Mass Effect 3 Preview

CVG brings us a weekend preview of Mass Effect 3, and even if you’ve been following the shooter/RPG threequel extensively, you just might find a few bits of new information inside.

To keep things balanced, enemies now have extra smarts. They flank, coordinate tactically and mix up their attacks to elevate fights from straight-up shooting gallery affairs. There are more at any given point and – for reasons BioWare are keeping secret – Shepard is now fighting both the Reapers and Cerberus, which means more than double the number of enemy types to kill.

The Reaper grunts are abominations made from races enslaved by the Collectors in Mass Effect 2 – part human, part Krogan, part Turian, part whatever – while Cerberus bring mechs and heavily armoured shock troops. As part of the more aggressive combat, Shepard can shoot the pilot out of a mech by blasting the glass and scoring a headshot, or pick off individual bits of machinery. BioWare are promising dismemberment of the Reaper abominations too, but we’re yet to see this in action.

Back on the Normandy there are further improvements. The crew has been sharpened up, with Ashley and Kaiden – both survivors from the original – getting the most significant makeovers. The galaxy map now lets you select cities or areas on the surfaces of larger planets.