Mass Effect 3 Details Hit The 'Net, Offer Few Surprises

As always, we support print media, so if you want the full story, go and buy a copy of GameInformer. We'll summarise for the sake of convenience here.

The biggest take-away from the new set of Mass Effect 3 information is: more Mass Effect. There'll be multiple good and bad endings depending on your personal actions throughout the game, unlike the transparent consequences of the previous game. The game will also host the return of the original game's RPG features, with larger skill trees and more specific character development. All of this was streamlined in Mass Effect 2.

In addition, weapon mods will also return in the sequel — though not to the level of the original game. You'll be able to swap out scopes and barrels to affect the appearance and performance of the weapon.

Familiar characters Liara T'Soni, Kaiden Alenko, and Ashley Williams will all return, as will squad members Garrus, Legion, Wrex and Mordin assuming they all survived in your previous game. Similarly to the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2, the third game will come with a digital comic to fill in the backstory and allow newcomers to make key decisions.

Bioware's said that Mass Effect 3 will not feature any multiplayer components, but it's not ruling out the possibility in future Mass Effect spin-offs.

Also: fantastic. We just bought the latest Mass Effect DLC even though we promised ourselves that we wouldn't.