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Mass Effect 2's Grunt Revealed

BioWare has started filling in Commander Shepard's new party members, one by one.

I'm not usually in the habit of pasting game info straight out of press releases, but Mass Effect 2 is a game I happen to be sufficiently excited about that any shred of news is worth posting to me. Luckily, there's more than a shred here, as BioWare sent out a trailer and some accompanying details introducing Grunt, a Krogan warrior and one of your new party members in the sequel.

For my money, there is no finer Krogan in the galaxy than Mr. Urdnot Wrex, and it's too bad you can't hear Grunt utter "Shepard" in this trailer, but... the guy looks like a bruiser. Take a gander.
 
 

  

Once again stepping into the role of the heroic Commander Shepard, gamers will command their crew on a suicide mission in space. Players will strategically select each member of their squad, all of whom have a direct impact on the direction of the story and the squad’s chances for survival. Players will select from a motley cast of characters including the newly revealed ‘Grunt’ – a blood-hungry Krogan.

Once players have assembled their squad from amongst the galaxy’s most powerful mystics, geniuses, and convicts, they must lead them on a suicide mission to discover why humans are vanishing from the galaxy. The success of the mission hinges on the squad recruited and their loyalty to the mission. Shepard’s future depends on it.

“The Mass Effect trilogy is an epic, action-filled saga with consequences that will carry through from chapter to chapter,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager and Senior Vice President, Electronic Arts, and co-founder and CEO, BioWare. “Building out a diverse and loyal party is one of the features that makes the Mass Effect series quite unique. The characters Commander Shepard recruits are not only pivotal to the storyline, but essential to the player’s overall success."

The new character revealed in the Mass Effect 2 squad is ‘Grunt’. A violent and unpredictable Krogan fighter, Grunt has never faced true defeat. His unsurpassed physical strength makes him a strong asset to Commander Shepard’s team, if he can be tamed, and if he can be trusted.

Grunt is the second party member to be revealed in the Mass Effect 2 universe following ‘Thane’ a deadly assassin who was first introduced in June. More details about the rest of Shepard’s crew will be revealed in the coming months.


It's a shame BioWare has jumped on the exclusive-content-for-preorders bandwagon with that dragon armor there, but then you figure there's an appreciable amount of overlap in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect audiences, right?    
Brad Shoemaker on Google+

78 Comments

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Media_Master

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Edited By Media_Master

looks sharp 
 
too bad its exclusive

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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox

Too bad it probably wouldn't work if I bought Dragon Age on PC and Mass Effect 2 on 360.
 
I wish all the idle NPCs in Bioware games didn't look so dead.

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Sledgehammering

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Edited By Sledgehammering

It's like a TV commercial for crack.  I'm gettin' the shakes already...damn.
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Colonel_Fury

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Edited By Colonel_Fury

I am very excited for this game.

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Captain_Insano

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Edited By Captain_Insano

pretty sweet opening line for us to be introduced to Grunt with

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korwin

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Edited By korwin

Might be worth noting here for fans but the registry number on that ship is SR2, so thats not the Normandy.  At least not the same one.  Looks like you can loose the ship at some point during the game and not at the end.

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joelalfaro

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Edited By joelalfaro

I want me some Blood Dragon Armor :)

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GodzillaVsJapan

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Edited By GodzillaVsJapan

I'm gonna have to pick up Dragon Age now just for that armor lol

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mordukai

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Edited By mordukai

I don't care all that much about the exclusive armor thingy. Will the armor be that good it will make not want to look or buy other armors? I think NOT!  While I want to pick the collectors edition I am gunning for the PS3 version because I feel Bioware will do something unique with that version as far as user crated mods. I remember Greg Zeschuk talk about how they are looking into that and if Epic has done it with the PS3 version of UT3 then there is no excuse why they should not be able to do that either. 

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MattOnTheSite

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Edited By MattOnTheSite
@Brad said:

"It's a shame BioWare has jumped on the exclusive-content-for-preorders bandwagon with that dragon armor there"

Where does it say you have to pre-order anything or that it's exclusive to pre-orders?
Maybe in another statement they say you need to, but from what I see at the end of that video it's "available with the purchase of Dragon Age."
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Damien

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Edited By Damien

Hey everyone, while Bioware does have some kind of preorder item, I don't believe it is the dragon armor.  I think that's supposed to come with every new version of the game, normal or collector's, kinda like the flashback map pack for Gears of War 2.

