Dammit!
It's been taken down.
Woah! I'm liking the idea of the omni-tool being used as a sword this time around!
Looks good, I just hope it's not too Earth centric. Partly because what makes the ME games so great is being able to explore different environments, and also because the Reapers are supposed to be a threat to the entire galaxy, not just one planet/species (ME2 was way too focused on humans IMHO).
Really? IMO the first was more focused on humans... I mean the whole plot is that you're the first human spectre, and a lot revolves around trying to get the other established space races to trust humans are capable.
The 2nd one is entirely focused on getting your team going, and most of them are non-human. I agree that the scale of the 2nd wasn't as large, but that's not because it focused on humans and earth... just that it focused more on the characters vs. the larger threat. Now that all the characters are set up I expect the 3rd to be a pretty awesome finale with more focus on the enemy.
3/6/12 - did it slip again?
Wait, so the game starts with the invasion already having begun? That seems kind of lame given how powerful the reapers were made to be, almost guarantee it's going to be a completely deus ex machina type ending (Ie, they're vulnerable to a computer virus that only shepard can write!).
Or EA is setting up the game for even more sequels...
Enjoy
After the poor showing that was DA2, Mass Effect 3 should go a long way in restoring Bioware's image among gamers.
Game looks pretty sharp I must say. Must be the most recent version of the Unreal engine 3..
Yay for rail shooting segments and Assassin's Creed in space; oh, and who can forget Kinect...I didn't purchase DA2 in protest but will most likely purchase ME3 because ME3, unlike DA2, lacks the heritage of the DA franchise and also has an inter-connected story that I might as well finish.
COULD go a long way. I personally expect it to be as bad as DA2.
Mass Effect 3 is getting 10 more months of development time than DA2. One of DAII's major flaws were the abundance of bugs and the perpetually recycled game areas, which simply giving the game more development time would have solved. Just going by that, Mass Effect 3 will automatically be better than DA2.
ME2 didn't suffer from it as nearly as much as ME1 and DAII did. Were there recycled assets? Sure, but there was no gameplay area that made you stop and think, "Hey, this is EXACTLY like another place I've been to before" that ME1 and DAII were filled with to no end.
Someone mentioned that the first Mass Effect game hade a great sense of mystery to it which the sequel lacked. This is true of nearly all trilogies. The first entry in a trilogy sets up the plot, introduces the mechanics of the universe, and foreshadows what will come to be. This is where the mystery comes in.
The second entry in a trilogy blows the doors off everything you thought you knew about the universe. It's usually a wild ride around the world/galaxy/universe that was set up and hinted at in the first one, essentially it shows you "all those places that were referenced but not explained in the original". It cranks up the universe to 11.
The third entry in a trilogy is the "Epic Last Stand" sequence where everything that was feared might happen has, in fact, come to pass. The homeland is under seige and the last few defenders have to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to defend it.
So far Mass Effect has been pretty standard in that regard. The Matrix trilogies are another obvious example. There's a tried and true formula for writing a trilogy. And that's why you so often hear people say the same thing - that the original was the best one because it had that sense of mystery to it. That film noir quality that the sequels lack.
The guys on stage at E3 said that the main reaper badguy in 2 is a weapon you can control in 3.
That means there will be others and ship combat.