In case you weren’t aware, BioWare released the Mass Effect 3 demo to the public today across all platforms. You can find instructions to download the demo for yourself on your platform of choice here. What better way to wrap-up Valentines day than to spend it shooting up the galaxy’s worst offenders with Commander Shepard and friends?

Quick impressions time! I downloaded the demo on the PC, since that’s where I played the last two Mass Effect titles, and the version I will be playing come release. I’m going to make this post pretty general in regards to what actually happens story-wise in the game, because nothing is worse than having a BioWare game spoiled for you. Not that anything unpredictable happens in this demo or anything. If you’re up to speed with the general happenings in the Mass Effect universe, there isn’t really anything in the demo that you won’t already be expecting. Again, no spoilers, but overall, this is a very gameplay-oriented demo, which is the way it should be. The demo is cut in half – one half is a brief part from the beginning of the game, acting as a tutorial and a sort of wake-up-call, which serves to bring the player back into the universe of Mass Effect. By the way, if you’re planning on playing this game come release, you really should play the first two first. Don’t worry, you’ve still got a good four weeks or so to do so! Mass Effect really is a game series that needs to be played chronologically – the story is always pushing forward, and there’s very little emphasis on flashbacks or previous events. Suffice to say, if you go into ME2 or ME3 without having played the previous game(s), you’re doing yourself a disservice, not to mention you’ll probably be doing a lot of “who’s this guy again?” and “huh?” during the large majority of conversations. So yes, go play the others if you haven’t. I did just that recently, and man am I glad I did. It helps that they’re both great games.

The second half of the demo is where things really come together. They just throw you into a mission, with little context given, and you go from there – and man, does this game play well. It plays very close to ME2, but at the same time I found the differences and changes to be pretty noticeable. Most of what’s been changed is related to the combat and movement in the game. Overall, the shooting feels much better than it did in ME2 and much better than ME1. Again, the combat is very similar to ME2, but there are a few things they changed that just make an already exciting and satisfying combat system reach near perfection. The first thing you’ll probably notice is that there’s hitmarkers when you successfully hit enemies now. I’m a big fan of hitmarkers, and they work well here in Mass Effect as well. Not much else to say other than they make the shooting feel a lot more impactful, and therefore a lot more enjoyable.

No, this doesn't happen in the demo. Although I wish it did.

Also new is the ability to pull off combat rolls, whether it be forward, or to the left or right. I didn’t end up using this much in the demo, but it definitely comes in handy for when you’re close to dying and need to get out of the line of fire faster than walking will let you. Plus, you know, it’s awesome to have Shepard rolling around the place at will. Cover seems to be largely unchanged. They probably tweaked a few things here and there, but to me the cover system feels pretty much the same, which isn’t a bad thing, as it worked well in ME2. One thing I noticed was that Shepard seems to have a set of new animations for when he’s (or she, if you’re rolling with FemShep) taking fire, which look great. I don’t remember seeing those in ME2.

The biggest stand-out in terms of combat though was the gunplay. I don’t know what BioWare changed – again, subtle changes, but stuff has definitely changed. Combat feels much faster overall, and the guns feel very satisfying to shoot, with the shotgun being love at first shell fired. It just has so much impact - not only on the target, and let me tell you, this thing is deadly, but also in the way it handles upon being fired. Something about the animations, sounds, and deadly effects of the weaponry just totally click, resulting in excellent combat. My new-found love for the shotgun might have something to do with its tendency to pop the heads of my enemies into pure, red mush. So, so, good.

I absolutely love – and most people will – that BioWare has removed weapon restrictions on certain classes. I played through ME & ME2 with mainly pistols, simply because that’s how the classes I chose were supposed to be played. But man, I have no problems saying good-bye to those weapon restrictions. Playing a sentinel again, and being able to use that beast of a shotgun? Man, oh man was that a nice surprise. By the way, the tech and biotic abilities I got to use as a Sentinel remain mostly unchanged, with the exception of the new upgrade system. Not much to say about those, aside from that they remain as fun to use as ever, especially when combined with good old fashioned gunplay. Seeing a helpless enemy being lifted up in the air courtesy of my teammate Liara was only made better when I froze the poor suspended bastard, and then blew his frozen ass to pieces before he hit the ground with the shotgun. I couldn’t help but smile at that.

So, combat in ME3, judging by this demo? Great, absolutely great. They took ME2‘s combat, made some improvements, and the end result is often satisfyingly brutal, intense, and smooth as butter.

This demo proves Mass Effect 3 has the gameplay I wanted, and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting anything but excellence, which is exactly what I got. Still, there are some things that still concern me regarding the final product, based upon what we get with this demo. I wrote a post earlier about how I was hoping to see more RPG elements in ME3, and this demo doesn’t do much to ease or even heighten my fears. It’s purely a combat-oriented demo, and I wasn’t really expecting much change from the overall ME2 experience. It’s still up in the air about how the story will play out, what kind of crazy missions Shepard will be getting into, how the new probing (or equivalent) system will work, and how this (presumably) final chapter in the ME trilogy will finish things, since the demo is really about showcasing the new galactic conflict setting and the new combat improvements. Still, I’m as excited as ever to get my hands on the full game in March.

-rav4ge