So, now that the Mass Effect 3 Demo is out...

[fnartilter]

Pros:
-Melee was fun as an infiltrator.
-Combat overall seemed much smoother, powers yay.
-It all looked great (corridors, background, effects), and ran smoothly on my PC, I read some of you had troubles on your consoles.
-Sounds! Hearing the thermal clips hit the floor, and the old ME1 sound of a gun overheating.
-Seeing the old crew, and their brief interaction on the shuttle. Wrex seemed a bit hot headed, but maybe he was bored from sitting on his butt on Tuchanka for so long.
-Leveling system is neat, improved over the second game.

Cons:
-Dialogue was limited. Although I read from a couple posters on the Bioware forums that it had been gutted to prevent spoilers.
-The introduction's drama seemed forced, I really didn't care for the anonymous child. Maybe it was because I saw him die in the trailers months ago that spoiled the moment.
-Some of the animations seemed stiff, and weird. Like when Anderson first runs up, and they shake hands or something I couldn't help but see someone typing /shake hands and then the action pops.

End: Going to buy the game. I have to see the end of the Mass Effect story. Demos are usually months old and not very good representations of the final product.

 

[Android2137]

Still debating that Preorder because of Origin... :\

Still debating purchase because of Origin. If it is good and Origin doesn't change, I'll be so so sad.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

It also left a really deep emotional impact on me I dunno I wanted to cry at one point in the game.

Spoiler

When the ship carrying the boy blew up, and Shepherd left Earth, I dunno it felt so profound, I haven't been that affected by a game since The Witcher 2

You were? Because I...

Spoiler

...thought it felt a little forced. As soon as that brat didn't take the nice lady's hand and crawl out of that vent I knew he was a goner. I felt more emotion when Anderson choose to stay behind. Not that I didn't see that coming. But when that kid died I felt so uninterested - they are just building up a scene where a kid dies just to have a scene where a kid dies. Not to mention the trailer gives away that those 2 transports get shot down.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

I enjoyed the demo but was anyone else put off by the selection of play style at the beginning? I can't think of any ME fan who would want to play ME3 with all focus on action/none on story or vice versa. I guess that's Bioware's way of trying to get new players involved in the franchise.

I might try to get my dad to play it on Story mode, cos he loves SciFi, but Jesus H. Monkeyballs he sucks ass at any kind of action game.

I noticed a "narrative" difficult setting underneath "casual" - he should fine.

 

[Zhukov]

-Dialogue was limited. Although I read from a couple posters on the Bioware forums that it had been gutted to prevent spoilers.

Yeah, the level on Sur'kesh (or however the hell you spell it, the Salarian joint) has a ton of dialogue before the shooting starts. Wrex grumbles a whole lot, you get to chat with Kirahee, you meet Mordin and get some background.

In the demo they just fade out and skip to the shooting. Kind of a shame.

 

[Zeraki]

Pros

-The combat improvements. People can harp on about "Gears of Mass Effect" all they want... but this is what I wished the combat was like in the first game. It's fast paced, smooth and it feels much more tactical than the first two. I actually enjoy that you can stay out of cover as well... at times.

-The music is incredible. It feels like a perfect blend between the soundtracks of the first two games. I was a bit disappointed that the game over screen had the same track as Mass Effect 2 though.

-The leveling system is a definite improvement over Mass Effect 2's. It's not as deep as I was expecting, but it's definitely better than the leveling system in the previous two games.

-A health bar! And the Medi-Gel actually heals you again.

-The melee was fun, but the Omniblade feels broken as hell. They should probably put a cool down on that.

Cons

-As much as I enjoyed the opening, I would have liked to have more control over what Shepard said. I understand BioWare is going for a more cinematic approach, but not even having an investigate or neutral dialogue option was kind of disheartening. Although those were apparently removed in the demo to avoid spoilers.

-We didn't get to play with the weapon customization in the demo, and that was kind of frustrating.

-Some of the animations are a little goofy looking.

-Lack of sniper rifle for the infiltrator. Although it was fun to sneak up on enemies while cloaked, and kill them with the Omni-blade.


The game looks like it is shaping up great, and I loved the demo despite its flaws. It left me wanting more, and I am eagerly anticipating my pre-order to arrive when it comes out.

 

[endtherapture]

It also left a really deep emotional impact on me I dunno I wanted to cry at one point in the game.

