Mass Effect 2 Preview

The action seems more intense this time around

It’s the question on everyone’s lips. Is Commander Shepard dead? As we wait outside EA’s behind-closed-doors E3 2009 booth, we can hear people asking each other if it really can be true. BioWare’s clever drip-feed of trailers in the run up to this most anticipated of reveals has done its job. Everyone’s talking about Mass Effect 2.

Turns out, we needn’t have worried, because Commander Shepard is very much not dead. Casey Hudson, Mass Effect 2's project director, wastes no time in revealing that fact. Which begs the question: why tease the possibility of his/her death in the first place? Was it just for laughs? Some sick cruel joke? Or was it to study the phenomenon of rabid forum fanboy reaction? The answers are no, no and no (probably).

The real truth will have to wait, because Hudson is quick to move on. As already revealed, if you’ve played Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 will bring in your saved game from the original along with all of the decisions you’ve made, whether large or small, so that you can continue your story from exactly where you left off. So if you killed X, or saved X, or decided not to buy that cream cheese bagel just before the final boss fight, Mass Effect 2 will know. Like Santa, the game will find out if you've been naughty or nice.

As fans will remember, Mass Effect was all about defeating a rogue spectre called Saren, a Turian who turned out to be a puppet of a Reaper, mile high living space ships hell-bent on clearing out all life from the galaxy. In Mass Effect 2, the dark second act (Empire Strikes Back, anyone?), humans are going missing from all over the galaxy, and you’re working with a shadowy pro-human group called Cerberus to find out why. Going after the missing humans is a suicide mission, according to Cerberus, but that doesn’t put off our valiant hero. Despite how double hard Shepard is, he needs some help, so he sets off to recruit a gang of super killers from the deepest corners of the galaxy. Much of the game is focused on this, in fact. On finding them, equipping them and making them loyal. Then you command them on a final mission where your actions throughout the game will affect your team’s success or failure at every stage.

Our live gameplay demo is of a mission where Shepard sets out to recruit a character called Thane, the deadliest assassin in the galaxy. Shepard (the default male version) is driving through traffic in a flying car, a gorgeous sci-fi skyscraper-filled skyline in the background. He's discussing the mission ahead with an Asari. Thane is on his way to kill a powerful female, one Shepard has a history with. Her towers are heavily guarded, and even more so closer to her penthouse. That wonderful conversation menu from the first game reappears. You ask if you should let Thane go through with the kill. The Asari says she won't loose any sleep if Shepard does. This is a fast-moving cut scene with a lot going on, but you're still in control of the conversation. A subtle change from the first game, but a change nonetheless.