First Byte: Mass Effect 3

Over a month ago, I put up a what will become a recurring article that went by the tentative name of Demo Impressions.  Looking for the audience to help me out with coming up with the final name for demo impressions articles, I got only two suggestions both from my good friend Kent Power.  As you can see by the title at the top of the screen, the new permanent title of this recurring article is First Byte.  Considering that we are just days away from the release of Mass Effect 3, today I will be giving you guys my impression on the single and multi-player demo that has been out for the past few weeks.

Mass Effect 3 is the final chapter in BioWare's trilogy following Commander Shepard's fight against an all-powerful race of machines known as the Reapers, whose only goal is to wipe all sentient life off the face of the universe every millions of years.  The single-player demo for Mass Effect 3 picks up right at the end of Mass Effect 2's Arrival DLC.  Shepard has been stripped of his rank and is waiting trial on Earth while the Reapers creep ever closer to the human home world.  You are brought to the head of the Human Alliance by Admiral Anderson when everything goes to hell.  The unthinkable happens and the Reapers land on Earth.  With the Human Alliance building in shambles, Shepard and Anderson must get to the Normandy before it is too late.  Armed with a pistol and an omni-blade, Shepard and Anderson crave their way through husks and other Reaper forces as gigantic Reapers destroy the landscape around them.  The sense of scale in this opening mission is just incredible as it is very hard not to at least stop and take everything that is happening around you in.  It feels like Earth is being invaded by humongous machines.  After activating a beacon and fighting a few waves of husks, the Normandy flies into rescue you and Anderson.  Anderson decides to stay behind in order to help the human resistance, but restores Shepard's rank before parting ways.  The single-player demo picks up much later in the story as Shepard, Liara and Garrus have to help Mordin escort the only female krogan in the galaxy safely to the extraction point.  Along the way you will dispatch the attacking Cerberus soldiers on the way to the final battle of the demo against Cerberus' Atlas mech.  The single-player portion of Mass Effect 3 feels unchanged from Mass Effect 2, which is a good thing considering how great the combat was in that game.  The environments are more vertical as Shepard can now jump over gaps, climb ladders and interact with other parts of the environment in different ways.  Also the omni-blade is an amazingly powerful new melee attack that is very satisfying.

For Mass Effect fans the story is above all else, but the meat of this demo is found in the multi-player segment.  In the multi-player portion of this demo, you get to two maps to play on, one enemy to face (Cerberus) and three difficulties to chose from (gold, silver or bronze).  You choose your class, your race and appearance then you are ready to play online.  Mass Effect 3's multi-player is wave-defense mode much like Gears of War's Horde mode with a few new additions.  You and three others have to survive 10 waves against increasingly difficult computer-controlled enemies.  During certain waves, you must complete a special task in order to collect credits that can be used to buy other races, weapons and powers.  At the end of 10 waves, you must defend the extraction point needed to win the match.  No matter if you win or lose, you gain experience to level up your character.  In the final game, successfully winning matches in multi-player will affect your Galaxy Readiness rating allowing you to get the best ending.  Mass Effect 3's multi-player is not the best out there, but it is great in it's own way.  The only thing I did not personally like were the inability to play the multi-player locally as I would rather play split-screen with my brothers and other friends on the same couch as it makes communication, which is really needed to succeed in multi-player, much easier.  I know this is the necessary evil of online multi-player, but there were times when I got paired with people online who could not work as a team and it was not fun at all, so I would rather play with those I can cooperate with.  After playing through the single-player demo two times (once as male Shepard and another as female Shepard), the multi-player was kept me coming back to the Mass Effect 3 demo.  That is saying something considering I am not a big fan of online multi-player.  For those itching for next Tuesday as much as I am or not, download the Mass Effect 3 demo it is a great demo worth any gamers time.