Spoiler

When the ship carrying the boy blew up, and Shepherd left Earth, I dunno it felt so profound, I haven't been that affected by a game since The Witcher 2

You were? Because I...

Spoiler

...thought it felt a little forced. As soon as that brat didn't take the nice lady's hand and crawl out of that vent I knew he was a goner. I felt more emotion when Anderson choose to stay behind. Not that I didn't see that coming. But when that kid died I felt so uninterested - they are just building up a scene where a kid dies just to have a scene where a kid dies. Not to mention the trailer gives away that those 2 transports get shot down.

I KNEW I was getting played by Bioware, it was so obvious and forced but the combination of leaving Anderson behind, innocent casualties in War etc. etc. meant that my emotions were running high. It really looked like the kid was gonna get away for a second so it was a glimmer of false hope. It may have been cheap by Bioware, but holy shit for me it worked, beautifully.

 

[Saulkar]

I will have to wait for a crack to appear so I guess I am skipping the demo, unless a version that does not require Origin appears.

In the end, purchase the game, crack the mother, play, post videos on youtube gloating that even though I did not pirate the game I would never use Origin ever again!!! The multiplayer means nothing to me for this game so I will gladly pass. Besides, having a cracked version will open up modding potential!

 

[sage42]

Now that I've plyed the demo I can safely say most of my fears have been settled. Plus,

Spoiler

HOLY SHIT A FEMALE KROGAN. AND SHE KICKED ASS!

That one point alone had me squealing like a little girl. Now all I want is to see Rannoch, Kal'Reager, and an awesome ending for both my Renagade FemShep/Liara and a Paragon MaleShep/Tali.

 

[EinTheCorgi]

Personaly...i hated the demo. Well hate is a bit strong. Disliked is a better word. I cant help but feel like ME is going the cod rout even by killing a child...in almost the same bloody way. unlocking new characters and weapons in co-op is all luck based in wich i find flawd and at the start of the game you can even chose to have the game chose for you. Now I dont know about you, but Mass Effect has always been about choices and that mode isnt masse ffect and I thing in the long run the whole game will suffer....though this is what ive come to expect from EA and there sleazy ways. first with dead space 2 then battle field 3 now mass effect 3 now i still loved dead space 2. BF3 ehh not at all. though do i think ME3 will be good yeah. Do i think it will be worthy of being the last ME game? Nope. all i can compare ME3 to is idiana johnes and the crystal skull. not terrible but definitely not fitting of the Mass Effect name.

 

[Appleshampoo]

I really enjoyed the demo. More tactical than ME2, more intense than ME1, it was perhaps the perfect fusion between the two games. I was really pleasantly surprised.

It also left a really deep emotional impact on me I dunno I wanted to cry at one point in the game.

Spoiler

When the ship carrying the boy blew up, and Shepherd left Earth, I dunno it felt so profound, I haven't been that affected by a game since The Witcher 2

I actually shed a tear then.

Spoiler

I actually thought the kid was going to be some form of escort mission, or was just going to hang around a ship giving Shepard inspiration, but daaaamn. That was a sad moment

 

[Kavonde]

Even on PC, with the graphics cranked up all the way, textures looked pretty crummy and facial animations were deep in the uncanny valley. Hopefully, there's still enough time before release to polish that stuff.

Only real concern is the overdone brownish yellow color filter, which I REALLY hope I can turn off. Just 'cause it's the end of the universe doesn't mean it has to be a big ugly mush of blegh, BioWare.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

The graphics don't seem finished (I played the PC version). Some of the things look spectacular, but some others not so much. This may be because of the demo limited graphic adjustment options.

Gameplay is amazing as always in Mass Effect, no complaints.

Storyline, now I only played the first mission. I don't like the mission skipping in the demo. It makes me feel like I'm skipping chapters in the final book of my favorite series. Still, it seems a little like ME2. Gather a bunch of people for a good cause. Still the content alone may well make up for it.

 

[Valanthe]

Finally finished playing. It was definitely short, but it showed off a lot of how the game works, which is a good thing, I wish they'd had at least one decent conversation in it though, there was like three dialogue options spread out through the demo, and all of them were pretty lackluster.

The controls felt a bit foreign to me, but I imagine that's just a matter of trying to get used to them, it didn't feel like they were out to kill me like Amy's were, so that gets a pass.

