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Similar to the characters in the game, Mass Effect goes through a lot of changes in the sequel. The most prominent change is the increased emphasis on the third-person shooting action while the role-playing elements are downplayed. The loot system from the previous game is done away with and is replaced by an upgrade system where players can research new custom armor parts, weapons and ship enhancements. Players have the option to import characters from the first game, but it only brings in the look and decisions that were made. It might not sound like much, but the outcome of many of those decisions pop up throughout the game, and likewise, decisions made in this game will have consequences in the upcoming Mass Effect 3. Other than that, players will have a relatively clean slate, including a chance to pick a new class at the start of the game. The game automatically fills in most of the key decisions in favor of the Renegade if the player decides to start a whole new character.

Each of the six classes - which mixes and matches between levels of weapon expertise, biotics, and tech skills - makes a comeback and this time they have signature abilities. For example, the Vanguard has a special biotic charge that lets it get up close and personal with enemies while Sentinels have access to tech armor. Although the signature abilities give some nice variety to the classes, they don't have any significant impact on how the story plays out. That means characters will treat you the same and say the same things whether you're a biotic Adept or a Soldier that relies completely on weaponry. The player's background story only comes up once during the beginning of the game. Choices like gender or becoming being a righteous Paragon or a forceful Renegade provide a slightly different experience, but not by much. Mass Effect 2 also does away with having to put points into charm or intimidation. Now simply filling either meter is enough to make the options appear. Filling them depends on speech decisions and interrupts during interactive cut scenes where players can click to execute either a Paragon or Renegade actions, which works very well to improve the game's pace. However, no matter how the player decides to handle a situation, the ultimate story outcome is always the same. None of the characters judge you according to your morality, and adding new crew members automatically unlocks upgrades, but certain decisions will influence loyalty. Gaining a character's loyalty unlocks special abilities that players can add to themselves.

As stated previously, Mass Effect 2 steps up the action quite a bit. The skill trees are significantly trimmed down in comparison to the first game, cutting out all the weapon expertise branches and leaving only the skills and abilities that define the class. Characters are limited to carrying only the weapons the class allows and cannot equip guns they're not trained to use. The Soldier is the only one that can carry all weapons and specializes in using a variety of ammunition to break shields, melt armor or freeze enemies in place. However, weapons have the new limitation of relying on ammunition and there are very few enemy drops, so it's very easy to run out of bullets. Maybe we didn't go digging far enough, but we didn't find much weapon variety during the course of playing. Most guns have only two or three versions at best, and that's counting guns that can only be equipped by specific characters. Otherwise, the renewed emphasis on action works fantastically well to keep the game exciting. The allied AI has its quirks, and there are numerous occasions when characters would suddenly jump up out of cover, run toward the enemy, and get shot up. A means of setting up behavior, such as keeping distance or getting up close, would be nice, but the issue doesn't ruin the game. It's also difficult to discern where damage is coming from if something sneaks up behind you and starts hitting, or in one case, when there was poisonous gas coming through a wall. We also encountered occasional collision problems, where our character suddenly ended up a foot in the air and wouldn't come down or enemies were stuck inside impenetrable crates.

Although gameplay flaws are generally rare and none outright ruin the experience, Mass Effect 2's weakest aspect is with the little mini-games to bypass doors, hack secure terminals or scan planets in search of valuable minerals to upgrade equipment. These mini-games are mildly amusing when first played, and are better than the little hacking puzzle from the previous game, but they get old really fast. Blindly flying out into the far corners of space in search of adventure doesn't fit very well into the plot, especially when the fate of the galaxy is at stake. Scanning planets with a giant metal detector quickly loses its charm, and surplus minerals can't be converted into money. We would have liked to see a market where resources could be exchanged for a different type or sold for currency instead of being forced to scan every planet we happened to come across in the hopes of getting what we needed. We'll admit that nobody really picks up Mass Effect 2 expecting high quality mini-games, and players can skip all of them and still complete the story, but they're the only way to get a lot of resources and certain upgrades.

Although there's a nice resource bonus given to players playing through for a second time or more, there's not much incentive to replay Mass Effect 2 other than to make opposite Paragon/Renegade decisions to prepare for part three and to check out some of the different endings. Even so, the story is very compelling and we loved the crew-centered side quests. Although it's not an especially deep role-playing game, it is an excellent action game that completely enraptured us and kept us playing.