Yesterday I had the amazing privilege of being able to listen to a live interview of Jesse Houston, Mass Effect 2 producer.  The session was VERY informative, and I learned a LOT of new things about the game. I’ll run through them, so you can get a taste of what I heard.

I’m going to split the notes I took into sections so you can read them better :
–COMBAT–
Better Cover System
Better Storming System, storm longer
No more grenades, basically Heavy Weapons
Replace heat sinks(basically cartridge)
Find heat sink “ammo” as you go
Bonus powers from your ME1 choices
Bonus powers from who is loyal
Bonus powers from playing through a second time
MOST LIKELY you CAN fall into chasms by powers, you CAN by rockets.
Loadout from Normandy
Item duping inside Normandy
Sometimes you CAN sometimes you CANT pick up certain weapons
no training with non-class weapons
Sentinel has a falcon punch
Choose casual clothing
Each skill still has 10 available points but EVERY level has bonuses, but spend 1 point for lvl 1, 2 for lvl 2, etc. At lvl 4 you “specialize”
Leveling up has more incentive
Removed non-combat skills
No more charm/intimidate as skills, replaced with paragon/renegade
hacking/decryption isn’t a character skill, its a PLAYER skill
Mix and match peices of armor
Changes color and patterns of armor
–STORY:–
Better Acting
Reapers are in ME2, story is about Reapers
If you die, you can NOT import your character
After game, if you survive, you CAN still explore, etc.
Shepard is still a Spectre
There is content from the books
–PARTY–
Never required to recruit all members
Original party members that survived WILL be in ME2. Not all will be in your party, however
At most 30% of game is recruiting party
–IMPORTING SAVES:–
Imports decisions: Wrex, Rachni, etc.
Imports appearance
If in ME1 you can start a new game based on a previous ME1, you can use the original in ME2
If you lost your ME1 character, you can not choose your background
Game is not easier because of ME1 playthrough, basically more tools, not more power
e.g., high lvl characters WILL get a bonus but nothing will make game too easy
–XBOX and PC:–
Only major differences in controls, feel more natural now
–Mass Effect 1 to 2:–
Experience points for objectives
Level squad before and after missions
50% more content in 2
One example: 100 hours w/o DLC
Sidequests more guided, no roaming pointlessly
Acheivement rewards from ME1 do NOT affect ME2
–MUSIC–
Composer Jack Wall, worked with Casey Hudson very closely
more thematic music
more event based
“to fit the mood better”
–ENGINE/GRAPHICS–
Same Engine (Unreal 3)
Graphics greatly improved, including less glitches in textures
No texture popping
30 FPS
–DLC–
“may be more in the future”
Free DLC card
Never have to re-buy
–NORMANDY–
upgradable
story changes based on your upgrades
new fuel system, must refuel to stay in space
there are fuel depots
if you run out of fuel, you get towed basically, no fee or penalty
Some areas of ME1 are back, some arent.
Planets are NOT just shoot people, more civilized areas
MORE POPULATED AREAS
–MULTIPLAYER–
none
–DIALOGUE–
new interrupt system, based on paragon/renegade status
you gain the ABILITY to interrupt at different times and different ways through status
–CHARACTER CREATION/PERSONALIZATION/DEVELOPMENT–
More appearance creation options
sharing character creations with others
–VEHICLES–
Hammerhead: You land in Hammerhead. But, you run in Hammerhead you don’t drive.
–RACES–
More genders in more races in Mass Effect 2
–ME3–
Similar Release Schedule

And, there you have it! It was a great session, a HUGE thank you to Jesse Houston, Bioware, EA, IGN, Vivox Voice, and Direct2Drive!

Ask any questions you want!