For quite sometime now, Mass Effect 3 has been rumored to have a multiplayer component of some form. It’s been a real on-again/off-again affair; but today, the strongest evidence of its existence thus far has surfaced. Eurogamer reports that unnamed sources have confirmed a four-player variant — reminiscent of the popular horde mode found in many shooters — will be present in the final installment of the blockbuster RPG trilogy. Being that it’s a horde-type experience, the rumored cooperative play will likely task players with mowing down waves of increasingly-difficult enemies. Taking this approach permits BioWare to throw in multiplayer without compromising the core campaign experience for which the series has been known.
That wasn’t all that Eurogamer had to say on the matter, however; another source mentioned that BioWare Montreal is the studio behind the rumored mode. Additionally, their second tipster corroborated the notion of co-op being a standalone experience. According to the source, it is even possible that it’ll be an entirely seperate game from Mass Effect 3. That seems unlikely to us, but there’s no telling for certain at this point.
Upon hearing these whispers, CVG then decided to stir the pot by throwing info from their own insider into the mix. Their man on the inside says that multiplayer in the RPG will be focused on “original missions made for online.” Supposedly, there will “only be a handful” of these missions, which are designed to be “played and played again.” CVG mentioned that their “source was quick to play down the notion” of a horde mode.
During last week’s E3, BioWare co-founder, Dr. Ray Muzyka, copped up to the fact that they are “exploring multiplayer in all of our games and all of our franchises.” He thickened this cryptic affair further by adding: “The short answer is we have no comment on [Mass Effect 3 multiplayer]. But we’re interested in the idea of multiplayer.” These statements sound an awful lot like they are indeed going to introduce multiplayer, but simply cannot talk about it at this time. Otherwise, why not simply deny it? These rumors are not going to die down unless they do so.
[Image via BioWare.]
