Rumor: Mass Effect 2 to Have 5 Player Co-Op

So take this one with a huge grain of salt, as it's one of those he said/she said kind of things. According to a post on CoG there was a link on a Norwegian board to a Gamespot article detailing a bunch of features for the upcoming Mass Effect sequel. Amongst all the nugget of goodness that will be in ME2 is a new expanded squad (up to 5) and the ability to bring human players into that squad for full 5 player co-op.

Some other rumored features of interest include the ability to import your Mass Effect 1 character, a raised level cap of 120, and weapon customization. According to the post the game is set to have a 6 month timed exclusivity deal with Microsoft for the Xbox 360, because even though Microsoft Game Studio published the first title, Electronic Arts now owns the rights.

[Johnny Cullen]

Ooh.

Color me tickled and interested.

But isn't Bioware at work on a KOTOR MMO? If they are, and are hoping to make this after the game is finished and move onto ME2, you'll see most likely see the game in very late 2009/2010.

[SL1M DADDY]

I wonder why they would go with 5? Perhaps there will be 5 characters in the main story next time?

[ry-guy]

I agree, 5 seems like a very odd number to select.

Also, MGS owns the publishing rights. EA owns the IP now.

Call BS on this article right now. Hm I wonder how many more acronyms I can put into this post.

[JEDI WOLVERINE]

An action rpg it might be,but when one person is wading through tons of dialogue do the other 4 just want to be waiting around........

I suppose if Fable2 carries it off with 2 player co-op then if implemented correctly then it might be plausibile someway with 5,but still - hmmmmmm.

[Captain Tuttle]

I'm not sure how it would work either unless there was a separate co-op campaign like in RFOM2...mostly fighting and very little dialogue.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

This could work, even with dialogue. Given it would be Co-Op play, i.e. you jump into someone else's story/game...then maybe all the co-op players would only be able to play supporting character roles and have no real speaking parts. All would be driven by the main character and only automated responses coming from support characters.

I think its totally doable...just not sure how good it will be given how buggy the first game was. Now add in 4 more players? Sounds like a bit much but you never know.

[Fishy Fingers]

I always saw Mass Effect with the potential to evolve into an MMO. But never really saw it as a co-op experience. If this is true I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

Is it a serious push from the developer to expand or is it just another tacted on feature to tick those extra review boxes? Time will tell.

[The Makr]

I have been playing their games since Baldur's Gate, BGII, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect. They never let me down and ME2 is a day one purchase for me.

Bioware FTW.

[MiloGarret]

Agreed, we're talking about Bioware here... Best RPG devs in existance. As huge fan of Mass Effect I can honestly say that I am stoked for ME2 and playing it co-op (locally), hopefully it'll be like fable 2 were you're not forced to do it over Live.

[TheColbertinator]

5 player co-op? Sounds good.I will buy it for PC,360,or PS3 or whichever system it shows up for.Mass Effect is my favorite game this gen

[bouncybullet]

After Fable 2's co-op, RPGs from now on will have to consider it at least.

Bioware could pull it off.

At least 2 player.

I wish every game had at least 2 player co-op campaign.
Kindof like Gears, where the game is written around the 2 main characters.

[poopface1]

cant wait for this one. co-op would be cool.

[tiropitas]

i just hope its alot bigger this time.the first one was fantastic but the size left a bitter taste..

[RememberThe357]

But, I know what you mean. ME was an RPG I was kind of expecting 50+ hours, but hey maybe we'll get more this time around.

[luigee]

4 player coop works fine in Halo3, why not in ME2. I like it ;)

[masterofpwnage]

dont think it will work.

imean the ai wasnt that good and the levels were very small.

if they improve does then yeah it will be awsome. cant wait.

[DARK WITNESS]

hummm, with the jumpy frame rate they had with the first one, are they sure they can pull it off. I mean i hope they can, but please sort out all the other stuff.

The game was great but i still think it had a few issues. and as they guy said above me, i didn't like the size and the way every bunker on every planet was exactly the same inside. all the rooms, everything. The planets were great to drive around, the different colours and atmosphere were cool.

the other thing, if you carry your states over, is the rest of your team going to start of at the same level. say you finished it at level 50, but your friend finished it at level 35. will he join your squad with his player etc..

anyway, lets talk KOTOR first.

[bumnut]

i was really excited about the 1st one.

But the excitement passed when i landed at a space station with over a billion inhabitants and i could only talk to one!

@ the guys above: almost every planet is the same! i got sick of landing on a planet, killing some pirates, collecting a med kit and then leaving.

[DARK WITNESS]

ok, let me put it this way. All the planets were the same in that, they all had the same bunkers and you always had to do the same thing. even worse, you never found anything that felt rewarding. ya, a few medkits and a crap pistol.

what i liked was the landscapes. i just liked the colours and stuff.. i would drive round and it kind of did make me day-dream a bit of what it would be like to be able to go to other planets and other worlds.

but ya, it did get boring very fast. i agree with you.

[baraka007]

Framerate is fine on the PC version Dark even with a 60 dollar video card so that would only be a problem with the xbox360. Im just not sure why they would add this. If they want to make a co op RPG great just seems like they would make a new game for co op not add it to Mass Effect which is a really heavy dialog game. Unless they're changing the way you talk and interact with NPCs it just seems like it wouldn't fit well. Just have to wait and see I guess.

[DARK WITNESS]

that may be true, but unfortunately i am not a PC gamer.

what has bugged me even more is that they have not even brought a patch out or anything to sort it out.

i am not saying ME2 will be the same, no actually i pray it is not. all i am saying is whatever they do, they should make sure they polish the game off. Don't forget it came out on pc like what 6 - 8 months after the 360. so they would have had more time to sort those issues out.

