Mass Effect Tourist Guide

System: Vamshi

• Planet: Maji

Geth Incursion

This Geth outpost is tricky to reach. It's at the top of a winding mountain track, with heavy turrets along the way. You can try sneaking in over the top, but it's more trouble than its worth, frankly. The outpost itself is much the same as the one on Casbin, but this time you'll have to face a Geth Colossus before the camp is truly destroyed. Again, the Mako's slow shield regeneration and shonky camera can make this harder than it needs to be. Find a spot with a good shot at the Colossus, fill it with lead, and boost over its plasma blasts when it fires.

BONUS: There's a Turian insignia here, and a "strange skull".

• Planet: Pregel

BONUS: There's a Turian insignia here.

• System: Hong
• Planet: Casbin

Geth Incursion

There are two Geth brigades here - one at the outpost, one at the anomalous signal. The outpost is the one you want, though feel free to tackle both. At first you'll face snipers and rocket troops, bunkered down in those turrets. Deal with them, and a dropship will swoop in and start adding shock troopers to the mix. Kill enough of those and you've won the day. In terms of tactics, it's safer to deal with the snipers and rockets using the Mako, but I found dealing with the shock troopers much easier after I got out of the sluggish vehicle with the rigid cannon and used my tooled up squad on the ground instead.

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

• Planet: Matar

BONUS: There are Matriarch's Writings here.

• System: Tereshkova
• Planet: Antibaar

Geth Incursion

This icy world has very low visibility. The Geth outpost is in a natural rock basin, making attack difficult except for by direct approach. To make matters worse, there's a Geth Colossus already waiting for you - so make that your primary target. Once you've defeated the Colossus, snipers and rocket troopers, a dropship will add a mixture of shock troopers and Geth Prime to the battle. The Mako's secondary fire (RB) comes in handy here, as they'll be bunched together and vulnerable to its explosive impact.

BONUS: There's a Prothean data disc here, but it's guarded by a Thresher Maw. It's possible to pick it up and drive back out again without being killed, with a bit of luck. Ignore the anomaly right in the middle of the Maw's lair - it just tells you that the bodies were killed by a Thresher Maw. No, really?

• Planet: N/A

BONUS: There's a League of One medallion on an asteroid in this system.

• System: Gagarin
• Planet: Rayingri

Geth Incursion

Your target this time is the overrun facility. There are husks inside but, once you deal with them, the Geth reveal themselves. Clear out the whole building, then go back outside to deal with some more Geth. You'll now locate a signal from the main base behind this incursion, opening up the final section of this monster assignment.

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

• Planet: Junthor

BONUS: There are Matriarch's Writings here.

• System: Grissom
• Planet: Solcrum

Geth Incursion

Solcrum is the small moon orbiting Notanban. You can't miss the Geth base on the map - it's not far from where you land. There are two Geth Colossi waiting for you outside, along with the expected snipers and rockets, and inside is even tougher - a room swarming with the toughest Geth types around, including several Geth Destroyers, who will charge at you and pound you to paste. Defeat all of them and then head to the back room and hack the console. You'll receive vital information about the Geth, which opens up the Tali and the Geth assignment.

BONUS: There are Matriarch's Writings here as well.

• Planet: Benda

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

• Planet: N/A

Tali and the Geth

Back on board the Normandy, after completing the Geth Incursion marathon, head down to the drive room and talk to Tali. She'll ask for a copy of the Geth data to take back to her people, as part of her pilgrimage. Give it to her to complete this assignment.

System: Newton

• Planet: Ontarom

Dead Scientists

This is an investigation you can start on Noveria, where it appears as Doctor at Risk, but if you chose the war hero background for Shepard then it takes on a whole new aspect once Lance Henriksen fills you in. As the new title suggests, scientists have been turning up dead - and they're all tied in with the massacre on Akuze that you survived. It's now a race to get to the last remaining scientist to find out what's going on. At first this assignment looks like just another search-and-destroy against some mercenary thugs, but once you reach the scientist it becomes rather more interesting.

Worth doing? Not a particularly exciting mission, but if you chose the war hero option when creating your character, this fills in some cool backstory.

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

• Planet: Klencory

BONUS: There are Matriarch's Writings here.

• System: Herschel
• Planet: N/A

Garrus: Find Dr. Saleon

This is another crew assignment, activated by chinwagging with your companions between missions. Gain the confidence of Garrus and he'll eventually start talking about a case he never solved while working at C-SEC. It involved a doctor growing cloned organs inside his staff, but the Salarian in question was never caught. Garrus has the info needed to track the guy, and it'll lead you here - where the MSV Fedele awaits. Add Garrus to your squad, wipe out the shambling test subjects and then find the not-so-good doctor. Garrus wants to put a bullet in his head, naturally. What happens next is up to you.

Worth doing? Not really. This is a pretty generic combat mission followed by a standard moral dilemma. The rewards are small, and the loot minimal.