Mass Effect 3

The latest Gamescom look at Mass Effect 3 shows the destruction of Earth and finally reveals what a Krogan female looks like.

The first mission I saw involved rescuing a Krogan female. For some reason she was contained in some kind of stasis pod and couldn't really move. It brings to mind Hannibal Lecter rolling along on a dolly. A large poncho looking thing covers her body, but her face is visible and she can talk. She sounds understandably gruff, yet respectable. Her face doesn't look all that different from male Krogans, so don't worry about a Ms. Pacman-style lipstick and mole. Anyway, Mordin is handling the transportation of her pod as Shepard fights off Cerberus operatives intent on halting your mission. You see, this female will somehow help bring together two alien races to fight the Reapers, and the anti-alien Cerberus doesn't want that.

One of the first things I noticed in the demo is that ME 3 totally rips off the action view button from Gears of War. As a Cerberus ship lands with a bunch of troops, you're prompted to hit the Y button and the camera will follow the action at hand. Don't get me wrong. This definitely looks cool, and was a great element to steal.

Shepard blasts through several areas of enemies with the help of Liara and Garrus. He shows off his new melee omnitool stab, which I feel like I've seen around. He uses fire ammo, and commands others to perform biotic moves like singularity. One interesting dialogue exchange between squadmates revealed an interesting tidbit. Garrus inquired why Cerberus keeps hounding them, and Shepard answers, "They're indoctrinated!" This is exactly what happened to Saren and several others throughout the series when a Reaper controls another being's actions. I wonder if the Illusive Man has teamed up with the Reapers with the intent of going after all the aliens?

At the end, the team fights a Cerberus Atlas -- one of those huge mechs. I got to see the whole battle and it doesn't look a whole lot different than the fights against the larger robots in ME 2. It shoots rockets and pounds the ground, but if you fill it with enough bullets it explodes like everything else. I was told that you can shoot the pilot and control the mech, but this wasn't shown, unfortunately.

When the krogan transport pod is secured, Mordin wonders if Wrex will be there for the pickup. The woman replies with something like, "Oh yeah, he can't keep his hands off a fertile female."

Next, the demo shoots over to about 10 minutes into the beginning of the game. Shepard's trial for the incidents in ME 2's Arrival DLC is interrupted by a widespread Reaper attack on Earth. He runs through the rubble with (now) Admiral Anderson as they shoot up indoctrinated creatures called cannibals. Reapers are absolutely everywhere pushing over buildings and zapping everything with lasers, including a ship you're supposed to rendezvous with.

As Shepard is rushing through a building, he spots a little kid in and air vent and tries to get him out to take him to safety. The kid refuses and sneaks away when Shepard isn't looking. Later, he and Anderson are fighting endless waves of Cannibals and the Normandy swoops in and drops a bomb on the monsters. It opens the back hatch and Shepard hops on. Anderson refuses, staying behind to help the people, while commanding you to go and unite the alien races against the Reapers. Shepard grudgingly agrees, but as the ship flies away he sees the kid from before get on a rescue ship that flies away. Unfortunately, a skyscraper-sized Reaper notices the vessel and eradicates it with a quick laser blast. Shepard looks visibly shaken, but resolved to set out on his new mission. Waiting until March to play this is going to be unbearable!