Mass Effect 2 Preview

Mass Effect 2 is bigger than Mass 1 in almost every way

Mechs large and small attack; hugging cover, dishing out commands with the d-pad and using your own is effortless. It is a wonderful feeling to have Miranda "Pull" a bad guy into the air then yourself use the sniper rifle to shoot it out of the sky. Occasionally Shepard peeks out for some deadly sniper headshots and limb disabling - both satisfying combat improvements. As you hide behind cover, the game asks you to send your party members, with the left and right d-pad buttons, to each hug one side of a large door. A huge mech turns up, one you are told in no uncertain terms will pose a significant problem. Not really. The grenade launcher and Overload are enough to make it fall apart like so much junk.

Veetor is holed up inside a cabin, babbling some nonsense as he frantically presses control panel buttons and whizzes his eyeballs from screen to screen. He's not listening - perhaps he can't - to you. Now: the first chance to use the new dialogue interrupt system. With a press of a trigger, Shepard fires a shot that whizzes past Veetor's head. His attention is gained, but he's still out of his mind. "The swarms took everyone", he says with a demented panic. The kidnappers are revealed to be The Collectors, an alien, insect-like species from somewhere beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Somehow, they're involved with the Reapers. Somehow, they need to be stopped.

But first, what to do with Veetor? Tali wants to bring him home. Miranda, on the other hand, wants to detain him for questioning. It's your choice. Shepard, in this case, agrees with Miranda. Tali is upset, and leaves in a huff. If Shepard agrees with Tali, will she then join you on your adventure?

Back at base, you report in to The Illusive Man. What of your old party? Liara is working for the Shadow Broker, Kaiden's still with the Alliance, Tali you've just met, and Garrus, well… he disappeared after Shepard's "death". Shepard wants to gather together her old team - they will be perfect for the job, she reckons. And who can argue with her? They didn't do too badly in the first game. Whatever, it's time for Shepard to set out on her quest to save the galaxy, and in what better method of transportation than a new and improved Normandy?

For more on the new Normandy, check out our gargantuan interview with project director Casey Hudson, wherein he reveals loads of juicy titbits. We've had a fiddle ourselves, chatting with Joker, who's now walking (no doubt the result of some Cerberus tinkering), and conversing with the new ship artificial intelligence, EDI, which stands for Enhanced Defence Intelligence and is pronounced "Eedee". EDI admits to being the Illusive Man's spy, and to having some "restricted functions" even she's not aware of. She can, however, give enemy ships viruses, and disable their weapons, shields, gravity and air supply. We also spent some quality time gawking at Yoeman "call me Kelly" Chambers, your gorgeous green-eyed personal assistant and ship's counsellor (is she a potential love interest? BioWare won't say).

Could Mass Effect 2 be 2010's game of the year?

There's absolutely loads to do on the Normandy, too much to fit into the back end of a two-hour hands on session (I tried, but was booted off so someone else could have a go). But I did manage to poke about every level before giving up the controller. The Captain's Quarters is home to the fish tank, your Achievements and a flushable toilet. The Armoury is where you'll customise your weapons and those of everyone else's. The Private Terminal is where you'll check out status updates on your crew, read emails (Admiral Anderson wants to talk to you on the Citadel) and view advanced combat training videos. The Tech Lab, only available once you've convinced "The Professor" to tag along, is where you'll research new upgrades. And then, of course, there's the new elevator, which, somewhat sadly, is now a loading screen that displays a schematic of the ship, rather than an actual elevator with lounge music and news reports to enjoy.

BioWare's pushed the improvements it's made to the third-person shooting in the run up to release, but, having played Mass Effect 2 for an entire afternoon, it's clear that this only paints a tiny portion of the bigger picture. Compared with the first game, there's so much more to see and do and so much more to sink your teeth into, that it seems impossible to know where to start. We haven't even touched on the new Dragon Age: Origins-esque loyalty system (the snarky Miranda begins the game with "normal" loyalty, but I can see it degrading quickly). Nor have we mentioned the new ship upgrade system, which affects epic space battles in some exciting, unannounced way. And the Galaxy Map… well, who knows what magic wonderment that will bring?

What more is there to say? Mass Effect 2 is my most anticipated game of 2010. It should be yours, too.

Mass Effect 2 is due out on Xbox 360 and PC on January 29.