Its been pointed out to me that James looks like Donkey Kong and now I can never unsee that.
He does have surprising depth though, and despite appearances he's not actually a romance option, more just a flirt.
I like that they tied ME3 closer to ME1 than ME2 was to ME1. As you go on, it will be more apparent that it's tied into 2 as well, just at the beginning when it's all Alliance and Counsel it seems more attached to 1.