Despite having known for a long time that Mass Effect multiplayer would eventually pop its head into view, we've never been too sure what to expect. Full campaign co-op sounds nice on paper, but we'll be damned if we're willing to wait around for hours whilst our mates are busy trying to chat up a Quarian.
On the other hand, standard team deathmatch stuff would only end up feeling forced, and so Bioware have chosen the safest option: carefully sectioned-off co-op parts that keep in touch with the canon whilst staying away from Shephard's most precious bits.
For everyone else - let's get into the details. Four-player co-op is limited to wave-based skirmishes against the Reaper forces, but there's still plenty of scope for customisation. First up, you've got six of the series' best-loved races to choose from: Asari, Human, Krogan, Salarian, Turian, and Drell. On top of that, you've got XP to earn, skills to upgrade, and weapons to toy with and modify. That last part in particular is vital - as this mode revolves purely around combat, the inclusion of Call of Duty-style gun mods and tweaks seems like a bright idea for keeping things fresh.
Mass Effect: Galaxy at War
With eleven waves to fight through in each of the galaxy's many scenarios, things quickly get out of hand if you don't stick together. Difficulty isn't scaled when you're playing with fewer people - so we'd recommend getting a full squad together before stepping into the fray. Mixing up class-types is essential once things start to get hairy. In our hands-on session with the game we chose to play as an Asari Biotic user - keeping enemies at bay with powerful psychic attacks whilst our bruiser buddy hammered away with the concentrated fire of a heavy weapon.
In terms of how it feels to play, there's little to be said that you won't want to hear - if you've ever imagined what it might be like to blast through Mass Effect with a couple of buddies, the end results are quietly pleasing. Full campaign co-op might not be on the cards - but frankly we reckon that's for the best. They'd only end up sleeping with your secretary and forgetting to feed your fish.
Mass Effect 3 will launch in March 2012. There'll be a multiplayer demo beforehand so can see what's what.
10 comments so far...
Bezza89 on 27 Oct '11 said:
Can you customise the classes appearance?
Decent_Jam on 27 Oct '11 said:
Sounds like the potential for things to 'get out of hand' is pretty high then
I'm sure it will be fine, nothing mind-blowing but a nice little addition and a way to justify a break from ploughing through the single player to actually speak to another human being before plunging back into what is sure to be an EPIC third (and final) chapter.
Would have been nice to have slightly more structured missions or objectives rather than just: go out and shoot until they all stop twitching. Still, can't hurt!
CHIEFRAPTOR on 27 Oct '11 said:
Got to be Krogan or Drell, they are badass!
paulbrown23 on 28 Oct '11 said:
Bezza, I'm almost 100% sure that I read when the multiplayer was first announced that you would be able to customise your character with both armour and appearance.
JCHN on 28 Oct '11 said:
Um, im pretty sure its been said that enemies will scale. Otherwise, that would just be awful.
Bezza89 on 28 Oct '11 said:
Oh I hope you are right! I'd have a war torn Turian, Bitter asari, Mental Krogan, Sleek Drell and wisecracking salarian, (stuff humans!). I hope the appearance I would create would display their mental issues.
guttridgeb on 28 Oct '11 said:
does anyone know if it will have split-screen because none of my friends really by ME and the only way i'll be able to play is if i force them to do split screen
Funkcase on 28 Oct '11 said:
The multiplayer really doesn't feel needed, although it's a welcome addition so long as the singleplayer isn't really effected at all. And hopefully we still get alot of storybased dlc and not alot of map packs, I hate map packs! lol.
One of my hopes for ME3 is that the side missions are more substantial, have more meaning. The ME2 side missions (the N7 missions) Were pretty boring as it was just shooting stuff mostly, there wasn't any real decision making, and no characters to interact with. Now ME1 side missions whilst they did copy and paste alot of the locations (bunkers, bases ect) they had pretty good decision making, and we got to meet lots of interesting characters like Major Kyle, Toombs, Talitha ect, and we had alot of them. So I hope they can have a middle ground for ME3 between what was good from ME1 and ME2, and ofcourse stuff that improves on both too.
ATATCCU on 31 Oct '11 said:
Nobody has written the words 'OSSOM' yet...why? Is this game not truly awesome or are they just running out of superlatives. I'm not that fussed with multiplayer, it seems Bioware are trying too hard to bring all the good things of gaming to the (paying) public. We make our own levels of fun, being the first kid in the sweet shop before opening time can be daunting.
Then again I can always go back and have a sherbet dip when the aniseed taste of the gobstopper has faded...
CunningSmile on 31 Oct '11 said:
We had an agreement to ban anyone using the much over used superlative you mentioned. It was enforced by the ban hammer and everything.
We'll let you off since you only used it in a question, but we'll have our eyes on you