Commander Shepard will drop in to give them some orders

Nov 8, 2011 10:49 GMT  ·  By

BioWare has confirmed that the characters that players create for the Galaxy at War game mode, which is cooperative, will never have any influence on the single player campaign, although the results of those engagements will be linked to the overall progress of the campaign.

Speaking on the BioWare blog Jess Houston, who is one of the producers working on Mass Effect 3, stated, “They will never be involved in the actual campaign of the main story. It’s more like a side mission to the single-player. We don’t want to create situations where multiplayer players have something that single-player players couldn’t otherwise see.”

Still the presence of some of the main characters will be felt, with Commander Shepard himself offering radio commands and advice during the multiplayer segments to add some narrative structure to the experience.

The developer added, “From a story perspective, a lot of these groups have come together as a loose fighting force to stop the reapers therefore they don’t fly the same type of banners that would have existed in pre- reaper invasion days.”

Players will be able to chose any race seen in the Mass Effect universe and then apply a class template to get their Galaxy at War characters, who will be then able to develop their skills and abilities as they get more and more battles under their belts.

A lot of fans have been annoyed at the multiplayer announcement, believing that BioWare should focus all its resources on delivering a satisfying narrative for the last game in the current story arc, the one which involves Commander Shepard.

The single player will see the galactic hero battle the Reapers directly as they assault Earth, while also trying to find allies who are ready for the final showdown with the robotic adversaries.

Mass Effect 3 will be launched in the first week of March 2012 on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC.