Mass Effect Tourist Guide

Lost Freighter

There's a seemingly abandoned ship, the MSV Worthington, drifting near to Antiropus. Inside you'll find some booby traps (nothing to worry about, provided you have good shields) and a brain dead body hooked up to a life support machine. Investigate the ships logs to solve the mystery.

Worth doing? For completists only. There's one good scare, but this system is not exactly filled with things to do, so it's not really worth the journey just for this curious little tale.

• Planet: Altanorch

There's a League of One medallion here.

• System: Amazon
• Planet: Agebinium

Espionage Probe

Lance Henriksen is on the blower again, and that can only mean trouble. This time it's a relic from the First Contact War - a spy probe loaded with a nuke to stop aliens tampering with it. It's suddenly popped up on the space radar again, and could prove rather embarrassing for the Alliance if the Council hear about it. This mission is pretty straightforward once you reach the planet surface - just find the mine, head inside and see what happens...

Worth doing? Not so much for the rewards, but it is one of the few side quests to have plot twists and surprises.

BONUS: There's a Turian insignia here as well.

• Planet: Sybin

There's a Turian insignia here.

• System: Yangtze
• Planet: Binthu

Cerberus

In Greek myth, Cerberus had three heads and guarded the gate to Hell. In Mass Effect, the Cerberus crime syndicate has three research bases in which they conduct hellish genetic experiments. See? Who says games can't be all, like, literate and...stuff? It's pretty obvious what you need to do - storm each of the bases, eliminating enemy and monsters alike. Find Admiral Kahoku to activate the next assignment, Hades' Dogs.

Worth doing? Yep. This storyline is one of the meatier subplots in the game, and there's plenty of combat - which means lots of XP and valuable loot.

BONUS: There's a Prothean data disc at the top of that really cool pyramid.

• Planet: Alrumter

BONUS:There's a Prothean data disc here.

• System: Columbia
• Planet: Nepheron

Hades' Dogs

The final chapter in the Cerberus subplot is actually pretty simple. The main Cerberus base in this system is located on this planet, cryptically marked as Underground Facility on your map, so just steam in and kick some ass. Assuming you've not jumped into this mission right at the start of the game, it's not a tough fight. In the far room, snaffle whatever data you can from the computer and return to the Normandy. A representative of the Shadowbroker contacts you, and makes an offer for the data...

Worth doing? The conclusion to the story is a bit anticlimactic, but there are loads of weapons and items to grab along the way and you can make serious money if you don't mind dealing with the Shadowbroker.

BONUS: There's a Salarian ID tag here as well.

• Planet: Gromar

BONUS: There's a League of One medallion here.

ExoGeni Facility

This is one of the assignments you can trigger while on Feros, and involves investigating a distress beacon from an ExoGeni science facility. It's overrun with Thorian creepers, so once again it's a question of blasting through another familiar layout until you reach the back room. Here you'll meet Doctor Ross, the scientist behind the whole mess. It's up to you how to deal with her.

Worth doing? Probably. There are decent rewards for both Paragon and Renegade players here.

BONUS: There's a Turian insignia here as well. Plus, Nodacrux is home to space horses, which aren't quite as cool as space monkeys but are still worth checking out.

• Planet: Pataiton

BONUS: There are Matriarch's Writings here.

Derelict Freighter

You'll find the MSV Cornucopia drifting in the Caspian system. Board it and you're greeted by Husks - all that remains of the crew. Wipe them out - quite tricky in the maze-like confines of the main hold - and then head to the cockpit to find out what the heck is going on.

Worth doing? Not unless you have an overpowering Husk fetish.

• Planet: Antida

BONUS: There's a Turian insignia here.

• System: Mantano
• Planet: Chasca

Colony of the Dead

If you triggered this quest on Feros then you'll know it by the more prosaic name of Investigate Samples, but once you touch down on Chasca it changes to this rather more dramatic title. It's our old friends Cerberus again. ExoGeni sold genetic samples to the criminal empire, and the Chasca colony is the result - Husks galore. There are three structures in all, with the science building being the rather obvious location for the vital info needed to close the assignment. There's not much else to say, so get in there and start putting those poor sods out of their misery.

Worth doing? Only for those chasing combat XP, to be honest.

• Planet: N/A

BONUS: There's a Prothean data disc on an asteroid in this system.