This month's protagonist

This is Lieutenant Commander Jack "Crusher" Shepard. He will be keeping us company for the next few weeks and the next two game reviews will pretty much revolve around this guy, so I thought I'd give you a rundown on what he's like.

Born on Earth in 2154, Commander Shepard has gone through some hell in the past. Seven years ago, a pack of thresher maws utterly slaughtered his whole unit of marines and he was the only one to survive the onslaught - or at least, so he thought. Commander Shepard is a Vanguard, which means he's very talented in both traditional combat and biotics.

Commander Shepard was originally the executive officer of Captain David Anderson on the SSV Normandy, a Systems Alliance starship optimized for reconnaissance, the most advanced prototype of the whole fleet. Later, Shepard assumed control of the ship upon becoming a Spectre, one of the Citadel Council's elite task force. Shepard was the first human to make it to the Spectres' ranks. The Spectres operate above the law.

Shepard's mission is to track down, apprehend or eliminate a former Spectre named Saren Arterius, who has very little love and respect for life, especially that of the humans. However, Commander Shepard spends more time on random planets searching for rare minerals and wooing the female members of his squad than making an effort to locate Arterius. He's just a man, and the women around him are quite darn attractive, regardless of their species.

I think Commander Shepard's journey will take a while.