Electronic Arts EA Mass Effect 3 User Manual

MASS EFFECT

1 CONTROL SCHEME
2 SINGLE PLAYER
15 MULTIPLAYER
24 TIPS AND HELP

TM

3 MANUAL

CONTROL SCHEME

Movement W/S/A/D
Walk
Cover Turn
Camera
Navigation V
Weapon Reload R
Weapon Swap X
Press: Use, Take Cover

Press Twice: Quick Vault
Hold: Storm

Melee F
Shoot Left-click
Press: Mapped Power

Hold: Power Menu
Mission Computer ESC
Quick Save F5
Tight Aim
Press: Mapped Power

Hold: Weapon Menu

Left CTRL
Scroll wheel
Mouse

SPACEBAR

Left SHIFT

Right-click

Left SHIFT

Squad Attack Z
Squadmate 1 Move/Attack Q
Rally C
Squadmate 2 Move/Attack E

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SINGLE PLAYER

The Main Menu

The main menu contains the following items the first time you play.

X New Game

X Multiplayer

X Downloadable Content

X Exit Game

X Extras

After you’ve started a game, this menu will also include the Resume and Load Game options.
Resume loads your most recently saved game.

New Game

Choose from four options when starting a new game:

Male Start fresh with a new male character.
Female Start fresh with a new female character.
Import ME2 Character Import Commander Shepard from Mass EffectTM 2, maintaining your old

character’s level as well as the decisions you made that impact
Mass EffectTM 3’s story.

Import ME3 Character Unlocks after completing Mass EffectTM 3. This allows you to start a new
game while keeping your Commander Shepard’s class, level, weapons,
and modifications intact.

Load Game

After starting a Mass EffectTM career, select LOAD GAME to continue your game, replay from an
earlier save point, or switch to another active career. Careers are created each time you start a new
game or import an old one. Within each career you will find:

Restart Mission Restart your current mission.
Autosave Resume your game from the latest checkpoint. Autosave is updated as

you progress through the game and cross checkpoints.
Saves/Quick Saves Numbered saves are created when you manually save the game.

You can also resume your game by selecting RESUME on the game’s opening screen. This will load
your most recently saved game.

Multiplayer

Select MULTIPLAYER to fight coop missions with up to three friends.
Please see the multiplayer section of this manual for additional instructions.

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Extras

The Extras menu contains the following:

Accomplishments View medals you’ve been awarded for accomplishing set goals.
Options Set gameplay, controls, graphics, sound, and online options.
Credits Watch the game’s credits.
Game Manual Read this manual!

Downloadable Content

Select DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT on the main menu to purchase new Mass Effect 3 content.

Starting a New Game

With the discovery of a network of ancient cosmic relays in the 21st century, humanity was thrust into
a universe teeming with alien life. At its heart lay the Citadel, the galactic capital for all space-faring
races. It had once been inhabited by a species known as the Protheans, who mysteriously vanished
50,000 years ago, leaving behind warnings of a godlike race of machines that had destroyed them.
This enemy had a name—the Reapers—and the warnings claimed they would return again to harvest
organic life in a never-ending cycle of destruction.

One soldier chose to heed those warnings. In 2183, Commander Shepard, captain of the Alliance
warship Normandy, destroyed the vanguard of the next Reaper invasion in a fierce battle for the
Citadel. But Shepard’s victory was only temporary. A vast Reaper armada remained, patiently waiting
in the voids of dark space to launch their next attack.

Two years later, Shepard was mortally wounded on a routine mission. Cerberus, a pro-human terrorist
organization, recovered and resurrected Shepard. Led by the shadowy Illusive Man, Cerberus
recognized that the Reapers would soon threaten humanity. Enlisting Shepard’s help, along with a
colorful crew of scientists, soldiers, and outlaws, the Normandy launched a suicide mission beyond
the fabled Omega 4 relay to once again confront the Reaper menace. Yet even this triumph was only
a delaying action in a much bigger war—a war that was about to engulf the entire Milky Way…

ME3 Experience Type

There are three ways to play Mass Effect 3. You must select one of the following options when
starting a new game, but you can also adjust combat difficulty and conversation mode in the options
menu after starting a game.

Action Mode An experience that focuses on combat. Conversations play as
cutscenes automatically.

Role-Playing Mode The core Mass Effect experience with full narrative choice and
challenging combat.

Story Mode An experience that focuses on narrative. Combat helps tell the story but
does not offer a significant challenge.

