Mass Effect 2 Preview

GameShark has put together their own three-page preview of Mass Effect 2 based on the information revealed during BioWare's conference call on Tuesday.
Of course, Muzyka didn't reveal one iota in regards to the storyline, but he guaranteed that it will be better than the first and, he dared to admit, even better than Dragon Age. He described Mass Effect 2 as the (darker second act) to the trilogy, a sort of Empire Strikes Back where innocence is replaced by a greater understanding of the big, bad world.

When humans first entered the galactic stage in the first Mass Effect, they were rather naïve or, as Muzyka put it, (bright eyed and bushy tailed.) They looked at the Citadel, awe-inspired by alien technology and a physical representation of the future. But, through the course of the first game, they came to learn of an (ominous presence on the edge of the galaxy, threatening all life.) With this knowledge and mankind's new seat on the Council, the dark second act begins.

How you chose to end the first Mass Effect and the decisions you made along the way will impact what happens in the second, provided you still have your final save. Still, Muzyka said it's not necessary to have played or finished the first game, as the second is a (self-contained adventure) with a (seamless introduction.) Whether you've completed Mass Effect or not, many of the first game's threads that do not reemerge in the second may still make a comeback in the final installation of the trilogy.