Spoiler: sad moment spoiler

When I saw that kid at the end of the intro, I was like, "Oh god don't make me bring the whiny six year old on boa- shuttle blows up- Oh shit....

If the end of the intro is an indication of the them of this game... I'm gonna need to stock up on kleenex, so that's a big check in my book.

My only complaint comes from the graphics department, because holy crap, Did anyone else notice how freaky the animations and character models were? I hat being "that guy," to bring this up, but on my femshep playthrough, I just couldn't help but notice how... wrong, her breasts looked, this wasn't noticable when she put armour on thank god, but in the street clothes for the intro, something didn't look right, and it was just her too... so I dunno.

The faces as well looked just plain wierd, it was almost like there was too much detail, so people just don't even look human anymore.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

There are some things that I think need some eh... calibrations.
I sort them out in matter of importance for me.

MOST IMPORTANT:

1) EVERYTHING IS GREY
ME3 discards the vibrant sci fi color pallete of ME1 and ME2,for grey and brown shades everywhere.Colors seem too washed out,too faded.

2) 6 ACTIONS ON THE SAME BUTTON ???
In ME2 we had Sprint,Cover,and Interaction all in the same button,and boy it was annoying some times.Well in ME3 we got all these functions PLUS side rolls and jumps all in the same button.
At a time I wanted to immediatly start running left to get to a distant cover spot,but Shepard did a short side roll instead,getting all the enemy's bullets in his face and dying.
Later on when I tried to activate a computer that was on top of a desk,Shepard wouldn't activate the damn thing but would instead duck and take cover behind the desk.I got in cover and out of it about 3-4 times until eventually I activated the computer because of luck.

3) STORY/DIALOGUE STUFF
So the available dialogue options given at all conversations where always 2 but from what I read people say that other dialogue options where cut from the demo for some reason.
The story while interesting,seemed to have a faster pace than it did in 2 past games which isn't of my like.In just a handful of minutes Reapers invaded,Shepard got re-recruited to the Alliance,and all the other things happened..

MEDIUM IMPORTANT:

1) ENEMIES SPAM GRENADES
So the enemies got a new attack,which is throwing grenades at you.And they do it when you are in cover to get you out of it.But getting out of it is slow and most of the times the time needed for the animation to happen takes longer than it takes the grenade to go boom. I felt like playing Battlefield 3 in third person.

2) MORE SCRIPTED EVENTS,NARROWER CORRIDORS
In ME1 spaces where very large and there where so many rooms you didn't had to visit for the main story,you could even get lost at times.In ME2 rooms became shorter so you could visit additional rooms that aren't important for the main story without getting lost.In this demo of ME3 it seems there are no additional rooms at all,and the actual shooting area became shorter and narrower than ever.It's too much straight forward "go there do that" to me,and I think it's bad there isn't enough to explore,'cause I liked exploration.

3) WEAPONS ARE UNBALANCED.
So check this out,an enemy needs like 10 or 15 bullets from the assault rifle to die,and it takes like 6-8 seconds to shoot them,while they die with about 5-6 pistol shots in less than 5 seconds.Makes the assault rifle feel unworthy in comparison to the pistol.


LESS IMPORTANT:

1) SHEPARD'S LIFE GOES DOWN FASTER
I played Mass Effect 3 single player,and I felt like I played Battlefield 3 multiplayer because Shepard's health seems to go down the same as fast. I played on medium difficulty and there where 2 enemies on screen.I thought of going out of cover to run to one of them that was distracted by Liara,and do the all powerfull melee attack to him.But before I even get to him I was killed down in like 2 seconds because the other guy killed me with 2 assault rifle bursts.

2) UNUSUAL GUN SOUNDS
The new gun sound doesn't sound like a lazer gun or a conventional gun either.It's just like the sound you would get by hammering a hammer to a piece of metal,too metallic.

3) CAN'T TALK TO SQUADMATES
So when I face at my squadmate,there isn't a circle appearing on them so I can't interact with them and have them say a line.It was a nice feature of past 2 games.

4) CAN'T HOLSTER WEAPON
There isn't a button to holster or unholster the weapon.

 

[LiquidGrape]

I felt the oft cited child scene was the most base kind of emotional manipulation.

"Oh look at the little urchin playing with his toy ship and laughing innocently! What ill could *possibly* befall this treasure?"

