Say “Good-bye” to friends and family and start writing those extension pleas to professors. Mass Effect 2 for Xbox 360 and PC has arrived, and it’s demanding the players’ full attention. With great pacing, improved combat mechanics and gorgeous animation and environments, Mass Effect 2 is easily a contender for Game of the Year 2010. And the year has only just begun.

The game takes place two years after the original, with a new harrowing threat looming over the galaxy and humanity in great peril. As Commander Shepherd (who can either be male or female), you must gather a team of soldiers and fight against the Collectors, who have been kidnapping humans from remote colonies all while working under a suspicious organization. The story will suck in players, is well paced and very balanced. There are moments that surprise, enlighten, and even tug at your heartstrings.

If players had the first Mass Effect, all the decisions made prior have some effect here on the story; any character that was killed during the first quest will remain dead. Minor characters that players may have had a brief encounter with will show up and become major players. Also, if players import their save from the previous Mass Effect, certain bonuses will be obtained, such as experience, some Paragon/Renegade points (that’s the good and evil system), if they were maxed out prior, and even some money, if enough was saved up before. In Mass Effect 2, it’s all about decisions and the impact they will have. No longer do these decisions seem black and white. Also, Shepherd seems more alive in this game, no longer waiting to be prompted to ask the obvious such as “Who are you?” Shepherd will sometimes respond automatically, but they will always do it the way players want them to.

If you haven’t played the first entry to the Mass Effect trilogy, you shouldn’t consider yourself left out. A lot of the major choices from the first game are made for you. If you care at all about story, some of the elements will go right over your head, but players can still enjoy the same great experience as peers who have partaken in the first adventure.

The characters are complex and interesting, and players will find themselves wanting to spend time with them. Spend enough time with them and special missions will be unlocked leading you to unlock a new ability. Players need to play through each character’s side quest in order to make the final trip more satisfying, but these missions are so interesting that they never feel stale.

Mass Effect’s character models and locations are impressive. It is hard to take your eyes off of the different creatures you encounter and the vast cities explored. The ship that takes players to these strange locals is more interesting and larger than in the first game. Countless hours can be spent exploring neat little nooks and crannies. There is even a space hamster you can keep in the room. The only big gripe here is that players still can’t visit Earth.

Combat has greatly improved and that is in part because of the controls, the weapon accuracy and better AI. Developer BioWare also stripped down a lot of what made Mass Effect so tedious, allowing players into the action as quick as possible without having to navigate through menus and equip teammates with useless weapons. The game automatically equips the strongest weapon in your inventory and hands it out to all members of the squad.

Enemy AI is significantly smarter and there are varied enemy types. Squad mates can hold their own rather well, but often you’ll find them climbing atop a large crate instead of taking cover. Your squad can’t really impair victory, but they can make things a little frustrating.

The fights are frenetic and epic. When players fall in battle there are a healthy amount of checkpoints. You can also replay missions, but it has to be one that the player has recently completed and this can only be done once for the said mission.

There are a few weak spots in Mass Effects shiny new armor. Sometimes the sound will drop completely and there will be texture clipping (which means that certain objects will go through a character; for example, a hand resting on a character’s chin looks like it’s going through it). The elevator rides are replaced with load times and a lot of the mini games such as hacking and mining are tedious to the point of utter annoyance. Yes, it’s true if these systems were easy then players would abuse them and obtain everything, but there could have been a better way to go about it. Also there was an issue importing the save on the PC. You have to manually tell the game where to find your save from Mass Effect 1 and the manual is no help. However, all of these are minor complaints against what is a very solid package.

Mass Effect 2 does what all great sequels do: takes what made the first game great and improves it to a noticeable and appreciable degree. Once players get sucked into Mass Effect’s beautifully rendered world, they will find it hard to leave.