There hasn't been any shortage of Mass Effect 3 news this week, but in celebration of 'FemShep Friday' BioWare has finally rolled out the first trailer of the game starring the new-and-improved Female Commander Shepard, voiced by Jennifer Hale. If you've remained loyal to the male version of the character, this trailer might be enough to change your mind.

Mass Effect 3 will be hoping to redefine several aspects of the series so far, from combat to decision-making and everything in between. But in this case, the fans were the ones who got to have their voices be heard loud and clear. BioWare decided that the third Mass Effect game was the right time to finally give the Female version of the series' hero the makeover she deserved. The fans were asked which character model they liked the most, and the redhead won the day by a landslide.

The first official image worked up by the company's art department showed a Shepard that was as tough as she was easy on the eyes, but until now the fans have had to patiently await a look at her in action. After a brief glimpse of FemShep being sliced and diced in the latest trailer detailing ME3's new enemy types, the wait is finally over.

Have a look at the new heroine, along with some new gameplay footage of her fight to wipe out the Reaper threat:

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Since the fans of FemShep have proven just how committed they are to the character being just right, we've also pulled a few screenshots for you to admire the heroine a bit closer. The character model is sure to have some detractors, but overall she seems to fit that N7 armor just fine:

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It's safe to say that this version of Commander Shepard will be embraced more readily than some other female casting choices, and it's about time. Since the beginning of the series the male Commander Shepard has been the face of the franchise in nearly every piece of marketing. That's understandable from a sales point of view, but giving the female character model a face that was more suited to an NPC than the savior of the galaxy was quite the oversight.

Luckily now the developers have shown that they're sensitive to their female fanbase, even if the character model may take a backseat to the game's action set-pieces. Shepard has been granted a host of new class attacks, not to mention expansive weapon customization, so the gender of the hero will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the spectacle of combat itself.

What do you think of FemShep in action? Does she live up to the hype that grew from round after round of fan voting, or does the real deal come up short? Let us know in the comments.

Mass Effect 3 lets the player make plenty of choices - including gender - when it's released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on March 6, 2012.

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