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Character Creation

After selecting Commander Shepard’s gender and the Role-Playing or Story experience types, you
enter the Alliance Headquarters Active Duty Reactivation Protocol. From here, you can choose
between default options or customize the following:

X First Name

X Appearance

X Military Class

X Personal History

X Service History

X Combat Losses

Until you confirm your selections on the Review screen, you can return to the previous screens to
change Shepard’s characteristics.

Choosing the Action experience type jumps you straight into the game, skipping these screens. By
default, Shepard was born on Earth, was the sole survivor of a failed mission years ago, and takes
the default appearance.

Importing an ME2 Character

Importing Commander Shepard from Mass Effect 2 maintains your old character’s level as well as
the decisions you made that impact Mass Effect 3’s story.

If you have completed Mass Effect 2, your old career will be available to import after selecting
IMPORT ME2 CHARACTER.

The Mission Computer

The Mission Computer is the
in-game menu. To access the Mission
Computer, press ESC after gaining full
control of Commander Shepard in the
game. Select RESUME on the
bottom-right of the screen to exit
the Mission Computer and return to
the game.

NOTE: All controls listed in this manual
are based on the default control setting.
To change your controls, go to Options
under the Extras menu and select to
adjust the Keybinding.

Squad Screen

Select SQUAD on the Mission Computer to review the powers available to Commander Shepard and
squadmates. As you level up and gain points, you can spend them here to upgrade your powers.

Journal Menu

Go to the Journal menu to view your progress, review your mission’s objectives, and read codex
entries about the Mass Effect universe.

For more information on the Journal, see The Game Journal.

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Map Menu

The map is accessible on the Normandy or Citadel to help guide Shepard when not on a critical
mission. This option will be grayed out in the Mission Computer when in areas where a map is
not available.

Press V to access the map while playing.

Options Menu

Customize your Mass Effect 3 experience in the Options menu.

Gameplay Adjust difficulty, auto level-up, squadmate power use, autosaves, hints,
and action icons.

Narrative Adjust conversation mode, subtitles, and other options.
Key Bindings Adjust keyboard controls.
Mouse Adjust mouse controls.
Graphics Adjust video settings.
Sound Adjust music, sound effect, and dialog settings.
Online Adjust online options.

Other Menus

There are four other options available on the Mission Computer.

Save Save your progress at your current position. This will be grayed out in areas
where saving the game is not possible.

Load Load a previously saved game.
Main Menu Quit your current game and return to Mass Effect 3’s main menu.
Game Manual Read this manual!

The Squad Screen

Select SQUAD on the Mission
Computer to review the powers
available to Commander Shepard and
squadmates. As you level up and gain
points, you can spend them here to
upgrade your powers.

Squadmate Powers

View the powers of the squadmates
currently active in your party by clicking
the arrows next to their portraits on the
bottom-left of the screen.

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Navigating Powers

Select an unlocked power and click EXPAND to start spending points in the power’s tree.

Your points are tallied on the top-right of the screen. Powers available for upgrade are in blue.
Grayed-out powers are locked until Shepard or the selected squadmate reaches a higher level.

Click AUTO LEVEL-UP to have powers automatically upgraded for you. Permanently set automatic
power upgrades by adjusting the Auto Level-Up setting in the Options/Gameplay menu off the
Mission Computer.

Purchasing and Evolving Powers

Upgrade a power by selecting the
leftmost icon and clicking UPGRADE
POWER. Everything to the right of the
leftmost icon (Rank 1) are upgrades
and can also be evolved with the points
tallied on the top-right of the screen.
The Rank 2 upgrade costs two points,
Rank 3 costs three, and so on. If you
have enough points, you can evolve
multiple upgrades at once.

Each upgrade must be evolved in order
from left to right, but at Rank 4, the
chain splits in two. From here, you can only choose one upgrade per rank, so review your options
carefully before locking in a choice.

Undo your changes at any point before leaving the Squad screen by clicking UNDO UPGRADE.
Returning to the Mission Computer by clicking BACK twice locks in your choices.

Reputation Indicator

The bar on the left-hand side of the
main Squad screen shows Shepard’s
reputation. When the reputation bar
reaches certain thresholds, new dialog
options are unlocked.

As you choose Renegade (red) or
Paragon (blue) actions in dialog,
the reputation bar grows. You need
not stick to one or the other to earn
reputation points.

A Paragon Shepard tends to be
compassionate and heroic, and a Renegade Shepard tends toward calculated and ruthless behavior.

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The Game Journal

Select the Journal on the Mission
Computer to check your progress,
review your mission summary and
objectives, and learn about the
Mass Effect universe.

