Forventningerne til det kommende Mass Effect 3 kan efterhånden ikke bliver større, og alligevel er der hos nogle en frygt for at der er gået for meget skydespil i serien. I et nyt interview med OXM, får lead designer Preston Watamaniuk det eneste de der savner en smule mere strategi skal gøre, er at benytte sig af en af de højere sværhedsgrader.
Fra Watamaniuk lyder det således:
"We really thought about it hard. On Normal you'll be able to power your way through the game or shoot your way through the game, but when you try Hardcore or Insanity, you're not going to be able to do that any more... You really will have to think about each combat, who the enemies are, what kind of resistance you're presented with, and then strategise to take them down. "
Han uddyber senere i interviewet med følgende udtalelse:
"We've tried to make it so that it just feels like if you're working the problem, using all your squad, all your powers, picking the right guns, you're going to get through that combat. It's not going to be ‘I sat in cover and popped out five or six times to use powers and stuff."