I'm a fan of the 2 previous games, though I've been worried about this one for a while, mostly due to the fact ME2 was vastly different from ME1.
I tried multiplayer out in the demo and liked it quite a bit. It reminds me a lot of Halo firefight and uses a credit system for equipment upgrades and leveling up. It wasn't very difficult for a beginner at least during the first 7 or so waves of enemies. Though I could see it becoming very repetitive if there are no additional game types.

The single player portion of the demo was pretty satisfactory. A lot of the squad-mates from the first game are back and there were some awesome new weapons available. It plays much like 2 but is more dynamic with mobility.

Thoughts? Has anyone else tried it yet?

Is there more to it than that Horde gametype? For some reason, I totally lose my erection for 'hold out as long as you can' or 'kill til you can't kill anymore' gametypes.

Yeah, if I want that, I'll just play Gears. It does it better.

There are certain objectives during some of the waves, like hacking a computer or killing certain enemies. There are about 12 waves in all, the last is surviving while awaiting extraction. There might be different types though it wasn't obvious enough when I skimmed through multiplayer.

I'm curious as to how you know Gears does it better..

Don't really care. EA finally got their greedy claws all over Bioware, so no Steam release for Mass Effect 3. So a big **** you EA. Maybe I'll buy it when it's $2.00 on Amazon 3 years from now. Totally ridiculous that I get ME1 and 2 on Steam, but 3? Oh HELL no.

I fail to see how EA games requiring origin is any different than Valve games requiring Steam. I remember about seven years ago when everyone was whining about how you had to have Steam in order to play Half Life 2, and how they just wouldn't play it if you had to have that bit of software.

Congratulations, Cool Matty, you are turning into Brian.

I already had Origin forced on me for BF3, so whatever.

I dont really have any issue with Origin, but the multi-step procedure required to launch BF3 does piss me off.

The inability to BUY on Steam is my problem. Origin isn't nearly a big of a deal as not being able to buy it on Steam. Which would be why I didn't even mention Origin.

When Steam came out, the alternative to Steam not not having to run anything which is frankly fine by most people. Now Origin is around, the alternative to Origin is Steam, and Origin is a horrible product in comparison. I trust EA the least of pretty much any gaming or software company to try to do anywhere near the right thing by their customers. As soon as I've had my fill of BF3 I'm getting rid of it. Also ME1/ME2 were paltry, could care less about ME3.

I played the single player portion of the demo and thought the opening segment was pretty epic. Really got me looking forward to seeing how the game pans out with an imported Shepherd, because I remember the first time I played Mass Effect 2 was without a save file to import and the difference between the two experiences is quite drastic. I was less impressed with the second half of the demo however, but I think that's mostly because it was one slice of the game taken out of any context. I understood what was going on but it felt quite jarring. Granted it was just supposed to demonstrate the combat of the game and it did that well enough, and it was a nice look at the new skill tree set up.

All in all I'm just glad I've still got Kingdoms of Amalur to tide me over until the 9th of March.

I actually only played ME1 up until recently. Last week I got my vanguard character up to level 60 and imported it in ME2. So I'm playing through ME2 for the first time as we speak.

IMO, the first game was great, but had its minor flaws. ME2 is just such a huge improvement. Everything is better, from the cumbersome handling of your inventory to the much better gameplay. Lots more (and more interesting) interaction with the game world, much richer and varied environments, and I'm just amazed at how the game remembers every little detail of how I handled things in ME1. Even seemingly unimportant characters from sidequests of the first game return and remember how you treated them. I'm pretty much blown away.

The game seems to be huge, it's going to take a while before I'll be playing ME3... especially if I'm going to play all the DLC at my friend's place; he recently got all the DLC and has invited me to come play it.

They return and remember, but most of them are just pointless conversations that have no effect on the story.

Speaking of the story, while ME2 is in most regards a much better game, the storyline is pathetic in comparison to the first. The story is 'recruit X people, go to final battle'. Every character follows the same formula. Recruitment mission, loyalty mission. The side quests are few and far between, and almost all involve shooting random people in a generic room full of crates. ME2 really shines in some areas, but what I disliked most about it were the things missing from the original, like equipment management and loot. I think ME2 is longer, but that might only be because more of the game is 'main story' and less is sidequests. If I had never played ME1, I probably would have liked ME2 much more.

