The player

FANS OF Mass Effect 3will, by now, have access to the demo of the game, whetting their appetites for the full release on March 9th. After three titles, the latest game marks the end of Commander Shepard's story arc. It is also the first title where the next-gen controllers have been used, with the Xbox version bringing in elements of Microsoft's Kinect to gameplay.

The voice integration is key here. Mass Effect 3's Kinect functions suit the game, and more importantly, its players. You can sit in a darkened room playing and the lack of light won't affect Kinect in any way, unlike other games that use its motion-sensing capabilities.

Forget about waving your hands around or contorting into odd positions to control your characters; it just wouldn't work for this game. Using voice is simple, effective, and makes Mass Effect 3more immersive.

It’s got the backing of Bioware’s Aaron Flynn, who described it “the best game in the series”. “Mass Effect has always been a franchise about intense gameplay, choices with consequence and interaction with characters,” Flynn said. “Now we’re taking that to the highest level so far.”

That may make the crucial difference to Xbox players who have yet to be convinced about Kinect. Although the company has sold more than 18 million of the devices, Microsoft’s David Dennis said there are about 66 million consoles out there. It’s not a bad average by any stretch, but it means there are a lot of gamers out there who have yet to take up Kinect.

Kinect makes Mass Effect 3easier to play on Xbox. There's no more searching through menus to instruct your team to move forward, carry out certain attacks or adopt tactical positions. It's all done by voice and, after a while, it becomes second nature. You can even swap weapons by voice command, which makes a big difference in the heat of battle.

Of course, there are some limitations. Kinect does better picking up voices in a quieter environment, for example. But could this see a gradual acceptance of Kinect by core gamers, instead of pigeon-holing the controller as a “casual” gamer’s device? With more games set to include Kinect elements, this could soon be a reality.