The Mass Effect 3 Demo Review

The concluding chapter of the Mass Effect trilogy is coming very shortly to systems everywhere and will be the first game in the series to be released simultaneously on all major HD platforms. The demo released this week completed the same feat with BioWare releasing Xbox 360, PS3 and PC demos all on the same day. Feedback received from various sites suggested that the PS3 versions fails to match its Xbox 360 counterpart as it suffers from major frame-rate issues but is still a great example of what is coming over the mountain.

I’ve played the demo through twice now and both times found that the areas on offer are interesting, involving and give players a good understanding of what they can expect in the final release. The demo itself is split into two parts – the first takes place at the beginning of the game as the Reapers start their invasion of Earth, the other is set midway through the game and has Shepherd sorting out issues on the Salarian homeworld.

The first part of the demo runs for around 15 to 20 minutes depending on the difficulty and your personal playing style and allows the player to create their own Shepherd, use the default option and even make a couple of story based decisions before you set off.  You start on Earth as the powers that be find out that the Reapers are on their way to Earth sparking a frantic tutorial style section. To say much else will spoil the proceedings for you and I don’t want to do that to you.

The second part of the game is a little larger and much more combat centric than the first section. Again there are a few areas where you can make smaller story based decisions and this one involved Wrex, Garrus and Liara all of whom had already been confirmed as party members this time around. The story doesn’t really ruin anything from the main game but does have some prominent points to fans from the previous instalments. It’s safe to say it involved Krogans, Women and Cerberus but again much more would spoil proceedings for you.

The combat over both sections is fresh, fluid and enjoyable even on Insanity. The gameplay has been tweaked ever so slightly to make the whole experience run smoother and will feel very familiar to any fans of the previous games. The only gripe I have with the gameplay element of the demo was the rolling aspect that didn’t really seem to make much of a difference beside making me role past my cover instead of into it. Powers still curve like in Mass Effect 2 and the weapons feel useful again as my team laid waste to several waves of enemies before the demo came to a close.

Speaking of enemies the demo actually showed off a few new ones including; a ninja style Geth (which I can’t remember the full name of) and also shielded Cerberus Troopers that add another dimension to the combat. It’ll be interesting to see what other enemies Bioware have up their sleeves as they’ve always been fairly original with their design choices.

Visually the game plays out a lot like the previous instalment; characters have good body language but poor lip syncing and facial animations. The game areas though look fantastic and the action in the background is easy to follow as well as being very clear. The first section of the demo also had a lot of path changes through environmental effects that made the game fast paced and action packed.

The final part of the demo that I haven’t played much of is the cooperative multiplayer that works very similarly to Gears of War’s horde mode. You are tasked with taking down waves of enemies in between objective based tasks to collect experience points and rank up your custom made character. There are various perks and options to customise your character even in this early build. The AI is clever and quick to target the playing team’s weaknesses. Decisions need to be made quickly in order to survive and playing solo is almost definitely a death wish.

All in all any fan of the Mass Effect series should definitely play the demo as soon as possible and anyone picking up the finale as their entrance into the universe is sure to find the whole experience exhilarating.

Please let me know what you thought in the comments section below.