That was a joke, Shephard

       Machines can be difficult. Just this last week several computers have come in with motherboard failures and a few loaded with viruses. In fact, we see Windows blue-screens and internal errors on a regular basis. Cars don't start, remotes run out of batteries, and those nasty Reapers are threatening to destroy the entire galaxy and use us as some kind of biofuel. Machines.
       If subtle advances from an omniscient and ancient technological evil weren't enough the ships computer has recently opted to have a sense of humor.

Joker: So I have to go crawling through the vents again?
EDI: Yes. I enjoy nothing more than seeing humans on their knees.
Joker:....
EDI:That was a joke. Jeff.

       Poor Joker (Jeff) has faced the brunt of it. You see, as a helmsman for one of the most sophisticated and advanced ships in the galaxy he is in charge when I am away. Yes, I am the captain. During an invasion when all the regular fighting personnel have gone on a walk-about he finds himself, glass bones and all, faced with stemming a full fledged alien attack. Crew members and familiar faces are plucked away for use as organic ooze while Joker slips about with a hunch and a limp to the AI core so that the machine, EDI, can be difficult to the right people. "But if you start singing Daisy May..."
       Machines join the group, machines gain intelligence, machines kill, machines save lives. Some machines go rogue, others are just built that way.   Machines machines. The decisions start to gray out when this artificial intelligence, cognizant and opinionated, can be rewritten. Is this brainwashing a species? One only has two options to obliterate them all or rewrite. We don't reprogram humans, but can one really compare? I'll let you all decide.
       The moral dilemmas in Mass Effect 2 are often multi-tiered and difficult. Decisions need to be made and if you are a gamer like me these decisions can be extremely difficult. The game, thankfully, makes it slightly easier by adding a simple measuring device. Conversation options on the top of the ring are generally good (Paragon) and on the bottom become evil (Renegade) with the indecisive middle gaining you neither, a dangerous method to play the game. Fence sitters will lose team members and end situations destructively in many cases. A large price to pay for a little piece of mind; and, the game makes these characters matter. These are the people you help, laugh with, and even argue with. A father reunites with his son, sisters bond, home is secured, A nameless being finds purpose, and a 400 year witch-hunt comes to an epic finish, all because of you, and that is only a scratch on the surface. The lives you touch for better (or horribly worse as you may) resonate on emotional and intellectual levels that will entertain book lovers, thinkers, and moralists everywhere. Mass Effect 2 is a game of choice up to the very last moments. And, it is a game of consequence, some of which can be stifling and shocking. It is a dark game full of plenty of vices (Strong language, blood, and sexual themes to name a few), but in such darkness one can shine the brightest of all.
        A world of great sci-fi and beauty, I invite all those of proper sentiment, morality, and maturity to drift into space from the first game (much more family friendly) to the shadowy and epic sequel. Enjoy.