Now in the ME3 demo, so far, I'm left wondering what happened to Cerberus. How the hell did Shepard get back to Earth as a 'retired' officer, and the Normandy2 end up in Alliance possession? I get the feeling there's an opening sequence there (similar to ME2s) that's not in the demo that might explain some things.

I played the SP demo the other night on the 360.. I dunno how I felt about it. 3 didn't really click with me like 1 and 2 did. I dunno it's the same ol' characters with the same ol' story. Maybe I'm just getting tired of playing sequels.

I'll play it for what it is- light sci fi action shlock, and love it. Just like ME2.
These are by no means genre defining or point of view changing games, but I find them fun as ****. If you don't, well then you don't that's cool too.

It's explained in the last DLC.

As far as I'm concerned, if it happens in a DLC, it didn't happen. Games that assume you've played DLC are crap.

Yeah, none of that crap in Half Life 2 Episode 1 or 2 happened.

It was pretty good DLC to be fair, if they were all released in a pack it could work as an expansion pack.

Not to nitpick but I bought those in stores

Those aren't DLC. They're standalone games that can be played without the original.

oh my god.

really?

oh sheeeeeeeeeeit

They're comparable in length and price to the Mass Effect 2 DLC though.

Hey this guy gets it ^^

I can think of a hundred games that fit that criteria, and none of them are DLC.

Let's see... HL2 Episode 1 has about 4-5 hours of gameplay, and it was 20 dollars when it came out. It's a direct continuation of the storyline from the original game, it just doesn't require the original game to play. So yeah, it's not technically DLC because it's a stand alone game, but it's the same god damned thing as DLC in every other way.

In some circles, they call games like that sequels. DLC is not a sequel, not even close.

That sounds like a ****ty sequel. 5 years ago Episode 1 and 2 would have been expansion packs and you ****ing know it.

Episode 1 and 2 are not sequels. Not even close. That part how it's still called Half Life 2 proves it.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that you're being pedantic about this.

Even if you wanted to call them expansion packs, the ME2 DLC doesn't even come close to that. They're little more than a crappy extra character tacked onto the end. The Zaheed mission was a perfect example. They barely fit into the game, instead of being something that feels like they belong (this is readily apparent by the complete lack of inter-character dialogue in various missions).

Besides, basing different games on just game length is stupid. You can have wildly different game lengths for the same payout. Compare: Skyrim versus Portal.

ITT: Cool Matty says ME2 DLC is nothing more than a crappy character that barely fits into the game and doesn't feel like it belongs after it has been established that said DLC is potentially integral to understanding plot points of third game.

Furthermore, we've already established that you have a hard-on for EA and Bioware, so as usual it is completely pointless to even attempt to have a rational discussion with you. It's only a matter of time before you start telling me that my answers to your questions don't count because they completely invalidate your entire argument.

Making ****ty references to crappy DLC is not a way to make a game. Besides, what about the people who don't have an internet connection to get the DLC? I guess they're just ****ed too?

We long ago established that we don't care about them.

At any rate, I have no intention of playing ME2 again just so I can pay more for some DLC. (Unless I get it for free through the cerberus network?) I'll just have to go read about it on the internet somewhere.

Uh, yeah. They're obviously screwed because they won't be able to download and run Origin anyway. I can't even believe you would play this card after the countless times I've seen you defend games that require Steam.

It's also hilarious that you chastise the DLC because it doesn't have anything to do with ME2, then you chastise ME3 because it refers to the DLC.

I'm talking even on consoles, buddy. Origin doesn't even apply there.



Because it's a cop out. They're trying to legitimize their ****ty DLC.

1. HL Episode 1 and 2 are episodes. They're intended to be longer than a DLC but not so long as a full game. The, supposedly, three episodes would roughly equal a full game.

2. Not all of the ME2 DLC was useless. Lair of the Shadow Broker rocked, and the last one they released is supposed to fill a big story gap between ME2 and ME3.

3. I'll check out the demo soon.

Okay come on, don't get so mad over a video game company releasing more content for a game and then selling it. It's one of few not evil things EA has done. They didn't cut out anything from the original game to sell as DLC or something. wait why am I even trying