Kotaku: It Turns Out That Multiplayer Doesn’t Ruin Mass Effect 3

Some smart gamers eye the addition of multiplayer modes to formerly single-player franchises with the kind of suspicion that classical music aficionados might have if they heard their favorite violinist gave a guest spot at their next concert to Kanye West.

The people at BioWare have indeed disrupted their symphony. They've added co-op multiplayer to the acclaimed single-player Mass Effect series for next March's Mass Effect 3. I've played it, and while I don't love it, I see why they're doing it and I see how it could be great...

[ArabianKnight01]

Love Mass Effect series, first heard of mp I thought here we go, lets do what we can to attract the masses at the cost of the sp, so its good to hear that the sp campaign is intact and does not rely on mp to end up with the best possible outcome for me3 ending. :)

[XFON]

The time and money that was used to create this useless multiplayer feature could have been spent on fine tuning the single player.

We shall see if this affects the end product in anyway.

[Kahvipannu]

I had same fears, but mp was actually made by different/new team separatelly. It was good news.

[denimsky]

The co-op is done by a new team in Montreal. The main team is in Edmonton.

[maniacmayhem]

@xfon

There's an interview with the producer somewhere here on n4g.
He states that the delay of the game was spent fine tuning the sp.

So you should have no fear.

[XFON]

hopefully!

[gamingdroid]

I prefer that the developer spends time on new things too, otherwise we always get the same complaint... the sequel is more of the same.

So which way do you want it? More of the same or something new?

[Kahvipannu]

You have a point there. It's hard for developers to try make game feel fresh, but still the same. Bungie for example got a lot of critisism whit the changes to Halo:R before the launch with so many changes to core-play, but I believe almost everybody agrees they nailed it. It's same, but new.

But again, let's look at DA2, oh boy... Too much "new" in that game, hehe. Some loved it, but again, people have expectations for sequels, they want "same" game they loved. In this case BW went a bit too far I think, tought it's still a great game.

In case of ME, it's similar. I for example want same game, with good story, and I'm happy. Rumors about mp got me too worried, if it would mix with sp, since it's very personal story.

But the way they are adding mp here, sounds like good one, so I'm too happy they are trying something "new" with the franchise. It's a nice add-on I could have lived without, but propably I will try it.

[Kahvipannu]

Hmmm.. It's optional, why it would ruin it? I'm not really interested in ME-mp, but I'll propably give it a go after sp.