

Shepard has reunited with the Alliance and retrieved blueprints for a potential machine to defeat the Reapers they call "The Crucible." To retake Earth, and more importantly survive the Reaper invasion, Shepard must form a new team and unite the races of the galaxy to fight back and commit resources to the Crucible. It leads to the ultimate fear: the Reapers invade the Milky Way in the year 2186 and Earth is among the first to be overwhelmed. Mass Effect 3 was released on all three platforms in early March 2012, with a Wii U port being released at the console's launch in November 2012.The gameplay shifted dramatically into something much more linear: it had more clearly stated levels built around cover-based shooting vehicle travel was dropped entirely (excluding a DLC mission) and weapon types was restricted by class. Shepard's association with Cerberus strains their relationship with both the Alliance and their previous allies, so they turn to the seedier side of the galaxy for a new team to face the Collectors. After a two-year Time Skip covered by the opening credits, it takes up in 2185 where the militant/terrorist human group called Cerberus has rescued Shepard and tasked them to investigate the Collectors, who have been abducting entire human colonies for reasons that are unclear but believed to be related to the coming Reaper invasion. In the prologue, Shepard and their crew are brutally attacked by the enigmatic alien species, the Collectors.

