Mass Effect 3 Preview
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At the recent Gamescom trade fair in Cologne, we were treated to a presentation of Mass Effect 3, which illustrated practically everything you could hope to know about the game. Leaving the best '˜til last, things started off with a combat section on an alien homeworld - yet even this was strongly story driven. You're tasked with escorting an alien female across the somewhat hostile planet - but far from being just any female, this woman is in the possession of a cure for a genetic disease, which had bitterly divided two races. As the man (or woman) expected to bring these two races together, keeping this woman alive is essential - although seemingly, everyone else had other ideas. Coming under attack almost, we dived into cover, popping up only to shoot, and were shown a range of powers Shepard has at his disposal - kind of like spells on other games - which can be used to throw enemies around, or damage them. Each of the skills can be upgraded as you gain experience, either upgrading your powers, or increasing your proficiency with certain weapons, letting your powers grow stronger as you do.
Somewhat worryingly, around half way into our demo, our demonstrator let slip that Mass Effect 3 is being designed to be the toughest game in the series so far - which isn't something that people new to the franchise are going to likely want to hear. That being said, our spiel-sense is tingling somewhat, and we remain hopeful that this was simply marketing spiel aimed at the hardcore, rather than a mission to put off the more casual fans of Mass Effect. With any luck, much like the games that came before it, hopefully on "Easy", Mass Effect will remain just that, with enemies that only take a few hits, and auto-aim that helps you hit the sweet spot.
If the combat is as tricky as the developers are making it out to be, however, you'll be pleased to know you've got a few extra tools at your disposal the biggest of which is the Omni-blade. Perfect for those of us who keep letting enemies get that little bit too close without realising, the Omni-blade is an up-close and personal, glowing orange melee weapon, which fires out of Shepard's arm like a lightsaber, and appears to down enemies in one hit. Along with the refined squad controls, which let you send your teammates in to do the dirty work, while you sit at the back, safe as houses, you'll have plenty of tools at your disposal when the worst comes to worst no matter what the difficulty level.
