Mass Effect 3 Magazine Preview Tidbits

New information on Mass Effect 3 is making the rounds, based on different magazine previews that are hitting the stands now. Kickarss.com offers a preview, presumably based on magazine tidbits but it doesn’t say.

One of the main focuses of Bioware is to bring back some RPG elements that were in Mass Effect but had been taken out in Mass Effect 2. There are many new ways to move across the battle field such as a refined sprint system, rolling, and the use of ladders. Weapons are no longer class restrictive but classes can only carry a certain amount of weapons, however the soldier class will be granted with the benefit of carrying any number of weapons. Weapons can also be customized with different scopes and barrels, the cover system has been refined and you no longer need to slide into cover to jump over obstacles.

PCGames.de offers tidbits from the UK Xbox World 360 preview, which notes the game will focus more on a smaller team with closer relationships.

More than anything, according to project director Casey Hudson, the twelve party members in a Mass Effect 2 party were too many. Mass Effect 3 will focus on a smaller group, with the tradeoff being more focus on individual relationships. In his words this will lead to more interesting interaction options.

NeoGAF has a lot of tidbits from the same magazine. There’s a lot of minor (location) spoilers as well as major spoilers on followers and other things, though some of the worst of it is hidden behind spoiler tags.

“Cerberus Troopers can do everything that Shepard can do now” says Designer Corey Gaspur. “So your fighting a force that’s a lot more punishing”

“We wanted to make it so that when the player’s fighting in the moment they feel like they have more options than aiming shooting and using powers says Lead Gameplay Designer Christina Norman. “We really want to make mobility a factor that plays into combat. You’ll always ask yourself, ‘am I in the right position on the battlefield? Where are my enemies? How am I going to get from point A to point B?’ Players should never be walking tino these safe places with great cover and stay there for the whole fight. It’s about how you’re going to move through the battlefield as the enemies through the battefield move through the battlefield and how they’re reacting to one another and to you”