Mass Effect 3's London to land late in 2011

(All rights reserved - Electronic Arts / BioWare)

The first official trailer for Mass Effect 3 was released over the weekend, showing the Houses of Parliament, the Big Ben clock tower, and the London Eye suffering relentless assault from an alien invasion force.

The final game in the science-fiction trilogy promises to tie up loose ends from previous games as Commander Shepherd returns to Earth to rescue it from a race determined to wipe out all forms of advanced life.

For fans of Mass Effect 1 and 2, the series closer will also take account of players' actions in Shepherd's previous adventures.

The first Mass Effect is still exclusive to Microsoft platforms - Windows PCs and the Xbox 360 - but developer BioWare are allowing PlayStation 3 owners to catch up on the action in Mass Effect 2 come January 2011.

Mass Effect 3 is slated for a holiday 2011 release, likely to be late November. That's just after Resistance 3 and RAGE, and around the same time as other big name releases such as Forza Motorsport 4, Batman: Arkham City, and - should Activision follow its usual publishing pattern - a new entry in the Call of Duty series.

Watch the first trailer at http://masseffect.bioware.com.