, in the world of Drenor, you can find a reference to the famous phrase Shepard(s) says at the Citadel stores to get a discount - "I am Captain Shepard, and this is my favorite store on Citadel." The reference is on Ashran Island, in the Horde camp of Spear of War, in the form of a "Handwritten Sign" hanging on the post of Yasa's merchant store, and if you examine the hanging flyer, it reads - "I am Commander <character name> and this is my favorite merchant in Spear of War." and after reading it, she comments that - "Never mind that, buddy. It's just like, advertising and stuff." However, nothing remarkable it does not sell, except consumer goods for those who are always losing a pickaxe or a jeweler's set.

Mass Effect 2 and the Pirates

The long-awaited sequel to Mass Effect, scheduled for release on January 26, 2010 in the U.S. and January 28, 2010 in Europe, "leaked" to the Internet on January 21, 2010. The "American" multilingual version of the game (for both X-Box 360 and PC) was stolen. On the night of January 24, a professional Russification of the text appeared on the Internet. On January 25th, exclusive content for "pre-orders" from Microsoft was leaked, everyone could download the content from about 0:00-14:30 in the afternoon. A few days after the announcement of the new additions to the game, was found a way to install the additions without activating and paying online.

Confirmed facts

Sales in Russia began on January 28. By pre-order the game was released with bonuses on January 27.

The game was officially announced on March 17, 2009

It will be possible to visit the planets belonging to other races. For example, you can visit the homeland of the Krogan planet Tuchanka, or the Azari planet Illium - one large city, reminiscent of Coruscant from Star Wars.

Integration of save files from the first part of the game into the second part, will affect the storyline of Mass Effect 2. If the player has not played the first part of the game, he will be offered to choose the options for action in different situations, thus forming the backstory of the protagonist (addition Genesis). P.S.: I advise you to pass the first part of the game first, because the standard protagonist did not get along with the head in the first part (no characters from the first part, the game becomes boring, but worth to download the save with the past Mass Effect, as the universe comes to life)

In Mass Effect 2 there will be no way to replay the game with the same character. The only thing you will be able to do is import the character you passed ME2 with, so you don't have to rearrange the characteristics.

If in the first part of the game one of the secondary characters was killed, in the second part he will be absent.

Several new weapons will be added to Mass Effect 2 (there are 19 weapon classes in the game), hand-to-hand attacks and new biotic abilities will be kept.

The internal configuration of the new Normandy will change quite a lot. There will be additional locations. Will be given the opportunity to upgrade the ship.

Will be available to visit at least one more station - Omega (Migrating Fleet can be visited only once, if you take the mission on the loyalty of Tali).

Weapons, armor and the Normandy (SR-2) can and should be upgraded with the resources collected during the exploration of the planets.

The arsenal of weapons is increased. For example, there are 2 types of guns, new heavy weaponry such as grenade launchers and rocket launchers ("The Scilary" - the player marks the target and then shoots it in the air, the shell is divided into several small rockets and hits the target)

Instead of the Mako there will be a completely different transport, a small landing ship (shuttle), unfortunately, you will not be able to fly it. However, with the installation of a certain DLC "Lord of the Flame" will add a flying rover "Hammer" and a few missions to him.