BioWare has managed to create real long-term appeal with the new mode

Apr 17, 2012 13:18 GMT  ·  By

The Reapers are upon us, led by two Geth Prime platforms that suppress anyone who dares to move out of cover to launch a power attack or take a few shots.

Right behind them, the Pyros are ready to deploy their flamethrowers and quickly whittle down our shields while not getting any sighting of Geth Hunters probably means that they are behind us, ready to use their plasma shotguns to end our feeble lives before we even know they are upon us.

There are four of us fighting for this forgotten base on the edge of the galaxy: a Salarian engineer, a Turian soldier and two humans, a Vanguard and an Adept.

We are the few and the proud, the mostly unknown heroes that slug it out in the multiplayer side of Mass Effect 3, trying to keep the Reaper and their allies from mustering the forces they need to take out the armada that Commander Shepard is assembling in the single-player story.

We are the ones dying on a daily basis in order to stop enemies that seem much tougher for us than for the Commander and his squad (which makes sense because we are clearly less able fighters than the almost legendary Shepard).

To all those for whom the ending of Mass Effect 3 has been a disappointment (and I agree with them on many, if not all, levels) I suggest a deep trip through the multiplayer experience that the BioWare title offers and specifically through one of the events the company puts on during weekends.

They will discover a world filled with flawed but capable heroes, inhabiting many versions of the same characters, ready to use their abilities and their skills to beat back the Reaper, threat one map and one wave at a time, regardless of the final conclusion of the series.

Someone needs to always hold the line and the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer delivers a simpler and more human look at bravery in the virtual world.