Mass Effect 3 Previews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on June 8th, 2011

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The second section was were we got to go hands-on. Alongside Garrus and Liara, our mission was to help extract a fertile Krogan female from a facility on the Salarian homework that was under attack by Cerberus. If none of that made any sense you might as well stop now--it's all downhill from here. With Mordin's help, we sent the Krogan ahead to another part of the facility. And the Cerberus troopers weren't far behind. At first blush combat felt pretty similar to how it was in Mass Effect 2. But as we played we uncovered more and more little changes developer BioWare is making. Most obvious were the blue, contextual arrows that indicated where Shepard would move next when he reached a break in cover.

Shepard's omni-tool has also changed so that it's not just for hacking robots or stealing credits. Depending on which class you play, the device will have a new ability for you to use. As a soldier, our omni-tool came equipped with a short blade designed to relieve an enemy's guts from his body. We used this technique to great affect after sneaking up on an unsuspecting trooper and, while behind cover, pulled him down to us and eviscerated him. Another new and deadly tool at our disposal were the grenades. Absent in ME2, the grenades are back and have been tweaked to behave more like real grenades and less like flying, explosive frisbies.

And then there's that melee attack. There's always been a random gun bash in Mass Effect for enemies that get a little too close, but in the third iteration, the player can press B to have Shepard whip out "an Omniblade" and get stabby. Just hitting the button allows for a swing, but holding it down (when aimed correctly at the enemy) send Shepard in for a quick kill. There are even stealth kills, of a sort -- my Shepard took some low cover behind an unsuspecting enemy, and then I held B down to grab the bad guy from behind and take him out with the Omniblade.

Combat in general feels quicker and more responsive -- not overly so, but it's definitely been refined yet again. Grenades are back on the Left bumper and have been revamped a bit to work more tactically. At one point, Shepard and crew had the high ground on a group of enemies under cover, and tossing a grenade down in the middle of the group with the bumper took out a couple and sent the rest running out into the open. Enemies will also work together -- we saw one group using smoke bombs to block Shepard's shots, and were told that later enemies will revive each other at times.

Combat looks better than ever, with plenty of tactical rolls and smart cover usage on display from both sides. There was a big focus on melee kills too: Shepard loves nothing more than to run in close to an enemy, clock him around the chin with a rifle butt and then stab him in slow motion - from behind, no less - with the new omni-blade. It's brutal but effective stuff.

The level concluded with Shepard, still being dogged by the towering Reaper, leaping up to what appeared to be a fixed turret. It was indeed fixed, only onto a vehicle that soon took off and zipped away from the devastation. Naturally the Reaper gave chase until Shepard's on-rail cannons won the battle - the Reaper's glorious demise as spectacular as the explosion-filled pursuit itself.

On the screen, there was an action-focused sequence, showing Shepard fighting against some "indoctrinated" Cerberus agents on the Salarian homeworld. It appeared that he was rolling with Liara and Garrus, but Shepard was definitely doing most of the work and we were shown some faster, better-looking combat. Popping in and out of cover looks snappier, and in general, it all just looks like it's unfolding at a faster pace. You can, of course, still slow things down to unleash biotics and other abilities. Also, Shepard is once again armed with grenades, though they seem more like real grenades instead of the disc-shaped things you could toss in the first game. You'll also have an up-close melee attack, and we saw an updated version of the holographic Omni-Tool that had a fat holographic blade on it. Oh, and it's now called the Omni-Blade. This seems like it'll allow for various kill animations. You'll also be able to pilot large mech suits in some sequences. Much was made of Shepard's "new mobility," and it sounds like he'll be able to more effectively climb over cover, jump, and do the things that most shooter protagonists can do.

This is the point where you're supposed to say "please stop telling me about how Mass Effect 3 is a better shooter, I don't want this game to become a shooter." And that's where the things we weren't shown come in. Despite showing a pretty action-heavy sequence, it sounds like Mass Effect 3 will strike the same balance as its predecessors. The goal isn't to have more shooting. Just better shooting. And the bulk of the game won't necessarily be set on Earth.

Here the cityscape is dense, the horizon stretching far and lined with tall, clinical skyscrapers. They're eclipsed by the Reaper ships, towering monstrosities which spit out laser beams as they tear through the sky.

A press of a button will snap the camera to critical set pieces, as BioWare wants to ensure players don't miss the lavish spectacle it's laid on. Which is fair enough; this is a vision pulled from War of the Worlds as seen through the studio's future-perfect filter, and the end result is brilliantly effective.

While Mass Effect may have drifted further and further towards shooter territory, the classic sci-fi setting has bedded in well. The third game's locations are rich with the influence of airbrushed pulp cover art. A Geth base is brooding and industrial, while the Salarian home world is a deep Martian red seen through wonderfully excessive lens flare.

Beneath the combat there's still BioWare's cause and effect dialogue and a story that is increasingly becoming the player's own. Choices made in the previous games will come to a head. Some seemingly insignificant ones will have extreme consequences.

Another improvement comes in the form of weapon customization. The first game had way more weapons than anyone could ever want and it ended up being a trial just to manage them all. In "Mass Effect 2," there were just a handful of weapons across 5 or 6 weapon types, none of which were customizable beyond activating ammo power-ups. For "Mass Effect 3," weapons get extra special attention, and players will be able to mod and customize their weapons to suit their play style. There's also been work to ensure that the weapons feel a bit more powerful when fired.

Arrows have been added to the cover system to make it easier for Shepard to transition from wall to wall, and grenades can be thrown to take out enemies who are trying to camp, particularly against indoctrinated and aggressive Cerberus soldiers with riot shields resistant to bullets. Another enhanced attack is the incredibly helpful omni-blade, which extends the omni-tool into an assassin-friendly blade for a quick one-hit kill, instead of needing to hook-punch a fool three times in the face. If that doesn't work, Shepard can now sneak behind an enemy from behind cover and perform a stealth kill.

To quell complaints that Mass Effect 2 strayed too far from its RPG roots, BioWare has introduced the ability to craft weapons that can adjust their stability, magazine size, firing rate, and accuracy. The parameters for upgrading Shepard's attributes during a level up have been broken into individual components, to the point that he can deal more damage with a specific weapon. My hope is that this will allow players to customize Shepard's class instead of being restricted to one of the six classes, but we weren't given more details than a few moments to see the upgrade system.

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