Prologue - Mass Effect 3 Guide - IGN (2024)

This page of IGN's Mass Effect 3 wiki guide is all about the Prologue Mission on Earth, including how to set up your character, get through all combat encounters, where to find all collectibles, and pick the right dialogue choices for your playthrough.

• Before We Begin
• Mission Stats
• Meet With the Defense Committee
• Follow Anderson to Spaceport
• Find a Way Forward
• Radio for Extraction
• Hold Position For Extraction

Before We Begin

Before we get going, we're assuming that you've already gone through the process of setting up your Profile. If you haven't, you can read our Profile Setup page to learn what your options are. We also recommend having played through Mass Effect 1 and 2 first, or at the very least using the Genesis 2 comic, to get caught up to speed and make the twelve most important decisions in the story thus far.

Second, while the first three levels of Mass Effect 3 are done in a linear fashion, after that you'll have a diverse array of things to do. To help with this, at the bottom of every page is a box telling you where to go next: if you follow these you'll be taken through a complete 100% run of the game!

Mission Stats

Video Guide

Mission Rewards

• Experience: 2,000
• Weapons: M-3 Predator, M-8 Avenger

Meet With the Defense Committee

When you begin the game, Shepard is in a small living area in Vancouver, Canada, having been relieved of duty following their actions in Mass Effect 2. While observing a child playing on the roof, a man named James Vega, who clearly respects Shepard, enters the room and says that the defense committee has summoned them with urgency. On the way there, Shepard will meet with an old friend, David Anderson, now an Admiral.

When Shepard asks him if the threat is the Reapers, you get your first encounter with the Dialogue Wheel. This layout shows options on the right-hand side of the wheel, which will always progress the conversation forwards. Options that appear on the left-hand side later in the game will be Investigative, letting you know more about the current subject.

In addition, the options are on the top and bottom of the wheel, and are always associated with one of the two Morality alignments. Upper options are considered Paragon, or Good, and award Paragon Points. Lower options meanwhile are Renegade, or evil, and give Renegade Points. Morality Points will help unlock Persuasion Options that let Shepard turn the situation in their favour. For now, you can pick "We should've prepared more" for +2 Paragon Points or "I'm certain" for +2 Renegade Points.

Anderson explains that Shepard's experience means that they're the best knowledge-base on the Reapers, and Shepard is frustrated that they were relieved from duty anyway. Anderson then cites Shepard's past actions. If you did the Arrival DLC in Mass Effect 2, it'll be because Shepard destroyed the Alpha Relay, killing 300,000 Batarians. If you didn't, it'll be for working with Cerberus in general, a sketchy pro-human organization who are officially classified as a terrorist group.

In the Courtroom Access chamber, Shepard bumps into another old friend, a person known to Mass Effect fans as the Virmire Survivor. Depending on your choices in Mass Effect 1, this will be either Major Kaidan Alenko, or Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams (if you started a fresh save, it'll always be Ashley). Shepard was unaware of their promotion since they've been out of the loop. In the Dialogue Wheel here, you don't actually earn any Morality Points, so you can genuinely respond however you like!

Shepard will then be taken to the Courtroom: an incomprehensibly powerful force has cut through the Alliance's defenses at the Mass Relay near Pluto and are on their way, and the Defense Committee begs Shepard for advice. Here you can say either "We stand together" for +2 Paragon Points or "Survival at any cost" for +2 Renegade Points.

Unfortunately, before any action can be taken, the Reapers wipes past Luna Base and begin the invasion of Earth. Within sections, Vancouver is attacked and the entire Defense Committee is wiped out. Anderson helps Shepard up and gives them an M-3 Predator pistol, and they set out to get to the Normandy SR-2.

Follow Anderson to Spaceport

For those who have imported a Mass Effect 2 save and cleverly Reset their Ability Points before moving to Mass Effect 3, you should now head to the Squad Screen in the Pause Menu to distribute your Ability Points.

To begin, follow Anderson using the waypoint indicator (click the Right Thumbstick to see your target). You'll head left across the side of the building: follow the on-screen button prompts to Sprint, which can be done indefinitely in Mass Effect 3. Very soon you'll have to cross a gap: you can do this by Sprinting up to it: Shepard will leap across automatically.

Continue to the left and you'll have to climb up a Ladder: Shepard can climb onto it if you use the Left Stick to walk them into it. Immediately after that you'll have to vault over some cover. To do that, tap the button you used for Sprint to duck under it, then tap it again to vault over the top. You can Vault very quickly by double-tapping the button, and if you Vault while Sprinting, Shepard will slide over the top of it!

Follow Anderson and you'll encounter some Husks, humans converted by the Reapers, climbing up the side of the building. Here you'll be shooting your gun for the first time: pull the left trigger to zoom in, and pull the right trigger to fire.

The pistol you have is the M-3 Predator. It's a basic but light gun, with a low damage output but good accuracy. Its edge over other weapons is its speed: it can be fired very quickly, is quick to draw from Shepard's side, and is one of the fastest guns to reload in the game.

Once all the Husks have been dealt with (or just run off), follow Anderson down the ladder onto a balcony. Here you'll find more Husks swarming the windows to the left. You'll fire a shot, but your pistol will overheat, meaning you can't fire it anymore. As Anderson suggests, you'll have to take them out the old-fashioned way. Get close behind one, then follow the on-screen prompt to smash them with the butt of your gun.

