New Heavy Melee class for Mass Effect 3

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 20 April, 2011

Potential spoilers inside.

UPDATE: We've run the original Spanish by our colleagues at Eurogamer.es, and have amended some of the details reported below as a result.

ORIGINAL STORY: Mass Effect 3 features a new class, according to fresh details that emerged this afternoon.

There may be spoilers ahead.

Eurogamer.es translation of Spanish gaming magazine MarcaPlayer (via the BioWare forum), reveals that Mass Effect 3's Shepard has a "SWAT turn" and new melee attacks, including kicks and punches. The Heavy Melee class takes advantage of these new melee attacks.

Shepard can roll, jump small gaps, and hit cover in a way likened to Max Payne.

Space battles are possible, but unconfirmed at this stage. The Engineer can build turrets, and weapons are customisable.

New locations include New York, London, the Salarian home planet, a Quarian moon, and Mars. Developing each location takes six months, and BioWare test them as soon as they start working on them.

Pro-human organisation Cerberus, which acts against Shepard in the game, has mechs, assault units and "ninja-style" shock troops at its disposal.

But Shepard and his party members are able to cause damage dynamically to enemies. The Cerberus mechs, for example, have a weak spot that must be shot. Arms can be cut off and armour can be broken.

The combat is described as "more dynamic", forcing players to move quickly. "Game rhythm" is 10-15 per cent faster.

Mysterious alien robot race the Reapers come in different sizes, from 500-600 metres to two kilometres. Sovereign, for example, is a two kilometre Reaper.

Environments are bigger. We'll see people walking, ships fighting and more detailed architecture. BioWare is looking for photo-realism by using new lightning techniques for the environments. Atmosphere is also better and there are more interactive elements in the scenarios.

A new scanning system has been implemented, and we won't drive the vehicles of previous Mass Effect games.

Earlier this month US magazine Game Informer revealed the first details on Mass Effect 3.

The RPG elements of Mass Effect are being expanded for the third game. Skill trees will be larger, and powers can evolve several times.

Characters returning in Mass Effect 3 include love interests Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams. Squad members Garrus, Wrex, Mordin and Legion are pencilled in (providing they didn't die), as is Anderson. Whether these old faces can be recruited remains to be seen.

James Sanders - a possible offspring of Mass Effect novel heroine Kahlee Sanders - can also apparently join your team.

Mass Effect 3 starts as Shepard stands trial for his actions in recent ME2 DLC Arrival. Part-way through the hearing the Reapers invade earth. Mass Effect 3's prologue involves Shepard escaping to the Normandy, before rocketing off to put the old team back together. He'll fight Reaper-controlled husks of all species along the way.

Like Mass Effect 2 on PS3, the third game packs an interactive digital comic to both backfill the story as well as take your input on key series decisions.

Enigmatic Mass Effect 2 patron the Illusive Man also returns, his Cerberus operation now tasked with killing Shepard. Why the Illusive Man has turned the tables on his former champion remains to be seen.

Multiplayer is said to be off the cards.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Golgo #1 1 year ago

    She'll be a big lump of a girl, then.

  • glottis0 #2 1 year ago

    Is Tali not coming back then? She was my favourite!

  • M83J01P97 #3 1 year ago

    I don't like how your choices at the end of ME2, regarding your support of Cerberus, seem to have no effect on ME3. They are just out to get you no matter what decided to do in ME2. Which seems a shame to me. Would have been nice to make them either your enemy or your allies again depending on previous save game choices and not just a universal enemy no matter what.

  • vibroguy #4 1 year ago

    day 1 purchase this, make no mistake

  • DozyKipper #5 1 year ago

    So what effect did destroying or saving the Collector's base have in ME3? What about the Rachni? They've not been mentioned yet. I hope there's lots of things still to be revealed. It's sounding a bit naff at the moment.

  • RodHull #6 1 year ago

    Harbinger has grown somewhat then, as have all the other Reapers. It's going to end up like some weird Resistance / Shadow of the Colossus mash up at this rate.

  • Cheddar99 #7 1 year ago

    yes please.

  • spekkeh #8 1 year ago

    Wonder what role Miranda will play in this, was looking forward to the bitchfight with Liara in my case (would buy DLC if it involved mud).
    Good to see that it won't only be on Earth but still has some space travel in there, hopefully it's not going to be a Matrix Revolutions style action finale.

