Remember the first time you saw Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and it grabbed you by the scruff of the neck from the opening battle on Hoth, not letting go until its famous cliffhanger ending? Mass Effect 2, the new space opera from role-playing game (RPG) master Bioware, captivated me in the same way from its explosive beginning and kept my attention right until its rousing conclusion.

Just like Assassin’s Creed 2 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Mass Effect 2 is a game that builds a near-masterpiece on top of the foundations of an already-impressive predecessor. Where Mass Effect sometimes clumsily straddled the line between RPG and action game, the sequel spans both worlds seamlessly and confidently.

Mass Effect 2’s cinematic production values and excellent storytelling give you a reason to care about the battles that you’re involved in during the game’s action sequences. Bioware’s scribes are the best in the business — and they’re at the top of their game in Mass Effect 2.

The story picks up two years after the events of Mass Effect, with Commander Shepard, the hero of the first game, reluctantly working for a shadowy organisation called Cerberus to combat a new threat to humanity.

But before he can take the fight to the source of the evil, he needs to recruit a crack team of specialist soldiers and technicians to take into battle with him. It’s the classic Bioware story template, indeed the classic adventure story template, but executed with so much style that you’re sucked into the game’s universe from the start.

The writing in this game is exceptionally good by videogame standards. It’s always thoughtful, often laugh-out-loud funny, and, occasionally, surprisingly moving. Mature themes — including moral dilemmas and romance — are handled with a delicacy that is all too rare in the medium.

The companions you recruit during your travels rank among some of the most memorable characters that Bioware has ever created. Each of the nine companions has an agenda and intriguing back story of their own, from Grunt, a tank-bred warrior from the fearsome Krogan race, to Jack, an unlikeable prisoner who becomes sympathetic once you learn her history.

Getting to know these characters and winning their loyalty is one of biggest pleasures that Mass Effect 2 has to offer. But they’re just part of a rich fictional galaxy that Bioware has created. It’s peopled with exotic alien races with fascinating histories and cultures, and crammed full of smaller stories and sub-plots that feed into Mass Effect 2’s grand narrative.

Great visual design and audio play a big part in drawing one into Mass Effect 2’s world. Particular mention must be made of the excellent voice-acting that brings Shepard’s enemies and allies to life.

Chuck’s Yvonne Strahovski, The West Wing’s Martin Sheen, Battlestar Galactica’s Michael Hogan and Tricia Helfer, Firefly’s Adam Baldwin, Seth Green (Family Guy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer)  and Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity in The Matrix) are just a few of the big-name actors who have lent their voices to Mass Effect 2.

The engaging narrative and dialogue are complemented by exciting gameplay that refines the action-RPG blueprint followed in the first Mass Effect. The single biggest improvement is a comprehensive overhaul of the game’s combat system.

The third-person shooting mechanics feel nearly as tight as those you’d find in pure action games such as Gears of War or Uncharted. Mass Effect 2’s cover-to-cover battles are exhilarating enough to give many shooters a run for their money.

With two squad members at your command most of the time, as well as a host of weapons and abilities with which to play around as you fight a mix of enemies, the game offers a fair amount of depth. Though Mass Effect 2 is fairly easy on normal difficulty, on higher difficulty levels it takes a mixture of tactical thinking and fast reflexes to get through the tougher battles.

Grunt the Krogan ... luckily, this good-looking guy is on your side

Nearly every element that drew criticism in the first game has been thrown out the window. The horrible inventory menus, the tedious vehicular sections, and the long elevator rides to mask loading times are all gone. Best of all, the repetitive side quests of Mass Effect have been replaced by secondary missions that are consistently entertaining and thoroughly rewarding.

That doesn’t mean that Mass Effect 2 is perfect. A couple of new annoyances have been injected into the game. The simplistic mini-games one needs to play to hack computers and to scan planets for the minerals needed to upgrade equipment quickly wear thin, for example.

The character customisation options also feel a little shallow. This is an RPG for people who don’t care for the stats-tinkering and experience-grinding that are traditionally associated with the genre.

These quibbles aside, Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest action-RPGs of all time. It’s only February, but Mass Effect 2 has set a high bar for any game that hopes to challenge it for the game of the year crown.  — Lance Harris, TechCentral

• Reviewed on Xbox 360. Also available for Windows PCs
  

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