Gamescom 2011 Hands On: Mass Effect 3 (PC)

What it is: Mass Effect 3 is the third installment in the hugely successful sci-fi role playing third person shooter series from BioWare and Electronic Arts.

After two very successful entries, Mass Effect 3 brings the planned trilogy to a close, depicting the final adventures of the protagonist, Commander Shepard, against the evil Reapers, a race of sentient space ships that want to destroy the whole universe.

The studio has already promised that the third person shooter mechanics will be more streamlined while the combat is refined. Role playing elements will make a comeback from the first game, while a lot of choices from the first game will result in serious consequences in this new one.

How

it is: The demo showcased at Gamescom 2011 by Bioware and EA depicted a scene on the Salarian homeworld, where Mordin Solus, from the second game, discovered a female Krogan specimen. Seeing as how I don’t want to ruin the story, suffice to say that Cerberus, the former employer of the playable character, Commander Shepard, isn’t too thrilled, and mounts a full on attack on Mordin’s base.

It’s up to Shepard, together with Garrus and Liara, two teammates from the first and second games, to stop the Cerberus forces and ensure Mordin’s getaway, together with the Krogan.

Fighting is much tighter and solidified in the new game, especially with the addition of the more powerful melee attacks. I often found my soldier class Shepard just sprinting through enemy lines, charging up the Omni Tool and delivering devastating blows to the Cerberus troops. This foolishness did made me run back in pain a couple of times, especially with the tough as nails Cerberus troops that have actual shields, and are vulnerable only when flanked.

While enemies are pretty smart, companions not so much, as I wasn’t that much used to issuing move orders to my teammates, meaning Liara and Garrus would often fall behind, leaving me to deal with the full force of Cerberus. As such, it seems that BioWare really wants to motivate players to put the Commander in Shepard’s title, and issue orders in the midst of battle as often as possible.

For those who say that Mass Effect 3 is no longer an RPG, they should rest assured, as the game now has a more diversified power tree, instead of the five or six from the second, which immediately impact the gameplay. As such, expect to spend quite a lot of time allocating Skill points in the new title.

When and on what: Mass Effect 3 is out on March 6, 2012, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.  

We have a special page with all our Gamescom 2011 coverage.