Mass Effect 3

A while back, a rumor started circling around the internet about the upcoming Mass Effect 3. That rumor? Earth, our home sweet home, was supposedly going to have a major role in Mass Effect 3's plot.

So, is the rumor true? Well, sort of, but not in the way you'd expect.

Fair warning, this article is going to contain spoilers up the wazoo, so if you are the type of guy who refuses to skip to the end of a book before you finish reading it, turn away now.

Mass Effect 3 will start on Earth, shortly after the events of Mass Effect 2's DLC campaign "The Arrival." Our favorite commander with Schrödinger's gender, Shepard, is being put on trial because of that whole being-sent-to-rescue-one-scientist-and-inadvertently-destroying-a-star-system thing. Unfortunately, before Shepard can be made into a (probably deserving) scapegoat, Reapers attack and start blowing things up.

This is about as far as Earth's direct involvement in the plot goes. Reapers are tearing the planet apart, and it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot you can do about it at first. Of course, Shepard is a hero, and heroes will go down fighting even if it means bringing down the rest of the universe with them. So off you go in the newly equipped and pimped-out Normandy SR-2 in an attempt to unite all the races in the universe. The ultimate goal, of course, is to fight the Reapers before they destroy the Earth.

This is apparently where the majority of Mass Effect 3's plot and gameplay will be focused. Other planets and species are having their own problems, and you, being the eternal happy helper, will have to resolve their issues so that they can join you in the fight. Some of the things you'll help out with include stopping the war between the Quarians and the Geth, resolving a Salarian struggle over the Krogan genophage, and solving a lot of less important problems.

One of the coolest parts of Mass Effect 3 is that it takes into account everything you have done in previous Mass Effect games (if you transfer your data, that is). Choices you made in Mass Effect 2 will either prevent certain civilizations from joining the cause or allow them to become your allies with relatively little meddling. Other choices will alter the quests you have to take in order to recruit more races to join the war effort. BioWare boasts that over 1,000 variables in Mass Effect 3 will be affected by your choices in previous games.

Among those variables are the returning characters you will see over the course of the game. All former squad members will return, as long as they didn't die in a previous game. Not all of them will be available as playable characters though. Unlike previous games, your party will frequently change over the course of Mass Effect 3, and you won't always have the same pool of squad-mates to choose from. Some squad members will only join for particular missions, and other former squad members will merely become NPCs. Liara, Ashley/Kaiden, and Garrus are the only returning characters that have thus far been confirmed to be playable. Joining them will be a new playable character, James Sanders, of whom very little information has been revealed. Some believe, however, that he has some relation to Kahlee Sanders from the Mass Effect novels.

Shepard has his/her own troubles to worry about (aside from all the horrible galaxy devouring robo-scourges, that is.) Both The Illusive Man and Cerberus are after Shepard's blood. Whatever ultimate purpose they will serve has not been revealed, but they both will be very important as the story evolves.

Mass Effect 3 will not be easy in terms of gameplay or story: players will be forced to make extremely difficult choices as the game progresses. Shepard may end up having to sacrifice entire civilizations for the greater good. There is a secret to destroying the Reapers, and a good portion of the plot will involve trying to figure out exactly what that secret is. However, once revealed, the price of that sort of power may higher than expected.

The game will have numerous endings: some good, some bad, but most will fall into some various shade of gray. There will most likely not be one "best possible outcome" you can achieve. The endings will be based on who you have in your squad, which allies you've recruited, and which choices you've made throughout all three Mass Effect games. Supposedly, you can achieve the "worst case scenario" ending even while trying your best, so the decisions in the game won't be static black-and-white/good-and-evil scenarios. In fact, it's possible that certain decisions made in previous Mass Effect games will lock you out of a "good" ending from the get go. After you get your (most likely bad) ending, the game can continue in a Mass Effect 2-style New Game Plus mode.

Don't worry if you haven't played the previous games; Mass Effect 3 will come with a "previously on Mass Effect" comic that you can use to make decisions while starting the game from scratch. It will detail the scenarios that lead up to the events of a Mass Effect 3 that's not based off previous game save data.

There will be some major changes to gameplay as well. The game will feature far more RPG elements than Mass Effect 2, yet not quite as many as Mass Effect 1. Skill trees will be larger and will give the player more freedom in character customization. Powers will evolve several times rather than just once. Weapons will be able to be modified FPS-style, allowing you to swap out different barrels, scopes, magazines, attachments, and much more. Mass Effect 3 is all about giving you options without bogging you down in stats.

All classes can now wield every weapon type, but each class will have a limited amount of slots to carry those weapons in. As a result, fans have been theorizing that Soldiers will have four slots (enough to carry every weapon), Vanguard and Infiltrator (the Soldier dual classes) will have three, and every other class will have two.

Environmental interaction will be expanded as well. The cover system has been refined: you no longer have to be in cover in order to hop over objects. Battlefields will lend themselves to a more freeform type of mobility, allowing Shepard and his/her squad mates to seamlessly jump over or hide behind anything that looks like cover. Moveable and climbable ladders have also been implemented, allowing you to gain the high ground in ways you couldn't have before. You have to hand it to the guys at BioWare: they can even make climbing a ladder sound like a groundbreaking game alteration.

Unfortunately, there won't be any multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. BioWare had originally wanted to include it but ultimately felt that it went against the sci-fi RPG feel they were aiming for. To make up for it, though, they may eventually make a standalone multiplayer Mass Effect title or even a Mass Effect MMO.

Overall, Mass Effect 3 looks like it is bringing the best parts of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 together in one brilliant sci-fi RPG epic. It's one of the first games to maintain a consistent world influenced by players' choices throughout multiple installments of the series. In the end, it will all culminate into one massive battle for a universe that you helped build.