Mass Effect 2 Preview

Coverage from this year’s Penny Arcade Expo continues to make its way to the web, with the latest highlight being a hands-on preview of Mass Effect 2 over at Gamervision.

Some things have been tweaked a bit, and return significantly better than before. Using abilities and commanding Shepard’s squad, in particular, flows much better in Mass Effect 2 than it did in the original. The squad now works like a well-oiled machine, taking brief pauses to organize strategic attacks and execute them flawlessly. It’s rather rhythmic, starting with a few shots from behind cover (made more satisfying thanks to the combat enhancements) and a quick rush to a better location. Pause. Assign one teammate to pull an enemy forward, one to push another down, and tell Shepard to shoot a rocket at the third. Resume play. Watch the ballet of destruction unfold. Repeat.