GAME · 2010 · USA
Mass Effect 2
- Publisher
- Electronic Arts
- Platforms
- PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows
31 archived facts 5 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026
31 Interesting Facts About Mass Effect 2
Interesting Facts (3)
- #001
Will receive upscaled graphics in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. This was done using AI assistance, then touched up by human work. Along with Mass Effect 3 it will receive the least amount of changes in the remastered trilogy.
- #002
Contains a major spoiler — show
It's the only game in the trilogy where you play as someone other than Commander Shepard: when the Collectors attack and board the Normandy, you briefly take control of the pilot, Joker.
- #003
As the first Normandy is attacked at the start, each of Joker's damage reports, "kinetic barriers down," "multiple hull breaches" and "main weapons offline", matches a new Normandy upgrade Shepard can later buy: kinetic barriers, hull armor and main weapons.
Production Story (7)
- #004
Jack was originally pansexual, so a female Shepard could have romanced her as well. But negative coverage of the first game on Fox News made the developers change that late in production; in the finished game, specific scenes between Jack and female Shepard were removed, though clues about her sexuality remained intact.
- #005
Norman said the idea wasn't to dumb down Mass Effect 2's role-playing but to make it easier to use: the first Mass Effect offered too many choices without making clear how they'd affect the game, so Mass Effect 2 trimmed the levelling options and described them better.
- #006
The Mass Effect 2 developers wanted the character classes to play very differently, even if that meant cutting some choices. Powers were balanced around a single shared cooldown, because the old system of firing off powers one after another was seen as ridiculous and made the endgame too easy.
- #007
After looking at the inventories of other RPGs, the Mass Effect 2 team swapped its inventory for systems that did the same job without the micromanagement, so a character could use a weapon without taking it from someone else.
- #008
Mass Effect 2 on PlayStation 3 used a modified Unreal Engine 3 called the Mass Effect 3 engine, the same one BioWare was using for the upcoming Mass Effect 3, and had slightly better character models, controls redone for the PlayStation 3 controller and an option to switch back to the Xbox 360 layout.
- #009
The Mass Effect 2 composers went for a darker, more mature sound than the first game, with orchestral and classic sci-fi arrangements inspired by the Blade Runner soundtrack and the music of Tangerine Dream.
- #010
The harmonic structure of Wendy Carlos's Tron soundtrack strongly influenced Mass Effect 2's music, and the composers wrote character themes to convey each personality and background; David Kates said one of their mandates was a dynamic score capable of a wide range of emotions.
Behind the Scenes (6)
- #011
Martin Sheen doesn't smoke, so when recording the Illusive Man's smoking lines he sucked on a pen instead.
- #012
The Mass Effect 2 team leaned toward real-time play built around weapons and cover, feeling that pausing to pick powers killed the intensity of combat, so the interface gained more options for mapping abilities for use in real time.
- #013
Mass Effect 2 brought in regenerating health, so players would stop playing erratically and leaning on health kits.
- #014
Planetary exploration was completely reworked for Mass Effect 2: the vast, empty landscapes of the first game gave way to distinct, interesting places, as the designers tried to change what players expected to find and keep them exploring the galaxy.
- #015
The Mass Effect 2 developers tried out a vehicle for getting around planets more freely than in the first game, but it was cut from the final build.
- #016
Mass Effect 2 added the context-sensitive interrupt system, originally meant for the first Mass Effect, to weave dialogue more smoothly into the action.
Characters & Cast (2)
- #017
Martin Sheen, who voices the Illusive Man, says on the Mass Effect 2 Documentary DVD that he wouldn't trust him, and in an interview went further, calling the Illusive Man a horrible man.
- #018
Miranda was first conceived as a blonde of Scandinavian descent called Miranda Solheim. Once Australian actress Yvonne Strahovski signed on, her surname became the more Australian Lawson and her hair turned black, which also went better with her white and black uniform.
Easter Eggs & References (13)
- #019
Commander Shepard is named after American astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, a fitting nod since Commander Shepard is the first human Spectre.
- #020
WILHELM SCREAM: It's the cry you hear when Zaeed blows open the gate and the explosion knocks the mercenaries off the walkway.
- #021
In the Overlord DLC, a station AI announces: "To all Cerberus personnel, in an effort to reduce workplace stress, music has been approved for station-wide broadcast." Listen closely and it's the first game's elevator music, played in a darker key that makes it far more unsettling.
- #022
During the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" mission, as Shepard chases Vasir, you can spot a wanted poster for Jack hanging above a tunnel.
- #023
When you first check in at the Citadel, Captain Bailey mentions that "spending a year dead" is a common tax dodge, a reference to Douglas Adams's "The Restaurant At The End of the Universe", in which a famous band manager spends a year dead for tax purposes.
- #024
Omega has a store selling a magazine called Fornax; it only upgrades your cabin and can't be read, yet fan art has often portrayed it as sexually explicit. Game director Casey Hudson himself said the name always sounded a little dirty to him.
- #025
Fly to the Local Cluster and investigate Uranus, and EDI will make a few humorous remarks about your attempts to launch probes into the planet.
- #026
The "Stealing Memory" DLC includes a statue of a Darkspawn Ogre from Dragon Age, made by the same developers, BioWare.
- #027
The game throws three kinds of mech at you: FENRIS (the dog-like one), LOKI (the most common) and YMIR (the big, heavily armed one). All three names come from Norse mythology: Fenris the wolf, Loki the deceiver and Ymir the frost giant.
- #028
Riding an elevator with Shepard on her loyalty mission, Miranda wonders why it can't go faster, a jab at the first Mass Effect's Citadel elevators, which many fans felt took ages; the first game's elevator music also plays briefly as they get on.
- #029
Take Legion on a mission as a squadmate, or visit him in the VI core and wait a couple of minutes, and he'll break into the dance known as The Robot.
- #030
Contains a major spoiler — show
When the first Normandy is attacked at the start of the game, Joker's damage reports, "kinetic barriers down", "multiple hull breaches" and "main weapons offline", line up with upgrades Shepard can buy for the new Normandy: kinetic barriers, hull armor and main weapons.
- #031
The Afterlife Club in Mass Effect 2 plays "Callista" by Saki Kaskas, a video game composer who had written music for five Need for Speed games.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Mass Effect 2 — Wikipedia
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