Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Electronic Arts

The original Mass Effect was a high resolution feat of artistic genius-- in spots; there were certain areas of the game, such as the glowing red hallway on the Citadel where the player met Tali, that stood above the rest of the game. Mass Effect 2, in its entirety, is made up of such "red hallways"; Unreal Engine 3 proves to be the perfect conduit for which Bioware's artists to render near perfection in virtually every way and in every scene.

The voice actors that returned from the original game, such as Liz Sroka and Seth Green, deliver the same generally good though occasionally stretched performances that they had in the first title. Which is ok, because even with their best feet forward, Martin Sheen completely steals the show anyway with his performance as the "Illusive Man". Like the original, this game's soundtrack is split between excellent sci-fi influenced synth work, and terrible Hollywood dime-a-dozen orchestra work (example: song during the latter part of the raid on the collector ship). Fortunately, the former is used much more frequently than the latter.

Bioware took some serious chances with this title by engaging in a surprising endeavor of "give and take"-- they eliminated the game's inventory system and the Mako, replacing the first with a system by which the player purchases upgrades using "resource units", and replacing the latter with a wearisome planetary scanning mini-game via which the player acquires these "resource units". The combat is anything but wearisome however, as it's focused more on headshots and satisfying biotic powers rather than the somewhat flat, stat-based action from the first game.

In some ways, Mass Effect 2 is more shooter than action RPG, but even for an RPG fan this is ok, because Mass Effect 2 is a better paced, more maturely designed title than the first game in nearly every way. Speaking of pacing, it seems like the game's designers placed that all-important "p-word" at the top of their collective design rubric, because the way they were able to skim virtually all of the fluff and fat from the original formula led to this lean, muscular sequel, a title that flows from combat, to dialog, to resource collection, then back to combat again, in a masterclass fashion.