Mass Effect 2 E3 Previews

E3-based previews of BioWare’s Mass Effect sequel continue to trickle onto the web, with two more showing up over the weekend.

The first is at 2404.org:

It’s Mass Effect, except more extreme. Extreme weapons, extreme dialogue pop-ups and general extremeness all around. BioWare loves to work in extremes and Mass Effect 2 takes that extreme to a whole new level. First, the weaponry. If you haven’t seen the extended trailer, then you haven’t seen the devastating mini-nuke, which as you might expect, spits out a small mushroom cloud in its aftermath.

It’s certifiably silly, but that’s more of a personal gripe than anything. Anything nuclear has the potential to be taken very seriously, but when you see games like Fallout 3 trivialize the gravity of nuclear warfare, then you just learn to accept it. I have and so the mini-nuke in Mass Effect 2 follows the traditions of BioWare’s extreme nature. It’s a little odd, especially when you consider how Infinity Ward handled the devastation of a nuclear bomb with professionalism in Call of Duty 4 and it really made an impact, but I digress.

While the other is at GamersInfo:

BioWare’s demonstrator explained that Mass Effect 2 was meant to be the darker, bleaker part of the trilogy. Taking a hint from The Empire Strikes Back, perhaps? He also explained that Mass Effect 2 would still be a good entry point for players and that you didn’t necessarily have to have played the first Mass Effect.

One of the most significant improvements I noticed in the demo was in the conversations between characters. In the first game, conversations were usually reduced to two talking heads spouting lines at each other in between the action. Now, the conversations have been integrated into the action, making it much more fluid and cinematic.