Sneak Peek at the Reaper Invasion
I have been looking forward to the demo of Mass Effect 3 ever since they announced they were making the game. I have read every single article on Mass Effect 3 - everything. I've gladly absorbed every morsel of info on this game and this is the same mindset I brought into the demo. I couldn't sit still; My eyes couldn't stop marveling at all the things to see and my ears were having a party with my turtle beach headset.
When you play this, if you are able to, dim the lights and crank the volume (or put on your turtle beach headset) because this demo is ridiculously cinematic (which is expected for Mass Effect) and it'll really sweeten the experience.
This was the most excited I've been for a demo since Resident Evil 5. This demo did not come out as an afterthought. It's obvious that Bioware was planning the demo pretty early with how the demo showcases everything so nicely. They knew they wanted to pump everyone up, as if they had to get us any more excited! Some people have been with Shepard since his first appearance on the Xbox 360 and PC (*raises hand*), others jumped in for Mass Effect 2 when the series had been around a bit longer and when it came to PS3, but one thing is for sure. Everyone is excited for Mass Effect 3; Whether you're a casual fan or a hardcore fan. We all cannot wait for the reapers to invade!
The single player portion of the demo starts off right after the events of 'The Arrival' DLC for Mass Effect 2. I was pleased that Bioware made that content because it nicely connects the ending of 2 with the beginning of 3. If you haven't played 'The Arrival', I highly recommend it but it's not detrimental to your enjoyment of Mass Effect 3. Commander Shepard made a rough decision at the end of 'The Arrival'. It was necessary but it still came at a great cost. (I'm not going to say what happened in case someone reading this hasn't played it and would like to.) Well, at the beginning of Mass Effect 3, Shepard is about to go on trial for his actions.
Anderson tells Shepard that the only reason he wasn't arrested and detained immediately is because of who he is. Everyone knows that Shepard has information on the reapers and has some experience fighting them. They tell Shepard something is coming and he's confident that it's the reapers. They want Shepard's guidance on what to do. This is when the reapers show up and start blowing things up. This is where things get intense. This is where the action starts.
This section of the single player demo is nice because it reflects Mass Effect 3's cinematic awesomeness, highlights on the combat changes, and reveals the opening to the story. Shepard is now running with Anderson to escape and hopefuly save a few people along the way. Shepard is hoping to escape so he can bring as much help as possible so that they can destory the reapers and save Earth. As you're running with Anderson, the game does a bit of a tutorial and it works very well. It goes over the basics such as vaulting over things and it goes over some new things such as, diving out of enemies fire and jumping over gaps. I was having some trouble paying attention to the tasks at hand because of everything going on around me. Reapers are attacking and blowing things up, husks are everything; Trust me, it's REALLY intense.
Yeah, basically.
Shepard ends up encountering a young boy who is hiding in a vent. He tries to get the boy out but the boy says "You can't save me..." Anderson runs back to tell Shep to follow and when the Commander looks back, the boy is gone. Later as Shepard is escaping on the Normandy, he sees that same boy getting a ship to leave Earth. The ship starts to go up when it is blown up by the attacking reapers. This is when Shepard realizes 'You can't save 'em all'.
Doctor Who must have taken a nap ...
That marks the end of the first segment. The game goes to a loading screen and cuts to a mission farther into the game. This next mission really shows off the combat. It's pretty much pure action.
Shep, Liara, Wrex, and Garrus are landing on a salarian world to extract a female krogan. Wrex is well, interested and so is Cerberus. There's a rough landing because the Normandy has clearnace to land but the salarians in charge of confirming it were told at the last minute. Wrex leaps out of the ship and on the ground and starts a little trouble. It's at this point where a salaraian runs and out and tells everyone to chill; The Normandy has clearance but we just found out a few minutes ago. It's a bit of a 'my bad' moment on everybody's part here but it's quickly fixed. Shep requests that Wrex stay behind; I'm assuming it's to give the salarians a little reassurance since they did have that little altercation just a few minutes prior. It's meant to be a simple mission; Land and grab this female krogan and then take off but Cerberus shows up and they don't like Shepard's plans. A fight ensues and it carries through the rest of this mission for the most part. You end getting to fight in a lot of different circumstances and I think this why Bioware chose to this mission for the demo. You get to fight one of the new mechs, a bunch of enemies at once, kill a few people with the new omni-blade, and it's just a lot of fun. You'll also level up at one point I'm sure and this where the new changes are seen in this aspect.
The level up process is changed but essentially it is the same concept as Mass Effect 2. It feels like they combined a bit of stuff from Mass Effect 1 and threw in some new stuff too. There are more things to level up and in more ways. You follow a path for each attribute and it eventually branches and you select which way to take the power. This was in Mass Effect 2 but it only happened once per attribute. This time it happens three times or so for each one so the leveling up process is a bit deeper. This is probably the ideal balance between RPG-lovers that cried against the changes in Mass Effect 2 and the action-lovers who embraced the changes in Mass Effect 2.
This demo was absolutely incredible and I am completely confident that Mass Effect 3 will be one of the nominees for Game of the Year. I also think that it will be one of the biggest games that is remembered with this generation when we look back on it. I am so excited for Mass Effect 3; I'm a huge fan and have been since the first entry on the 360. I will be doing a review for it even though we all know it will be absolutely perfect. I pre-ordered the N7 Edition on Amazon so I will begin playing it release day and won't stop until I've done everything!
**I wasn't able to play the multiplayer. I tried numerous times but it seemed like EA's servers were having some difficulties. I had perfect connection to Xbox Live but still couldn't play the multiplayer. When I am able to, I will update this with my thoughts on it! I apologize for anyone I may have inconvenienced :) **
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Stay Classy,
josh
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