  • bluem4gic #9 1 year ago

    Vanguard for life live or die

  • andywilkie35 #10 1 year ago

    So if this picks up straight after the Arrival DLC, this prompts two questions:

    1) What of those who didn't buy the DLC, where does their game start? and if it starts here, won't they be scratching their heads thinking "I don't remember this plot point"
    2) Does this confirm that the Arrival DLC is therefore counted as part of the main ME2 game, and therefore has been chopped from the game to bleed more money out of those who wanted to finish it fully?

    For shame.

  • bluem4gic #11 1 year ago

    Vanguard for life live or die

  • bluem4gic #12 1 year ago

    Vanguard for life live or die

  • SilverInfinity #13 1 year ago

    Sounds like it will be better than ME2 which is a good thing. Defo will be picking it up!

    Know I'll get flamed for this but ... ME2 just wasn't as good in my personal opinion as the first one.

  • spekkeh #14 1 year ago

    Why would you be flamed for that? Personally I think ME2 overall was the better game gameplay wise (oh how I loved to hate ME1 while playing it), but lacked the excellent plottwist/epiphany of ME1 that really moved that game in top gear for an awesome finale. And I reckon that's sort of the consensus opinion (ME2 better game, but ME1 better story), so fully understandable if you prefer one over the other.

  • Indy #15 1 year ago

    Speedy and dynamic combat has me worried that they will put even more emphasis on fighting. Also, I hope we will be able to travel the galaxy freely again - I am not looking forward to solely go on a tour of our own solar system. And like others said, I also think it's kinda strange that Cerberus is out to get you no matter what. Makes me glad I gave Illusive Man the finger at the end of ME2, though.

    Anyway, we'll see how it turns out as more info rolls in over the coming months, but my enthusiasm is extremely reserved at the moment, since my confidence in Bioware took a battering since Dragon Age II. I really hope they deliver with this one.
    Edited by Indy at 20/04/11 @ 16:01

  • spekkeh #16 1 year ago

    I don't mind if it's solely a tour of our solar system, the other two games (two especially) were about exploring the universe and left out our solar system. For a trilogy it would make sense to narrow it down for the ending, instead of opening up yet again.

  • Scimarad #17 1 year ago

    "New locations include New York, London, a moon, a Salarian world and Mars."

    Woo-hoo! I hope London and New York are actually there and not just idle speculation.

  • Valland #18 1 year ago

    "Mass Effect 3 starts as Shepard stands trial for his actions in recent ME3 DLC Arrival."

    I'm pretty sure Arrival was for ME2.

  • Kanjin #19 1 year ago

    'Reapers invade London, invasion delayed three hours due to congestion.'

  • Dave_McCoy #20 1 year ago

    I hope Miranda is back on my squad. I spurned Ashley for her...I'm going to look a real arse if she's hardly in it and Ashley is.

    Perhaps I can talk Ashley round, "Hey baby, I thought we were going to die y'know. She meant nothing"

  • TheSnotGoblin #21 1 year ago

    I seem to recall them talking about a combat knife in the early days of Mass Effect 2; one you could imbue with weapon powers. Am I imagining that or did it happen?

  • photoboy #22 1 year ago

    How is the player supposed to defeat the Reapers if there's (probably) no space battles? Does Shepard just have to hope they all land on planets so they can be attacked on the ground? Or will it all be done in cut-scenes like the end of ME2 up against the Collector ship? Or worse still, will the Reapers be wiped out via deus ex machina, avoiding the need to go and destroy every single one?

    To be fair, I thought Halo Reach's space battles were pretty rubbish, so I'd hate to see Bioware add ropey space battles to ME3 just to keep me happy, but it seems to me nothing less than a bad-ass starship (or a fleet of them) will be able to plausibly take down the thousands of Reapers we saw at the end of ME2.

    I loved ME2 so much, I really want to love ME3, but every time I hear something about it I worry that it's just not going to be as amazing. When I read about no space battles, very few cast members from ME2 returning and no Jack Wall it all makes me nervous that it's going to disappoint. I'm very likely just being an arsehole for expecting ME3 to conform to my expectations, but I really, really, really want ME3 to blow me away as much as ME2 did. Historically the third part of most sci-fi series is often the weakest (Return of the Jedi, Spider-Man 3, Alien 3, etc, etc). Please don't be shit, ME3!

  • Vortex808 #23 1 year ago

    Please tell me Tali will be back! Visiting a Quarian moon will be interesting, but Tali had better be in the crew. I took her on most missions in 1 & 2 as well as giving Liara the elbow for her in ME2.

  • Quixz #24 1 year ago

    I couldn't stop reading even after being told they would be spoilers =/

  • Phishfood #25 1 year ago

    bringing fists to a laser fight? Hell yeah

  • spekkeh #26 1 year ago

    Must say they're laying the "Shepard = Jack Bauer" on pretty thick, starting with bringing the hero cop to court for going rogue, after which they have to ask him to save the day once again.

