The Mass Effect 3 demo we mentioned in our Mass Effect 3 voice commands preview is finally here, and it’s available on three different platforms: Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PC. The Xbox 360 version is the only one featuring voice commands, but other than that, all three demos are identical. Oh, and they all include a taste of the multiplayer component. Yep, we thought that’d get your interest.
Mass Effect 3 is one of the most anticipated games of 2012, blending combat, customization cinematic storytelling and action on a huge scale. The demo delivers a preview of this powerful combination, whether you are an N7 veteran or the galaxy’s newest recruit. BioWare has designed Mass Effect 3 to deliver the satisfying payoffs veterans have been waiting for while also making sure it is the best entry point into the franchise for new players.
The Mass Effect 3 demo kicks off with the devastating, all-out attack on Earth by an ancient alien race known as the Reapers. It also includes another thrilling single player mission from later in the game. Players will be able to choose the name, gender and appearance of their Commander Shepard. These initial choices along with choosing Shepard’s background cause the game to re-write itself, ensuring the player knows everything that happened in previous games, and can hit the ground running.
Additionally, Mass Effect 3 allows players three different ways to experience the epic battle for Earth: “Action” allows players to focus mainly on combat, giving them the opportunity to pre-set the tone of decisions made during the interactive cinematic scenes; “Story” focuses more on the conversations and scales down the difficulty of the action; and “Role Playing” presents the classic Mass Effect experience which blends both challenging, intense action with rich, interactive storytelling where the choices lie with each player. All settings can be adjusted throughout the game, and all are available in the demo. Mass Effect 3 will also be one of the first pre-launch demos to support full voice recognition functionality on Kinect for Xbox 360.
As mentioned above, also included in the demo is a sample of the new multiplayer mode in Mass Effect 3. For the first time in the franchise, Mass Effect 3 will feature a fun, addictive co-operative gameplay as part of the Galaxy at War System, which gives players an opportunity to link progress made in multiplayer or other applications directly back to the player’s main campaign to save the galaxy. The co-op portion of the demo will unlock on February 17. Gamers who have activated their Battlefield 3™ online pass will be able to unlock the co-op portion of the demo beginning today.
