"Shepard's alone, through the whole thing, and that adds a layer of complexity," observes Houston. The challenge of Arrival is the absence of squad members. Players must handle the combat on their own, without employing team-based tactics, the core gameplay that Mass Effect fans have become quite comfortable and enamored with. The challenge for BioWare was to design this solo combat to scale to the player's level.

I previewed Arrival as a level-8 Soldier, and this particular Shepard was better equipped than some of the other classes to handle squads of grumpy batarians on his own. My one death occurred while charging into a particularly tense gunfight like I was John McClane, reminding me that even a Soldier-class Shepard is no action-movie hero. I can only speculate that other character classes will be even more challenged to use brain over brawn to survive. If you're an Adept or Engineer, for example, the hindrance of only being able to wear light armor could be a particularly difficult weakness to overcome -- I fought a lot during my brief playtime.

Tactful use of cover and a careful approach to each encounter is paramount. BioWare has actually added more instances of stealth into Arrival than found in the main game -- a plus for you Infiltrator Shepards -- though Metal Gear Solid this is not. I was able to side-step two potential fights by surveying the environment and finding a quiet way around. There isn't any tangible reward for being sneaky, but it provides an alternative to approaching the mission as simply a rote third-person, cover-based shooter.