Earlier this afternoon, Xfire played host to a live playthrough of a new area in Mass Effect 2 (which you can watch for yourself here), followed by a developer Q&A with producer Jesse Houston and game designer Christina Norman.

Even though I am an immensely busy person (who am I kidding?), I decided to glue my eyes to my computer screen and take it all in for all you lovely Game Rant readers who had to miss it. So if you aren’t completely saturated by information and coverage about Mass Effect 2 (the epic Mass Effect 2 launch trailer released yesterday), read on to get my impressions on the playthrough and some new little nuggets of information from the Q&A.

Disclaimer: If you are trying to steer clear of information before next week, then what I am about to say could classify as spoilers. So, uh, don’t read if you have an aversion to such things.

Mass Effect 2 Developer Playthrough Impressions

The playthrough began with Shepard standing in his cabin on the Normandy. The size and detail within the cabin was noticeably different from the first game, as was the rest of the interior of the Normandy. Producer Jesse Houston explained right here that the Normandy was about twice the size of the ship in the first Mass Effect. After leaving the cabin, game designer Christina Norman took Shepard to the elevator, where a screen popped up to choose where to go on the Normandy and then–whoosh!–Shepard was there. Took about a two seconds, which is obviously a departure from the first game.

Shepard emerged in some sort of laboratory, and this is where you will be able to upgrade and replicate your weapons in the game. One nice thing they pointed out was that any time you find a weapon all members of your squad can use it, instead of having to do the insane amount of swapping in the first game. This is also where they showed the armor customization and how players will be able to change everything about the armor, including color, patterns, and set pieces. I like this idea of customization, because I can say I wasn’t too happy running along in pink armor a few times in Mass Effect.

Next, Shepard was taken to the galaxy map, where players will be able to control the Normandy as it flies from galaxy to galaxy, and ultimately to each planet. Norman said that the ship will use fuel, but she didn’t elaborate on exactly what that entails. Will we have to refuel at certain places? Is it possible to run out of fuel? I like the ability to take control of the Normandy, but I hope the fuel system isn’t annoying.

Norman decides to land on a planet and take on a quest to find a Krogan scientist. She chooses her squad (from ten available squadmates, up from six in the first game), and they hop off the ship in preparation for the ensuing battle. I am an RPG fanboy, so I welcome the increase of available squadmates. This will also help with multiple playthroughs, as people attempt to finish the game with all members at least once.

After plowing through a few enemies, the squad comes upon a wounded enemy soldier and a conversation ensues. The dialogue system looks pretty much like the first game, and that’s a good thing in my opinion. We did get a chance to see the interrupt system in action, as a call comes in for the wounded soldier to report and Norman chooses the option that makes Shepard pull out his gun and let him know that taking that call would be a very bad idea. Upon turning his back, however, the soldier begins to answer it and an icon to hit the left mouse button appears on screen labeled “Interrupt.” Norman chooses the option and Shepard takes a quick potshot behind his back, dropping the soldier and getting a genuine laugh-out-loud from me. Love it.

The battle rages on throughout the rest of the level and Norman really does a good job of letting us see how the combat works. She uses her special abilities incredibly frequently and explains how the cool-down system works in Mass Effect 2 (which will be covered in the Q&A section of this). She is playing a Vanguard, and I must admit, it looks pretty darn cool. The whole Superman/Flash energy bolt thing is pretty powerful, especially if you come out of it wielding your shotgun. It did put Norman in a tight spot a few times, though, and she was lucky to come out alive. Unfortunately, I will have to go with my normal soldier for my first playthrough.

One quick note about the minigames. During the playthrough, we get to see both the bypass minigame for doors and the hacking game for computers. They are both different from the first game and will rely solely on the minigame, instead of character statistics. The hacking system made sense to me, but the bypass system did not. Looks like I am going to have to practice that one.

In the end, after fighting some particularly nasty looking Krogan Berserkers, Shepard and his squad enter a room with a Krogan lying on a table and Houston announces this is the end of the playthrough and the beginning of the Q&A.

Some of the Q&A covered things that have been covered to death over the course of Mass Effect 2’s production, so I am going to focus mainly on the things that either weren’t heavily covered or were fairly new to me.