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crusader8463

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Edited By crusader8463
@Killjoy said:
" @crusader8463: Is this on the Xbox version? Because I heard that micromanaging your group was way harder on the x360 version of the game.  I played the PC version and when I played as a biotic/sniper, I used Wrex as a meat shield for much of the game. I would send him in first against other Krogans or those heavy duty Geths. The armor and specializations play a big part too but the possibility is there to make Wrex an unstoppable tank. "
Ya sadly my first and a half play through where on the 360. I have been trying to play it again on the PC as i prefer playing games on the PC and i want a save file for ME2, but i always get very bored 1-2 planets in and give up lol. It doesn't seem to be as bad on the PC version, but i still find they are mostly just there to take fire from you for 20-30 sec before they die or you kill everything, whichever comes first.
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RHCPfan24

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Edited By RHCPfan24

He looks awesome. I love all the Krogans and this guy looks like he could approach Wrex levels of badassery.

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deactivated-64b8656eaf424

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Eeeh, I named my male Shepard as Grunt in the first game.

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emkeighcameron

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Edited By emkeighcameron

haw haw haw

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mrbasehart

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Edited By mrbasehart

Who gives a crap about Wrex or Grunt?
 
Alien Strippers FTW! 
 
;)

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spacetrucking

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Edited By spacetrucking
@crusader8463: Is this on the Xbox version? Because I heard that micromanaging your group was way harder on the x360 version of the game.
 
I played the PC version and when I played as a biotic/sniper, I used Wrex as a meat shield for much of the game. I would send him in first against other Krogans or those heavy duty Geths. The armor and specializations play a big part too but the possibility is there to make Wrex an unstoppable tank.
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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater

Exclusive pre-order items? I hate that Bullshit. Oh well. I was probably going to pre-order it anyways...

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killdave

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Edited By killdave

Im not one for pre-ordering but with mass effect I think I'll go ahead and get that dragon armour as I know the game will be mine !

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Coleslaw893

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Edited By Coleslaw893

More club scenes? Heck yes.

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penguindust

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Edited By penguindust

Neither Wrex nor Garrus were close to my character, so it makes no difference to me either way.  I expect most of the crew of the Normandy will be different in Mass Effect 2.

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xyzygy

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Edited By xyzygy
@Sweep said:
" i like him already. I hope he kills Garrus. "
Aw... don't be mean. Garrus was touching :D I can't wait to see what smart comments he has in store for ME2 :D 
 
Grunt looks awesome. I wonder if he is still selectable even if you kept Wrex in your party from ME1...
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oedipus

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Edited By oedipus

Remember the Bombcast where that woman was on, and said that the characters in BioWare games were done in the vein of what nerds would think "cool" is? I think this video proves it. Wrex was a likable character, his nonchalance really complemented his war-like abilities. But when Grunt said "I don't care where I fight, as long as I get to hurt someone," I produced an expression akin to a chuckle, but more accurately akin to an eye roll.

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crusader8463

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Edited By crusader8463
@Killjoy: i guess so. Every play through i did they always just stood around while i did all the killing so i never noticed them doing anything but take a dive as soon as the shooting started. Even at max shield and HP they where squishy.
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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy

I only had one problem with the first game: the ridiculous amount of items they throw at you near the end. It was so annoying to manually delete all that crap, it was not funny anymore. 
Apart from that Mass Effect is definately in my top 5 of the games in this generation and that's why the sequel (with alot of improvements on the engine part btw) is a must-buy. 
 
Also, i liked Wrex alot, I want him more than this new guy.

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spacetrucking

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Edited By spacetrucking
@crusader8463 said:
" Looks bad ass enough to me. And i find it interesting that he has a charge attack. Looks like they might be putting more of an emphasis on classic roles for the party members like Tank, DPS, Melee DPS, Healer etc. If not i can see that charge attack being a suicide button and getting very annoying fast. No one likes when AI runs infront of you as you try to shoot stuff. "
I think they covered all those character arche types in the first game itself. Wrex and any soldier character in Mass Effect was already a pseudo tank. With all the shields, physical immunities and damage reductions, it took a dozen geths to make a dent into Wrex - even at the highest difficulty. And once you game them an order to move up, your friends ran up so quick that it might as well be a charge.
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crusader8463

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Edited By crusader8463

Looks bad ass enough to me. And i find it interesting that he has a charge attack. Looks like they might be putting more of an emphasis on classic roles for the party members like Tank, DPS, Melee DPS, Healer etc. If not i can see that charge attack being a suicide button and getting very annoying fast. No one likes when AI runs infront of you as you try to shoot stuff.

