

Shepard meets with Anderson at a control panel, who is taken hostage and shot by the Illusive Man. After a long and grueling battle in London, Shepard reaches a Reaper transportation beam to enter the Citadel despite being gravely wounded by Harbinger, the most powerful Reaper. Under the command of Anderson, Hackett, and Shepard, the Alliance and its allies launch an all-out assault on the Reapers in a last-ditch effort to retake Earth and the Citadel via the Crucible. Former squadmates such as human Cerberus officer Miranda Lawson (Yvonne Strahovski), salarian scientist Mordin Solus (William Salyers), krogan leader Urdnot Wrex (Steven Barr), human criminal Jack (Courtenay Taylor), genetically engineered krogan soldier Grunt (Steve Blum), drell assassin Thane Krios (Keythe Farley), asari Justicar Samara (Maggie Baird), and geth mobile platform Legion (D. Other characters include Normandy pilot Jeff 'Joker' Moreau (Seth Green), Systems Alliance admiral David Anderson (Keith David), Systems Alliance admiral Steven Hackett (Lance Henriksen), Cerberus leader the Illusive Man (Martin Sheen), and Cerberus assassin Kai Leng (Troy Baker). While the exact roster can vary, Shepard's squad members generally include Systems Alliance officer Ashley Williams (Kimberly Brooks) or Kaidan Alenko (Raphael Sbarge), Systems Alliance marine James Vega (Freddie Prinze Jr.), asari information broker Liara T'Soni (Ali Hillis), turian military adviser Garrus Vakarian (Brandon Keener), artificial intelligence EDI (Tricia Helfer), and quarian engineer Tali'Zorah (Ash Sroka).

The protagonist of Mass Effect 3 is Commander Shepard (Mark Meer or Jennifer Hale), an elite human soldier who is Commanding Officer of the Normandy SR2 starship. Once enough points are earned, Shepard levels up, which allows for the unlocking or upgrading of skills along a tree. By completing assignments and quests, the player is rewarded with experience points. For example, the Adept class is proficient in telekinetic powers whereas the Soldier class is proficient in weapons. Similar to previous installments in the series, the player is able to choose from six different character classes that each have their own unique set of skills. By importing an old character, decisions from prior Mass Effect titles are carried over, which impacts the plot of Mass Effect 3. If the player has a completed saved game from Mass Effect 2, the character from that game can be imported. Shepard's gender, appearance, military background, combat training, and first name are determined by the player before the game begins. Mass Effect 3 is an action role-playing game in which the player takes control of Commander Shepard from a third-person perspective.
