14 DAY TRIAL // Mass Effect 2 is set to be launched on the PC and on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft in late January, the first big videogame release of 2010, but it seems that the people at BioWare who are in charge of the series are already thinking about what they will be doing with the third installment, which will probably be arriving in late 2011 or in early 2012.
When talking about the final game in the trilogy, Casey Hudson, who is the project director on the series,told Shacknews that “We're looking forward to it and it should be more fun for us. Mass Effect 3 will be easier because we don't have to worry about continuity into the next one.”
Since the first game was initially announced, the developers have said that they have seen the project as a trilogy that will approach a different subject with each installment while also telling a bigger story about humanity and its place in the universe.
Mass Effect 2 is set to take place almost immediately after the first game and BioWare has stated that, depending on the way players choose at several points in the journey, Commander Shepard, the main character, might actually die off for good at the end of the game. It will be quite interesting to see how BioWare managed to create a third act in the series including the possibility of Shepard being dead, especially considering that the developers are very keen on pointing out that all the choices made throughout the first two iterations will matter later.
BioWare is also saying that all the less than polished aspects of the first Mass Effect, like the sometimes clunky combat and the fiddly inventory, have been remade for the sequel to make sure that the experience is more engaging and gives players a wider view of the in-game universe.