BioWare has stated that Mass Effect 3 will be just as welcoming an experience to Mass Effect newcomers as it will be for long-term fans.
Nick Clifford, head of product marketing for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC title, told IGN that he believes the opening of Mass Effect 2 may have been a little "bewildering" for those who hadn't played the original, an issue BioWare is striving to fix.
"We wanted to make sure that there aren't those moments that the player is like, 'Who is this? What's going on? What are they talking about?'," he explained.
As such, the upcoming trilogy finale will provide plenty of junctures through which newbies can be brought up to speed on the story so far, similarly to how the PlayStation 3 edition of Mass Effect 2 featured an interactive comic retelling the first Mass Effect story.
However, those who have been playing the series since the start will also be rewarded, as save games from the first two titles will still carry across, allowing committed fans to see their own personalised stories to conclusion.
Mass Effect 3 is released in March 2012 and is now available to pre-order both in standard and collector's edition packages.