Casey Hudson, lead producer of Mass Effect 2, recently detailed how players' choices in the first Mass Effect will change the course of the sequel. "It ranges from small things like, by way of example, Conrad Verner was a fan of Commander Shepard's that you met in the first game, and it's like you meet this guy in an alley and you can be nice to him or you can be a jerk to him," Casey explains in an interview with PCWorld.com. How you behaved toward Conrad will determine what his role will be in the sequel, and Casey assures us it won't be just a "good-guy bad-guy [convention] and that's that."

Your choices will also affect the physical world around you. Signage, bystander conversation and even PA announcements will change according to your decisions. Casey also points out that the sequel is not just a reflection of your choices in the past, but is also "a game that's absolutely packed with new ideas and places. In fact I actually can't think of an aspect of the game that we haven't overhauled and made 100% better." Mass Effect 2 is scheduled to release early next year for the Xbox 360 and PC.




Tyler says: It's refreshing to hear that subtle choices will play out in Mass Effect 2, but my main worry is that I won't remember the choices I made in the first place. I'm hoping the folks at BioWare are thinking of a way to do a dynamic "previously on" to reorient players to their decisions. If not, will Mass Effect be a better experience for players who wait to play through all three games at once? Either way, I played through the first Mass Effect three times (as evil, good and neutral), so I hope that when I play through ME2 three times I'll be able to spot the differences.