14 DAY TRIAL // The Mass Effect 3 demo was released earlier this week and we were quite impressed with the two single-player missions included in the free trial. Sadly, unless you previously bought and activated the online pass from Battlefield 3, you weren’t able to access the multiplayer portion of the demo.
Luckily for you, we’ve decided to try out the cooperative Galaxy at War mode and see if it’s worth experiencing it out tomorrow, once the demo’s multiplayer features get unlocked for everyone.
Is the co-op mode a great addition to the role playing shooter series or just a quick attempt at drawing in the huge Call of Duty demographic? Let’s have a quick look.
You start of Galaxy at War pretty much in the same way as the single-player campaign, by choosing a character class and customizing its traits and features. In the demo you can only choose a human character but you rest assured as the full game will allow players to try out all sorts of alien races, from Krogan to Asari, Drell and anything in between.
After this initial choice, you jump into the actual match finder, which allows you either to set up a private game for you and your friends, or just search for matches depending on certain criteria.
Once you’re paired up, you reach a lobby where you can once again customize the powers of your character and talk with the other players. As soon as everyone’s ready, you’re thrown into the action.
Matches in Galaxy at War use a wave mechanic, as a certain number of enemies appear at the beginning of each wave and it’s your squad’s job to eliminate them. Every once in a while you’re tasked with extra objectives like uploading data to your headquarters, jamming transmissions or killing certain enemies.
While it does sound relatively simple, the actual action in these multiplayer matches is quite exciting, especially if everyone acts as a team and helps each other out.
Teamwork is key, as players should certainly take into account the abilities of their comrades and what character classes they control. An Adept and a Soldier can work together smoothly, for example, as the former can use his or her special powers to immobilize enemies while the latter pumps them full of futuristic lead.
While there’s no respawn mechanic during an actual wave, players can revive each other if they act fast. If not, they should focus on completing the wave, at which point everyone who’s dead gets brought back to life.
Those that don’t want to rely solely on their teammates can buy special upgrades from the Galaxy at War store, which allows them access to special items and more destructive powers in exchange for in-game currency.
Overall, while at first I wasn’t too sure about the Galaxy at War co-op mode in Mass Effect 3, I think I’ll really enjoy it once the full game is released on March 6, in North America, and March 9, in Europe, for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Until then, check out a video of a Galaxy at War match above.