Having never played the first of the series (due to the absence of an XBOX 360), I approached the sequel with a truly open mind. Akin to Halo 2, if I can’t see, touch, smell, or play the sucker, a game becomes yet another GameRankings entry, one whose score trend produces subtle (if overwhelmingly positive) or even no (if below average) passing interest. (This became glaringly apparent as the first time I literally and awkwardly picked up a 360 controller was during a game launch event in May of 2010.) This is not to declare marriage to a particular console or manufacturer, rather realities of available gaming dollars.

Disclaimers noted, Mass Effect 2 arrived a BluRay babe in the woods onto my PS3...and subsequently blew me away. The game is nothing short of brilliant, an amazingly deep Sci-Fi/RPG/action combination...one overwhelmingly complex but that surprisingly works quite well.

For those devoid of the original Mass Effect (looking in mirror), expect an enormous learning curve upon entry. By ‘enormous,’ I’m referring to a storyline so sophisticated, that it will literally take 20-30 minutes of reading ‘Codex’ text to simply fathom what the hell is going on all around you. As someone who can hang with even sophisticated sci-fi plotlines, Mass Effect 2 beat me upside the head until finally able to get my bearings.

Thankfully Bioware and friends acknowledge this reality, offering a clever, interactive comic book to fill newbies in on back story...while forcing gamers to make key plot decisions that impact subsequent story development within Mass Effect 2. For instance and within this comic, the protagonist is forced to select saving the life of one key mate versus the other, a decision conveyed at multiple, playable plot stages within the game itself.

In a nutshell, Mass Effect 2’s plot focuses around Commander Shepherd (gender to your personal preference), a human soldier of the future rescued from his/her demise by a shadowy, pro-human survivalist paramilitary group. This group – ‘Cerberus’ – is headed by the mysterious ‘Illusive Man,’ an individual appropriately entitled based on obfuscated motivations. Backed by Cerberus, Shepherd is tasked with finding, staffing a ragtag crew ready to defeat a group of Collectors, an alien species hell-bent on enslaving human colonies. The Collectors are likewise linked to an evil, mythical society of the very distant past – Reapers – whose return spells the end for both human and alien kind alike.

Akin to the Star Trek universe, the Mass Effect one is ripe with fluid alliances where humans play a significant but not leading role. These alliances feature species with incredible legends, ones founded on long histories of interactions with other races plus varying intent behind them.

Mirroring the likes of Fable, Shepherd’s decisions carry with them good versus evil plot weight, and impact both immediate and future interactions and/or plot developments. I’m a notoriously conservative player in this regard, thus tend to err on the side of careful alliances with occasional firm yet empathic displays of power, as appropriate. Still, the robustness of decision making is readily apparent in Mass Effect 2, with very complex dialog branching backed by personality rewards for specific dialog selection paths.

Borrowing from yet another solid series in Fallout, Shepherd is almost completely customizable in character class and available upgrades. Having learned my lesson far too many times via poor skill point assessments, I opted for the basic ‘soldier’ versus telekinetic or sniper paths for Mass Effect play through #1. This decision thankfully paid dividends early on, with my earliest recruits a strong ‘biotic’ and concussion rifle mercenary. Similar customization is available in weapons and armour, decisions, however, that require locating both crew members and resources to enact them. Your teammates – in exception to class selection – are similarly upgradeable, earning experience points for completed missions.

Selecting the appropriate crew for a mission is paramount, as team member AI is both strong and easily manipulated via issuing strategic and/or tactical commands. The same can be said about enemy AI, individuals who don’t go down easily nor get duped into ‘fish in a barrel’ arrangements. Mass Effect 2’s cover system is fantastic, a very responsive and robust mechanism consistently employed by both friends and foes. Failure to use your surroundings appropriately produces many a death, ditto on idiot versus triangulation tactics to take out enemy masses. Interface (featuring two control wheels) learning curve to enact said steps is a bit high at first...but not insurmountable, by any means.

One of my favourite aspects of Mass Effect lies in its trial and error encouragement, one backed by a regenerating health system plus the ability to revive teammates through medi-kits. This flexibility encourages weapon and tactic experimentation, also a desire to explore nooks and crannies of levels sans fear of being endlessly set back. It seems there’s always another intriguing sub-plot just around the bend, one featuring yet another slew of enormously complex characters and decisions to aid/abate them.  The PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 features a handful of additional missions, weapons and add-ons, lagniappe that adds even more goodies to an already incredulously large Shepherd mix.

As promised via ‘graphical upgrades’ to its PS3 port, Mass Effect 2 looks and sounds quite good. Character models are fairly sophisticated, although human faces feature an omni-present, semi-cross eyed, drifting nature to them. Gameplay load times are occasionally tedious – especially onboard Shepherd’s ship – a somewhat surprising fault with the raw amount of game data installed. Minor flaws in a splendid package.

As a whole, Mass Effect 2 is a must purchase for PS3 owners fans of the Sci-Fi, RPG genre, a gem of a game with seemingly endless potential. The last time I felt this giddy over a title was ‘Uncharted 2,’ an experience that truly redefined its genre. Mass Effect 2 is a welcome edition upon this gaming pedestal.

A very deserving 5 stars.