Click to continue on to to the Mass Effec 2 Live Playthrough Q&A session details…

Developer Q&A with Producer Jesse Houston and Game Designer Christina Norman

  • Length of Main Story - Houston mentions that the main quest in the first Mass Effect was roughly 30 hours (even though it took me around 60, but I like to explore). He says there is about one and a half times more game in Mass Effect 2, however, blowing through the main story will actually make the game shorter than the first one. That said, he said he can’t imagine people wanting to do that and reiterated the fact that this is a “suicide mission.” I fully anticipate spending at least 75 hours on my game, if not more. Armor Customization - Players will be able to customize their armor in many ways. Not only will we be able to change the colors and patterns of different pieces, but we will actually also be able to mix-and-match pieces to get the sort of stats we want. Some special sets, however, don’t come in pieces but will be pretty powerful. I, for one, can’t wait to put my Blood Dragon Armor from Dragon Age: Origins into use. DLC - Houston claims there is a lot in the works. He mentions the Cerberus Network that was recently announced that will allow players the chance to get news and downloads for the game. He also says that they learned quite a bit about how to do DLC from Mass Effect and have some exciting stuff for Mass Effect 2. I was pretty disappointed with the DLC for Mass Effect, so I am happy to hear this. Ammo - There is ammo in the game, though it’s not called that and works a bit differently. Mass Effect 2 uses a “heat sink system,” where guns will fire until they overheat, and then players will eject some sort of canister, reload another, and begin firing. One of the big things is that each gun won’t have it’s own type of “ammo,” as the canisters will be evenly distributed between all your guns. The one exception are heavy weapons. Sounds good to me, since I wasn’t a huge fan of the first game’s system. Save Game Imports - We’ve heard a lot about how your decisions and character stats will be able to be imported into Mass Effect 2 from Mass Effect, but one thing I didn’t know is that your paragon or renegade status will also be brought in. Houston was quick to point out that players who haven’t played the first game won’t feel left out if they simply start with Mass Effect 2, but that the choices made by those importing their saves will simply enhance the richness of the world. The thought that choices from Mass Effect will affect Mass Effect 3 just makes me giddy inside. Shared Power Cooldown System - All powers in Mass Effect 2 will share a cooldown, but the cooldown will be much, much shorter than the ones from the first game. BioWare’s reasoning behind this was to keep people from never using their abilities only to “dump” them all right before a big fight. Customization for the Normandy - This is something I was unaware of and thought was pretty cool. Throughout your travels players will be able to find and buy things they can then use to decorate the inside of Normandy, including Shepard’s cabin. Two examples were given: Shepard will be able to find model ships that will be displayed in his cabin as well as getting pet fish that will, according to Houston, have to be fed. Great, now I can almost kill my virtual pets like I do my real ones. Difference between PC and 360 Versions - Very little difference, according to Norman. Unlike the first game, which was ported to PC sometime after the 360 release, both versions were developed simultaneously in-house. There may be a little difference in the graphics area (with the PC pulling slightly ahead), but Norman says it’s not overly noticeable. Morals and Choices - Those of you that played the first game probably remember some pretty huge moral choices that the player has to make (with one in particular being especially memorable). Houston says that there will be a lot more choices for the player to make in Mass Effect 2 that will impact the world and story, many of which will be morally ambiguous. This is the stuff that will tear me apart. I literally sat and stared at my screen for about fifteen minutes before making the big choice in Mass Effect. Tears may be had during Mass Effect 2. Ending - Obviously the ending will be epic, concluding with Shepard’s suicide mission. However, Houston says, if Shepard does not die, players will be free to explore the game past the ending and participate in any DLC. Looks like you will just have to load an earlier save for DLC if your Shepard dies like in the first game. It was a bit annoying to have to reload a save to play the DLC in the first game, so I welcome this change. Hopefully I can keep my Shepard alive.

Final Impressions

I came away very impressed with this playthrough. Though I have seen many gameplay videos, you really can’t get a complete feeling of how the combat flows unless you see someone playing it in real-time. The Q&A was just icing on the cake, and we got some interesting answers to a few questions that haven’t really been asked. The best thing, in my opinion, was getting to listen to the developers talk about a game they clearly loved working on and hearing their passion come out in the responses to questions. BioWare is one of those companies that’s dedication to the gaming market really makes it awesome to be a gamer right now. And if Dragon Age: Origins didn’t make you believe that, then I’m sure Mass Effect 2 will next Tuesday.

Mass Effect 2 will release for the PC and Xbox 360 in North America on January 26th, in Australia on January 28th, and finally Europe on January 29th.