Mass Effect 2

=== Setting and characters ===

Mass Effect 2 is set within the Milky Way galaxy during the 22nd century, where interstellar travel is possible through mass transit devices called Mass Relays, a technology believed to have been built by an extinct alien race known as the Protheans. A conglomerate body of governments known as the Citadel Council controls a large percentage of the galaxy and is responsible for maintaining law and order among races of the galactic community. Races that belong to the Citadel Council include humans, asari, salarians, and turians. Other alien races in the game include the reptilian krogan and drell, the environmental-suited quarians, and a hostile race of networked artificial intelligence called geth. During the events of the original Mass Effect, a geth army attempted to open a portal for the Reapers, a highly advanced machine race of synthetic-organic starships that are believed to eradicate all organic civilization every 50,000 years. The galactic community has since lived in fear of another possible invasion. Meanwhile, a human supremacist organization called Cerberus believes that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community and supports the principle that any methods of advancing humanity's ascension are entirely justified, including illegal experimentation and terrorist activities.
The game's protagonist is Commander Shepard (voiced by Mark Meer or Jennifer Hale), an elite human soldier who is the Commanding Officer of the SSV Normandy and Normandy SR-2 starships. Shepard's squad members include Cerberus operatives Jacob Taylor (Adam Lazarre-White) and Miranda Lawson (Yvonne Strahovski), recurring associates Garrus Vakarian (Brandon Keener) and Tali'Zorah (Liz Sroka), salarian scientist Mordin Solus (Michael Beattie), human criminal Jack (Courtenay Taylor), genetically engineered krogan super soldier Grunt (Steve Blum), drell assassin Thane Krios (Keythe Farley), asari Justicar Samara (Maggie Baird) or Samara's serial killer daughter Morinth (Natalia Cigliuti), and geth mobile platform Legion (D. C. Douglas). Other characters include the Normandy's pilot Jeff "Joker" Moreau (Seth Green), Cerberus leader the Illusive Man (Martin Sheen), and the Normandy SR-2's enhanced defence intelligence, also known as EDI (Tricia Helfer).

Plot

In 2183, shortly after the events of Mass Effect, the SSV Normandy, while patrolling for geth resistance, is attacked by an unknown vessel, forcing the crew to abandon ship. Shepard pushes Joker into the final escape pod before being blasted into space and dying via asphyxiation after a suit breach. The body is pulled into the orbit of a nearby planet and recovered by Cerberus, who begins the "Lazarus Project" with the sole purpose of bringing Shepard back to life. Two years later, Shepard is revived on an operating table and escapes a research station under attack by its security mechs. Escaping alongside Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson, Shepard is brought to meet the Illusive Man, who reveals that entire populations of human colonies have disappeared all over the galaxy. Now working with Cerberus, Shepard is sent to investigate a recently attacked colony, encountering Tali and a contingent of quarians searching for their missing colleague. Shepard's team uncover clues that the Reapers are working by proxy through an insectoid alien race called the Collectors, who have abducted the colonists.
The Illusive Man explains that the Collectors reside beyond the Omega-4 Relay, a place from which no ship has ever returned, and tasks Shepard with assembling a team to stop them. Shepard is also given command of a new starship, the Normandy SR-2, piloted again by Joker and equipped with an onboard AI named EDI. Shepard recruits Mordin Solus, Garrus Vakarian, Jack, and (optionally) Grunt, before the Illusive Man informs them that another human colony is under attack. Shepard defends the colony with the help of Mordin's studies on Collector biology, but cannot stop a large portion of the population from being captured. Shepard can then recruit Tali, Thane Krios, and Samara (who may be optionally replaced by Morinth) before being sent to explore a supposedly disabled Collector ship. There, Shepard learns that the Collectors were originally Protheans that were turned into slaves of the Reapers. With EDI's help, Shepard also finds out how to bypass the Omega-4 Relay before being ambushed by the Collectors. Although Shepard's squad escapes, their relationship with the Illusive Man is strained due to his prior knowledge of the trap.
Shepard visits a derelict Reaper and acquires an IFF necessary to travel through the Omega-4 Relay safely. Shepard also acquires a disabled geth that, if activated, joins the squad as Legion. While the IFF is integrated into the Normandy SR-2 systems, Shepard and the squad leave in a shuttle. During their absence, the Collectors board the Normandy SR-2. Only Joker avoids capture and, with EDI's help, extracts the Normandy SR-2 to safety. When Shepard's squad returns, the team uses the Omega-4 Relay to reach the Collector base located in the Galactic Center. After a ship-to-ship engagement with automated Collector defense drones a damaged Normandy SR-2 encounters and destroys the starship the collectors use to harvest the human colonists, however the battle disables the Normandy SR-2 and results in the ship making an emergency landing on the exterior of the collector base. While Joker and EDI work to repair the ship, Shepard's team members infiltrate the collector base, rescue any surviving crew members, and fight their way to the central chamber. Squad members will either survive or perish depending on the upgrades made to the Normandy SR-2, their loyalty to Shepard, and the tasks they are assigned in battle.
In the central chamber, Shepard discovers that the Collectors have been constructing a new Human-Reaper made from the genetic material of the abducted colonists. Destroying the machine powering the Reaper, Shepard prepares to destroy the Collector base by attaching explosives to the base's reactor. However, the Illusive Man proposes sterilizing the base with a timed radiation pulse to preserve the Collectors' technology and use it against the Reapers. After deciding the base's fate, Shepard destroys the awakened Human-Reaper and escapes with the surviving squad members. If no squad members survive, Shepard fails to escape and dies. While the collector base explodes, Harbinger promises Shepard the end for humanity, and then it is revealed that he has been controlling the Collector ship captain the whole time, before releasing him from his control. Back on the Normandy SR-2, after speaking with the Illusive Man one last time, Shepard meets the survivors in the cargo bay. There, Joker gives them schematics of a Reaper. The final scene shows the Reapers awakening in dark space and descending upon the galaxy.