According to metrowny.com, not only will Mass Effect 3 sport Kinect compatibility, but it will also be equipped with a multiplayer option. The article says that the multiplayer won’t interfere with the campaign missions; rather, they will be side quests that players may embark on together.
It’s common knowledge nowadays that Bioware wants to continue making games based in the Mass Effect universe. It has even been suggested that the next ME game will be an MMO, which would be perfect in this particular universe. Playing as a Turian assassin would be a delight, and it goes without saying that it would satiate the majority of the Mass Effect fanbase.
However, is it necessary to have multiplayer options in Mass Effect 3? Creating your own version of Commander Sheppard and making galaxy-shaping moral choices are a big part of the play-your-way option that is so popular in the series. The developers put a lot of time into creating a carefully woven story with different scenarios and outcomes that everyone can experience. But it’s always done well as a single player experience. Is Bioware trying to add something new to the game because they really think it will enhance game play or are they trying to compete with the plethora of games that have such an addition?
The reason why Batman: Arkham Asylum was so successful was because they focused on the combat, graphics, dialogue, and most importantly, the story. Rocksteady put so much effort into crafting one of the best Batman games in a very long time (if not EVER), and they did it without implementing multiplayer. In fact, they added challenge modes to fool around with when they finished the campaign. It was fun to dedicate some time toward achieving a fifty-hit combo.
In Dead Space 2, the story was quite long, and it scared the life out of some. At its core, it is more of an action game with a scary twist, but it was still quite terrifying. Then, they added cooperative multiplayer to the third person shooter, and it turns out that it’s not as desirable as Visceral Games would have hoped. One side has a completely unfair advantage over the other, and it’s incredibly dark throughout game play.
Digressing to the main point, Mass Effect 3 is one of Bioware’s best games. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to wait until their unannounced MMO to add multiplayer? It is my main fear that this added feature will detract from the main story and overall game because it’s something that hasn’t been tried in the series before. The main goal in this game is to find some way to thwart the Reaper invasion and take back Earth before it’s too late. Either way, the developer will do what they feel is best, but the multiplayer will have to add something to the game as a whole, not just a reason to compete with other games.