Mission Summary

Review your current objectives in the Mission Summary tab. Return to this screen when you have
forgotten what to do next.

Codex Entries

Review the galactic codex to learn about the Mass Effect universe, its people, places, technology,
and history.

Primary codex entries are narrated. Secondary codex entries are text-only.

The HUD

Shield Bar

Ammo Indicator

Squadmate

Status

The HUD, short for Heads-Up Display, is the collection of icons and status bars you see on the edges
of the screen as you play the game. In Mass Effect 3, there are five HUDs to keep an eye on.

Health Bar

Shield Bar

Monitor your shield level by checking the blue bar on the bottom of the screen. When this bar is full,
shields prevent the brunt of an attack from affecting your health. As attacks are absorbed by the
shield, it is reduced in strength. When the shield bar is depleted, incoming attacks affect your health
bar instead.

Shields take several seconds to recharge and regenerate. Any damage taken during this
recharge period stops the process. A shattered shield takes longer to regenerate than a partially
depleted shield.

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Health Bar

Health is represented by the red bar broken into five segments that’s tucked underneath the blue
shield bar on the bottom of the screen.

When you are attacked while the shield bar is depleted, the rightmost red segment of the health bar
starts turning gray. Only First Aid can regenerate a fully depleted bar of health. A health segment that
is only partially reduced will regenerate on its own if you can get to cover and avoid further damage.

You die if you lose all five health segments!

Power Cooldown Indicator

Some powers require energy to use. The time it takes before you can use a power again is called
cooldown. Cooldown periods vary, depending on the power.

When cooldown is in effect, two red semicircles appear on either side of the targeting reticle at the
center of the screen. Cooldown time can be judged by the distance between the two semicircles.
When these come together and merge, cooldown is complete, and you can use powers again.

Ammo Indicator

Weapons use heat-sink technology to enable rapid, devastating firepower. When a clip’s worth of heat
accumulates in the sink, it is ejected from the weapon. Running out of heat sinks is effectively the
same as running out of ammo.

Keep track of your heat-sink inventory on the bottom-left of the screen. The bottom number indicates
how many shots the current heat sink has left, and the top number shows you the total number of
shots the entire inventory of heat sinks has left. When a weapon runs out of sinks, “No Ammo” will
display just below the targeting reticle, and you’ll have to find new cylinders for the weapon or switch
to an already-loaded weapon.

Squadmate Status

There are two portraits of Shepard’s current squadmates below the shield bar on the bottom of the
screen. The icon beside each portrait shows the last power the squadmate used and its current
cooldown status.

A squadmate’s portrait flashes red when they take damage, and if they become incapacitated, the
portrait fades to gray.

Basic Controls

This chapter covers basic combat controls and is intended for players new to the Mass Effect series.

Movement

Move using the following keys:

W Forward
A Left
D Right
S Backward

Camera Control

Move the mouse to look around.

Tight Aim

Right-click to accurately aim your weapon.

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Fire and Reload

To fire a weapon, left-click. To reload, press R.

Switch Weapons

Switch to the previous weapon held by pressing X.

Weapon Menu

To bring up the Weapon Menu, press and hold left SHIFT. Use this interface, which appears at the
bottom of the screen below the Power Menu, to choose a weapon from Shepard’s inventory.

The game pauses while the Weapon Menu is open.

Powers

For instructions on how to use powers, please see Powers in the single-player section.

Melee

To perform a basic melee attack, press F while standing close to an enemy.

To perform a heavy melee attack, press and hold F while standing close to an enemy. Each character
class has a unique heavy melee.

To do melee combos, press F repeatedly while standing close to an enemy.

Storm

To run, press and hold SPACEBAR while moving forward.

Evade

To dodge attacks and projectiles or to get out of cover quickly, move and press SPACEBAR.

Cover Use

Use cover objects to hold out against tough enemies. Using cover is essential when playing on harder
difficulty levels.

Accuracy is improved when leaning out of cover to fire. Heavy recoil is also reduced.

Taking Cover

There are three ways to enter cover.

X Move against cover and press SPACEBAR.

X Roll forward into cover by pressing SPACEBAR while moving.

X Storm/run into cover by holding SPACEBAR.

Zoom Fire

Pop out of cover to fire accurately by pressing and holding right-click to zoom and then left-click
to fire.

While zoomed, a superior targeting reticle appears on-screen.

Peek Fire

Fire over cover without standing up by left-clicking.

Swat Turn

Move from one cover spot to adjacent cover on the left or right by holding A or D and
pressing SPACEBAR.

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