The demo for Mass Effect 3 is now available on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC. RogueRedneck spent some quality time with Shepard last evening and is here to bless you with his thoughts and opinions. Did the demo leave him wanting more?
On March 6th, Commander Shepard will return in the third installment of the Mass Effect franchise. Yesterday, showing gamers some love on Valentine’s Day, EA released a demo on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC.
Fair warning. If you want to know the number of pixels used to format the freckles on Shepard’s right buttcheek or are interested in the framerate of the flux capacitor in relation to the position of Neptune and how that affects the realistic sound of the game, you will be disappointed. The game is pretty. The guns sound like guns and, when things explode, they sound all explody. That’s it. You’re welcome.
Who will you be?
The demo begins with a screen similar to the start screen from Mass Effect 2. The biggest difference is the Cerberus Network is now replaced by the Alliance Network. What happened to the Cerberus Network? This alludes to something we learn later in the demo. You could jump ahead now to find out or you can act like a normal person and keep reading. Make your choice but know that I will be judging you and it will affect your final score.
In traditional Mass Effect style, the demo gives you the option to customize the look of your character with everything from gender to the frequency of Shepard’s bowel movements, up for your approval. From there it is a quick run through of options. Is your Shepard a War Hero, who courageously led Alliance soldiers to a stunning victory or are you a Ruthless douchenozzle that will sacrifice everyone, including the family dog, in order to succeed? Were you a colonist or Earthborn? Do you fold or crumple your toilet paper before wiping? The universe will hang on these choices.
In addition to allowing you the option to customize your character, the demo also gives you a chance to make a single story based decision from the previous game which will have a minor effect on the very limited story you will experience here. I played through the demo three times and saw no major change in narrative so it doesn’t really matter what you pick.
If you are like my wife, however, and can’t make a decision...even when we’ve been to this restaurant every week for the past year and YOU STILL CAN’T JUST SIMPLY ORDER SOMETHING...sorry about that. Got a little side-tracked. Anyway, if you hate all this stuff and just want to get to it, the demo gives you that option. Right after picking whether your Shepard is fueled by estrogen or testosterone, you have the option of picking how you want to play. You have a choice between Action, Role Playing, or Story. Choosing one of the latter two will give you the traditional Mass Effect Experience with the combat difficulty being somewhat nerfed for those who want to focus on the the story. Choosing Action lets you skip all the customization and jump right into the game with the standard male or female Shepard. There are no dialogue choices to make in this playthrough, as the game will just choose whichever one it wants.
Whassamatter? Don’t Got No Friends?
If you played the previous two Mass Effect games, the single player is not going to offer a whole lot of surprises. This portion of the demo is relatively short and gives you the chance to play through two missions. One at the game’s opening and another that occurs at a point significantly further along in the game.
It opens on Earth with the Alliance military going all Chicken Little because the Reapers are coming. Shepard, who is in hot water because of his actions in the previous game, is in timeout when this happens. The Alliance pulls him/her back in when they see that the sky is, indeed, falling and have the nerve to act surprised when the Reapers actually make an appearance.
After these opening cinematics, you are given your first chance at gameplay. This is what you expect in an opening level. You get the chance to run, jump, take cover, and battle with enemies in situations that aren’t difficult so you can learn the game mechanics. This first taste of gameplay introduces you to the story arc for this installment and ends in way that had me screaming, “NEWT!!! NO!!!!” I will digress here into my one and only comment on the graphics. When you first get control of Shepard, take time to look out over the landscape. It is truly quite lovely, if you ignore the mass destruction and genocidal tendencies of the Reapers destroying all known human civilization around you.
The next level occurs with Shepard being joined by Wrex, Liara, and Garrus as you fight your way through a Salarian base to retrieve something valuable to Wrex. These characters are a familiar, and welcome addition to the game for fans of the franchise and they play and sound just as you remember them. With your squad in tow, you undergo a standard Mass Effect mission of: go here, kill these guys on the way, fix/retrieve/turn on or off something, and return to the Normandy. It is here that we get a taste of why the Cerberus Network is no more. I won’t say anymore in fears of offending the spoiler Nazis out there but let’s just say this level raises questions of what role, if any, Mass Effect 2’s Miranda and Jacob will play in this edition to the franchise.
Overall, the gameplay is the same as it was in Mass Effect 2 with only one major addition. Other than that one change, no big surprises await and, as far as I’m concerned, that is a good thing. The controls from the last game were spot on, in my opinion, so not fixing what isn’t broken works for me. On a side note, I did note an addition of a heavy melee option from holding down the “X” button that I like a great deal. All this gameplay talk, however, does force me to delve into the one big change that I have already alluded to.
