Mass Effect 2

1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

Mass Effect 2 is mentioned in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by Tony Mott

Quarrians

It seems likely that the frequent religious invocation spoken among the Quarrian people, "Keelah se'lai," for which no translation is provided, is inspired by hybridized sounds similar to Arabic "Qul huwallahu ... " قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ which means "The Lord thy God is ... " or "Say of/about Allah that He is ..." from out of the phrase "Qul huwallahu ahad," or approximately "The Lord Thy God is one and indivisible, combined with the Hebrew selah, seylah, סֶלָה‎, the meaning of which is debated by specialists, sometimes interpreted as "forever," and sometimes as "now pause and consider the prayer or words just spoken."

This vaguely suggests that what the Quarrians may mean by their invocation is to say that "God is forever," or "God is eternal."

Quarrians also use the word "Keelah!" by itself as an interjection of awe and surprise similar to "My God!" Sometimes they say such things as "Oh Keelah," or "Keelah, I hope not."

Quarrian women's environmental suits make it look as though they are wearing very beautiful hijab (the veils worn by devout Muslim women). Yeoman Kelly Chambers, for example, remarks on how beautiful the Quarrian environmental suits for both sexes are. Also, Quarrians and Muslims both go on pilgrimage, although Quarrians do not mean the same thing by this that Muslims mean.

Finally, so far there has never been anything suggesting that Quarrians believe in more than one god, any more than Muslims, Christians, or Jews believe in more than one God. For comparison, the Drell characters Thane and Kolyat say they believe in polytheism, the Turians are animists who believe that almost every conceivable thing has a spirit, the Krogen say they worship their ancestors, and Dr. Mordin Solus says that many Salarians believe in reincarnation. It may be that Bioware decided not to provide details about the Quarrian religion because doing so might have offended Jews, Muslims, or Christians.

References

The small space hamster, which you can purchase from Citadel Souvenirs, is seemingly a reference to Baldur's Gate and Minsc’s animal companion, Boo, "the only miniature giant space hamster in the Realm!" Perhaps this explains its "knowing smile". Also, when Tali deploys a combat drone in a battle situation, she tells it to go for the optics, like Minsc tells Boo to go for the eyes.

References to the Game

Mass Effect 2 was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 05/2010.

Salutes

Even though Lawson is Shepard's executive officer on the new Normandy SR2, Lawson is never shown saluting except at the end of her conversation about setting out for the Omega 4 Relay, after apologizing for how she had once worried that Shepard was not suitable for their assignment. When Lawson does salute, she forms her hand correctly but she doesn't hold it long enough. Strictly speaking, a superior officer should prescribe a punishment in accordance with regulations if such a thing happens, and a very kind officer might just tell the subordinate to practice saluting more often, if only to protect them from getting in trouble with other superior officers.

Although Cerberus is a private organization, its personnel are uniformed, they follow strict rules as mentioned in the Project Overlord downloadable content, they receive rigorous training, and it is unlikely they would be operating a fleet of warships without using traditional military courtesy. In Mass Effect, when Shepard was still a member of the (Human) Systems Alliance Navy, Williams and Alenko saluted Rear Admiral Mikhailovich the moment he came to inspect the first Normandy. If Shepard chose not to salute, then the Admiral was quite understandably very displeased. By comparison, Jacob Taylor, the Armory Officer on the new Normandy, is a former member of the Systems Alliance Navy who decided to quit the Alliance and join Cerberus, rather than being with Cerberus from the beginning like Lawson. On the ship, Taylor comes to attention and salutes perfectly every time he is dismissed by Shepard, but neither he nor any other squad members salute in the field. The practice of not saluting in the field is a widespread practice today. Many countries, including the United States. have regulations that forbid soldiers from saluting officers in the field. After all, at any moment there may be an enemy sniper ready to kill whomever is seen being saluted.

Soundtrack

The song played on the upper level of the Afterlife Club is a new version of the song Callista by Saki Kaskas. This track was originally used for the car showroom in Need for Speed: High Stakes.

Awards

• Cheat Code Central
  • 2010 - Best Xbox 360 Game
  • 2010 - Best RPG
  • 2010 - Best Female Character (Jane Shepard)
• G4 XPlay
  • 2010 - Game of the Year
  • 2010 - Best Role-Playing Game
  • 2010 - Best Writing
• GamePro (Germany)
  • 2011 - Best Console RPG in 2010 (Readers' Voting)
• GameSpot
  • 2009 - Early 2010 Most Anticipated Game (Readers' Choice)
  • 2010 - Best RPG (Editors' Choice)
• GameSpy
  • 2010 - Best Xbox 360 Game
  • 2010 - Best Role-Playing Game
• GameStar (Germany)
  • 2011 - Best PC Game in 2010 (Readers' Voting)
  • 2011 - Best PC RPG in 2010 (Readers' Voting)
• Spike TV
  • 2010 - Best Xbox 360 Game
  • 2010 - Best RPG
• Xbox 360 Achievements
  • 2010 - Game of the Year
  • 2010 - Best Graphics of the Year
  • 2010 - Second place for Original Score of the Year
  • 2010 - Second place for Innovative Gameplay Feature of the Year
  • 2010 - Third place for Best Story of the Year

Information also contributed by 6⅞ of Nine, 88 49 and Yearman