Mass Effect 2 Preview

The folks at G4 have kicked out their own hands-on preview of Mass Effect 2 after checking out BioWare's RPG/shooter sequel at this year's CES in Las Vegas.
I could blast the aliens, but I choose the diplomatic path. Shepard easily defuses the situation with his silver tongue, gaining Paragon points in the process. The human turns out to be Daniel and I send him running along back to the clinic. It's a quick quest with a lot of options for completion. I could have killed the aliens even after I got them to let Daniel go, if I had wanted to.

As for the Paragon and Renegade paths, you won't be dropping skill point after skill point into Charm or Intimidate to open up conversation options. Instead, these options will be available to you at certain times and you'll gain points along either morality path according to these choices as you play. This way, players will be able to focus on developing Shepard for combat and not conversation.