Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Demo Impressions

The idea of the final Mass Effect game in this trilogy is not a hard sell for someone like me. My Commander Shepard has gone on all sorts of space adventures, and the idea of the last chapter of his story of how he saved the galaxy is something I am immensely excited to follow. That idea for a game is enough to make me yell “shut up and take my money!” But then, we heard about BioWare’s choice to add multiplayer to it. The initial response was a firestorm of hate from die hard fans. They don’t want to see the world with their choices, characters, and relationships invaded by some sort of stranger. BioWare promised to bring us a fun experience that ties both your game and the rest of the universe together into one coherent experience. Does the idea work? Here’s what I think the demo does right:

• A Character With Character – One of the biggest draws for me in multiplayer is my customization. I’m picky about who I play as. Every time I tried the single player demo, I had to sculpt my own Shepard. When it comes to multiplayer, It delivers… kinda. Let me explain. At the start of the demo, you can pick one character of any of the six classes, with another variation unlockable through their store (more on that later). The basic ones are human males and females, but the unlockable variations are one of the other races in the game, which each has their own variation on powers. This allows you to have two characters that fill slightly different roles, along with their own strengths/weaknesses. Besides the in-game stats, you can also customize armor colors, eventually adding affects like camouflage and stripe patterns once unlocked. It allows your character, that you named and built yourself from level one, to feel like something you created, not just a class/role filler. While playing with friends, they knew I meant business when the Asari Adept in her black armor showed up. I started creating little stories for them, too. I’ve grown attached to characters in a demo. I feel ridiculous typing that. I have no connection to my soldier in Modern Warfare, even if I gave him a cool call sign.

• Combat with Purpose –  At its base level, the multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 is your standard Horde mode. Enemies spawn around the map in waves, you take them out, help each other when things go sour. Mass Effect 3 does things differently in two ways. One, it gives you enemies that completely change your play style. Rank and file soldiers throw grenades to force you out of cover. Snipers hide in any corner they can, with a sniper rifle that cuts through your shield should they hit. Guardians slowly march towards you with shields that laugh at the toughest shotguns. Phantoms turn visible right before your eyes, and have a one-hit kill sword execution should you not notice them sneaking up on you. The game forces you to react more than “shoot more bullets”, but makes you think about what you’re fighting and the best way to deal with them. It draws you to stay in cover, to check your corners before running into the open, to deal with an ever changing battlefield situation.

• Combat Roles that Encourage Teamwork – When playing as Shepard in single player, you typically go into battle with four different weapons, and five or six different powers. It gives you a diverse set of tools and allows you to compliment them with your AI partners. In multiplayer, your character has three abilities and one or two guns. You become a role in combat, capable of dealing damage your own way. The inclusion of others with complementary powers can create dramatic combat situations. For example, with my Asari, one of her main powers was Stasis, which held an enemy in place for a short period of time, and granting damage bonuses to those attacking that target. My friend loves playing as a Vanguard, who has a Biotic Charge ability, which allows him to ignore obstacles and become a psychic battering ram, knocking the enemy off their feet. I would attempt stasis on the target, freezing them in place. The vanguard would then charge him, granting the vanguard bonus damage on the charge as well as holding the target in place. On top of that, whenever one target affected by a lingering biotic effect is hit by another biotic effect, it creates a biotic explosion, causing more damage in the form of a mind-powered explosion, great for damaging groups. All classes can interact and strengthen each others attacks in surprising ways. It truly rewards teamwork in many varied situations, even at low levels.

• Missions You Want To Complete – After a few waves, the voice in your headset announces a task for you to complete. Sometimes, you need to defend an area as you hack the enemy network for encrypted files. Sometimes, you’re taking out key enemy personnel on the battlefield. Other times, you need to activate power relays to bring up a data network in the area. Each of these missions require different tactics, and failure is not an option. You fail to complete them in the time limit, you’re done. No second chances. A pretty heavy penalty, but it makes sense – you’re an elite squad sent into an area with a purpose. Failing that purpose means you get nothing. Accomplishing the task gives you credits, with bonus credits awarded if you do it quickly. Some of the people I’ve played with dislike the idea of such strong failure penalties. I enjoy the penalties. It forces players to leave comfort, to leave cover, to move and fight and succeed. It forces people to play smart, to move and adjust, especially when you need to kill a high value enemy target that lies in the middle of the next wave of enemies. Things become exciting very quickly.

• RPG-Style Leveling, Trading Card-esque Power Ups – Completing a mission awards you money and experience. Every time you level, you gain points to place into your powers, making them stronger and adjusting how they act within the world. You also gain credits, the official Mass Effect currency, which you can use on ‘packs’ in the store. In the demo, these packs come in two varieties – recruit and veteran. A recruit pack has about five items in it, ranging from one-time use items (like ammo packs or medi-gel) to weapons and attachments. Veteran packs contain more of everything, and always have at least one “uncommon” item with a higher chance for “rare” items. You never know what you’ll find in these packs – possibly a character upgrade, granting an exp boost and more color options? Maybe even a new character to play as! Could you find the Widowmaker sniper rifle, capable of penetrating even the guardian’s strong shields for a kill? The possibilities of these packs causes serious “one more round” syndrome. I found myself saying many times over, “I didn’t like what I got in that pack, I have to play another round so I can earn enough money for a new one.” I found myself cursing out my friends when they found characters and upgrades that I needed. It truly felt like a collectable trading card game, sadly missing a much-wanted trading system. A system like this contributes greatly to keeping your multiplayer experience exciting, straying away from your standard “when you hit level 10 you unlock this gun” feelings of other multiplayer games. Each pack could contain a rare upgrade or attachment, and you know deep down inside, you have to have it.

These are just a few of the things I enjoyed about the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer demo. It sold me on the concept. In the full game, we can expect many more playable levels (there are 2 in the demo), possibly an assortment of opponents (the demo only has Cerberus operatives to fight), and a strong level of challenges when it comes to in-game difficulty. I still haven’t successfully completed a silver challenge, even with a group of people that know the ins and outs as well as I do. I’m sadly left wanting far more from the demo in the area of story. Bioware claims it ties deeply into the single player campaign, but besides doing a few small missions, nothing is indicated. It loses a bit of punch on the story side of things, but the replay value of the multiplayer makes it the best way you and three friends can save the galaxy, as well as bicker over who has the prettiest Turian in the galaxy.

Mass Effect 3 drops in stores on March 6th.