Mass Effect 2

 Mass Effect was released for the Xbox 360 on November 20, 2007.  What Mass Effect brought to the table was an absolutely epic storyline, engaging and likeable characters, and arguably some of the best graphics the Xbox 360 had seen to date.  Despite some minor criticisms, Mass Effect was an unbridled success.  While the action/adventure genre had certainly not been ignored by developers, the "space" setting of Mass Effect was something that many gamers had longed for--Giving them the chance to explore our galaxy, its planets, and star systems.  What Mass Effect created was a sense of grand adventure, a living; breathing world & galaxy where you could determine what to do next.  Mass Effect 2 promises to expand on the Mass Effect universe, continuing the epic storyline started in Mass Effect, expanding on it, and hopefully being a great deal of fun at the same time.

"Mass Effect 2 will blow people away". The Mass Effect series of games was originally written as a trilogy. At this point, it appears that number two will indeed be preceeded by a third game. Initially, many gamers believed Mass Effect 2 would be a prequel, and would not expand on the story as it was left at the beginning of Mass Effect. Bioware's Senior Manager shed some light on the direction Mass Effect 2 would be taking in a short interview in 2008. What he said was that gamers should anticipate new characters, while still having the ability to run into old characters from the first game. No names were given, however it was claimed that both main and other characters would both potentially returning to the Mass Effect universe. I'm sure anyone who played the first Mass Effect would agree:  It'd better not be those huge sand worms!

The creators of Mass Effect 2, BioWare, have been slowly releasing small teaser's for the game, doing an excellent job of hyping up what could be one of 2010's biggest releases.  Many of the images that have been revealed have hinted towards the inclusion of Earth in the game, something that was only mentioned in Mass Effect. 

 For those unaware, the first Mass Effect game did not actually include any game play on Earth.  When it was mentioned, and shown in a small image, it became apparent that our home is infinitely more populated than it is now, with 24 billion people.  In addition, massive cities required to support so many lives sprawl the planet, making it a much different place then you or I can image!

The images on the right show off the apparent inclusion of Earth as a place that we may be fighting on in Mass Effect 2. Who knows what roll Earth will play, but one can certainly only hope that it gives off the epic "hundreds of years in the future" vibe that our home did so well in the first game, despite only being mentioned and never actually observed.

It's also worth mentioning that your main method of galactic transportation appears to be returning in Mass Effect 2--The Normandy SR1.  While you never actually had the opportunity to pilot the Normandy, you did have regular opportunity to move around on it, harassing and flirting with (or at least attempting to) your various female co-workers.  No word on whether or not the romantic storyline of Mass Effect will be carried over, but judging by the hype the "sex" created in the first game, expect it to make a return.

 Mass Effect was an epic game, that did a fantastic job at catering to all types of gamers.  It featured complex decision making that would alter the entire course of the game, well-meant but ultimately frusterating driving, and great action sequences that let you blow away various humans and aliens, from all over the galaxy. 

But what really set Mass Effect apart from the rest of modern action adventure games, was the "ground breaking" inclusion of a romantic storyline, complete with some hot polygon on polygon copulation.  While the actual sex scene was optional, it's safe to say that every single person who's ever played Mass Effect took extra care to ensure that their relationships with their various female crew members led to the now famous sideways shuffle.  It's not very often a game includes any sex at all, so it led to many gamers wooing their ingame female buddies, just to see that yes, someone did pull some strings to get sex into an M rated game. 

It's safe to say that Mass Effect sold a lot of copies based solely on the fact that there was sex in the game, and you may even argue that the inclusion of romance and sex was done solely to increase sales.  If there's one thing that's truely certain, that is to expect more romantic storylines, and probably even more racy sex.  Because sex sells.