Casey Hudson talks to Game Informer

[Okay, so all we have to do is kill the Reapers? A species that's been successfully committing galactic genocide for billions of years? Pfft I'm a human, no prob dude...don't sweat it."]

Casey Hudson, the brains behind the Mass Effect story at BioWare had a little sit down with Game Informer and talked Mass Effect 3. Casey pointed out differences between mission and story stricter, a few mechanic and how Shepard can use more natural skill to traverse a world and explore. You'll have ladder you can access, obstacles you can more fluidly leap, mount, or hurdle; even gaps to leap across. Shepard will also execute "mini-cutscenes" as he reacts to the environment. [Think Uncharted an how Drake reacted to his environment]

One thing that really struck me and really got a hold of me was a major story element. Here's a direct quote.

There is a progression mechanic to the story, however, which is that it is in a way almost a World War II story. Since everyone is involved, you want the war to go well so that you have high morale and you have people that are going to fight. You want to conquer territories so that you have lots of assets at your disposal. That’s part of what you’re doing as Commander Shepard is the war to obtain all these assets. Some of those come through in the high-level story – large campaigns that involve entire civilizations. What you do in those missions to resolve those storylines will give you some really big assets, like the Quarian fleet, massive armies, and stuff like that. - Casey Hudson

 I'm a bit of a WWII guy and so the connection there hits a home-run for me; because it paints a vibrant picture in my head of how this tussle between Shepard and the Reapers is gonna go down.
If you'd like to see more you can follow this link for the full interview. 

[OK so... I'm sold. They can have my money. Just tell which way to throw it and they can swim in it for all I care. I just really, really wanna play this game!]


Later!
-Fox