This was a good review. I like how they use the term "refined". Too often I see comments about how "oh this is just a shooter now no rpg like Mass Effect, boo," It's like they completely overlook all the awesome refinements they made to the formula. There's a ton more freedom to customization and roleplay now, especially when compared to ME2.

This asinine assumption that just because the combat and shooting elements are tons better and more smooth must mean that all the rpg elements are gone, is just silly. It's like, inorder for the roleplay elements to shine and take notice, the gunplay has to be crappy. Why can't we have a great shooter experience AND still have a great roleplay element? I loved the first two games, but the shooting element of the original Mass Effect sucked. It was absolutely dreadful and actually encouraged me to, for once, place on a lower-difficulty simply because I had so little fun playing it that way. Still a great game with a great story, I just hated the combat controls. ME2 was a huge improvement in that regard, even though they took out too many roleplay elements. The shooting was finally tolerable and cover actually felt more natural.

They've taken that a whole step farther in ME3, the action and control system is lightyears better than the originals, and to make the pot even sweeter the roleplay elements are returning a great deal. It's like taking the best parts of ME and ME2, combining them together and refining them to make the perfect jewel. It's fantastic, and I cannot wait to play it this coming March.