Mass Effect has always been a series with one goal in mind: to take the player on an epic, galaxy-wide adventure with interesting characters, exciting situations and monstrous villains. The series has never been about multiplayer. It was never a factor.
With the Galaxy At War concept, BioWare and EA have raised the stakes for Mass Effect fans by taking the arrival of the Reapers and turning it into an optional multiplayer experience. While it isn’t a requirement that the player indulges in the multiplayer aspects of Mass Effect 3, those who do are somehow going to see their multiplayer ranking and time investment pay off.
The Galaxy At War is presented in third-person, not unlike a game like Gears of War. The major difference between the two is that Gears of War (and its later, more refined sequels)’s gameplay feels more fluid and intuitive than Mass Effect 3. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in that Mass Effect 3 requires a slower pace in its gunfights than in Gears of War 3, for example, where the player can engage multiple enemies and annihilate them with a barrage of machine gun fire. As a veteran of countless multiplayer battles (from the classic, always-exciting Delta Force: Black Hawk Down to the modern Battlefield 3), I have to say that I’m a bigger fan of slow-paced warfare than the usual kinetic mayhem of something like a Call of Duty title.
In Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer, the action is a bit more surgical, as well. Players must focus their firepower in an effort to down an enemy. I’m a fan of this concept, personally, as when I engage the enemy in a gunfight (be it in this game or any other multiplayer title), I take the fight personally and make it my sole goal to ensure that enemy isn’t going to down my teammates. It helps that each individual enemy isn’t a pushover. There are “Nemesis” units that pop up and will often be a bit smarter than the rest of the AI-controlled enemy units, so expect sniper fire coupled with close-range ballistic shield-wielding enemies as you progress through the levels in multiplayer.
That’s also a highlight and selling point to the Galaxy At War concept, in that on the “Gold” setting, the enemies are tough enough, forcing players to work together, otherwise, face failure. I was lucky enough to meet a gentleman from Ohio who was all too happy to communicate and work hard at being a great team player in a random match. Our other two teammates were silent, but they worked with us, as well, setting up defensive positions while covering me as I laid down sniper fire on enemy Cerberus units.
Depending on how much BioWare and EA spice the multiplayer up and whether they continue to support the Galaxy At War concept, I can see this aspect of the game working remarkably well, for as long as it takes the player to complete the main storyline, as both are connected even if it’s slight. If they drop Mass Effect 3 and wash their hands of the multiplayer space, as a longtime Mass Effect fan, I more than likely wouldn’t continue with it, especially with more polished multiplayer titles out there.
Popping a Cerberus Sentinel’s head clean off with a sniper rifle, resulting in an oddly-out-of-place-for-the-series amount of gore was a bit jarring, though utterly satisfying. I wasn’t a huge fan of when Mass Effect 2 made the jump to a more action-oriented experience, but if in making that jump and those strides in development, it led to Mass Effect 3’s solid multiplayer, I’m fine with it. The multiplayer works, overall.
While there are minor glitches (a friend fell under the map and couldn’t participate in the battle, though enemies still reacted as if he was there), surely BioWare and EA will patch things up quickly immediately after release. If Earth is burning and the rest of the galactic community is at war, you better join the fight.
6 comments
I was really disappointed when the demo first came out and the multiplayer wasn’t working. I didn’t need to try out the single player, I knew that was going to be good, it was the multiplayer that was the unknown quantity.
But I agree with everything you said. It’s basically Horde mode, but I enjoy the character progression as opposed to fortification progression that Horde 2.0 had.
I was a little disappointed at first that it didn’t have the Kinect functionality in the multiplayer, but I was playing without a headset at the time, and thought that if I had been using a headset AND Kinect was an option, it would probably annoy the shit out of my teammates, which is probably why they didn’t include it.
I only played one match with three randoms, and it was fun. Only encountered one glitch where I couldn’t see a turret in front of me, but when I put my reticle over it, I saw a health bar.
I also hope there will be the option for shorter matches, as after playing a full match of ten waves, it took almost 40 minutes, which while fun, doesn’t really make for quick pick up and play gaming sessions.
But good write-up and I can’t wait to play this game in a couple of weeks!
How would Kinect funcationality be implemented into multiplayer, do you think? Or, like, HOW would you want it implemented? Obviously giving orders to your teammates is out.
I’d like to see different enemies other than Cerberus. I think that’s possible, but I’d have liked to see someone else in the demo. I agree that it takes forever to get through a match.
Thanks for the kind words!
In the single player, I just got used to switching weapons and activating powers with the Kinect. But in the multiplayer, there’s only the two weapons you can have on your character and powers seemed to be mapped to the d-pad, so it was probably better than me shouting: “Adrenaline rush!” at my tv.
It looked like the enemy option was some sort of slider, so I’m sure either there will be more enemies in the retail version, or maybe some will unlock in higher levels of the demo?
Started playing through Mass Effect 1 again the other day, to gear up a second character to play through 3. Not sure I’ll get through that and 2 in time, but it’ll keep me busy til then, for sure!
I kicked the idea of running through both games again, but I think my 4 playthroughs is enough for now. Having Kinect for the powers, guns and ammo would be nice for MP, for sure. How did you find the Kinect functionality overall?
Haha, yeah, I’ve only played through Mass Effect 1 twice and 2 once, and was Soldier class the whole time. Now I’m going though as an Adept. I often get made fun of for how few play throughs I have done. 🙁
The Kinect was actually kind of fun and really responsive. You can use it for a lot of things, but I felt really silly when using it for choosing options in the dialogue trees or opening doors/containers. But it’s really nice in battle as you can just say what power to use or what weapon you want brandished and it will do so as opposed to having to bring up the weapon or power wheel and pausing the combat. However, sometimes I would forget what abilities my teammates had, so I found myself pulling up the power wheel occasionally, anyways. But if your teammates have different sets of powers, you don’t even have to say their name to use them, the computer automatically knows which character you are issuing the command to.
So, all in all, it is fun and keeps the pace of the combat from being broken up, but honestly not really worth running out and getting one if you don’t have a Kinect already.
That’s awesome that the Kinect automatically knows what power you want them to use. I run two soldier classes so just saying “Sniper rifle” or “Heavy weapon” or whatever is easier than having to pause in a frantic firefight.
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