Mass Effect 3 Demo Impressions

I'm 16 hours into my fifth playthrough of Mass Effect 2. This is all preparation for the third installment in the franchise. Mind you, it's been over a year since I touched the game. I just recently got back into it in order to have the narrative fresh in my head before taking on three.

Well it's Valentines Day, and Bioware shows their fans how much they love them by releasing the Mass Effect 3 demo on XBL. I played it through twice as different classes, and I'm going to give you my thoughts on all the things I loved about the demo. Much like we did with our look at the Diablo 3 beta This will be focusing on the single player demo, as I didn't have a chance to get into multiplayer.

Choose The Way You Play

When I fired up the demo, the first thing I noticed was that Bioware implemented certain ways to play the game. The three different play types are action, RPG, and story. I'll break those down in a moment, but I want to discuss how this move is a brilliant way to silence any naysayers.

For instance, people like myself enjoyed the RPG-heavy Mass Effect, but loathed its clunky battle system. Then Bioware addresses the complaints about the battle system with a major overhaul, creating what was essentially a 3rd person shooter with RPG elements. The RPG purists found the lack of any true RPG upgrade system as a turn-off.

As it goes in the gaming community, people will find something to hate, but Bioware has now made the game more accessible than ever with these three distinct play styles. They have effectively made the game more accommodating for all players, whether you're a novice or an RPG stat whore.
Allow me to break down the basics of these three play styles.

Action: This explains itself really. his play style is for the person who may not have the patience or desire to worry about what stats they want to upgrade. This is for someone who wants to eff things up and leave the customization of abilities to the game. They don't want to worry about increasing speech skills or making your warp ability have a 20% faster recharge rate. Think Mass Effect 2.

RPG: This is the traditional Mass Effect play style. You will have access to all the stats and abilities you could ask for. I chose this play style and I forgot how much I missed picking and choosing my abilities. I feel that this is really the way the game was meant to be played.

Story If you want to fly through the game this is your play style. It just sounds super boring. No customization of abilities, no dialogue trees, and easy enemies. Cool idea, but I can't imagine playing the game this way.


I found this new feature to be a brilliant idea on Bioware's part. Now, let's get to the meat and potatoes: Guns and battle system changes.

"We're going to need bigger guns. We need big F*n guns!"

Okay, so I used Rutger Hauer's line from 'Split Second', but it's so fitting. The battle system in ME2 changed dramatically over its predecessor. Bioware opted to go more of the shooter route in ME2 and they made it work. While they did make significant improvements to the system, the squad-based combat was really inconsistent.

There was nothing more annoying than issuing commands, having the NPC confirm the order, and then not execute it. It's absolutely maddening, so I was curious if ME3 would tackle this issue. The answer is a resounding yes, not only do the NPC's execute orders, they recommend strategies on the fly.

Here's an example of this improvement in action. The first thing I notice while in battle is how much smarter and organized enemies are. They work as a unit, so you have to play smarter. Well, when we were being overwhelmed with enemies, one of the NPC's said "flush them out". I then realized it was time to roll in a grenade to thin the herd.

The grenade took out two tangos, and then three just fanned out and took cover. I directed one of my NPC's to use warp, and as the enemy was floating aimlessly, I used push to get them over the edge. The other two split up, and when I was in cover, the NPC said "Shepard, take to the high ground."


Sure enough, there was a flight of stairs to my right. I was thoroughly impressed with the AI improvement overall. The HUD has also changed to make it easier to monitor your squads health and the recharge rates on their abilities.

Another difference I noticed was not only more guns, but the way they feel and sound. The game feels like a polished shooter. Firing guns is a more visceral experience now. I guess what I'm trying to say is that they feel more violent and raw.

This all comes down to the sound design of the guns, as well as how they feel when fired. Guns now have more recoil, and you can no longer just hold the trigger button down to take down enemies. You have to do short bursts to be as accurate as possible. Bioware has gone and made a shooter, plain and simple. If any of this sounds absurd, that's understandable, it's just that I notice things like this.

Other small alterations include better running animations, a roll function that actually works, and slight improvements to the cover system. Shepard does't move like a slug anymore. He/She runs and rolls with conviction now. The multiplayer component of the game makes complete sense now. After playing the game and seeing the changes Bioware has made, I can't wait to see what multiplayer is like.

March 6th can't come soon enough, and based on what I've seen, ME3 looks to raise the bar one more time. It really breaks my heart to think that this is the last installment in the series, but I'll get over it. For those who have played it, what are your thoughts? We'd like to hear what you think, especially if you've played multiplayer.