Albeit annoyinly, sometimes. I managed to compile a large amount of Assignments on my current playthrough that I have yet to complete.
I think Joker says it best as one of his messages comes in giving Shepard an assignment. "Message coming in... Big surprise, the alliance needs your help again!"
Yup. You also hear him right at the beginning talking to Udina about Shepard's background and at the end commanding the fleet at the Citadel. He's even mentioned in passing a few times in ME2 (I think you get an email from him about the Normandy crash site, plus there are some newsbites that mention him.) Also, if you've played Lair of the Shadow Broker, IIRC there's a bit where Liara gives Shepard his/her old dog tags, saying Hackett gave them to her. If you do a quick search on youtube you should be able to find a little behind the scenes video of Henriksen recording some lines that might jog the memory.
It looks like this last DLC will be a solo mission. I was kind of hoping the Virmire Survivor would be in it.
I agree. But just because the screenshots they've released only have Shepard in them doesn't mean it'll be solo without party members. They could be at conversation points, and your party members are not involved. Like in Overlord, you're chatting with Archer and your party is acounting for the dead.
Not that I necessarily disagree with that, but IIRC one of the leaked achievements looked like they were trying out some kind of stealth gameplay element. That would support the idea that at least part of the mission is solo. I mean who ever heard of a party stealth game? Either way, we'll just have to wait and see. Incidentally, looks like Cerberus Daily News has indeed resumed. Anyone else feel like the Batarians are now pawns for the Reapers? They certainly have enough of a grudge against humanity that the Reapers might try to exploit. Also, wasn't there some obscure codex reference mentioning the Batarians stealing a mysterious biological starship from the Salarians?
^Yep it was called the Leviathan of Dis. It wouldn't surprise me if the Reapers had someone like the Batarians or Vorcha help them. I just don't want to be fighting wave after wave of Husks for most of the game.
All of the Cerberus Daily News updates leading up to Arrival have been leaked, if anyone feels like reading them all sooner than later. Spoiler: Arrival March 22 Evidence continues to mount that the system of mass relays attributed to the Protheans predate their civilization. Dr. Aurana T'Meles of the University of Serrice, a one-time skeptic of the claim, now says she's a convert. "This team has been meticulous in dating relays from many locations," she says in her findings. "It is not their responsibility to hypothesize who created the relays, only to isolate the eras of their construction." Such hypotheses abound and usually feature disappeared species like the arthenn or zeioph. Nearly all have been ruled out since they did not coexist with the oldest of the relays. Dr. Amanda Kenson, team lead for the initial discovery, could not be reached for comment at broadcast time. March 23 Dr. Aurana T'Meles' office in downtown Serrice was broken into last night after she made galactic news for supporting the controversial study that claims mass relays predate the Protheans. "I don't understand," said a flabbergasted Dr. T'Meles. "All they stole was research done by Dr. Kenson earlier this year. If they'd waited a month, they could have read it all in a published paper." Security footage shows four batarians dressed in civilian clothing breaking into Dr. T'Meles' office at 4:13 local [Thessia standard] time. Skin cells from the scene identified one burglar as Palash Tarn, a former member of the Khar'shan military's Batarian Special Intervention Unit. No officials from Khar'shan were available for comment. March 24 Reactions to the discovery that mass relays were not created by the Prothean civilization continue to pour in. Oh Kahje, the response is largely denial and shock. Religious leader All-Bright Olos the 10th, the Sounaril of the Manas tradition, reacted by uploading a 13-minute speech to the newsnets that urged calm and peace. "It is no heresy to say that the Enkindlers themselves may have been Enkindled," the hanar said. "It is their example of selflessness, courtesy, and willingness to share their gifts that teaches these ones how to live. To say there was something before them, an even more noble being, gives these pertinent an even swifter current to ride, a greater model to which we can all aspire." March 25 Two unauthorized researchers have been arrested and charged with attempting to tamper with the Lowas relay. "Zahi Moon and Ellis Veech were found on Lowas' outer surface, planning on accessing the command switches embedded in the relay," says Council Relay Security officer Lisa Tanabe. "They were about as successful as the last hundred people who tried. The real harm was parking a research vessel near a potential collision zone where debris would take weeks to clean, and we know what a single screw can do to a ship at high velocities." Tanabe is referring to the tragic explosion of the Mihairokov, a spacecraft that hit an orbiting metal bolt that caused the ship's cabin to depressurize, killing the passengers onboard. March 26 A series of security incidents at mass relays throughout Citadel space has led to the redistribution of the Council's peacekeeping fleets. "Public attention has shifted to the relays, and relay-related crime is elevated," says Captain Miyamoto Whelan of the Alliance fleet. He went on to list starship loitering, debris dumping, and suicide by relay as chief incidents to be policed. The resulting military presence has been disruptive enough to cause hours and sometimes days of delays for regular flights. "I don't see why they need to park cruisers on the route to freaking Voya," said commuter Lakshmi Dasgupta. "No one's attacking Voya, and don't tell me they're there to guard something that's indestructible." March 27 Commerce took a plunge yesterday as galaxy-wide traffic delays ground transport and finance to a halt. "I'd estimate we lost 612-billion credits across the galaxy," says macroeconomics expert Dora Voke, "and we would have easily doubled those losses if it wasn't for the asari business holiday." While traffic flow between relays is back to normal, the effects are still being felt by commuters and vacationers. "Unbelievable," says Roman Basee, a citizen from Mars who was taking his first holiday in eight years. "The starline says they'll rebook, but it's just crazy that everything can grind to a halt. The Citadel's got to make sure this doesn't happen!" March 28 In a surprise move, respected Systems Alliance admiral, Steven Hackett, testified today before the Citadel council that the Joint Chiefs of the Alliance have relaxed their attitude toward the increased construction of turian dreadnoughts. "The Alliance is behind our councilor one hundred percent," the admiral said, a significant departure from the Chiefs' protests of the past. "Having recently conducted significant joint operation exercises with the turians, as well as smaller efforts with salarians and asari, the Alliance Navy feels the threats of the 22nd and 23rd centuries [Earth standard] will be external to the signatories of the treaty of Farixen." Batarian ambassador Nel'Tarras Tilshan reacted vehemently. "The humans appear to be falling into a bloody-minded course, and we hope they turn back. Dreadnoughts are not for peacekeeping, they are for devastating planets! Hackett now sides with those who are a direct threat to the batarian people."
