Mass Effect 2 Hands-On Preview Page 2

06 Nov 2009 at 15:26:14 by Tim McDonald

The one thing we did note, though, is that Shepard was noticeably scarred in the close-ups. I'm not sure I believe that this was a character design point to the extent that the scars themselves appeared more like the results of the plot, potentially linked to whatever tragedy caused everyone to believe Shepard was dead. The scars and gaps on his face glowed a faint orange, resembling circuitry. Did something happen to Shepard, critically injuring him to the extent that he's now infused with cybernetics of some sort? All speculation, admittedly, but I'd wager something big happened to Shepard prior to this section – particularly with one of Aria's lines being something along the lines of “You could be anyone wearing Shepard's face.” Hmm. Are the Geth going a bit Blade Runner, despite their reduced role?

Still, Aria wasn't forthcoming with the information we needed, so it was time to get Shepard a drink from the Batarian serving at the lowest floor of the bar. Sadly for Shepard, the Batarian had drugged it, and he lapsed into unconsciousness seconds later. Apparently, Rohypnol is still alive and well in the future.

This took us onto the second part of the demo, in which we were greeted by a familiar face. A sniper in blue armour removed his helmet just as Shepard and the party walked in, revealing himself to be none other than Garrus, the first game's C-Sec party member. For whatever reason, we were both in the same situation: stuck in a defensible location while Eclipse mercenaries closed in. Garrus passed Shepard his sniper rifle so that we could see for ourselves, and sure enough, three guards were running in. This triggered one of the “interrupt” button pop-ups, allowing you to take action during a cutscene; in this case, it appeared when Shepard had the gun trained on the head of one of the mercs. You can guess the result of pulling the left trigger at that moment.

Sadly, Garrus didn't join the party here, deciding to stay up top and cover us with sniper fire, but this did give us the opportunity to play with the combat again. We've covered this in some detail before, and this holds up just as well. The framerate was silky smooth and location-based damage was in full swing, with assault rifle bursts to the head dealing far, far more damage than similar shots to the body.

Combat feels good. Very, very good. Party members are intelligent and more than happy to do things on their own if you don't fancy giving them orders as opposed to just clustering around you, and with the improved damage modelling and the more shooter-esque changes to the aiming.

What was particularly intriguing was that the ammunition system, seen with the heavier weapons in a previous hands-on, was also used here for the assault rifle. Defending the initial balcony had me running a little dry on ammo, but a nearby pile of assault rifles furnished me with a new burst-fire gun that, too, relied on ammunition rather than the first game's overheating system.

Mass Effect 2 is shaping up very, very well. The combat will likely appease those looking for a more action-oriented experience, while conversations and cutscenes appear to be more cinematic than ever – and there were enough plot threads dangled just out of reach that we can't wait to see what the future holds for Shepard.

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