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At the end of “Mass Effect,” Commander Shepard saved all sentient life in the galaxy from annihilation at the hands of the Reapers, ancient machines that exterminate all intelligent species every 50 millennia or so.

At the beginning of “Mass Effect 2,” Shepard dies.

And two years later, the commander is brought back to life by the shadowy Cerberus organization, which believes what the galactic government of the Citadel Council denies: The Reapers are still coming, and Shepard is the only one who can stop them.

Cerberus’ mysterious head, the Illusive Man, has directed enormous resources into rebuilding Shepard just as he or she (player’s choice) was before death.

Players can begin the game with the same Shepard they completed the first game with, or start from scratch with a new one. Starting with a seasoned Shepard confers some advantages and has numerous other effects on the game, depending on what choices the player made in the original.

Did Shepard spare the Rachni Queen or destroy her? Romance Liara T’Soni or Kaidan Alenko? Let the Citadel Council live or die? The game notices these and other events and incorporates them into the “Mass Effect 2″ universe.

One thing is constant: The Illusive Man has big things in mind for the resurrected Spectre. Whole colonies are disappearing, their human settlers gone without a trace, which Cerberus believes to be the work of an enigmatic race called the Collectors.

The Illusive Man suspects that the Reapers are truly behind these mass kidnappings. He dispatches Shepard to gather a new team of specialists to eliminate the Collector and Reaper threat.

That’s as much of the plot as this review will give away. Interesting things are going on in “Mass Effect 2,” and it would be a shame to spoil any surprises.

The new cast is full of interesting characters – most new, a few old – with a variety of combat, technical and biotic (space magic) powers. The combat system has been streamlined and upgraded, as has the selection of powers each character can learn, (typically four, with the final one closed until Shepard has earned that character’s loyalty).

No longer do players have to juggle armor and weapon types for several alien races; when players find or research a new weapon, it becomes available for everyone to use but only Shepard can carry the new heavy weapon class, which includes a grenade launcher, a freeze cannon and even more exotic weaponry.

At the end of “Mass Effect,” Commander Shepard saved all sentient life in the galaxy from annihilation at the hands of the Reapers, ancient machines that exterminate all intelligent species every 50 millennia or so.

At the beginning of “Mass Effect 2,” Shepard dies.

And two years later, the commander is brought back to life by the shadowy Cerberus organization, which believes what the galactic government of the Citadel Council denies: The Reapers are still coming, and Shepard is the only one who can stop them.

Cerberus’ mysterious head, the Illusive Man, has directed enormous resources into rebuilding Shepard just as he or she (player’s choice) was before death.

Players can begin the game with the same Shepard they completed the first game with, or start from scratch with a new one. Starting with a seasoned Shepard confers some advantages and has numerous other effects on the game, depending on what choices the player made in the original.

Did Shepard spare the Rachni Queen or destroy her? Romance Liara T’Soni or Kaidan Alenko? Let the Citadel Council live or die? The game notices these and other events and incorporates them into the “Mass Effect 2″ universe.

One thing is constant: The Illusive Man has big things in mind for the resurrected Spectre. Whole colonies are disappearing, their human settlers gone without a trace, which Cerberus believes to be the work of an enigmatic race called the Collectors.

The Illusive Man suspects that the Reapers are truly behind these mass kidnappings. He dispatches Shepard to gather a new team of specialists to eliminate the Collector and Reaper threat.

That’s as much of the plot as this review will give away. Interesting things are going on in “Mass Effect 2,” and it would be a shame to spoil any surprises.

The new cast is full of interesting characters – most new, a few old – with a variety of combat, technical and biotic (space magic) powers. The combat system has been streamlined and upgraded, as has the selection of powers each character can learn, (typically four, with the final one closed until Shepard has earned that character’s loyalty).

No longer do players have to juggle armor and weapon types for several alien races; when players find or research a new weapon, it becomes available for everyone to use but only Shepard can carry the new heavy weapon class, which includes a grenade launcher, a freeze cannon and even more exotic weaponry.

Bayonetta is a witch with a memory problem. Awakened from a long slumber 20 years ago, she remembers little of her past life, but she knows how to fight and wield magic against legions of angels in a continuation of an ancient war between her line, the Umbra Witches, and the Lumen Sages.

“Bayonetta,” the game, is ridiculously over-the-top. The action is amped up, the sound is loud, and the graphics are flashy. Bayonetta, the character, is equally ridiculous – her exaggerated figure makes a Barbie doll’s look natural.

The game’s Mature rating applies not only to the violence but to the numerous suggestive elements of the character and how she’s presented. She wears a tight leather catsuit, sucks on lollipops, carries a quartet of guns (two by hand, two strapped to her legs as stiletto heels) and morphs herself, her hair and her clothing into various forms for powerful attacks.

The angels also take on monstrous forms – some huge, some small, one a giant upside-down head with dragon heads sprouting from it.

“Bayonetta’s” highly polished guns-and-melee game play owes an obvious debt to the “Devil May Cry” series. The resemblance is no accident; the game was directed by Hideki Kamiya, the man responsible for the first game in the “DMC” series.

