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The first Mass Effect art book was quite good. The Art of Mass Effect Universe is even better.

This handsome 184-page hardcover art book covers art for Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3. Yes, you'll be able to get a sneak peek at the upcoming Mass Effect 3, that's if you don't mind a little spoiler.

The book is packed with concept art for characters, creatures, environments, props, weapons and vehicles. There are a few sketches but most are just gorgeous fully coloured designs. The art is top notch, the environment paintings are spectacular.

There's some overlap of content with the first art book that features the first game. Here, there are additional content which makes you wonder why they weren't in the earlier book. Anyway, the first art book is already out of print so it makes more sense to get just this one.

As all the designs come with insightful commentary, there will be a bit of a spoiler when you're reading the last chapter on Mass Effect 3. If you're just looking at pictures, then it should be alright and it'll give you a nice idea of what to expect visually in the next game.

Unfortunately for a book this good, the artists aren't credited, not even with a page on the list of names like they did in the first art book. In many instances, I wanted to find out who these artists are and their websites. This is a silly exclusion, a downer.

Overall. this is a great art book for fans of the game and sci-fi art. It should be one of the top art books for 2012.

Art of the Mass Effect Universe is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

The Art of Mass Effect Universe