Mass Effect 3 Cast and Aliens: Colonial Marines Trailer

The Reaper invasion and the galactic war to counter it will begin in a little over a month and BioWare is starting to step-up the marketing game.

If there's one thing that BioWare has always been at the top of the pile with, it's tremendous voice acting. The Mass Effect games are no exception to this as they have featured some of the finest voice acting ever recorded. Even Mark Meer (Male Shepard), who I consider the weakest link in the chain, still does an adequate job.

One thing I've been waiting for is the cast reveal trailer to see who's back and who's new. It finally came in today and I've got it below.

Before you listen to it though, I highly recommend that you also listen to the music in the background. Anyone who thought that a fabulous composer like Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) couldn't replace Jack Wall, hang your head in shame this instant.

The piece, in this trailer at least, is spectacular giving a moody and atmospheric quality that feels like sci-fi and Mass Effect both. It also gives a feeling of a larger scale and the enormous conflict that's coming. I cannot wait to hear the rest of it.

Well, Martin Sheen is definitely back. HOORAY! He and Jennifer Hale (FemShep) gave arguably the best performances in Mass Effect 2, though to be fair, it is Martin Sheen so we probably shouldn't have expected any less. The Illusive Man is still an incredibly mysterious character and an incredibly fascinating one. One of my biggest anticipations for this game is seeing what exactly he's up to here. And Sheen voices him with such incredible energy yet gives him that mysterious quality that makes him such an appealing, if immoral, character.

Martin Sheen returns as the fascinating and mysterious Illusive Man. What's he and Cerberus planning? That's one mystery I'm very excited to unravel.

Also returning are Seth Green as Joker, Tricia Helfer as EDI, and Keith David as Admiral Anderson. All have been excellent at their respective roles with Seth Green providing a good deal of humor but also showing that he can be a great dramatic voice actor as well with some truly emotional moments in Mass Effect 2. The awesome Keith David has served well as a sort of "father-figure" and mentor to Commander Shepard.

But of those three, the one that really interests me is Tricia Helfer as EDI. BioWare has worked the commentary on artificial intelligence into this series brilliantly and had it served as another part of it's well-delivered message of tolerance. With her unshackling near the end of Mass Effect 2, it will be very interesting to see how EDI changes in this one and how she becomes more "human".

Battlestar Galactica actress, Tricia Helfer, returns as EDI, the Normandy's artificial intelligence. A potentially huge wild card and a character with major storytelling potential.

Ali Hillis returns as my favorite character in the series, Liara T'Soni and after the superb character development she's gotten, I can't wait to see her in a larger role again. Without having played the demo, I know that Ashley Williams/Kaiden Alenko, Garrus Vakarian, Legion, Mordin, Admiral Hackett, etc. are all back as well as any other squad members.

Ali Hillis returns as Liara T'Soni, my favorite character in the franchise. She's been promised a bigger role in this game than in 2 which makes me very happy.

The two new VA's shown here are Freddie Prinze Jr. as James Vega and Jessica Chobot from IGN as Diana Allers. I'll say right now, that I really don't think highly FPJ's acting, BUT after watching an interview with him, it's clear that he's a fan of the series and shows a real enthusiasm that makes me excited as well. Also BioWare can get a strong performance out of just about anyone so I'm actually confident. He's also gone more in-depth talking about the character, talking about how he's basically what Shepard was before s/he got involved with the politics: naive and by-the-book, which makes me curious to see his character development.

Of course the controversial one on the internet has been the casting of Jessica Chobot as reporter Diana Allers. Let me say right now, that I'm not going to comment on the ethics of hiring a game journalist as a voice actress in your game, because my rambling is going on long enough as it is. But I give the same reasons that I gave about FPJ as to why I'm not worried about her acting-wise. She's a fan of the series and BioWare is universally excellent with voice-acting.

Lastly, still no sign of Nathan Fillion. That makes me a little disappointed. Hopefully he shows up somewhere.

The ending to what is, so far, one of the finest sci-fi epics imaginable will hit on March 6 and March 9 in Europe.

NOTE: Oh and real quick, I also found this piece earlier today, which apparently plays during the Reaper's arrival on Earth and when they utterly decimate all of its defenses, or when Shepard escapes from Earth. Once again, cannot wait to hear the rest of this score.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines is getting closer...at least I hope, I still haven't a goddamn release date for it and just five days ago it got pushed back again to Fall 2012 when it was supposed to Spring. For a game that's been in development hell for five years now, this is getting painful.

But at least they released a new trailer to make up for it. Come to think of it, they did this for Duke Nukem Forever as well. Don't turn into Duke Nukem Forever. Please? It's only a cinematic trailer, but at least it's something.

The trailer gives off the kind of atmosphere that I'm really hoping for in the final product. A nice camera movement downward through the different levels ending on the ugly mug of an Alien Queen. I still remember the first time I saw the Queen in Aliens and I hope they can give something close to that awesomeness for video games.

Delayed again, but I'm still hopeful for a strong final product.