^ Interesting...though it doesn't give away much more than we already knew. Spoiler: CDN Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it looks as if that contrary to what the Citadel council may or may not believe regarding the nature of Sovereign, some of the Alliance top brass including Hackett, the Turian military and probably STG actually take Shepard's warnings seriously. Why else would they be so eager to get as many dreadnoughts off the production lines as possible. One thing's for sure; there had better be a scene in ME3 where the Destiny Ascension returns the favour and comes to the Normandy's rescue! That's a relief since it'd strain credibility a bit in ME3 if you have to mobilize the entire galaxy from a standing start. Indeed, spreading the citadel fleet out to the mass relays rather than focusing them around the citadel may be a very wise strategic move. After all the Protheans were caught off guard and had the bulk of their force wiped out at once. That'd be hard to do with the fleet spread all over the galaxy.
I hope not, because I accidentally the whole thing. Otherwise, good points, that would make a lot of sense. Spoiler: spoilers But it could also mean that ME3 is being set up from some sort of conflict between the Turians and Batarians that you have to resolve in order to get the Turians to help Earth.
I've been waiting for that. I wonder why they kept his face a secret? LOL When I played female Shepard I found the Lieutenant so bland as a love interest...thank goodness Jacob was more interesting. I so miss the geth husk...so fun... Where were they in ME2?
I don't think they were keeping Hackett's appearance a secret, they just never had any need to design a face for him until now.
They said that the geth got the husk technology from Sovereign when your on Horizon so technically all Husks came from the same place . Outside of the main storyline one of the N7 missions has lots of husks. http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/N7:_Abandoned_Mine
But the Geth Husk were the best on hardcore... wow. You run into a horde of them and suddenly you're doing the shotgun backpedal!
Shoot, I was doing the shotgun backpedal in ME2 on normal. Especially where you go to the planet with the indoctrination device in the mine and they just keep coming! I hate husks!
^What bothered me most about the husks is their ability to stun lock you, so that if more than one gets too close you're more or less buggered. It'd be nice to have some kind of counter attack. I mean Shepard is a trained special forces soldier, it's a bit hard to swallow that she'd be defeated by some mindlessly flailing limbs. I envision it being a little extra part of a cutscene for those that saved the council. Say for the sake of argument there's a bit where the cavalry arrives and if you saved the Destiny Ascension in ME1, it's there leading the charge and saves the Normandy's arse. If not then you just get a shot of the Turian cruisers and maybe the Normandy takes a hit that kills some nameless crew members. Nothing pivotal, just a little story flourish. Spoiler: spoilers I doubt the Turians would need that many dreadnoughts to deal with the Batarians if they really had to. The Impression I always got was that the Batarians were a third rate power even before they left the citadel. If I remember the codex right, dreadnoughts are supposed to be the serious heavy hitters, the kind that can devastate inhabited planets and smash though enemy fleets. No, I think they're gearing up for some Reaper on dreadnought combat. It also might be worth remembering that the upgraded main gun you can get for the SR2 was a Turian design, back engineered from one of Sovereign's weapons. Ack. I did the romance with Jacob for one of my FemShep playthroughs and...I don't know...his "flirty" voice just creeped me out. Maybe if I had ovaries I'd feel different, but I don't and it just made me want to file a restraining order. So yeah, I sent him into the tube on the collector base and got back with Liara. Doesn't look like it. Not that it should surprise anyone, I mean aside from Lawson, none of the characters really look much like their voice actors.
Hackett's face looks a little like Zaeed's. I got slam for my soldier so I'd backpedal and alternate between shooting and using slam.