Mass Effect: Preview @ GameWatchers

GameWatchers has posted a Mass Effect <a href="http://www.gamewatchers.net/node/146" target="_blank">preview</a> dating back to E3:<blockquote><em>In the press briefing we were shown a sample of in-game combat. This, sadly, was slightly disappointing in my eyes. I will admit, I am dislike it when games that use guns use automatic tracking instead of traditional FPS controls and as of this moment, BioWare has only revealed auto-tracking combat. Played in a third person perspective, the game looked a mix between real time bullet flinging combat and turn based strategy. The game isna "!t actually turned based at all, but one of the combat features is the ability to essentially pause the game, and direct your teammates to specific locations or to undertake specific strategies to more readily defeat an enemy or complete a game objective. Using this system, you can guide a placeholder character around the map to scout out conditions and set up your strategy while the game is frozen. I know what youa "!re thinking, because I was worried that you could simple wander around the whole map with the game on pause and eliminate all upcoming surprises. I was assured that in the final version of the game this feature will be curtailed so that players cannot so easily abuse it. Other than the disappointing method of firing the combat looked decent, but was not spectacular. It seemed solid and fun with a few destructible objects and several guns to choose from.</em></blockquote>