When your boss asks why you’re cutting out early today, you can tell her it’s because you had to practice saving the world. Or if you’d rather not be that dramatic, you can just say “BioWare put out a Mass Effect 3 demo today.”
Because BioWare is, or rather they have: It’s available now on Xbox LIVE, to be followed (reportedly) by the Windows version at 10 a.m. PT and the PlayStation 3 version at 4 p.m. PT.
(MORE: Review: Mass Effect 2 Hits Its Mark)
According to the press blurb, the demo
…will allow players to experience the all-out galactic war against an ancient alien race known as the Reapers from multiple fronts, including the mind-blowing opening attack on Earth that kicks off the single-player campaign. Players will go deeper into the campaign and also get a taste of the franchise’s new co-operative multiplayer mode as they preview the epic story, adrenaline-pumping action and deep customization options that lie ahead when Mass Effect 3 launches on March 6, 2012.
The Xbox 360 version includes Kinect support, so if you’re thinking of using voice command controls for your squad, which the Kinect version enables, you can give that a whirl. If you’re interested in cooperative mode, something new to the Mass Effect series, that’s still coming Feb. 17, but you’ll need to have purchased Battlefield 3 and used the included online pass.
Me, I’m skipping the demo to finish up Mass Effect 2, which kept losing my interest wandering around that funkadelic bar-planet.
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