As we build to next week's Mass Effect 2 release, we ask: what made the original so good?

Often lauded as one of the very best science fiction RPGs ever released, Mass Effect has more than its fair share of balls-to-the-wall, all out moments that can make even the most reserved gamer punch the air and sit back with an inscrutable grin. To that effect, NowGamer lists the ten best geek-out moments of BioWare’s indisputably awesome effort.

Saren's betrayal of Nihlus set the tone of Mass Effect: anything could happen.

The Choice
Planet: Virmire
Best played as: Renegade
In a science-fiction sense, the emotional climax of the game is easily the definitive moment. The confrontation with Saren and your attempts to chip away at his resolve, splitting the team, everything has clearly led up to this point. On the one hand, you have the option to run headlong into an enemy swarm, attempting to fight assault rifle rounds with your face in a gambit to save your errant team member who couldn’t get the job done in the first place. On the other hand you have the choice to shrug your shoulders, lick your wounds, and hightail it out of there and leave them to set off the nuke. In a purely dramatic sense, we’d choose the second option and leave your loved one to go out in a blaze of glory. But then of course, all that time you’d spent pandering to their conversation in a vague attempt to get inside their Colossus X knickers would be wasted. It’s up to you really, but if this were a decent science-fiction film, we all know how it would play out, and that’s not with blue alien sex, Mr Cameron. And let’s be honest, Kirahee’s pretty screwed any way you look at it, so decide with Shepard’s libido or his sense of duty, if you like.

Saren’s Betrayal
Planet: Eden Prime
Best played as: Renegade
You know it’s all about to go a bit Pete Tong when one of the characters you’re first introduced to gets a lead enema in the back of the head right away. From his friend, no less, who’s also supposed to be as hardcore as Nihlus supposedly was. From a cinematic and dramatic perspective, it’s a great scene. From a gaming perspective, the stakes are suddenly raised to a whole new level, one that introduces a major character, the story, and sets the tone for the rest of the game in one eloquent motion.

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Saving Wrex or not will have big consequences in the sequel, apperently.