Mass Effect E3 Previews
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The plot of the game revolves around a mysterious alien commander who appears to be driven by a genocidal drive to wipe humanity from the galaxy. Anyone who's read the prequel novel based in the same universe as the game, Mass Effect: Revelation, will recognize said villain as likely being Saren, one of the elite soldiers for the united galactic government that incorporates numerous alien species. His race was involved in a skirmish with humanity before the humans were incorporated into the galactic community, and bad blood still exists between the races, which apparently spills over into a rather dire conflict during the course of the game.
The second is at TeamXbox:
Once we were done with that part of the game, we headed onto Shepard's ship to take a closer look at the conversation system that we've been hearing about for months. It's just as easy-to-use (yet robust) as we'd hoped it would be. We began with a chat with a Krogan named Rex, a hulking creature that looked a bit like a salamander. As we talked with him, we were able to learn more about his background and the issues facing his entire race, which had been infected with a virus of some sort. After that, it was off for a brief talk with an Asari, the game's blue-skinned alien race composed entirely of females. Let's just say that our conversation with her turned a bit.kinky.
The third is at IGN:
After getting our bearings, we tested out the cover system. Pressing against a wall or other obstacle will draw you into it for cover. From there, the left trigger can be used to aim around it. It feels quite similar to games like GRAW and Gears of War. The enemies we faced were pretty easy, so just staying behind the cover and sending out our two squadmates to fight was enough to get past the first section. For the next area, we pulled out a shotgun, readied the dark powers and charged in head first. Toying with the little enemies by doing dark energy stun or push moves is great fun, only topped by their screams when you blast a shotgun round through their chest.
The fourth is at GameSpy:
The way combat works in Mass Effect is essentially a numbers game that takes your weapon choice and range into account to determine accuracy. Closing in on an enemy will make your shots more accurate, but won't necessarily affect the amount of damage you deal. This is not the case with the shotgun, however, since that weapon fires a cone-shaped spray of particles, meaning that the closer you are to an enemy, the more of this spray will hit, causing more damage. It was also interesting to note that all weapons have infinite ammunition reserves, so the only thing keeping you from firing at will or abusing something like a sniper rifle is the positioning of your targets and the environment.
And the fifth is at 1Up:
The remarkable degree of play-it-how-you-want-to customization that persists throughout every part of the game makes it almost impossible to guess how many times you'll want to play it through. But almost certainly it's more than once. Between the possible character choices, complex relationships among characters, and all the side exploration around the universes there's just an amazing amount of content to get drawn into. So much so that it's entirely likely that you and your friends will have significantly different experiences over the course of the game.
