Successfully complete a party member's Loyalty mission.
Anomalies
Scan the indicated planet to find anomalies (side quests).
Nebula
Cluster
Planet
Caleston Rift
Solveig
Sinmara
Caleston Rift
Talava
Taitus
Crescent Nebula
Lusarn
Tarith
Crescent Nebula
Zelene
Helyme
Eagle Nebula
Amun
Neith
Eagle Nebula
Strabo
Jarrahe Station
Hades Nexus
Sheol
Gei Hin
HourGlass Nebula
Faryar
Daratar
HourGlass Nebula
Ploitari
Zanethu
Minos Wasteland
Fortis
Aequitas
Omega Nebula
Ariniarkan
MSV Strontium Mule
Omega Nebula
Fathar
Lorek
Pylos Nebula
Dirada
Canalus
Pylos Nebula
Nariph
MSV Broken Arrow
Rosetta Nebula
Enoch
Joab
The Shrike Nebula
Xe Cha
Zada Ban
Sigurd's Cradle
Decoris
Sanctum
Sigurd's Cradle
Skepsis
Franklin
Titan Nebula
Haskins
Capek
Arrival: Trophies
Complete the following tasks to unlock PlayStation 3 trophy rewards.
Trophy
How to unlock
Covert Action (Bronze)
Rescue Dr. Amanda Kenson without attracting hostile attention.
Last Stand (Bronze)
Complete all 5 waves in the battle for Object Roh.
Ultimate Sacrifice (Bronze)
Complete the Arrival DLC.
Baldur's Gate series reference
Space Hamster is available on Illium. Once you go into your cabin and select him, he comes out and does the same "Squeek" that Boo did, who was Minsc's "Intergalactic Space Hamster" from Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2.
Bonus Paragon or Renegade points
Look carefully during conversations for a prompt at the top left area of the screen. Quickly press L2 when the wings appears for extra Paragon points. Quickly press R2 when the star appears for extra Renegade points.
Cerberus Pack: Trophies
Complete the following tasks to unlock PlayStation 3 trophy rewards.
Trophy
How to unlock
The Price of Revenge (Gold)
Gain the loyalty of the mercenary.
Comedic surveying responses
Go to the Local Cluster and proceed to survey Uranus. Instead of the usual "Probe Launched," the voice will instead make Uranus jokes such as "Probing Uranus" or "Really Commander?"
Completion bonuses
Successfully complete the game. You can start a new game session with a cleared saved game file with the following bonuses: choose Loyalty Bonus Skill at the start; retain Skill Points from first session; retain level and experience points from first session; Renegade/Paragon points reset to neutral; +25% experience bonus for all characters; and your previous weapons and armor (but no upgrades); 200,000 Credits, and 50,000 of each resource.
Dr. Pepper bonuses
Use the following procedure to get the bonus Dr. Pepper items. Go to http://www.drpepper.com/promotions/ea/signin/ and register an account. Note: You can register three different accounts to redeem three different codes and get each item. After creating an account enter one of the following redemption codes, selecting the "No Purchase" option.
Select the "Redeem" button to see a login for an EA Account. Log in with your EA account information that is linked to Mass Effect 2. Select Mass Effect 2 from the game list and select the desired bonus item. Repeat the steps with a new drpepper.com account to get the other items.
Dragon Age Reference
In the loyalty mission for Kasumi, when you get to the vualt where the grey box is, go to the very back of the vault and there will be a statue of a darkspawn ogre from dragon age.
Easy "No One Left Behind" trophy
If you completed the game but someone died after the landing on the Collector Ship, chose someone else. On the last part where you select for the final time, do not take someone without loyalty (e.g. you lose it after you have completed their loyalty mission) as they will not survive. Instead, leave them with loyal company. For example if you lose Tali's loyalty and take her through the last part of the mission and she dies, reload the game and leave her with everyone else. You can then get the trophy.
Ending with both Jack's and Miranda's loyalties
Do not play Miranda's loyalty mission at first. Instead, wait for Jack's mission to become available and play it first. After the mission when they are fighting, support Jack. Miranda's loyalty will be low. Then, play her loyalty mission to get it back.
Faster scanning for mining
Move the pointer to the left or the right of the planet you want to scan. Press the Left Analog-stick and Right Analog-stick in the same direction to double the spin speed of the planet. This allows you to locate resources on the grid line quickly.
GameStop reference
The game shop at The Citadel is a reference to a GameStop store.