The writing is pompous, characterisation seems sketchy, the visual design has taken a turn for the worse (Ashley, what did they do to you?), and the animation work is lacking.

I realise it's a demo, and I realise it isn't a final build, but I can't say I was roused to anything more than a subdued "eh, it's about okay."
And I'm one of those (apparently) strange people who genuinely feel Dragon Age 2 was an improvement on Origins, so it isn't a matter of being predisposed to dislike BioWare.

It simply left me thoroughly indifferent.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Played the demo with all three modes and have this to say about it...

Spoiler: In Action Mode

It says that I can jump right into the action but it doesn't seem to be so. The dialogue chooses options for you as it says but the thing about most cut-scenes is that they've become skippable more often this generation. Sure, you can mash X (on the 360) but that only skips you forward disjointedly between the dialogue. Unless I missed it, there doesn't seem to be a way of skipping the cutscenes entirely. It's not that I'd want to to begin with but I played Action mode last and was hoping I could just skip through all of the talkie bits since I've seen them twice before. Also, why can't I use grenades like in ME1? I understand that I can map them to LB, RB or, Y but why should I have to when I could lob as many as I wanted back in the original by tapping select? Other than that and the fact that Shepard is always a grey solider, Action mode seems to play like the other two only with every level-up auto-leveling you and no way to chose what Shepard will tell people (I expect the full version will still include sexing the hell out of whoever is in your party the most and is the opposite gender as your player character)

Spoiler: In Standard Mode

The game seems to play an awful lot like Mass Effect 2 in terms of combat. Doesn't seem like a lot has changed so there isn't much to talk about here except for the leveling system which looks alright so far. Haven't really played around with it too much yet though but I'll give it another try or three. As has been mentioned I like how everyone can use just about every gun but either I missed them completely or the big guns have been removed from ME3. Where's my Cryo-Cannon? Where's my Nuke-Launcher? I'm also really curious to see how I'll be screwing around while flying around on the map screen...resource mining from orbit or, resource mining from the surface on a new vehicle? Or will I be digging resources out of the shattered husks of the many reapers I kill while cruising around in the Normandy?

Spoiler: In Story Mode

Why in the hell can't I level up like in RPG mode?! Don't tell me that's the only difference between Story and RPG mode too, because either the demo was bare bones or, there are just as many conversation choices in RPG mode as there are in Story Mode.

In general I liked the demo more than I thought I might have. I didn't even bother with multiplayer though, mainly because I don't have XBL-Gold (I think there was a free weekend...I missed the hell out of it) and partly because I'm on the anti-Origin band-wagon. After a bit of fiddling it looks like you can change the playstyle during gameplay so, if you want to make your own Shepard then turn off all of the RPG bits (dialogue decisions off, auto level-up on) that seems to be a possibility.

I'm one of the few people who didn't notice Mordin's new voice but then, a lot of it seemed to have been filtered somewhat. It didn't sound too terrible to be me but the demo was a bit short, I thought. I'm not about to pre-order it but I may get this one new anyway once the price has dropped a little bit but I think I'll wait until the reviews are out (though I'll probably get a bunch of 5-star reviews so I'm not expecting much help there)

 

[calza27]

The multiplayer's fun... just going to leave that there

 

[Steampunk Viking]

For me, I loved the demo, some great stuff in there. So far it feels like a perfect blend of herb and spic... I mean ME1 and ME2. It seemed to reintroduce everything that made either game good and improved on it, and yes, the end of the first mission was a real tear jerker, even I found myself welling up when I saw that.

I do love the new combat style too, although it will take me a while to get used to it I think ("don't combat roll, stick to the wall!") but at least I know longer feel confined to one bit of cover and just popping my head out now and then like the previous 2 games, and I found myself meleeing ALOT more. Finally, First Aid heals health again instead of just remote reviving! (It's a pain to revive allies now, but I quite like the system regardless of the difficulty)

I also tried out the Kinect and it works better than most people expected, although I found myself repeating myself for it to take notice... but then again, I was very loud when it came to setting it up first time so I may just need to adjust my settings.

All in all, brilliant so far, and it's reassured me my faith was well placed in this game. There are a few buggy bits but I reckon those will be ironed out by the time the full game is released. Let's not forget, it went gold after they completed the demo for the 14th.