To brand Mass Effect 2 as a ‘third-person shooter’ serves BioWare’s science-fiction saga a substantial injustice. To label something a ‘shooter’ invites the idea that the barrel of a gun – and the subsequent smoke – are the only means by which its protagonists interact with the world and its occupants. Here, however, it isn’t – it’s simply a way of dealing with the threat at hand. And what a threat it is, indeed.

Tasked with investigating the actions of a mysterious race known as ‘The Collectors’, Commander Shepard is on a mission to seek out, recruit, and deploy an elite task force. This, though, is just a smaller thread of a greater threat. ‘The Reapers‘, a collective of sentient star ships intent on eradicating  advanced life from the galaxy, haunts humanity and its interplanetary counterparts. Shepard, it seems, is our last hope.

At first glance, Mass Effect 2‘s over-arching plot does little to light an imagination in search of something vastly original. Genocidal machines, seemingly advanced alien races mysteriously extinguished, abandoned ancient hi-technology – all reminiscent of themes explored elsewhere. But it’s Mass Effect’s attention to depth and detail – in the form of conversations, codex entries and banter between non-playable characters – that allows its universe and its lore to rival that of any book, film or television series.

It’s unfortunate, then, that it’s quickly back-seated in the name of character development. It’s simply used as a hook – an excuse for Shepard to recruit additional team members, and as such, explore the intricacies of each through conversations and on-the-ground missions. As a staple of the series, this isn’t unexpected.

What is unexpected, however, is just how much of the game is dedicated to this particular aspect. As a result, Mass Effect 2 feels bizarrely detached from its predecessor – you can’t help but feel that this ’team gathering’ phase should’ve been executed an entire game ago, not half-way through the supposed trilogy.

This, too, is embodied by the combat. Once a clunky, largely-unwieldy shooter that felt like a simplified Trojan-horse for an otherwise statistics-based system, Mass Effect has evolved into a more-than-functional and fluid shooter.

Biotics – not too dissimilar to what you might traditionally know as ’magic’ – largely distinguish Mass Effect from its third-person contemporaries. ’Pull’, for example, lifts a foe towards you, providing a brief period into which Shepard can unleash a flurry of damage.

To take things further, ‘Pull’ can be combined with ‘Throw’ – should the location allow, an enemy can be lifted and launched out of site, and, of course, out of scope. They immediately cease to be a threat.

Otherwise, it’s conversational consequences that provide Mass Effect’s most truly distinguishing moments. In BioWare’s biotic-powered world, a single phrase uttered can have fatal consequences. Here, a word wields as much power as a bullet or a blade. But that still works too, of course.

If only a wonderfully rendered illusion, Mass Effect 2 is about the feeling of choice: the choice of what mission to tackle next; the choice of what to say; or the choice of how to approach a moralistic decision. And nothing – nothing – embodies BioWare’s approach to narrative structure than its closing chapter. Despite being book-ended by an inexplicably nonsensical boss, its ending is a culmination of the decisions made throughout the course of the game. It’s stressful, straining and, depending on the quality of your choices, extremely sad.

Mass Effect 2 is stellar. It fundamentally retains the blue print of its predecessor – grafting to it the better elements of the series’ first time round – whilst subtly tweaking and curtailing the aspects that were poor, or simply didn’t work. Almost a year after release, this remains one of the most engrossing games to include shooting to date. A massive effect, it will have.