Combat with the rest of the mercs showed off the way that’s been changed. While it’s still much the same third-person blasting, Hudson stated specifically that they want the weapons to feel powerful from the off, with progression through levels granting more special abilities than anything else. No longer do you need to pause to use those abilities, either, as you’ll be able to map them to different buttons on your pad. As for your allies, you’ll have separate movement and control options for each of them, but it looks like you’re still limited to just two.

In terms of new features, location-based damage is in, which should please the shooter crowd. Headshots will do more damage, but dismemberment has also been included, so expect to be blasting off arms and legs. The majority of the new powers look to be focused around physics, with a Biotic Pull power yanking enemies out of cover, while another chases enemies with a concussive blast that will smash them into the floor - and then there’s inferno ammo, which sets enemies on fire. You’ve got a new slot for special heavy weapons, too, and the one shown off was a hefty homing missile launcher.

When the presentation rolled around to meeting Thane, I learned that Mass Effect’s flair for making in-game mini-cutscenes look incredibly cinematic hasn’t diminished. The conversation with Nisara and the subsequent appearance of Thane, in which he quickly and stylishly killed a lot of people, looked absolutely stunning.  As stunning as killing people could look anyway.

Two other sections were shown off. The first was rather short, focusing on the new random planet exploration, albeit without much detail. What we know is that every step of finding, scanning, and exploring a planet will be a lot more interactive, and that there will be unique planets with unique looks, with some, Hudson says, being “like a science-fiction painting brought to life.”

The other section was spoiler-ridden enough that I’m not going to ruin it here, but it emphasised that yes, characters can die. Depending on your actions, main characters can and will get killed off. So can Shepard, and not in a reload-your-last-save-game way.

That’s right: Shepard can die.  Properly.  Once-and-for-all towards the end of the game. The mission Shepard is on is apparently one of the most dangerous missions BioWare has ever written, and if you don’t build your team well enough during the game, there will be a fitting ending that isn’t entirely successful. It will be long and complete and all about how Shepard dies: a “bloodbath” to use Hudson’s description, with your party getting killed off. This isn’t a case of reloading half an hour back and making different choices, either; to fix it you’ll apparently have to go back a lot earlier and think harder about how to build the team, and “what you might be lacking.” Team loyalty was also emphasised and I’ve been paranoid ever since, but then you would be too if you worked with Tamer and Andy.

If Shepard survives then you can port your save into Mass Effect 3, as well as continue playing around in ME2, which was something requested by a lot of players of the first game due to both the DLC and the planetary exploration aspect of the title. That seems like a big “if,” though.

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