Well it seems like the guys at BioWare learned one thing from the first Mass Effect, sex scenes rock.  It looks like despite the flack they received back in 2007 for the first game, they won’t let it hold them back in the second.

The ESRB has recently classified Mass Effect 2 as rated “M” for mature for many reasons including drugs, pole dancers, and sexual content on top of the violence and strong language.  Seems like BioWare went all out with this game.

The ESRB’s rating information of Mass Effect 2 lets us know some interesting things.  *Spoilers ahead*

The game contains themes of illicit drug use, addiction, and trafficking—often focal points to the branching storylines; for example, “Morinth likes dancing while on a drug called Hallex,” “Narcotics flooded my veins when I attacked,” and “The asari injecting so many drugs into me was terrifying.”

That about covers the drug related stuff in the game, now I’m sure you’re all like “what about the sex and pole dancers!”  Well, here you go,

During the course of the game, players may enter a bar where alien pole dancing exists (choreography highlighted on big-screen monitors) or hear suggestive comments such as “krogan sexual deviants enjoy salarian flexibility” and ”if this is just about sex, maybe you should just f**king say so.” [Italics added] Players can also choose to have “romantic encounters” with the alien/human henchmen characters; this involves watching a guided cutscene in which two characters flirt, kiss, and/or embrace: clothed alien/human characters may prop a partner on top of a space console, clear away the clutter from a bed-slab, unzip a future-blouse, or just talk it out.

The rating information gives us a nice idea as to what to expect from Mass Effect 2, but it did let us know that sex is never actually depicted in the game.  What a bummer, right?  Mass Effect 2 is set to release on January 26th of 2010.  Get ready folks, it looks like things will be interesting.

Mass Effect 2 [ESRB]