In the past few months, BioWare didn't talk much about its sci-fi RPG game Mass Effect 2 and the entire team was determined to keep a tight lid on the project until the E3 begins. As soon as the presentation started, we could feel the tension rise as we took a deep breath. Now, as much as we enjoyed the first Mass Effect game, there were some concerns as to how the developers would be able to top all that in a full-on sequel.

Shit, that was nice! I'm gonna do it again.

Geez, don't you ever discuss things first?

The story in Mass Effect 2 begins, as before, with Commander Shepard in the lead role. He embarks on what he himself calls a suicide mission. Humans throughout the galaxy are going missing and Shepard heads out to find out what's going on. He accepts the mission from Cerberus, a pro-human group. Taking on such a tough task obviously requires extra help and Shepard is now assembling an even tougher team.

The developers are keen to accent one of the game's main features related to data stored from the first title. Project Director, Casey Hudson stresses that the sequel really does recognize your saves and how you've accomplished your missions in the original. Your next adventure (i.e. in ME 2) begins accordingly. Any characters you've killed or allowed to be killed won't be included this time around. Most of the major decisions made earlier have consequences that can be seen and played out in Mass Effect 2. Naturally, players who haven't experienced ME 1 or have misplaced their saves will sill be able to enjoy ME 2.

Now, a few things caught our attention in this game. There's a rather fun element incorporated into the combat. When firing at enemies, you can now target different body parts, making you considerably more efficient in battle. No matter who your shooting at -- alien, robot or human -- it's possible to damage your enemy's limbs or head. If you're eager to get into action with various weapons, ME 2 doesn't seem like it will disappoint. Nine fresh types of weapons were included in the heavy category, for example. There's the missile launcher mixed with a helpful pull power move. You may use this handy toy to pull enemies out of cover and then blast them into oblivion.

As far as overall gameplay goes, upon first glance, things really haven't changed much. It feels very similar. Okay, some alterations were made to make the battles more enjoyable. The HUD received a few improvements and tweaks to ensure easier combat, while the well-known spherical interface showing your powers is in the game once more. Things were streamlined though, so now players don't have to pause combat to access powers if they don't want to.

There are many other aspects BioWare prefers to conceal from the public and press at this time. They announced more interactivity and richer exploration, although how exactly are the devs planning to pull this off is unknown at this point.

Visually, the game doesn't discourage. More importantly, BioWare appeared to have kept their promise and eliminated texture load issues from the original (finally!). Overall, if we speak about the graphics Mass Effect 2 is equally (if not more) appealing than the previous game and offers dramatic and eye-catching cinematics. Art direction is top-notch as always.

According to the designers, there's still plenty of work to be done and we wish them the best of luck. The game is expected to arrive in early 2010 (bummer, who's gonna wait that long?).