Mass Effect 3 To Include Cooperative Multiplayer
by Craig Getting on October 10, 2011 11:03 PM ESTThe third and final leg of Commander Shepard’s journey won’t be a lonely one. BioWare confirmed today that Mass Effect 3 will include four-player co-op gameplay via Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War.
According to an official forum post by BioWare’s Chris Priestly, “Players can choose from a variety of classes and races, form an elite Special Forces squad, and combine their weapons, powers and abilities to devastating effect as they fight together to liberate key territories from enemy control.” The “entirely optional” Galaxy at War system will have players teaming up to on missions to impact Shepard’s “Galactic Readiness” level, which will affect the final battle against the Reapers.
Aware of fan anxiety that the addition of a multiplayer mode might negatively affect the core of Mass Effect 3, Priestly reiterated that a separate Montreal studio was opened to handle Galaxy at War’s development and that players will be able to reach the “the highest levels of success in the single player experience alone.”
BioWare plans to reveal more particulars of the multiplayer and Galaxy at War as we approach Mass Effect 3’s March 2012 release.
Source: BioWare
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frozentundra123456 - Monday, October 10, 2011 - link
Sounds cool, but I hope they dont compromise the single player. I know they say it won't, but I havent trusted Bioware since they turned KOTOR into an MMO.What is next, Mass Effect the MMO?? Please, please just have an epic single player ending to the franchise and dont try to milk the franchise like they did KOTOR.
FITCamaro - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
They've already said they're open to a Mass Effect MMO. If set in the right time to where it doesn't interact with the story of the single player games, it could be quite good.And from the description, it appears to just be an optional add-on multiplayer system to run side missions with friends that potentially make the final battle easier.
frozentundra123456 - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
I have no problem with add on multiplayer, as I said before, if it does not impact the single player campaign. However, I would not like it, or think it is fair, to have side missions done in co-op add items or attributes that made the single player final battle easier.Then you are penalizing someone who only plays single player.
chaos215bar2 - Monday, October 10, 2011 - link
Development by a separate studio is irrelevant, and does not bode well for multiplayer integration into the rest of the game. Unless multiplayer has zero effect on the budget allocated for development of the core gameplay (or somehow increases it), it will have a negative effect on the single player experience.Stahn Aileron - Monday, October 10, 2011 - link
So long as the MP mode has little to no major impact on the SP campaign. I don't play many MP-focused games. The only thing even close to ME I've played in Co-op MP was Lost Planet 2. However, the storytelling there wasn't as close knit as ME is. Note I played the PS3 version of LP2 though.ME3 better not be somehow broken or have a convoluted player experience on the PC. I'm already very wary of Bioware game experience on PC after DA2 (cheap and quick cash-in game, IMHO) and ME2 (I despise needing an EA account to get stuff I paid for. I also hate vendor-specific point systems for purchasing DLC.)
I will be quite pissed if it starts to feel I should be playing my PC games on a console (PS3 in my case). I already got that feeling playing DA2. My game glitched at one point, displaying an XBox360 controller command overlay, before CTDing on me.
FITCamaro - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
Mass Effect IS designed for the 360. Any PC version is going to be a port. Complaining about this is retarded. You should know what you're buying based on the games development. It came out on 360 first.Arkive - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - link
No, him not complaining about it is retarded. Just because they made it for one system doesn't mean they can release a shitty port. Do it right or don't do it at all, and certainly don't expect the consumer to swallow a lemon because, "Hey, we didn't make it for this system, sorry."Lugaidster - Wednesday, October 12, 2011 - link
Was that a joke or are you a retarded troll? Do you even know what "port" means? The only port was Mass Effect 1 and even that wasn't that much of a port. Halo 1 and 2 for PC were ports, Crysis 2 without the patch was a somewhat a port, Dead Space was a port, ME2 wasn't. Every single platform has a dedicated design team, and you can actually tell the difference between the PS3 version and the Xbox 360 version of ME2.It was only Xbox 360 exclusive the first time because Microsoft Games Studio was a publisher.
But whatever, you'll just keep trolling...
I was actually expecting co-op, and I wish they would've actually expanded it to the whole campaing like Epic did in GoW. Playing with a teammate would feel so much better. But anyway.
deV14nt - Thursday, October 13, 2011 - link
It's really an amazing series. Very highly reviewed as well.I just hope they get rid of any sort of repetition that haunted the first games. First game it was the eerily similar bases on every single planet you landed on. The combat mechanics are great, but when you have the exact same doorways and crates and everything else looks exactly the same...it gets old. Mass Effect 2 had the never-ending quests to recruit more members to your team. It's like the game gets stuck on pause for many hours while you do the same type of quest for each of like 15 characters. I never did finish that game. It felt too much like work after a while.
Too bad too because the game is fairly impeccable in so many other ways. It defines or perfects a genre. I haven't played anything else like it.
NT78stonewobble - Saturday, November 12, 2011 - link
A well designed co-op game can be immensely fun but the distinction between co-op and multiplayer is a bit blurred isn't it?Especially on the pc.
I'd call Left 4 Dead series 4 survivor vs. AI zombies for co-op whereas the survivors vs. player controlled zombies are multiplayer.
How well co-op could be introduced into a game like Mass Effect 3 I don't know but presumably it could BE a good thing.
My own scenario for a good combination of ME3 singleplayer and co-op would be the following:
Ability to choose either singleplayer or multiplayer at gamestart.
If multiplayer you could have a friend pop in as the other squadmates in a mission with increased difficulty for opponents.
The game wouldn't become easier per say but a more experienced player could help out a friend with a mission that he has played before.
Could make for some pretty intense teamwork if done right.