A gear-change now, and over to the best sci-fi franchise ever created this side of Star Trek. Yes, it is that damn good. Whereas the original Mass Effect nailed the idea of a fully-immersive sci-fi world chock-full of loveable characters and races, all ripe for the conversational-prodding, it was with Mass Effect 2 that the overarching narrative took a skyward flight, sitting the reputation of the franchise so high in the clouds it would take some sort of blue space child with strange motivations to.....well we all know the rest. Before Bioware shot themselves in the foot with a twelve-gauge through the godawful ending of the original Mass Effect 3 (there's now an extended cut available that tries to somewhat pacify the masses, but it's rather like throwing a battered sandwich at a homeless shelter), ME2 delivered the perfect cocktail of narrative drive and character-embodiment. Giving you the keys to the hovercar and then some, sans spoilers ME2's story puts you back in the resurrected boots of Commander Shepard - a character you can fully customise by the way - and throws you into the middle of a galactic suicide mission against one of the biggest enemies the universe has ever known. The twist in the tale though? It's a group of mercenaries from the first game who bring you back, meaning you're going to have to pick your sides pretty quickly, as well as amassing a suitable Final Fantasy-esque band of rogues to take on the aforementioned enemy. Replay it specifically for: The final suicide mission, where a laundry-list of choices you've made throughout the game decides who makes it through and who dies trying. Can every character actually die, including yourself? Oh yes.