Garrus: Elevators reference
Travel with Tali and Garrus, the recurring party members. Eventually they will have a conversation about the elevators. Garrus will fondly remember the interesting conservations they had about Quarrians. Tali gets very upset about to the point of threatening Garrus with her shotgun to stop.
Geth Pulse Rifle
Switch to the Hardcore difficulty setting before you land on the planet. Complete Tali'Zora's recruitment mission to find the Geth Pulse Rifle in the room where you find Tali. You can then change the difficulty back to its original setting.
Have Dominate ability and keep Samara alive
Dominate is a very useful Biotic ability that allows you to control organic enemies and turn them into allies, similar to the Hack ability that controls synthetics. In order to get this ability as a Loyalty mission bonus to use for your character, you must help Morinth kill Samara during the latter's loyalty mission. However, if you wish to keep Samara on your team but still have Morinth's Dominate ability, use the following trick. Play Samara's loyalty mission up to the point where Samara confronts Moritnth. Save the game immediately before the confrontation. When it is time to choose who you will eliminate, choose the option that lets Morinth get the upper-hand on Samara and kill her. Create a separate saved game file. Go to the ship and talk to Morinth. Load the previous saved game then have Samara kill Morinth. You now get to keep Samara as a squad mate and have Morinth's Dominate ability when you choose a bonus loyalty power to add to your character in the prototype upgrade screen.
Humorous dialogue
Wander around the ship in between missions to hear some funny quotes.
Stand next to Jeff "Joker" Moreau (the pilot) without interacting with him. You will hear him say things such as the following.
"Why is it always claws and guns? Can't we piss off a fuzzy planet? Still dangerous, I know. But hey, bunnies."
"Two years and everything hits the crapper. That'll teach you to die on me."
"You know what I hate about deep space? Crap radio stations from two centuries back. My gosh, we were idiots."
Stand near the two engineers near the Mass Effect Core to hear the the following.
Engineer Daniels: "Did you know we're sharing our deck with a krogan?"
Engineer Donnelly: "Well that's just peachy."
Legion: Dance
Approach Legion in his quarters. Highlight him, but do not talk to him and he will eventually do the "Robot" dance.
Legion: Unusual dialog
Take Legion to the Citadel. Talk to Anderson and the customs officer.
Take Legion to the migrate fleet on Tali's Loyalty mission. Security will force you to remove him unless you can persuade them otherwise.
Take Legoin to recruit Tali. She will try to shoot him.
Loyalty mission bonuses
Successfully complete a party member's Loyalty mission to unlock their individuals skills for Shepard, alternate costumes, and increase the chance for surviving the suicide mission. Note: Complete the Advanced Training research upgrade for your ship to be able to select the skills.
Notice after you press Triangle, the planet information screen on the right will tell you if the scan of planet reveals if it is "Rich", "Moderate", or "Poor". Rich planets typically give about 10+ good scan for ores. Ore yields vary from 1,500 to 3,000. Moderate will give about 8+ good scans, but around 35% to 55% yield compared to rich planets. Poor will give 5+ scans with yields 5% to 25% compared to rich planets. Note: If there is an anomaly on the planet (usually a rich planet) and you land before you scan, typically the Star Map on the Normandy will put you in a strange location away from the anomaly planet. Go back and rescan to get your ores.
Prequel bonuses
Have a saved game file from the original Mass Effect and use that profile in Mass Effect 2 to get the following bonuses.
100,000 credits: Mass Effect character with the "Rich" achievement.
2,000 experience points: Level 50 Mass Effect character.
30,000 credits: Level 50 Mass Effect character.
5,000 of each resource: Level 50 Mass Effect character.
4,000 experience points: Level 60 Mass Effect character.
50,000 credits: Level 60 Mass Effect character.
10,000 of each resource: Level 60 Mass Effect character.
Rapid fire M-920 Cain
Fire the M-920 Cain and keep [Fire] held while pressing [Reload] after each shot. The shots will keep firing during the previous shots' explosions.
Recruiting Tali: Sunlight exposure
While recruiting Tali on Haestrom, direct sunlight will damage you and your squad's shields and Biotic barriers. Because Grunt uses armor, he is unaffected by the sunlight and does not suffer weakened defenses while directly exposed.
Rich planets
To find easy mining planets, go to the Micah system in the Vallhallan Threshold. Look for the three planets hidden in the asteroids. They are all "Rich" planets with a lot of materials to help with upgrades.
