Mass Effect 3 sees return to Citadel, revives canceled Mass Effect 2 mission

The Citadel was pretty sweet, wasn't it?  Many of us grew slack-jawed at the brief cutscene in Mass Effect revealing the Citadel in all its glory, arms wide open to the many ships seeking refuge within.  And the Destiny Ascension?  Wow.

Whether or not you were disappointed at the Citadel's absence in Mass Effect 2, fans will be happy to learn that Shepard is revisiting this center of the galactic civilization in Mass Effect 3, perhaps making up for the lack in the second game.  BioWare will even be stuffing in a mission that was originally intended for and cut from Mass Effect 2. 

Lead writer Mac Walters calls this move a "second chance," throwing back to the first game when the trilogy is at its end.

"There was a Mass Effect 2 plot that was a kind of callback to the first Mass Effect that was going to be on the Citadel, and we cut it. But now it's made a resurrection in Mass Effect 3, so I'm happy, but I can't say what it is. That's the nice thing about trilogies, sometimes you get a second chance."

Interestingly, Walters also admitted that the suicide mission at the end of Mass Effect 2 was not BioWare's greatest idea; the revelation hit while the team was looking at accommodating every significant player decision from the previous two installments. 

"They're more hurdles. Sometimes they're hurdles that we've given ourselves, so we kind of smack ourselves in the head and say 'What the hell were we thinking? Why did we do that?'

The classic example is 'Hey, let's make the ending of Mass Effect 2 a suicide mission where all your henchmen can possibly die, and Shepard can even die!' Oh right... and then we're gonna do another game after that. What the hell are we gonna do with all those guys?"

Despite his soft spot for the series, Walters notes that after seven years of Mass Effect, he's grown "a little weary" and looks forward to a change of scenery.  That said, he doesn't mind just taking a break and returning to the series later.