As I write this, it has been a couple days since I experienced the Mass Effect 3 demo, but that doesn't mean I haven't stopped thinking about it. Ever since I left that demo room, I've had thoughts and feelings about it swirling about my head. This game matters so much; it will be the ending of Shepard's story, but I suppose I never really considered that the ending may not be all that happy. The demo was an amazing feat in and of itself: it planted the seed of doubt in my mind that Shepard might not be able to overcome the Reapers without making a few sacrifices along the way. Will it even be possible for Shepard to manage to keep all the squad members alive like in Mass Effect 2? There have never been guarantees in the Mass Effect realm, but things have largely been in your hands. And even though the first game made you choose between Kaidan and Ashley for survival, it was difficult to develop a deep attachment to either unless you romanced them. The connections to your squadmates were stronger in 2 because each squad member had their own backstory, but if you played your cards right, everyone lived. This is it, the big finale - there's more at stake and these don't always turn out well.
Before I go into the big emotional moment that made Mass Effect matter even more for me than ever before, let's get some of the basics out of the way. First off, Casey Hudon assured us that Mass Effect 3 will feature the biggest story that BioWare has ever told. The Reapers have arrived and they've taken Earth as their hostage - there's only one person for the job, Commander Shepard. Shepard will have to assemble fleets and armies, and take out the Reapers to save the world. This isn't the first time that Shepard has been the hero of the day, but now he's stuck right in the middle of things on Earth, and they're that much more real. Hudson also wanted fans to know that he truly thinks Mass Effect 3 will be the best entry in the series; he's so confident that he's telling people who never played the series to jump right in at the third title.
As the demo started up, the battles felt pretty colossal: Shepard was jumping over gaps, climbing up hard to reach areas, and falling into new ones all with great environmental detail. The combat seemed pretty close to what we saw in the second game, but with a few tweaks. One thing is clear: the battles will be more tactical than ever before. For this reason, BioWare really wants you to alter the game toward your own playstyle, so they're leaving the door open on a wide variety of approaches to taking down enemies. There's numerous avenues to attacking: duck and cover, run and gun, and stealth tactics are all welcome strategy - how you blend or rely on any of the three will be how you succeed. For instance, there's a brand new weapon called the Omni Blade, this weapon is for those who love to indulge in up-close melee attacks for stealth kills. Combat has additional depth this time around and flanking is extremely important, because some enemies will be invulnerable from certain positions; some enemies will have shields, so front attacks won't work. Thankfully, grenades return to Mass Effect 3 after their hiatus from the second game. They seem to be better integrated then they were in the first game, so hopefully their hiatus from the second game provided BioWare the time to get then done right. The power wheel also returns, so you can issue direct commands for movement and attacks to your party.
This feature E3 preview concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to see more of our thoughts on Bioware's Mass Effect 3.
