SDCC 2011: Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360) Preview
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 07.29.2011
Hands On: We finally got our hands on Mass Effect 3 at the San Diego Comic-Con. Jeffrey Harris checks in with his exclusive preview.
Off-site at the San Diego Comic-Con, Bioware was holding special demos of their new games including Dragon Age II, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and of course Mass Effect 3. I went immediately for Mass Effect 3 as I previously got to check out the behind closed door preview at E3 last month. This special demo that was open to attendees of SDCC let us play the E3 build/demo that we only got to view. Now we could actually play the demo that was only previewed by the developers.
In this demo, you play as Shepard and get help from your team as you have to rescue one of the few remaining fertile, female Krogans. You are trying to guide her to safety in an escape pod, but the female Krogan and your team are under attack from a Cerberus squad of soldiers. The Cerberus organization are opposed to the alien races alligning themselves against the Reaper threat and are trying to take out the Normandy crew and the female Krogan. I set my play through on Soldier mode since I am all about guns and artillery. Before you start your game, you can use your points to customize your various skills and abilities and also do some weapons upgrades.
So after doing your set up, customizing, and upgrades you get to start the demo play proper. You help launch the escape pod with the female Krogan and Mordin Solus who is escorting her in the pod. The Cerberus soldiers will advance and you will have to take them out with your team. I love the third person shooter combat in this game. You get to use that along with your squad commands which is a cool element. You can't just run into a fight guns blazing and it is best to flank your enemies and take them out using strategy. Failing to do so will risk the death of your comrades and also the female Krogan and Mordin Solus.
The coolest new element added to your melee attacks is the omniblade. By holding down the melee attack button, you can now use the omniblade as a cool lightsaber type weapon. I quite enjoyed sneaking up on soldier and FACHOOM, death by omniblade. This was my favorite weapon to use in the demo. The Cerberus will continue to advance on the facility you are in and you will have to take them out. You will continue to launch the escape pod up levels of the facility and eventually have to re-direct power from a generator.
Eventually you make it to the final level and take out another group of Cerberus soldiers. However, a Cerberus mecha/battlesuit attacks and that is unfortunately where the demo ends. I quite would've liked to get a boss-type fight in the demo, but oh well. The game looks great. Shooter controls are good and it offers a nice variety in styles and modes of play as well as customization. Graphics look extremely slick and the voice acting as always is top notch for the series. Mass Effect 3 is due March 6 on Windows PC, Xbox 360, and for the most superior version it will also be on PS3.