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spacetrucking

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Edited By spacetrucking

Oh god, does this mean you won't get Wrex as a playable character anymore? Wrex was an awesome character for so many reasons but one of the main reasons I liked him so much was that he DID NOT act like a battle crazed frog everytime he saw an enemy (for the most part anyway). I hope Bioware makes Grunt something more than just a damage dealing thickie.
 
PS: I had to post this:   
 

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IncredibleBulk92

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Edited By IncredibleBulk92

Grunt actually looks pretty cool.  I like how he shows a bit more personality during combat than Wrex ever did.  The name "Grunt" sucks tho, Wrex was far cooler. 
  
I cannot wait for Mass Effect 2

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TheHBK

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Edited By TheHBK

i guess this is my new guy.  I beat down that asshole Wrex, I decided to kill all those fucking Krogan animals and he wasnt going along with it, so I beat his ass down and shot his fat ass between the eyes. 
It was the only thing that was evil that i did in my game.  I saved the council!
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natetodamax

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Edited By natetodamax
@Metal_Mills said:
" @natetodamax said:
" I've never heard the term "blood-hungry" before. I wasn't aware that you could eat blood.  Could Krogans possibly have solid blood? o_O "
It means he wants to kill something. Not eat blood. "
The term would be blood thirsty then.
 
Whatever. Game looks awesome.
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metal_mills

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Edited By metal_mills
@natetodamax said:
" I've never heard the term "blood-hungry" before. I wasn't aware that you could eat blood.  Could Krogans possibly have solid blood? o_O "
It means he wants to kill something. Not eat blood.
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metal_mills

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Edited By metal_mills
@Dan_CiTi said:
" What happens if you have Wrex from your last save? Both better be party members. "
He'll be there but you can't ever use him.
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smokepants

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Edited By smokepants

Wrex isn't going to be a party member. Get over it now, before the disappointment taints your experience with the game.
 
They aren't going to invest resources into making a party member that might be dead for some players. And I guarantee you won't have more than one party member per alien race.
 
I'm sure Wrex will be "around". But expecting anything more than a cameo is unrealistic.

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natetodamax

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Edited By natetodamax

I've never heard the term "blood-hungry" before. I wasn't aware that you could eat blood.
 
Could Krogans possibly have solid blood? o_O

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Jimbo

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Edited By Jimbo

"It's a shame BioWare has jumped on the exclusive-content-for-preorders bandwagon with that dragon armor there, but then you figure there's an appreciable amount of overlap in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect audiences, right?"
 
Shepard.

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iam3green

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Edited By iam3green

sounds cool. i never played mass effect before. it was alright when i tried it out. i didn't get to far in the game.

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Dan_CiTi

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Edited By Dan_CiTi

What happens if you have Wrex from your last save? Both better be party members.

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NickM

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Edited By NickM

Shepard.

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fillmoejoe

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Edited By fillmoejoe

Shepard...Wrex...Grunt...Shepard...Wrex...Grunt...

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eroticfishcake

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Edited By eroticfishcake

"Shepard." "Grunt." 
"Shepard." "Grunt."  
"Shepard." "Grunt."  
"Shepard." "Grunt."
 
Nah. Doesn't sound good as Wrex. Looking foward to it though.

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blair

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Edited By blair

I'm so glad Wrex is still at my side.
 
Grunt seems too irrational and teenage marketing friendly to me.

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Carlos1408

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Edited By Carlos1408

I cannot wait for this game, I'm so pumped!!!

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Cirdain

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Edited By Cirdain

I'm getting De ja vu

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Zaapp1

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Edited By Zaapp1

Anyone else catch that "buy dragon age: origins, get dragon armor in ME2" at the end of the video?

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Daracon

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Edited By Daracon
@Chewii101 said:
" Curse you Bioware. Just release the game! And thank god I didnt kill Wrex cause no one can replace him. NO ONE. "

true. 
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nixium

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Edited By nixium

Hopefully Wrex will also be there........

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Metric_Outlaw

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Edited By Metric_Outlaw
@Chewii101: Lmao I know
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deactivated-5ffc9b0923f9f

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I bet this guy is basically for the people who killed Wrex in the first game. Everyone else will have 2 krogans.
 
Also, Mass Effect is one of the best games ever. More people need to give props to Bioware.