Kinecting with Shepard
With all the hype surrounding this game, it should come as no surprise that Kinect functionality is included with Mass Effect 3 and you can try it out with the demo. If you are like me, you cringe when you hear of established games deciding to throw the Kinect into the mix. Your mind fills with images of trying to play while simulating ducking behind cover or aiming a rifle. Luckily, the Kinect will not be used to detect movement with Mass Effect 3 but will be limited to allowing you to issue voice commands to your squad, open doors, or choose a dialogue option. In truth, everything the Kinect allows in the demo could just as well have been done by allowing you to use your headset.
Normally, I wouldn’t bother with trying out these features but, in the interest of journalistic integrity and all that, I decided to give it a try. The result would have been disappointing had I had any expectations whatsoever. While you can say “Open” to open a door, it’s much faster to simply hit the “A” button. Yelling for Liara to use Singularity is all fine and good, but I don’t need to be screaming at my TV when my kids are in bed. That’s a good way to get my wife screaming at me instead. While it’s neat to be able to read out loud, “You’re an idiot and I’m going to shoot you in, on, or about the face.” and see your Shepard go with that dialogue choice, it’s easier to just use the controller.
In the end, while the Kinect features were interesting in a novelty kind of way. It didn’t really add to my gameplay and served as more of a distraction. Hitting “A” to interact with an item or character is instinctive. Yelling at my TV to “Heal” is not and left my cat looking at me like I was a moron. In battle, I can’t remember what specific power my individual squad members have available so I found myself repeatedly yelling at Liara to use “Throw” only to get aggravated when she wouldn’t respond, hit the skill tree button, and see that she didn’t have that ability. In conclusion, adding the Kinect to Mass Effect is like kissing your cousin. It may not be illegal but it just ain’t right.
So you say you’re just a friend
In addition to adding the Kinect support, BioWare also added a multiplayer feature to Mass Effect 3. I was not enthusiastic about this. I hate it when a franchise known for having a solid single player experience decides in sequels to tack on a multiplayer mode. (I’m looking at you Bioshock and Assassin’s Creed.) I don’t buy these games because I want, to quote a certain podcaster, a ”robust multiplayer”. I can get that from my Call of Dutys or Battlefields. Sometimes I just want to play a game alone and not have to worry about anything but playing it my way.
That’s the point with Mass Effect. You get to fully customize your character and play the game your way. You can be a saint or a jerk. You can try and save everyone including the whales or you can decide to wear a fur jumpsuit and baby seal slippers. Either way, you fit the story for your individual play style. I don’t want other players running around in my world crapping on the carpet or kicking my dog so, to say I entered the multiplayer mode hesitantly, is to say Hitler had a couple of odd ideas. I was relieved to see that the multiplayer experience is completely separate from the single player so worries of other players entering my universe, emptying my fridge, and clogging my toilets were misplaced.
First off, the multiplayer for the demo is a four player horde mode where you fend off waves of enemies with every third wave having an additional objective. These ranged from holding a position while you hacked a computer, traveling to four different locations to activate a signal boost, or hunting down a specific enemy at different locations on the map. Each carries a time limit and you will only gain credits for completing each of the objectives. Those credits can then be spent to buy weapon packs to increase your odds of success. You can pick from one of the six standard classes featured in the single player and each carries a power tree you can upgrade.
Last night, I gathered up fellow 2old2pwners, IACO, Selden007, and KrayzeeKaNOOK to try it out. I entered with trepidation and was surprised when I next looked at the clock and saw that we played for about 90 minutes. It was truly a lot of fun, but that had a lot to do with the group I was in. This is not something you want to enter into without a full squad of friends at the ready.
If you played and enjoyed the Horde mode of Gears, you will enjoy this. It is surprisingly similar. So much so that all of us caught ourselves trying to play using the button layout from the Gears games. It’s a good time but I doubt it will have long-term staying power.
By the way, if you load up the demo and don’t see a multiplayer option, never fear, that just means you haven’t shelled out the money to purchase Battlefield 3. You see, since you have to log in to the EA Servers to play the demo, it checks to see if you are loyal to their other franchises. If you don’t play Battlefield, you don’t get the MP demo.
FINALLY
The final word on the demo is it left me wanting more, which is a good thing. This small taste of what is to come for this franchise served to leave me eagerly anticipating the full experience. If you are a fan of the series, this game is a no brainer and playing this demo is a good way to get ready for what is to come. If you have never ventured into the franchise, it’s a free download and worth a look. If you like what you see, I recommend you at least look for Mass Effect 2 (but I really say you play both of the previous games) so that you get a better feel for the rich story that has become the standard in BioWare games.
I also need to drop a little FYI. If you are plan to picking up the full game, you would be wise to download and play through the demo for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Doing so will gain you a unique weapon and set of armor for use in Mass Effect 3. The demo is free, fun, and takes an hour to complete so you really have no excuse not to.
Comments or questions? You can submit them on ElektraFi's Blog.
