Mass Effect 2 dated

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 October, 2009

BioWare targeting end of January.

BioWare has announced that Mass Effect 2 will be released in the UK on 29th January for PC and Xbox 360.

What's more, there will be a couple of pre-order incentives available through yet-to-be-announced retailers to provide a jumpstart on the opposition.

One such incentive is Terminus Gear, a loadout designed for extreme planetary conditions consisting of special assault armour that increases your speed, shields and ammo reserves, and a big old gun called the M-490 Blackstorm, which generates its own localised gravity well for accelerating enemy particles to near-infinite mass.

T'other bonus is Inferno Armour, which heightens your awareness of battlefield conditions by improving response times, run speed, damage inflicted and, for some reason, your skills as a negotiator.

Mass Effect 2 is the second game in BioWare's planned trilogy of RPG/shooter hybrids, in which Commander Shepard runs around the galaxy assembling a group of merry men and investigating shady, grown-up goings-on.

In this case he's trying to discover why human colonies are disappearing, so he's teaming up with the human supremacist organisation Cerberus. Expect multiple headings.

To help him on his way, BioWare has refined the game's various systems so that conversation is more fluid (complete with the option to interrupt - our favourite such interruption being to shove somebody out of a window). Inventory management is also less fiddly, and there are more guns, biotics, side-quests and so on.

The veteran RPG developer is even attempting something ambitious with player death, about which you can read more in our Mass Effect 2 preview from a while ago.

Meanwhile, the technical side of the game has also enjoyed a boost, as you can read about in our Digital Foundry appraisal from gamescom.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BabyJesus #1 2 years ago

    Yep, bloody great news.

    Can't wait, and I won't have to for long :D

  • Daikon #2 2 years ago

    Buy. A soon as I get that Red Ring of Death fixed...

  • Garfy #3 2 years ago

    Woo, simultaneous PC release. I remember the six month wait last time.

  • Mercatoria #4 2 years ago

    exciting times

  • Yossarian #5 2 years ago

    Non-cosmetic in-game preorder content needs to die a death, and soon.

  • Retroid #6 2 years ago

    \o/

    I'll be allover this like it was an Asari's backside!

  • Thamuhacha #7 2 years ago

    We should also be due a Dragon Age review soon ... I am hoping it keeps me going until ME2

  • Miths #8 2 years ago

    "In this case he's trying to discover why human colonies are disappearing, so he's teaming up with..."

    Surely you mean she? Who the hell wants to control a bland guy when you've got Jennifer Hale's sexy voice from the female Shephard? :)

    Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this game (good thing there's Dragon Age: Origins, and all the other Autumn and Winter releases to keep us entertained while we wait :)).
    I played the original ME on the 360, but I bought the PC version a few months ago as well and I guess I better try to fit it into my schedule before the end of January - isn't there something about save games from Mass Effect influencing certain character traits or choices in ME2?

  • Scimarad #9 2 years ago

    You said it! Where did this bizarre myth about Shepard being a guy come from? She's an extremely stroppy cow who is nonetheless loyal to her crew and her former captain:)

    Great news that this is coming so soon.

  • Wolverfrog #10 2 years ago

    He's teaming up with Cerebus? The same Cerebus from Ascension? Win. I hope we get to meet The Illusive Man.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/09 @ 09:18

  • ybfelix #11 2 years ago

    BG2 has "Non-cosmetic in-game preorder content", too

  • Ignatius_Cheese #12 2 years ago

    End of January is going to be worse than the pre-Christmas enslaught at this rate!

  • sirtacos #13 2 years ago

    Finally.

  • Caimbeul #14 2 years ago

    cant come soon enough!

    "We should also be due a Dragon Age review soon ... I am hoping it keeps me going until ME2" - I have this pre-ordered and on one hand am really looking forward to it but i still just cannot accept the poor voice acting. Its not a scratch on Mass Effects....Shame :-(

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #15 2 years ago

    January? Shit, I was hoping I'd have till the Spring to play through my Xmas games! And, er, the games I got last Christmas, too.

    Oh well, I suppose it's good news really!

    BTW, anyone know if there's gonna be a super sexy special edition, like with the first ME? I guess that sort of big package is more MS's style than EA's.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/09 @ 09:51

  • Raziel #16 2 years ago

    Having played this at Gamescom a few weeks back, I can't wait. It's such a big leap from Mass Effect 1 in overall quality.

    Mass Effect was a great game, bu nobody can deny it's technical problems and awkward design choices, but all of them seems to be fixed this time.

  • Inigo #17 2 years ago

    When they said 1 quarter i automatically assumed that it would be March-April. This is fantastic news.

  • anomagnus #18 2 years ago

    taking time of work for this!

  • The-Bodybuilder #19 2 years ago

    I don't normally pre-order games as I've never cared that much for a game (bar shenmue), but I most definately will for this baby.

  • muscleblade #20 2 years ago

    ME2, Bioshock 2, Lost Planet 2 and a lot of other great games in Q1 2010. Stop making so many games i dont have time for this. Skipping one of these seems wrong to me but its even more problematic starting a game i never get to finish. I might have to skip this even though i dont want to.

  • Artemus #21 2 years ago

    Don't get too excited about a simultaneous PC release. It'll probably follow the recent trend and get delayed last minute.

  • YourMessageHere #22 2 years ago

    I'm astonished, in a good way, to hear they're going to release the console and PC versions at the same time. Nice work chaps.

    accelerating enemy particles to near-infinite mass

    Um, what?