Mass Effect 2 officially announced

By Tom Bramwell Published 18 March, 2009

PC and 360, early 2010, not much more.

We all knew about it anyway, but EA has finally officially confirmed development of PC and Xbox 360 RPG-shooter sequel Mass Effect 2.

EA also reiterated that the game, which sadly is still not in development for PlayStation 3, is the second instalment in a planned trilogy, although the publisher dropped few hints about what to expect ahead of its "early 2010" release.

"Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril," according to the story blurb. The original teaser trailer hinted that Shepard had been killed, although this seems unlikely.

BioWare has also previously indicated that it would be a good idea to hang onto Mass Effect save-files, as decisions in the first game can have an influence on events in the second.

"We're going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, BioWare CEO, in the usual announcement statement.

Check out our Mass Effect Xbox 360 and Mass Effect PC reviews to see what we made of the first.

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.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Superastic #1 3 years ago

    Yey. 1 more year to go.

  • bad09 #2 3 years ago

    Long way off yet, still perfect timing with the classic release of the first.

    / wink, wink

    Still want though 1st was epic despite it's flaws.

  • metalangel #3 3 years ago

    The "influence of old saves" is almost certainly going to be pathetic and minimal. And as for that blurb... humanity struggling to make a name for itself? This is the same humanity that defeated the Batarians, led the Galaxy to victory over Sovereign and also saved the lives of the Council? Perhaps the blurb is trying to avoid spoilers too, but humanity's name is well and truly made at the end of the game, regardless of what ending you choose.

  • Saxo #4 3 years ago

    Metalangle i thought the exact same thing Humnaity truely have made a name for itself, and the second Mass effect novel (which takes place in the weeks/months right after the sovereign/saren incident) also suggest that humans indeed do not need to make a name for themself, after the turians beating by the geth the Systems Alliance (Humans) fleet is the single largest fleet in council space. So i hope that blurb was just some EA guy not knowing what he was talking about.

  • mattigan #5 3 years ago

    I didn't save the lives of the council…

  • GamesConnoisseur #6 3 years ago

    Perhaps so but then strugglings could be more to do with the events and plots development in the sequel that leads to Human Alliance losing face or trust of the council, or even the Earth based faction to break away or such. So not necessarily centred only what happened in the first game?

    Looking forward to the sequel still, suprised EA not doing PS3 version? EA is almost always taking a multi platform business

  • muscleblade #7 3 years ago

    Not surprised that there isnt a PS3 version as its probably very important to play the first game to understand the sequel.

  • kangarootoo #8 3 years ago

    "The original teaser trailer hinted that Shepard had been killed, although this seems unlikely"

    Well a soldier missing in action that turns out to in fact be just missing but not dead would hardly be the greatest plot twist every to be pulled on an audience.

    I loved Mass Effect, warts and all. Bring on the sequel says I.

  • Vistrix #9 3 years ago

    @farticusmaximus EA would just make the decision to port it over...Im very surprised they didnt do this...Then again, what else would the 360 have going for it in 2010? lol

  • NotSoSlim #10 3 years ago

    Not fussed as i have a 360 but if EA want to they could bundle both game together for PS3 after the exclusive peiod runs out. End of the day this just announces it for 360 and PC much like Lost Planet 2

    Until the devs come out and say that its ONLY ever going to be on 360/PC the rumour will still be around...like the Bioshock one.

  • hiddenranbir #11 3 years ago

    Prepare for Mass Effect 2. It is DARKER!

  • StooMonster #12 3 years ago

    Loved the PC version of Mass Effect (especially after they patched the bugs), and will buy that version again -- gotta play at 2560x1600 pixels and with the improved mouse-keyboard user interface. :-)

    Hopefully by the time its out Mass Effect 2 will be available on Steam to UK customers. Come on EA, why do you offer your games to Americans and Europeans on Steam but not customers in UK?