  • Xardan #27 1 year ago

    Didnt read this because of spoilers but i hope its all good news!

  • Centrifugal #28 1 year ago

    The Reapers aren't robots, they're cyborgs!

    /pedantic

  • icematt12 #29 1 year ago

    A few points:

    First, I always believed Sovereign to be one of the more powerful Reapers. Makes sense to me if you are leaving one behind you would leave one of the strongest rather than one of the grunts. Normandy on it's own could in theory battle a few Reapers on it's own and survive. Use it's stealth system, put up a little fight before sending a Now! message to bring in the vast backup.

    Second, people say about Shepard being hated by Cerberus no matter what but what about SB's agent in LotSB DLC? No matter what you do, he/she says about you working with terrorists seemingly ignoring any anti-Cerberus activities you done. Interested to see what Cerberus brings against me, perhaps gear/upgrades you can only get from them.

    Only thing that would make me want the final part more is bad things happening to the turian Councillor. Dismiss my fist hitting your face.

  • Agiel7 #30 1 year ago

    "A new scanning system has been implemented"

    Oh, god, why?! Why?!!! WHHHYYYY?!!!!

    Seriously, it's impossible for me to fathom how Bioware's playtesters thought that that was any fun AT ALL. The designers of the mechanics ought to be strung up by their Achilles tendons.

  • NewbieZilla #31 1 year ago

    DozyKipper

    Do you not want to find anything out by playing the game? Why do you want to know everything beforehand?

  • shave_my_donkey #32 1 year ago

    i really doubt they will drop major characters, (esp love interests like tali and miranda.....garrus if thats how you roll)

  • WeakOrbit #33 1 year ago

    Man is anyone else hoping a bad ass Elcor joins the party in this one.

  • WeakOrbit #34 1 year ago

    Man is anyone else hoping a bad ass Elcor joins the party in this one.

  • Mr.Spo #35 1 year ago

    "Characters returning in Mass Effect 3 include love interests Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams. Squad members Garrus, Wrex, Mordin and Legion are pencilled in (providing they didn't die), as is Anderson. Whether these old faces can be recruited remains to be seen."

    Liara, Kaidan/Ashley, Garrus and the new James Sanders guy were confirmed as squadmates, though Game Informer weren't clear if they would all be permanent. I'd guess Liara, James and whoever you didn't sacrifice on Virmire will be permanent squadmates--they're the only ones who won't have died during Mass Effect 2. As for your ME2 team, I guess they'll definitely turn up in some capacity if they survived, but I don't know if they'd be permanent squadmates--in terms of squeezing dialogue onto the disc(s) for various missions, it probably makes more sense to just have unique missions where they accompany you rather than have them available throughout the entire game. Though we'll see. Either way, this is my most anticipated title of the generation so far.

  • Smerdyakov #36 1 year ago

    "Multiplayer is said to be off the cards."

    Phew. A bullet dodged.

  • elvis_vibrator #37 1 year ago

    @WeakOrbit

    Been hoping for that since the last game. He could have dino riders-style weapons!

    Also, a hover/jetpack volus spectre.

  • tyrant1 #38 1 year ago

    Still has that "combat is the most important thing about Mass Effect" vibe that ME2 had leading up to release.

    Bioware really need to work on that, because it isnt the most important thing.

    It doesnt matter how "viseral" and "fast paced" your combat system is, its going to get boring eventually. They need to follow the originals example more and allow some more "non-combat gameplay" to come forward more.

    Im not going to spend the entire game navigating another long list of Biowares attempts at "interesting, more interactive shooting galleries".

    I want to spend an hour or two exploring the citadel again once in a while, or something like that.

    Sadly though, this game looks to be like Mass Effect 2 in that its just through and through designed for the ADHD shooter junkies who accuse the game of "talking too much" if they are held back from combat for more than 5 minutes.

    If this game is designed so that you are never more than 5 minutes away from another "visceral" dose of combat, Bioware clearly have fully betrayed their original vision so they can turn it into a full on Gears clone.
    Edited by tyrant1 at 21/04/11 @ 08:48

  • WeakOrbit #39 1 year ago

    @elvis_vibrator

    Hah yeah Especially if its the Volus who's out of his brains in the Justicar mission.

    Don't forgot about the advert for the Dirty Harry style Hanar, Blasty the Jelly fish.

    "ENKINDLE THIS"

  • hiddenranbir #40 1 year ago

    Tali won't come back. I killed that whiny baby bitch.