What it is
Mass Effect 3 is an action role-playing game in which Commander Shepard leads a final campaign against the Reapers, a machine race that has invaded Earth and is conquering civilizations across the galaxy. Players recruit squad members from various species and classes, forge alliances, and make choices that determine which characters survive. Combat features squad-based tactics with combinable biotic and tech powers, blind fire, and enhanced melee attacks. The game includes a cooperative multiplayer mode where up to four players fight waves of enemies to liberate conflict zones. Progress in multiplayer contributes to war preparedness in the single-player campaign. New and returning squad members join Shepard's team, including soldier James Vega and EDI, an AI in a physical body.
The Reapers invade Earth and quickly overwhelm its defenses. Commander Shepard escapes and is tasked with rallying the galaxy's civilizations to build a united military force and complete the Crucible, a Prothean superweapon that may be capable of stopping the Reapers. Old conflicts between species must be resolved before any alliance can hold. From curing the Krogan genophage to settling the Quarian-Geth war, Shepard must broker impossible alliances while Cerberus, a human supremacist organization, works to undermine the effort at every turn. The fate of the galaxy depends on the strength of the force Shepard can assemble and the choices made along the way.
