Mass Effect 3: Multiplayer, Shepard Marked For Death

The third installment of the critically acclaimed Mass Effect series will be out this Fall, and as of now details have been slim.  We’ve taken our best guesses at where Mass Effect 3 will take Commander Shepard, but finally the first details have arrived about the much anticipated sequel.  From the announcement trailer we gathered a few key intel items.  The Reapers will once again be front and center in Mass Effect 3, and they will be invading the planet.

Mass Effect 3 will begin immediately following the events of “Arrival”.  Commander Shepard will face trial and during the hearing, the Reaper invasion will begin.  This will set the opening tone for Mass Effect 3.  The Illusive Man, will once again play a large role in Mass Effect 3 and with him the organization that he governs: Cerberus.  Though this time Cerberus is not sided with the Commander.  They are out to kill him, with reasons that weren’t explained in Game Informer’s May 2011 Preview.

Your squadmates for Mass Effect 3 will be a function of the decisions that were made in previous games.  So depending on the decisions that you made in your previous games your Mass Effect 3 will be a unique experience.  For those that are going to be new to the series, a comic will be included with the game that allows you to make the decisions neccesary to tailor your Mass Effect 3 plotline.  This will be very similar to the interactive comic that was included with the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2.  However, you’ve got about six months or so, you might want to consider grabbing the first two games if you haven’t played them.

Those that played both Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 noticied that there was a considerable amount of streamlining that went into the sequel.  Many of the RPG elements were “dumbed down”  to make the game a much more fluid and neat experience.  However, in Mass Effect 3 it seems that some of these RPG elements will be getting an upgrade.  There will be more freedom for customization of your character skill sets, with larger skill trees of multi-tiered evolutions of your powers.  Further customization of weapons will also be featured in ME3.  Modifications can be made to weapons to alter damage attributes and usability, by swapping out parts like scopes and barrels.

The game will feature multiple ending scenarios depending on how it is played, and the ultimate outcome will be derivative of your cumulative experience and choices over the three games.  When the single player fun is over, despite claims that multiplayer will be included in Mass Effect 3, it was announced that it would not be included this time around.  Bioware noted that they are looking at possible spin-offs to the universe but Mass Effect 3 WILL NOT HAVE MULTIPLAYER.