The release of the Mass Effect 2 teaser trailer has long passed and the speculation continues. Everyone is vying to prove his or her arguments correct but I believe the most palpable and chief grounds for speculation lie within the Mass Effect 2 teaser website that Bioware provides for us. Upon visiting the site, you will notice the significant amount of attention given to Cerberus.  The ME2 teaser website is created to resemble that of a Cerberus database, which is quite odd. This is all complimented by murky and mysterious ambient music in the background.

“In the second game, you’re going to go through a darker period where you’re really looking for answers. It’s a lot harder to find what the realities are and as there are a lot of twist and turns and its genuinely a darker experience.” Casey Hudson, Project Manager

Cerberus is an Alliance Black Ops organization that has gone rogue in the first Mass Effect title. They specialize in conducting potentially deadly experiments on humans with the optimism of making humans become more influential in the galaxy, even at the expense of human lives. This notion was introduced in Mass Effect and explored deeper in Mass Effect: Ascension. The group operates out of a front on Earth led by a figure called the Illusive Man.

Presently, there is much speculation concerning the role of Cerberus in Mass Effect 2. What I have done is gazed intensely at the possibilities from what I know of them from the first ME game to their position in Ascension, and created four solid probable positions Cerberus could take part in during Mass Effect 2.

The Thorn in the Side

For anyone who has witnessed the original Star Wars trilogy would be familiar with Jabba the Hutt and his relentless pursuit of Han Solo. While Jabba did not serve as the main villain in any of the Star Wars films, he was somewhat of a nuisance to the greater cause. It is possible that Cerberus would be very similar to Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 2 by showing up in just the wrong moments, giving Shepard an extra burden to carry. Why would Cerberus serve as annoyance to Shepard in ME2 you ask? Well Shepard is a galactic hero, spectre, and a human. Shepard could be of much value to Cerberus and their quest for human domination but because the commander is tasked to save the galaxy (aliens and humans), perhaps Cerberus would want Shepard to adjust things to tilt the pendulum in favor of humanity, even at the expense of human and alien lives. Nevertheless, Cerberus in Mass Effect 2 could simply just be that “gnat” that persists to pester you while doing your task of saving the galaxy.

The Necessary Evil

If Cerberus is not exasperation to Shepard, they could be quite the ally. This is a recurring theme in many movies; the protagonist must sell his or her soul to the Devil in exchange for the means to complete their perspective task. Perhaps both Shepard and Cerberus would need to team up to complete a particular task. While this may come bitter to Shepard, the first human Spectre would realize that without the resources of Cerberus, the greater task would be nearly impossible to complete. This would in return create unification between Shepard and Cerberus. The union between Shepard and Cerberus could include many things such as a Cerberus party member or two or access to top secret intel (To which may include information on the Reapers that Ceberus knew about). After Shepard and Cerberus obtain what they require from one another, the relationship could possibly conclude in either a final confrontation or pact with the radical human group, Cerberus, depending on either a Paragon or Renegade choice Shepard decides on.

The Undercover Party Member

It be quite the happening if late in Mass Effect 2, it is revealed that one of Shepard’s party member is indeed a Cerberus operative. From reading the novel, Mass Effect: Accession I retained the fact that Cerberus has a nice abundance of operatives working within the Alliance and they all report vital information back to the Illusive Man. This undercover Alliance party member would be either male or female depending on the sex of your perspective Shepard, which would give the player another romance option. So if your Shepard were female, early on in the game a male alliance member would become accepted as a Normandy crewmember, filling the void that was left from the Ashley/Kaiden decision in the first Mass Effect. He will serve on the Normandy, accompany Shepard on missions if chosen, and be a potential romance option. Then the huge revelation (And we all know Bioware loves twist) would occur and reveal that Shepard’s new love toy is infact a Cerberus operative, leaving what would be a tough decision for Shepard, turn the operative in or kill the operative; again, depending on a paragon or renegade decision Shepard makes.

The Villain (The Illusive Man)

I do not think that the Illusive Man would have received quite the build up in Mass Effect: Ascension if he were not to be a great deal in Mass Effect 2. Before the first Mass Effect, we got the novel Mass Effect: Revelation, which introduced us to Saren and his callous means of getting business done. Saren later became the leading villain in Mass Effect with the aid from Sovereign. The Illusive Man holds similar aura to that of Saren and I would not be surprised if he were to be the villain in Mass Effect 2, leading the Cerberus organization. For Bioware to keep the plot on track with the imminent reaper invasion there would have to be some indistinct correlation between Cerberus and the Reapers like there was for Saren in Mass Effect. As implausible as this may sound, I find this as one of the more likely scenario for Cerberus in Mass Effect 2.

I know most of this all sounds far-fetched and maybe even exaggerated, but that is where the fun in speculation arises. We essentially will not identify the true role of Cerberus until more fine points about Mass Effect 2 becomes available. I hope that the Mecca of gaming, E3 2009 will serve as the occasion where much more solid information comes about for ME2. Until then, continue to follow Ripten as we will bring you the latest information regarding Mass Effect 2 as soon as it becomes available.

Tags: Cerberus, mass effect 2

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6 Comments » Roo18 on March 17, 2009 9:28 am Sounds pro. I’ve never read any of the novels so I don’t know much about the stuff that happend in them, but I tried to read all the information collected in the game. I’m looking forward to seeing more about this. THE IDEAS ARE IN PRETTY FONT TOO. :) teryhn on March 21, 2009 1:43 am Great article. Emre on March 22, 2009 10:35 am great entry.thanx Matt on April 10, 2009 2:37 pm I've read the novels also, and I have to agree 100% with you on this one. I myself think they may even do a combination of "The Villian" and the "undercover Party Member" in the game. I agree that the Illusive Man HAS to be a major part….I wouldn't mind seeing the inside of a Quarian ship too. David Erik on April 18, 2009 4:44 pm Well worth reading all that… God cant wait for mass effect 2! Alan on May 20, 2009 5:16 pm Dude you nailed it. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.