If BioWare is becoming known for one thing, it’s story. Mass Effect 1 & 2 set players off on an epic adventure taking them across the galaxy in an effort to protect humanity from an alien threat. Well, more accurately, had players prepare themselves and their companions for a fight that would some day come. With Mass Effect 3, that fight is taking center stage. We’re all hungry for some clear details on how the final chapter in Commander Shepard’s mission will play out, and thanks to new footage from the game being shown at E3 2011, we’ve finally got some answers.

Read on for details on the mood, setting, missions, opening scenes and characters of Mass Effect 3, but if you want to avoid even the mildest of spoilers, stop reading now.

It’s easy to understand why fans would be so desperate to know more about the way the story of ME3 will be delivered and what kinds of content and mood it will entail.

After all, those who have played the series from the beginning have likely invested close to a hundred hours into Shepard’s journey, and that kind of dedication demands to be rewarded. With Mass Effect 2 taking a sideways direction as opposed to fully addressing the Reapers’ threat to humanity, there may be some who worry that the game won’t fully deliver on the scale and emotion that the narrative demands.

One mission shown from the campaign at the E3 demo takes place on what seems to be a Geth installation, giving Shepard plenty of chances to exercise his totally overhauled weapons and cover system. The crew — Shepard, Mordin, Garrus, Legion and Liara are all on hand to help rescue a Krogan female who appears to be held in a stasis chamber of some kind.

Dialogue exchanged between the characters led us to believe that the Krogan female — who was rather ornately dressed for one of the notoriously gritty creatures — is in need of help that only Mordin can provide. The scientifically-gifted Salarian notes that if he cannot free her and save her life, then the Krogans will be unlikely to aid the Turians. Urdnot Wrex is also mentioned in jest, relating to his inevitable proximity to any fertile Krogan female, but doesn’t appear himself.

Any fan of Mass Effect knows that tensions run deep within the Krogan, Turian and Salarian societies after countless battles and the biological culling known as the genophage. We know that Shepard’s task for Mass Effect 3 will be to round up allies and loyal races to oppose the Reaper invasion of Earth, so one could deduce that this particularly important Krogan female — possibly important due to her fertility or position within Krogan clans — has been captured by the Geth.

The Geth have a history of worshiping the Reapers as deities, so it’s not unlikely that they have taken her hostage at the Reapers' bidding. Shepard’s rescue of her could be what he needs to get the Krogans on Earth's side, but the implication that it would also help Turian support implies that the so-called ‘loyalty missions’ could be more dynamic and connected than we may have thought.

This is all speculation off of a few lines of dialogue and knowledge of the game’s universe, but don’t be surprised to see if some of our suspicions turn out to be true. Now exactly how the Geth and Legion storyline will develop as a result is anyone’s guess.

The Krogan rescue soon goes awry when Cerberus operatives arrive on the scene, hunting Shepard down. Their reasons for hunting the Commander are still unconfirmed, but we think it may have something to do with Shepard walking off with the now-Alliance-branded Normandy that was financed and built by the terrorist group.

From that point on the combat is the star, and while the weapons are undoubtedly one of the sources of the game’s popularity, we’re more concerned with how the third game will bring closure to Shepard’s tale at the moment.

The developers may be sure that the final game will be satisfying, but with backlash over Dragon Age 2 still fresh in people’s minds, blind faith is a lot to ask. What we can definitively say is that if the opening events to the game that we were shown at E3 are indicative of the team’s approach to the brutality of war and the importance of Shepard’s fight, then we’re all in for a treat.

Mass Effect Executive Producer Casey Hudson emphasized that this game would be all about war, and while some may have taken his previous statements to that effect as a sign of intense combat and large-scale warfare, it seems from the story moments that they mean much more.

Hudson introduced one of the sections of gameplay as taking place near the very beginning of the main campaign, when Shepard is facing a military hearing, likely for his affiliation with the anti-alien terrorist group Cerberus. We’ve previously been given details on the massive West coast super-city that falls prey to the Reapers, so we can safely assume that’s the location.

The court proceedings are cut short when the Reapers touch down and immediately begin turning the city to rubble. Captain Anderson breaks Shepard out to help him defend the city and its inhabitants, and players are plunged into the action.

Continue to Page 2 for more details on the Reaper attack!

For those unaware, we've been waiting two games to not only see Earth, but to see what a war with the reapers would truly look like, and the opening scenes of Mass Effect 3 don’t disappoint. After breaking out into the open, players are shown a vast futuristic metropolis being trampled by the massive alien juggernauts, with personal transports being blown out of the sky and flaming debris falling like rain. Forgetting the fact that the visuals are likely some of the best the series has offered to date, the context alone will have fans’ jaws dropping.

The action that follows is typical for the series, as Anderson and Shepard pick their way through fallen buildings, eliminating Husks and the new enemy type ‘Cannibals’ along the way. No actual human beings are seen, so don’t worry that Mass Effect will be going the Homefront route any time soon. At one point though, Shepard stumbles across a young boy hiding in an open vent.

The boy refuses Shepard’s offer of help and runs away, so the player continues on, eventually having the Normandy arrive to escort both he and Anderson away. After boarding the ship with Ashley Williams’ help, Anderson informs them that he has to stay behind and protect Earth, while Shepard takes his crew to bring other societies’ to humanity’s aid.

Anderson and the Normandy’s crew part ways, and Shepard notices some civilians being boarded onto rescue shuttles. The young boy is seen yet again, scrambling onto the shuttle and staring up at Shepard, locking eyes as the cabin door slides shut.

As the shuttles begin their ascent, a massive Reaper breaks onto the scene, and warms up its central laser weapon. Both the player and Shepard are forced to watch as the orchestral music of Mass Effect acts as the soundtrack to what transpires. Time slows, with the Reaper indiscriminately destroying the other shuttle first, then blowing the second to pieces as it flies past the open crew bay of the Normandy.

No massive swells of music, no rockets fired or emotional outbursts, just a close-up on Shepard’s face as his jaw sets with the realization that this is war, and it’s only just begun. That’s the drama and tone that the game sets off on, and we don’t know about you, but that certainly convinces us that the developers at BioWare have brought their best material yet.

Whether the story will be delivered in more of the open world style of the first game, or the more linear progression of the sequel hasn’t been revealed, but some hints were given. While Hudson was explaining that Mass Effect 3 is still about galactic exploration, a video of the same ship navigation system as ME2 played in the background.

Upon zooming in on a selected planet, three different points of interest were marked on the surface with the available quests noted alongside them. It seems unlikely that the developers would use footage of an already-explored planet from ME2 in the demo, so there’s a good chance that ME3 will be implementing a node system more similar to that of Dragon Age 2.

Sorry Mako fans, it’s all but confirmed that the exploration of the first game has been permanently removed. Whether planet-scanning will still be present wasn’t mentioned, and the developers certainly aren’t volunteering any details.

But if the emotionally gripping and flat-out heartbreaking events of the game’s opening are a good indication of the rest of the game’s attitude, then we’re more than fine with a node system. Heck, we’ll even take linear progression for a chance to live that story.

What are your thoughts on the revealed story details? Do they put any doubts of the team truly raising the stakes to rest as much as they did ours? Leave us your thoughts on our explanations and theories, and we’ll try to answer any questions that you might have.

And in case you haven't already, make sure to check out the new mechanics and customization offered in our Mass Effect 3 Weapons & Combat preview.

Mass Effect 3 looks to shake even the most battle-hardened space marine to his core when it comes to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on March 6, 2012.