Next a Husk will climb up from the side of the balcony and rush up to you. Anderson's advice is well-placed: the Husk will try and grab you. Another quick melee attack will break you out of it, but in a real firefight this will leave Shepard wide open to attacks from other enemies, so it's best to avoid them.

After Shepard takes out this last Husk, a Reaper will blow up part of the building and smash the windows, which allows you to step inside the building.

Find a Way Forward

• Med Kit - A red box in the rubble inside, directly ahead when entering the doorway.

The item described above is a Med Kit, and will allow Shepard to use the First Aid Power to heal themselves and revive any fallen Squad Mates (you can do this by holding down the Right Bumper). If you're at maximum capacity however, you'll instead get some XP, as a reward for not having to use them.

To the left of the Med Kit is a door with an orange square on it, which indicates you can force your way through it. As you get close however you'll be attacked by another Husk. If you follow the button prompt, you can hold the Melee button to use a Heavy Melee, where Shepard stabs ahead of them with an Omni-Blade. This is slower than a normal Melee attack, but will deal significant damage to whatever it hits.

Head through the door to initiate a cutscene. As Shepard opens it for Anderson, they hear some rustling in the air vent, and upon investigation, they find the child they were observing from the window earlier. Here you can answer either "Let me help you" for +2 Paragon Points or "Get out of there!" for +2 Renegade Points. Either way, the child refuses, saying Shepard can't help them, and they vanish.

Shepard will then rejoin Anderson, who says that every minute they stay here thousands of innocents die. Here you can reply with either "I understand how you feel" for +2 Paragon Points or "It's war. People die" for +2 Renegade Points. As you press through the ruins, Anderson says that Shepard has to go to the Council and ask for their assistance, citing Shepard's past as a Spectre as a means to gain some clout.

On the other side, Anderson tells Shepard to reload using the red Thermal Clips on the ground.

Once you've picked up the ammo, follow Anderson out the window and left across the rooftops. As you dash along it and Anderson contacts your Virmire Survivor, a Reaper blows up what they called a Dreadnought (actually a Cruiser), and the shockwave knocks you and Anderson down the building sea level. Hop across the gap ahead and then walk off the drop-off to meet up with two soldiers.

Here you'll get into your first real firefight against enemies known as Cannibals, so-named because they like to consume the bodies of their fallen comrades to heal and be bolstered by armor. You'll start this fight automatically behind cover, keeping you safe from their fire. When they aren't firing but are exposed, pull the left trigger to pop out of cover. It's a good idea to point your aiming reticule at them before you pop up and fire, so that you don't risk getting hit while lining up your shot.

Once you've downed all the Cannibals, talk to the Injured Soldier and you'll help him out, which also opens the way forward.

Find the Radio

Your next task will be the find the radio in the crashed gunship the soldiers escaped from so you can hail the Normandy to your location. Head across the pathway to progress to the gunship and head left.

• Med Kit - On your right-hand side as you approach the first corner on the way to the gunship.

Round the corner and then take cover so you're not shot at by the Cannibals. You'll need to be patient here because you may think you've taken them out only to have two more pop up just ahead. The last one will come out near the Radio you're supposed to find, right next to the gunship. Head over there to continue.

• M-8 Avenger - Just in front of the Radio near the crashed gunship. If you don't pick it up, Shepard will do so themselves during the Radio cutscene.

Hold Position For Extraction

Anderson is just able to call the Normandy, but until it arrives you'll have to defend your position from waves and waves of Cannibals. This brief firefight is the only time you can spend Ability Points for Admiral Anderson, so if you're having difficulty with this fight you should consider doing that to give him new and more powerful abilities to help you out.

The M-8 Avenger you picked up earlier is the Assault Rifle version of the Predator pistol, being light, accurate, fast to reload and with good range. While it doesn't have any standout strengths, it doesn't suffer from any glaring weaknesses either, and thus is very reliable in just straight-up shooting at an enemy.

The mechanics behind this fight's conclusion are actually unique, since it has two conditions. The first and most common is when you run out of ammo for both of your guns, so if you want to end the fight quickly, just shoot all your ammo away! The other condition is killing every enemy: this amounts to 30 Cannibals that come in multiple waves, but it may not be possible to do on higher difficulties.

When either of the two conditions are met, the Normandy's pilot Joker blasts the battlefield and swoops in on the refurbished SSV Normandy SR-2. Shepard leaps into the Cargo Bay and asks Anderson to join them, but he ops to stay on Earth to lead the resistance against the Reapers. You can respond with either "If you stay, I'm staying" for +2 Paragon Points or "The hell you're not!" for +2 Renegade Points, but either way Anderson won't change his mind.

Anderson instead asks Shepard to talk to the Citadel Council and request their aid, and officially reinstates Shepard back into the Alliance military as Commander Shepard. The Commander vows to return to Anderson with every fleet they can and wishes him luck. As the Normandy departs, Shepard watches the child they saw clamber into an escape shuttle, before it's destroyed by a Reaper. Shepard turns away as the Normandy flies away into space, through the wreckage of Earth's defenses seeking aid.

The opening of the game is completely linear, so the next section to do will always be Priority: Mars.