With its beautifully refined sci-fi universe and the mind-boggling enormity of its galaxy-spanning adventure, the best way we can describe what we've seen so far of developer BioWare's interstellar action-RPG, Mass Effect, is to say that it's out of this world.

Our first contact with Mass Effect showed off the neat character interaction system as well as offering a glimpse of some of the squad-based, real-time combat, and the latest Mass Effect demo we were shown launched us deeper into space for further exploration.

After jumping aboard his sleek craft - SS Normandy - Mass Effect 's intrepid keeper of the peace, Commander Shepard, selected the ominously-named Hades 6 Cluster from the galaxy map, where a distress signal from an isolated mining colony had been detected.

Rather than having to suffer a commute through the cold vacuum of space, the ship is automatically brought to orbit around the destination planet and Shepard and his crew of two are dropped to the desolate surface in the MAKO - a chunky, six-wheeled rover built specifically for recon excursions.

The MAKO is fitted with jump jets that, when activated simultaneously, momentarily lift it off the ground. Front, back and side jump jets can be controlled separately, so the MAKO can 'bump' in a similar way to a car kitted with hydraulics.