  • Sunyavadin #13 3 years ago

    So, ah, everything that was already announced then?

    O.....kay....

  • asphaltcowboy #14 3 years ago

    Loved Mass Effect. Roll on the sequel!

  • bruno0091 #15 3 years ago

    Anyone who's played previous Bioware/Black Isle games can make a good guess as to the plot of ME2. Sheppard has faked his/her death to go undercover in Ceberus, party member deaths will be carried over, as will major choices such as *SPOILERS*


    Choosing to let the Queen go, or killing the council members (though for the latter they may chose the 'good' version as the cannon ending')


    *END SPOILERS*

  • Tomo #16 3 years ago

    I'm sort of keeping an eye on this one. First one had a great story but I thought the gameplay was a bit meh at times.

  • Darren #17 3 years ago

    Awesome. PC version confirmed for me then.

    While I loved and completed Mass Effect on the 360, it was a bit of a mess technically and looked as if it was struggling to run on the console. I've since picked up the PC version and, IMO, it's the best version, particularly as the controls have been reworked for that platform and you have more control over your team. Great game, just seems more suited to the PC somehow.

  • Chufty #18 3 years ago

    I do hope the PC version comes out at the same time as the console version. This is the game I'm waiting for most of all.

    Still a year away though, so I'm trying not to think about it too much.

  • BobsUncle #19 3 years ago

    So what happens if you've played it multiple times and done all the different endings and saved/killed all the people that you get the chance to?

  • VicViper #20 3 years ago

    @BobsUncle

    I guess that depends on the save you decide to transfer over when starting the second on, they can only go with whats in you final save so completing the game multiple times wouldn't matter as it would still only use the one save and the choices made there in

  • jim1975 #21 3 years ago

    the last 4 or 5 hour of mass effect is prob my best gaming experience to date.

  • ardamillo #22 3 years ago

    Looking forward to this. More than anything else, come to think of it.

  • AphoticCosmos #23 3 years ago

    Win!

    \o/

  • polaris70 #24 3 years ago

    @jim1975
    I agree there. I always make sure I have done every sidequest before I go to Virmire. Virmire onwards doing the main story until the end is just gaming heaven and I usually do that in one sitting with a few beers. Literally my best gaming experience, and I've played games since the rubber Spectrum.

  • Xerx3s #25 3 years ago

    I'm a bit on the fence with transferring the save games. It sure sounds nice but it makes me wonder what I will miss. I think that I will first finish it with a new character and use one of my old ones on the second playthrough.

  • wankerw #26 3 years ago

    Nobody noticed that in the trailer the dead geth has the n7 insignia?

  • Miths #27 3 years ago

    I really hope you'll be playing as Shepard - I can never get enough of Jennifer Hale's sexy voice :).

  • SEVQA #28 3 years ago

    "EA also reiterated that the game, which sadly is still not in development for PlayStation 3"

    Why the hell not EA! Release the first and second one on one BluRay disc init! cunts

  • Calgon #29 3 years ago

    Hmmm I think its time Bioware learned how to optimise on console hardware, they've always released games with flaws in the technical areas that you forgived for other reasons. They are hardly new to console development now though and other devs have already shown theres no excuse(nowhere near as demanding as some of the other top 360 games). Maybe their excuse for the first game could be similar to Silicon Knights with Epic not being particularly helpfull.

    People werent exactly quiet on the technical issues so I expect they will make an extra effort with the sequal to make up for it, so it might not be worth waiting for the PC version for everybody(but if you have high end PC it would be a waste not to get that version if you're a Bioware fan).

  • metalangel #30 3 years ago

    Well, so long as Carth... er... Kaiden stays dead (poor actor, having to play identikit whining shitheads in two games for the same dev) I'm happy. Speaking of recurring voice actors, well played Jennifer Hale making female Shepard cool when Bastila's stupid posh "British" accent and snooty attitude ensured I was as rude as possible to her in KOTOR.