Your login information returned multiple users. Please select the user you would like to log in as and re-type in your password.
Multiplayer! It's the life blood of the first-person shooter these days and (unfortunately) is a determining factor in the survival of a game. Many will argue to the contrary but, as we've seen over the past five years, your game has to be pretty fantastic as a singleplayer to not have a competitive or co-op component and succeed as a franchise. Bioware is one such studio and while The Old Republic will be satisfying PC gamers just before Christmas players who don't want to pick up a lightsaber or blaster will be be biding their time waiting for the next iterations in the Mass Effect franchise, reveling in the safety that Bioware wouldn't dare do anything to detract from their awesome singleplayer franchise.
That is however until Bioware confirmed the oft rumored inclusion of multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. Before you unleash your rage from its (Nicholas) cage take a second to read about what you'll be able to experience next March.
Mass Effect 3's multiplayer component is a 4 player cooperative experience that is part of an overall (and yet to be announced) part of a new mode called Galaxy at War that takes place outside the main singleplayer campaign. Players will engage in missions as one of many of the series' main races such as an Asari, Turian, Human, Krogan, a Quarian and more. Sadly, no Elcor option has been announced but one can dream of the possibilities. Players will be able to select from most of the classes one can play as when playing as Shepard (Soldier, Vanguard, Infiltrator, etc.) but each race will also have unique abilities (the Krogran rage used by Grunt comes to mind).
The interesting thing to note is that, while Galaxy at War doesn't intersect with Shepard's story at any point (that we know of), it will have an impact on the singleplayer. While no direct reference has been announced it is said that the more you play the multiplayer the better an ending you can earn in the singleplayer. Multiplayer having an effect on singleplayer has been tried before but it seems that, for once, it may be beneficial.
To better explain it visually without reading through a wall of text you can check out the following video. Anyone else actually interested in this?
Comments
12 years, 6 months ago
Interesting. So if these co-op missions are for securing "war assets", then maybe they'll have a similar effect on the game's storyline as loyalty missions did in ME2 (i.e. you don't have to do them, but you'll get a better ending if you do, and it'll make the end easier).
That said, I hope it's less of an effect than that; obviously some people won't be able to play the multiplayer before they finish the single player and it'd be pretty outrageous if anyone died because you hadn't done he multiplayer missions, but I trust Bioware not to do that.
12 years, 6 months ago
Oh god, Bioware has managed to put away my fears for this. I am now really happy. And as well, the Multiplayer won't get you a better ending then if you hadn't played the Multiplayer, but it will at least make things easier if you're into that thing. Being able to play as some of my favorite aliens has made me consider getting the Limited Edition of this game now. Why can't this game come out sooner man?
12 years, 6 months ago
Looks interesting. I've dont have much experience with the Mass Effect series nor have I saw any footage of ME3 and it looks really good. Can't say i'm a multiplayer person, but its a little something that's interesting. Early 2012 is looking really good.
12 years, 6 months ago
I definitely had a few worries going in but after the video this actually seems really cool. As long as they don't add in an unnecessary competitive multiplayer mode this could be really cool
12 years, 6 months ago
4PP MASS EFFECT:
Asari - Brad
Turian - David
Krogan - Travis
Quarian - Nick
Drell - Joseph
fanart now plz
12 years, 6 months ago
I'm not so sure about this multiplayer affecting single player. What if you don't play at or around release? What if you don't get around to playing this game until a year or 2 after launch and the online community is gone? Can you then never get the "best" possibly ending if there is no one to play with?
12 years, 6 months ago
Hopefully single player isnt hurt...
12 years, 6 months ago
As long as it has RPG elements, that'd be awesome.
But, even the SP looks more Uncharted awesome action, less Dragon Age toying with stats.
As an Uncharted fan, I love the crazy action, but, man, I miss the original Mass Effect nerdiness.
12 years, 6 months ago
I think it sounds pretty cool, just for the fact that I could make my own asari character.
12 years, 6 months ago
That sounds pretty amazing.
12 years, 6 months ago
More rpg & less shooter please Bioware. :/
12 years, 6 months ago
I'll fight like a krogan, run like a leopard, but I'll never be better than Commander Shepard.
Seriously though, I'm not a big multiplayer person and was against this in the beginning, but playing as a salarian/turian/krogan/nonhuman sounds pretty sweet. I'm betting this was a main factor in why the game got delayed. And people really need to pay attention to details, because it's not required to get the "best ending"--you just need to be a little more of a completionist (which I am) if you don't take advantage of co-op to achieve such a thing. Also, the devs have been pretty clear that the so-called "best ending" won't be as clear cut this time around.
12 years, 6 months ago
As long as you can get the best ending by playing single player that's fine. Cause realistically, anyone who isn't playing the single player to find anything is in the major minority. I would still rather them keep it separate from the single player completely though. If the way I am treated on some planet I visit is negative because I didn't hop onto multiplayer and take over said planet then I could see myself getting pretty annoyed by that. Realistically taking over an area (in anything) isn't going to magically sway the citizens opinion of you that drastically (save for an iron fist of fear) and would leave sudden "mood swings" feeling really forced and inorganic.
12 years, 6 months ago
a mutliplayer......RPG? nope. a mutiplayer SHOOTER. fuck mass effect. mass effect 1 was such a good RPG. its ruined
12 years, 5 months ago
god hope you can actually play as a quarian