The bulk of the game is dedicated to combat, as Bayonetta makes her way through various gorgeous locations packed with angelic enemies. The witch has a wide repertoire of fighting moves to start with, and she can buy more as she progresses through the game.

Bayonetta’s moves include attack combos that vary depending on which weapons she has equipped; she can switch between two sets of weapons at will. Dodging attacks at the last moment activates Witch Time, which slows down enemy movement for a few moments.

Special golden records can be traded in for new weapons, such as a pair of shotguns or a sword. Bayonetta can also craft her own power-up and restorative items from components she finds.

Chaining together long strings of attacks activates Wicked Weave, powerful moves that use the witch’s shape-changing hair. And with enough magic power, Bayonetta can summon infernal torture devices from the underworld to cause massive damage to her foes.

Defeated angels drop halos that Bayonetta can use as currency for new moves, items and upgrades. Sometimes angels leave behind their own weapons, which don’t last long in Bayonetta’s hands but are quite powerful as long as they do.

Bayonetta is a witch with a memory problem. Awakened from a long slumber 20 years ago, she remembers little of her past life, but she knows how to fight and wield magic against legions of angels in a continuation of an ancient war between her line, the Umbra Witches, and the Lumen Sages.

“Bayonetta,” the game, is ridiculously over-the-top. The action is amped up, the sound is loud, and the graphics are flashy. Bayonetta, the character, is equally ridiculous – her exaggerated figure makes a Barbie doll’s look natural.

The game’s Mature rating applies not only to the violence but to the numerous suggestive elements of the character and how she’s presented. She wears a tight leather catsuit, sucks on lollipops, carries a quartet of guns (two by hand, two strapped to her legs as stiletto heels) and morphs herself, her hair and her clothing into various forms for powerful attacks.

The angels also take on monstrous forms – some huge, some small, one a giant upside-down head with dragon heads sprouting from it.

“Bayonetta’s” highly polished guns-and-melee game play owes an obvious debt to the “Devil May Cry” series. The resemblance is no accident; the game was directed by Hideki Kamiya, the man responsible for the first game in the “DMC” series.

The bulk of the game is dedicated to combat, as Bayonetta makes her way through various gorgeous locations packed with angelic enemies. The witch has a wide repertoire of fighting moves to start with, and she can buy more as she progresses through the game.

Bayonetta’s moves include attack combos that vary depending on which weapons she has equipped; she can switch between two sets of weapons at will. Dodging attacks at the last moment activates Witch Time, which slows down enemy movement for a few moments.

Special golden records can be traded in for new weapons, such as a pair of shotguns or a sword. Bayonetta can also craft her own power-up and restorative items from components she finds.

Chaining together long strings of attacks activates Wicked Weave, powerful moves that use the witch’s shape-changing hair. And with enough magic power, Bayonetta can summon infernal torture devices from the underworld to cause massive damage to her foes.

Defeated angels drop halos that Bayonetta can use as currency for new moves, items and upgrades. Sometimes angels leave behind their own weapons, which don’t last long in Bayonetta’s hands but are quite powerful as long as they do.

Harry Mason searches the spooky, frozen town of Silent Hill for his daughter in “Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.”

The “Silent Hill” series has been creeping players out for more than a decade.

Now the original game has been reimagined as “Silent Hill: Shattered Memories,” which shakes up the series’ horror formula.

The story’s basic setup is familiar: Harry Mason is searching Silent Hill for his daughter, Cheryl, who went missing after a car crash at the edge of town. At certain points in the game, the perspective switches to a therapist’s office, and the player answers questions that the game uses to create a personality profile and mold the experience to the player.

Instead of the previous games’ pervasive fog, this version of Silent Hill is snowed in by a massive storm. It’s dark, it’s cold, and Harry’s flashlight illuminates just enough to get around. That’s bad enough, but sometimes Silent Hill freezes over, and the monsters come out to play.

When Harry’s not running from the horrors that plague him, he’s exploring the town of Silent Hill, talking with the people who live there and trying to find ways around and through areas blocked off by the storm. There are puzzles to solve as well, typically requiring the player to use the Wii Remote to manipulate objects.

Past games in the series have allowed their characters – including the original game’s Harry – to defend themselves, albeit clumsily, with 2-by-4s, guns and other weapons. Not this time. Harry can’t fight back in this nightmarish realm of ice; he can only run.

If a monster catches him, he can hurl it away, but there’s no way to kill his creepy foes, and if he takes too many hits, he’ll be overwhelmed and die. Flares can keep the creatures at bay for a time, and obstacles and doorways highlighted in blue show the way to safety, but it’s not easy to escape.

These encounters are harrowing enough but become repetitive, and the sharp line between safe exploration and desperate flight prevents the game’s creepy mood from developing into real tension. Also, when the action heats up, the visuals sometimes slow down or freeze for a moment, a hiccup in the game’s otherwise good looks.

Harry’s cell phone warns him of nearby foes, alerts him to points of interest, maps his location with a GPS uplink (which is a pain to use), allows him to call people he’s met or receive text and voice messages, and lets him take photos that reveal the truth behind shadowy figures he finds frozen in place around the town.