There's a hands-on feature at IGN. They played for about the first hour, and seemed ecstatic about the character creation feature, among other things. Read the thing here.
A few tidbits:
BioWare has shown off the Mass Effect character-creation process before, so we won't re-hash it in detail here. But we will say that it departs from most standard RPGs straight from the start screen. In many such games, you type in a character name and move directly to a skill allocation system. Do you want to add two points to dexterity or three points to constitution? Should your paladin start with strength of 16 or 17? Mass Effect has such a system, but you won't even touch it until you've fought a few battles. BioWare wants to tell a great story, personalized for the character you create, and the early setup sequence hammers that intention home.
Like its dialogue system, Mass Effect's approach to combat is to give the player layer upon layer of choice while trying to make the mechanisms for making those choices as streamlined as possible. Both systems are based on "wheels" - the dialogue wheel for conversation (more on that later), and the weapon wheel and power wheel for combat.
Movement in Mass Effect feels like a blend of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Rainbow Six Vegas and Gears of War, which is to say you have an over-the-shoulder view of your character, you can take cover behind objects by holding the thumbstick toward a wall or object, and you can hold down the A button to run quickly in short bursts before you get fatigued.
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