AT the end of Mass Effect, Commander Shepard saved all sentient life in the galaxy from annihilation at the hands of the Reapers, ancient machines that exterminate all intelligent species every 50 millennia or so.
At the beginning of Mass Effect 2, Shepard dies.
And two years later, the commander is brought back to life by the shadowy Cerberus organisation, which believes what the galactic government of the Citadel Council denies: The Reapers are still coming, and Shepard is the only one who can stop them.
Cerberus' mysterious head, the Illusive Man, has directed enormous resources into rebuilding Shepard just as he or she (player's choice) was before death.
Players can begin the game with the same Shepard they completed the first game with, or start from scratch with a new one.
Starting with a seasoned Shepard confers some advantages and has numerous other effects on the game, depending on what choices the player made in the original.
Did Shepard spare the Rachni Queen or destroy her? Romance Liara T'Soni or Kaidan Alenko? Let the Citadel Council live or die? The game notices these and other events and incorporates them into the Mass Effect 2 universe.
One thing is constant: The Illusive Man has big things in mind for the resurrected Spectre.
Whole colonies are disappearing, their human settlers gone without a trace, which Cerberus believes to be the work of an enigmatic race called the Collectors.
The Illusive Man suspects that the Reapers are truly behind these mass kidnappings.
He dispatches Shepard to gather a new team of specialists to eliminate the Collector and Reaper threat.
That's as much of the plot as this review will give away.
Interesting things are going on in Mass Effect 2, and it would be a shame to spoil any surprises.
The new cast is full of interesting characters - most new, a few old - with a variety of combat, technical and biotic (space magic) powers.
The combat system has been streamlined and upgraded, as has the selection of powers each character can learn (typically four, with the final one closed until Shepard has earned that character's loyalty).
No longer do players have to juggle armour and weapon types for several alien races; when players find or research a new weapon, it becomes available for everyone to use but only Shepard can carry the new heavy weapon class, which includes a grenade launcher, a freeze cannon and even more exotic weaponry. - McClatchy Newspapers