Unlimited skill points
Recruit Morinth to get the Dominate skill and get a large amount of Element Zero. Purchase the Advanced Training upgrade and choose Dominate. This result in a bonus skill point, which is then used by the Retrain Powers upgrade. Repeat this process to get another skill point.
Various Trophies
Complete the following tasks to unlock PlayStation 3 trophy rewards.
Trophy
How to unlock
A House Divided (Bronze)
Hack a geth collective.
Against All Odds (Silver)
Survive the suicide mission.
Agent (Bronze)
Complete 5 missions discovered by scanning unexplored worlds.
Battlemaster (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the krogan.
Big Game Hunter (Bronze)
Thresher Maw defeated.
Brawler (Bronze)
Shoot and kill 20 enemies while they're knocked back by a punch.
Broke, Blind and Bedlam (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the thief.
Cat's in the Cradle (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the Assassin.
Catharsis (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the biotic Convict.
Colony Defense (Bronze)
Defend a human colony from attack.
Data Hound (Bronze)
Collect 6 Cerberus data packets scattered across Aite.
Digital Exorcist (Bronze)
Successfully shut down the rogue VI in Project Overlord.
Doppelganger (Bronze)
Help the Justicar resolve her mission.
Explorer (Bronze)
Visit 100% of the planets in an unexplored cluster.
Fade Away (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of Archangel.
Fashionista (Bronze)
Personalize your armor.
Friend or Foe (Bronze)
Obtain geth technology.
Ghost Ship (Bronze)
Complete the investigation of a derelict alien vessel.
Ghost of the Father (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the Cerberus Operative.
Head Hunter (Bronze)
Perform 30 headshot kills with any weapon on humanoid targets.
Heart of Darkness (Silver)
Confront the Shadow Broker.
Highly Trained (Bronze)
View all advanced combat training videos at Shepard's private terminal.
Incineration Specialist (Bronze)
Incinerate the armor of 25 enemies.
Insanity (Gold)
Complete the game in the 'Insanity' difficulty level without changing the setting.
Long Service Medal (Silver)
Complete Mass Effect 2 twice, or experience the interactive backstory (Cerberus Pack downloadable content) and complete Mass Effect 2.
Master at Arms (Bronze)
Kill enemies with 5 different heavy weapons during the game.
Merciless (Bronze)
Make 20 enemies scream as they fall or are set on fire.
Missing in Action (Bronze)
Save your crew from an overwhelming attack.
Mission Accomplished (Silver)
Save humanity throughout the galaxy from certain annihilation.
N7 Elite (Platinum)
Acquire all trophies.
No One Left Behind (Gold)
Keep your team alive through the suicide mission.
Operative (Bronze)
Complete a mission discovered by scanning an unexplored world.
Overload Specialist (Bronze)
Disrupt the shields of 25 enemies.
Paramour (Silver)
Successfully pursue a relationship with a teammate.
Power Full (Bronze)
Evolve any power.
Power Gamer (Silver)
Reach Level 30 with one character.
Prospector (Bronze)
Retrieve mineral resources by scanning and probing a planet in the galaxy map.
Scholar (Bronze)
Unlock 15 new Mass Effect 2 codex entries.
Scientist (Bronze)
Complete any research project in the Normandy's laboratory.
Suicide Mission (Bronze)
Use the Omega 4 Relay.
Tactician (Bronze)
Hit 20 different targets with multiple biotic powers to combine the effects.
Technician (Bronze)
Obtain 10 technology upgrades.
The Archangel (Bronze)
Successfully recruit Archangel.
The Assassin (Bronze)
Successfully recruit the Assassin.
The Convict (Bronze)
Successfully recruit the biotic Convict.
The Cure (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the Professor.
The Justicar (Bronze)
Successfully recruit the Justicar.
The Krogan (Bronze)
Successfully recruit the Krogan.
The Prodigal (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the Cerberus Officer.
The Professor (Bronze)
Successfully recruit the Professor.
The Quarian (Bronze)
Successfully recruit the Quarian.
Treason (Bronze)
Gain the loyalty of the quarian.
Very Elusive (Bronze)
Return to active duty.
Warp Specialist (Bronze)
Warp the barriers of 25 enemies.
Weapon Specialist (Bronze)
Fully upgrade a weapon.
Yeoman Kelly Chambers: Romance
Talk with Yeoman Kelly Chambers often and select the kind responses. Invite her to dinner when you get that option. Do not let Kelly die during the final mission and select a loyal escort for the crew in the final scene. After completing the game, talk to Kelly. You will get an email from her. Go to your quarters and invite her up using your console.
