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Last night, GameTrailers aired an exclusive interview with Bioware about Mass Effect 2. In case you missed it, you can watch it online or read our summary if you just want the highlights.

As previously noted, Shepard will be working for Cerberus. In this interview, Bioware said that the leader of Cerberus is the shadowy Illusive Man, a ruthless individual who embodies both the worst and best of humanity and works to protect human interests in the galaxy. He drinks, he smokes, and he’s a womanizer, but he’s also brilliant and charismatic. Shepard works with him but is also at odds with him.

Project Director Casey Hudson stated in his interview that you will have a maximum of 10 characters to choose from for your squad — more than what was offered in the first game. He introduced Mordan, a Salarian scientist, as one of your squadmates. Mordan is “smart and fast-talking and surprisingly brutal in his thinking,” said Hudson, and the scientist lives by a policy of “the ends justify the means.” All the crew members from the original game will be returning in Mass Effect 2, provided they survived your playthrough, and each has a particular role. Garrus, for example, is caught up in a gang war on Omega.

Hudson also talked about the changes to the Vanguard class, which is a fusion of biotic and combat abilities. In ME2, the class has evolved to yield high rewards for high risks. Vanguards can use biotic power to charge at the enemy, even phasing through obstacles in their paths and, at higher levels, slowing down time while charging.

The Normandy is actually a different ship with the same name. A lot of improvements have been made to it, but Hudson declined to go into detail.

The Paragon and Renegade point system will work a little differently in ME2. Your decisions will have an effect on your appearance. If you are positive, Shepard will appear healthier. If you are negative, Shepard will become more scarred and more frightening in appearance.

Finally, Hudson promised that the development team will be making plenty of DLC for ME2. The team will switch over to DLC development immediately after ME2‘s development ends. Bioware will be paying attention to feedback from fans about what kinds of DLC it should create.

Source: GameTrailers