The fact that BioWare brought Mass Effect 2 to the Penny-Arcade Expo is a good showing of confidence. The original was great, there's no doubt about that, but some issues definitely held it back, and I wouldn't consider it a good demo game. It's great because of the story, the intricacies, and the things that pan out as the game develops. In short, ten minute increments on a crowded convention floor? Not so much. When I saw that BioWare had several demo stations open, it showed that they had done something to it - they had to have. After playing through the build shown on the floor I was, well, floored, and left even more excited than I was going in.

The demo opened up with a few shots from the trailer, showing Shepard responding to a call while driving a flying car of some kind. Thanks to the overwhelming noise of the show floor the actual conversation going on inside of the vehicle was lost on me, so I just went along for the ride. Eventually, he made his way to a building and got out, followed by a few other squad members. "Oh," I said to myself, "It's... a combat demo?" The combat of Mass Effect really couldn't carry the game, so I was plenty surprised to see that the demo was going to focus on it. Thankfully, things are different this time around, and BioWare knew what they were doing putting this demo on the show floor at PAX.



Some things seem to have been revamped completely, including the combat itself. In the original Mass Effect, BioWare seemed to be stuck in-between wanting to make an action-RPG that looked like a shooter and a shooter that played like an action-RPG. It ended up playing like a weird blend of the two, and most gamers didn't really end up enjoying the combination too much. I was one such gamer, and I almost ended up quitting the game only a few hours in. Luckily, I stuck with it, and the game's other elements more than made up for its few inadequacies. This time around, they've made up their mind, and thrown the switch to the shooter side. Accuracy now matters more, meaning a headshot does more damage than tagging an enemy in the leg. It feels much better, and the game is significantly better thanks to these changes.

Some things have been tweaked a bit, and return significantly better than before. Using abilities and commanding Shepard's squad, in particular, flows much better in Mass Effect 2 than it did in the original. The squad now works like a well-oiled machine, taking brief pauses to organize strategic attacks and execute them flawlessly. It's rather rhythmic, starting with a few shots from behind cover (made more satisfying thanks to the combat enhancements) and a quick rush to a better location. Pause. Assign one teammate to pull an enemy forward, one to push another down, and tell Shepard to shoot a rocket at the third. Resume play. Watch the ballet of destruction unfold. Repeat.

The demo closed with a familiar scene: the ending of the first full trailer, which had the strange "But Shepard... you're dead" that we had so much fun with. Other dialog followed but, again, it was way too loud to hear what was going on.

Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be a drastic improvement over the original - something that should make both fans of the series and those who became bored with it excited. Expect to hear more closer to the game's release, which is still depressingly far away in 2010. Seriously, BioWare, were all really excited for Dragon Age, but can't Mass Effect come out in October or something? We will buy them both, we promise.