[TheColbertinator]

Well I am a PC gamer.I will see if the differences are large enough to distinguish in the two versions

[GametimeUK]

And its funny how the 360 fanboys slate PS3 ports and pointing out frame dips and other issues... Whats ironic is Mass Effect actually plays like a poor PS3 port... I will be giving the sequel a miss... When I saw MS exclusives running like crappy ports I knew it was time to play my ps3 more

[Man_of_the_year]

How can it play like a PS3 port if it was never released on the PS3? Where do you find your comparison? Going by history of Console ports i would argue that it would have been a lot worse on the PS3. Your comment is absolute ignorance.

[Diamondwolf]

If a game that already runs bad came over to the PS3, then it would have run worse (around that time)

Good job on reinforcing his point

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

How will they keep the team together, and why would it be 5?

[PirateThom]

Absolute fail.

Co-op is completely unnecessary in an RPG like this.

[KiddyBrownTurd]

Oh, Hell yeah. One of the greatest games this gen, mass effect 1, a 360 exclusive, just got better! Can't wait for the sequel! I'm sure the PS3rdplace PORT will be GREAT! by great i mean REALLY VERY SH1TTY!

[PirateThom]

It's on PC, hardly exclusive, eh?

[bouncybullet]

Exclusive to anyone who has a pc that can run it better than an xbox.

or.

Exclusively not on playstation.

Also, the 2nd game will actually take your decisions from your 1st game's save file, and you will encounter people from the first(if you didn't kill them) with their attitude reflecting the choices you made in the 1st game.

Thats a huge feature.

And obviously not a feature that will carry over to PS3.

[mariusmal]

umh. even if it's true, i'm not gonna use it :D mass effect was a great game. not a great rpg but a great game.

[WitWolfy]

Its a rumor and everybody allready thinks its true, If its 5 player co-op how will the xbox load 5 profiles??? duh! unless its on xbox live.

This is all BS Mass Effect will stay true to its roots i say, co op is welcome but i think its gonna be a 2 player co-op max (being that you could only take 3 members in a group at a time. and only having space for one HDD and two memory units (Am i the only one seeing this)

Next they'll say you'll be able to scan in your face with mass effect 2 and you guys wil believe it too

[TrevorPhillips]

i have part 1 and i stop playin the game after i finished it cause theirs to much frame rate drops lags this game shouldnt come out on 360 only on ps3 cause of the blu ray disc and a system can handle it i hope 2 will be on ps3

[Panther52799]

i spent 50+ hours on it and didnt have lag or frame rate dips that i really noticed, i must be the lucky one haha

[RememberThe357]

Those are the only issues I had with the game. I mean seriously, I would get to a new level and it would have no textures, then suddenly BAM! the textures would pop in.

[felidae]

i still don't get what's so special about the 1st one.

the framerate was horrible and the cover and fighting system was a mess.

i call it Mess Effect

[Marcus Fenix]

great graphics, great atmosphere, great upgrades and the music of ME was amazing

[dkgshiz]

The last Mass Effect had really long load times, horrible pop in. I found the combat to be really bad. Never tried the pc version.

[bouncybullet]

The load times lasted 5 seconds.

And the game still has some of the most realistic textures on consoles right now.

The main character's face alone is comparable to crysis.

So add in the fact that it's all streaming off the disc(not installed) and those amazing textures popping in isn't a big surprise.

The new install feature on 360 will change that problem.

[sit down droid]

and remember they are optional

[bouncybullet]

With the new 360 install feature it won't suffer from texture pop-in.

(if they make it installable.)

ME2 will be installable for sure.

[IAm1Bearcat]

eh, as much as this sounds nice and all i wont be using it at all.
for me, personally, Mass Effect was a great single player experience and i dont want to have 4 other friends running around with me all over the place. and i cannot see 5 people playing a 35-40 hour game all the way through together. i see people using friends for help with boss fights, but my concern is: are all 5 fighting at the same time? in the first you could only bring 2 with you...

either way i hope they dont focus solely on this nor do i want this to be a tacked on feature. just fix the pop ins with the first, make more creative levels and another kickass ending and im all good.

[Lord Vader]

Thats great if true, but I would trade it all for KOTOR III.

[GarandShooter]

It could be cool, depending how they implement it. Suppose as the host, you are the team leader. You land on a planet with several missions to complete, and it's your job to assemble teams as needed and assign the missions. Upon completion, your teams notify you via chat regarding the outcomes, or with info you need to assign/complete further missions. Upon replay, another person is host and assigns tasks, etc. Could be interesting.

[Harri4444]

5 player co-op weird its like saying the next MGS well have 4 player online co-op in mean how wold it work. some games are meant to reman 1 player. but mass effect competitive online would be cool if they spent a proper amount of time on it.

[BigPimpin]

I don't believe this will happen, at most two player co-op but not five. This is my opinion, and no, I'm not a fanboy, I own all current and last generation consoles. Microsoft sold back their publishing rights of Mass Effect to EA but, knowing Microsoft, they didn't sell their rights without getting something in return. Now what that is I don't know, but anyone with business sense can tell you that if a company has rights to something you want, that company has the right to either sell back, keep it, ask for triple the money back, or exclusive rights to the franchise. Make of it what you will, but knowing Microsoft, they got something! Sorry for long post.

[cherrypie]

Mass Effect would be *perfect* as a MMO.

Take out the Campaign mode, and allow captains/guilds to fight for the planets & their resources.

Keep the 1st person shooter & vehicle elements the same.

Dont get me wrong, I love ME, but I always wanted to encounter *other* players when I went down to a planet's surface.

[waldopepper]

Not sure co-op really lends itself to the Mass Effect series - aside from combat, are the other 4 players just going to sit there and listen to the conversations chosen by only one player? Talking is a pretty big part of the game.