Earlier this month I had the opportunity to head down to Los Angeles and check out the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short, which showcases all the latest up and coming titles from the world of video games. While I was there, I had a chance to sit in on a couple different sequences from the highly anticipated sequel to my personal game of the year from 2010, Mass Effect 3. Be advised that this preview may contain some spoilers about certain segments of the game.

Led by Mass Effect 3 Director Casey Hudson, our demo began by showing some of the game’s story as Commander Shepard, who was being controlled by Lead Combat Designer (and fellow Winnipeger) Corey Gaspur, reached a communications terminal to radio a pickup by his ship, the SSV Normandy. Following a quick conversation with the ship’s pilot ‘Joker’, Shepard is thrown into a firefight with some enemies followed quickly by an attack from a massive Reaper ship. As Hudson mentioned at the beginning of our demo, the third installment in the series is really all about the massive scaling of not only the mission but of the enemies we’ll face and the odds Shepard and company have to overcome throughout the game. At no point does this become more clear than when you’re staring up at (and then proceeding to do battle against) a Reaper that’s roughly the size of a skyscraper.

I’d say they’ve got the scale down pretty good.

The fight with the Reaper involves Shepard using a mounted machine gun to rip into whatever part of the monstrous behemoth looks to be the most unprotected. The problem? The whole thing looks pretty protected. The idea of this fight will certainly stir up memories of the fight with the Thresher Maw from the second game but the fact that players fire a gun mounted to a ship, flying through the air at a hundred plus miles an hour might be just enough to differentiate this fight… just a bit.

As the demo jumped to the next segment, Gaspur took the opportunity to show just what he and his team have worked on in regards to Shepard’s new moves. With over 200 new frames of animation for his movements, the Commander has never been so agile. New to the game is the ability to climb ladders, perform rolls during combat, flank enemies with teammates (Liara and Garrus were used in this part of the demo) and, as was shown to us in the demo, sneak up on and perform brand new stealth attacks against enemies. Another fantastic addition to the game is the brand new ‘Omni-blade’ melee attack which allows Shepard to grab a nearby enemy and smash a glowing orange energy blade, which emerges from his Omni-tool, into them.

The last part of this segment featured the appearance of not only Mordin Solus, a fan favorite character from the second Mass Effect, but also of the game’s new weapon customization mode. Located throughout the levels of Mass Effect 3 are tables that, when activated, display a floating Dead Space-esque UI that players can then use to select different modifiers for their guns including silencers or damage enhancers. A really interesting part about this process is that you can actually see the gun sitting on the table and, as you make changes, the look of it will change right there in real-time. Finally, we were shown the game’s new skill-tree system which allows users to choose from multiple paths for powers once they reach a certain point. Fans who were unhappy with the simplicity of Mass 2′s leveling system should be pretty pleased with what the team has done here.

The last part of our demo brought us through a chunk of the game’s story, specifically Shepard being thrown right into the Reaper’s invasion of Earth during the opening sequence of the game. As the skies above the city, which according to Hudson is modeled after Vancouver, become filled with the invaders, Gaspur made his way through the rubble alongside former Normandy commander David Anderson blasting a handful of new enemies that the team has created for the third game. Again, the scale is definitely amped up for this game as you can see the enormous Reapers descending on the city in an almost insurmountable number.

The last piece of the game we saw before our demo ended had Shepard making a choice to save a civilian or leave them behind. The term ‘emotionally engaging’ was used a lot in the weeks leading up to Mass 2′s release and, after seeing the possible outcome of this new decision, it’s clear that the team is sticking by this idea again for this game.

Based on what we were shown in the demo, Mass Effect 3 is shaping up to be an incredible game. The tweaks to the gameplay, tons of new animation for the hero, on-the-fly weapon modifications, deeper skill-trees and a story that looks like it could put Hollywood blockbusters to shame are just a few of the reasons that this third game in the trilogy will certainly be the best. If you haven’t looked into the series before, quit depriving yourself and check out what all the fuss is about. If you’re a longtime Mass Effect fan, March 6th 2012 seems like a lifetime to have to wait.

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