14 DAY TRIAL // A source has suggested that the upcoming Mass Effect 3 video game, the BioWare developed mix between action and role-playing game, will be offering a four-player cooperative mode, which is in someways similar to the Horde mode seen in Gears of War.
Players will need to choose loadouts and then work together as well as they can in order to defeat incoming waves of enemies that become more powerful as the game progresses.
It's not clear whether gamers will be able to create their own custom characters to use in the cooperative mode or whether they will be using the same builds that they have created for their single-player campaign.
It would be interesting to see how the battles fought in the rumored new mode will impact the appeal of Mass Effect 3, which has been traditionally sold on the basis of its story and of its complex universe.
The sources that talked to Eurogamer have suggested that the four-player cooperative multiplayer mode will not in any way interfere with the single player portion of the Mass Effect 3 experience.
Ray Muzika, who is one of the co-founders of BioWare and closely linked to the development process for Mass Effect 3, has told Eurogamer at E3 that, “We haven't talked at all about multiplayer in the Mass Effect franchise, but we're exploring multiplayer in all of our games and all of our franchises.”
He added, “It's always an idea we're interested in”
Mass Effect 3 was initially set to launch on the PC and on home console during the fall of this year, but the developers at BioWare have announced that they have pushed it back to early 2012 in order to focus on delivering the quality fans expect.
I got a hands-off with Mass Effect 3 at the E3 2011 trade show.