Mass Effect 3: Multiplayer Hands-on Preview

As it's the sequel to JOE's 2010 Game of the Year, we couldn't wait to get our hands on Mass Effect 3. Having played the multiplayer, we're more than a little bemused, however.

By Emmet Purcell

You asked for it, you've got it - multiplayer has come to Mass Effect. That's the line we've been fed for the past few weeks but before we sat down at last week's EA Winter Showcase to sample the new co-op mode for ourselves, we had to ask our fellow journalists one question: "Were you the one that asked for a multiplayer mode?"

No-one would own up to it yet somehow, the best story-driven title of the current console generation will feature an opt-in co-op mode that contains no characters from the single-player campaign.

It's evidently a marketing-driven move from EA to help bring new gamers on board to series, much as they attempted with a similar inclusion for Dead Space 2, yet do gamers really turn to the Mass Effect series when they want quality combat?

Nope, Garrus isn't in the multiplayer either

Sadly, teething problems with the game's server meant that our time with Mass Effect 3 multiplayer was brief but what we can tell you is that the mode itself is a Horde-style survival mode, with 11 ranks to advance. We spoke with a BioWare representative after our time with the game and he told us that each scenario (there are six in total) would take around 45-50 minutes to complete.

After choosing your race (we went with an Asari Adept), our 4-person team was assembled and we quickly set about... running towards various points in an industrial map and completing minute errands (turning off charges etc), all the while shooting waves upon waves of identikit enemies.

The Rell, Asari, Turian, Krogan and Salarian are all available to players, while weapons can be customised through progression. The real goal of the game, however, is directly tied into the single-player mode's ending.

Much like the 'suicide mission' that was alluded to throughout Mass Effect 2 and culminated in wildly varying player endings, the fate of the world will apparently very much depend on Commander Shepard's army of men for the finale of Mass Effect 3.

Thankfully, we don't have any actual story ending details but we were told that the more times you complete the co-op, the more players you 'send' into the final battles, though sadly they won't actually be recognisable in the third act - we're basically talking about an invisible percentage that makes the game's ending easier and game's story more favourable depending on how often you play the mode.

This factor worries us the most and was a point where we received mixed messages from BioWare's reps on the day about whether or not player's single-player campaign would be affected by an inability or lack of desire to play multiplayer. Honestly, we played about 10 mins worth and that was enough for us, so we really hope that it doesn't become a necessity.

When we played the fantastic Shadow Broker DLC post-release, our enjoyment of the game's riveting plot twists and character development was only ever interrupted by a few minutes of dreary firefights, a facet we'd say was probably the only weak point of Mass Effect 2. How we'd put up with 50 minutes is beyond us.

Although we have no doubt that the geniuses of BioWare will once again blow away all expectations, the two new features they've introduced for Mass Effect 3 - Kinect functionality and co-op multiplayer - have felt more the result of marketing pressure than organic inclusions. Although our time with Mass Effect multiplayer was brief, we can't see how our time with the finished version will be much longer.