At the time of its release in November 2007, Mass Effect took the Xbox world by storm. It quickly rose to become one of the best rated RPG titles in history. IGN gave the game the #1 slot it in its Top 25 list, while on the GameRankings aggregate ratings site the game came in only behind 2006's Oblivion. Mass Effect quickly became known for an immersive, engaging story, fun game play, and of course beautiful graphics. It wasn't long before the gaming community was champing at the bit for a sequel.

That expectation became realized just a couple months ago with Mass Effect 2. Released on January 26, 2010, ME2 was not just a financial success but a critical one as well. Where IGN gave the original title a score of 9.4 (out of 10), the sequel hit 9.6. As for GameRankings, Mass Effect 2 achieved 95.70% which impressively outdoes the original game's 91.07%. In fact, it has unseated Oblivion to become the best reviewed RPG of all time, on any platform.

Even though the art team is already heavily immersed in work for downloadable content to enhance this great game even farther, we were able to sneak in some time with them to sit down and talk about the character art of the Mass Effect universe and especially ME2. It's a pretty hefty interview, so settle into a comfortable chair, and enjoy!

(Warning: There are a few spoilers in this article.)