Mass Effect 2 Gameplay

[GamersThrone]

A "Prelude to E3" developer diary was released on May 15, 2009. The developers confirmed that the combat system has been upgraded, with everything from the feel of the combat and the AI being improved, including realistic damage modeling and downed enemies still continuing to crawl and fight. New to the series is a heavy weapons system that will allow you to "kill [somebody] a thousand times" over. The tone of the game is similar to that of the Wild West, featuring warlords and crime gangs. The video also confirmed the existence of new alien races and an attack by one race on Citadel-controlled space, wearing armor with an "M1" logo painted on it and seeming to control similarly armored varren, a race of non-sapient animals similar to dogs.

The characters in Mass Effect 2 will be more detailed not only graphically, but technically. In the original Mass Effect, Commander Shepard only had 20 animations for cover, while in Mass Effect 2, the character has over 200. The world will also be more open-ended in this installment; uncharted worlds the player could only explore for "cheap thrills" will now be more detailed and have more to explore.

The camera positioning for conversations with AI characters has also been improved, the previously static camera now moving around to provide "a much needed cinematic touch."