Alright, just finished the demo (Thank you Microsoft ExpertZone!). Feel free to ask anything I don't answer.

First off, the demo contains the introduction (Escape from Earth) and part of Sur'Kesh, which we've all seen in the demos. I played the demo as generic soldier Shepard, and chose that both Kaiden and Wrex survived, as well as being a Spacer Sole Survivor. The former has relevance in the demo, the latter not so much.

GENERAL:
- The game looks pretty good overall. Body textures are still somewhat low resolution, but human faces in particular seem to have seen a massive overhaul.
- Animation work is still a little shaky. Some areas look fantastic, while others look stiff. Facial animations seem to have suffered a bit of a quality loss, much to my dismay.
- The music...oh god the music. It's a blend between Mass Effect 1's synethetic and Mass Effect 2's orchestral (leaning towards the latter), but it's fantastic, and the callbacks to old tracks (like Normandy, from ME1), is wonderful.
- The game sounds great too, with weapons sounding like sci-fi should, and explosions sound pleasantly heavy.
- Voice acting has improved across the board, with Mark Meer showing dramatic improvement. Haven't tested FemShep yet, so I can't gauge that.

GAMEPLAY:
- Bioware weren't bullshitting when they said they upped the difficulty. "Normal" kicked my ass more than once.
- The omni-blade, surprisingly, didn't get old.
- Squadmates can be revived by running up to them, a la Gears of War
- Cerberus has enemy combat engineers that can deploy turrets on the battlefield. They are a pain in the ass.
- Several glimpses of the new level-up system were shown, and it appears to be a friendly combination of the prior two games, with more of ME2's "Choose this upgrade OR this upgrade."
- Frag grenades and sticky mines are fun.

STORY/CHARACTERS:
- Wrex is still bro of the galaxy all galaxies.

- The Earth intro sequence plays out almost exactly like we saw in the E3 and leaked demos, but with several substantial improvements to acting (particularly by Meer), and visuals.
- The Reapers are not personified at all, but goddamn if they don't look and sound intimidating.
- Combat/gameplay banter has been MASSIVELY improved, with squadmates having new lines of dialogue in pretty much every room you enter, as well as being extremely talkative in combat.

Now for the bad.

- As I said above, the animation seems to be downgraded in areas. Facial animations are occasionally very stiff, and the same goes for bodies.
- Some of the texture work is downright abysmal (take a look at the water in Vancouver. Dear christ).
- Vega is in the demo for a grand total of 30 seconds, and he still manages to look DERP the entire time.
- The human council is clearly mentally deficient (or badly written).
- Wrex's voice acting appears to be a little inconsistent.
- The demo is short; an hour at absolute most. Though, it does encourage multiple playthroughs with all classes, so maybe that helps.
- An Origin account is required for multiplayer/online activities, regardless of platform.
- Mordin and James Vega's voice acting both appear to be placeholder still. Mordin sounds a lot like Michael Beattie, but there's something...off.
- The demo is heavily stripped down. No weapon/armor customization, no codex, no journal.
- Conversation system is incredibly streamlined (for the demo, I'd imagine). Shepard says most of the stuff for you, and the six or so times you're actually allowed to choose what you want to say, there are only two options (slightly paragon or slightly renegade). Very disappointing.

That's about all I can think of right now; I'll post more as I think of it. Any questions, feel free to ask.

Overall the demo was decent, but my criticisms boil down to one very specific thing: The demo barely feels like Mass Effect. It feels closer to Gears of War in the Mass Effect universe. Much of this is likely limited to the demo, but it's disconcerting nonetheless.

I've noticed the bad facial animations from recent YouTube videos of this demo. The texture quality could have been lowered to get below the maximum demo file size. The PC demo has a bigger file size and could have better textures. One of the devs also said it has less compressed audio.

Mordin was recast and I think it will stay like that. A big shame.

Yeah, those turrets hurt. "Oh, a little sentry gun, how cute. I'll just stroll over an... OW OW FUCK, COVER!" Heh.

Also, I'm saddened by the news of Mordin's voice being changed. I thought it was just a placeholder. Apparently not. Shame.

Question:

Does the Sur'Kesh part of the demo contain the introduction section? The part where...

You probably won't be able to answer much of this.
This is really just some of my musings.

JeanLuc761:
I played the demo as generic soldier Shepard, and chose that both Kaiden and Wrex survived, as well as being a Spacer Sole Survivor.

So we are allowed to choose who's alive and dead?
(Assuming a previous save is not imported.) I wonder if we will be allowed to choose other things like; whether the Rachni Queen or the original council is still alive or not.

JeanLuc761:
- The music...oh god the music. It's a blend between Mass Effect 1's synethetic and Mass Effect 2's orchestral (leaning towards the latter), but it's fantastic, and the callbacks to old tracks (like Normandy, from ME1), is wonderful.

You have no idea how glad I am to hear this.
I was worried about the change of composer (Jack Wall leaving). Hopefully I was worrying needlessly.

JeanLuc761:
- Vega is in the demo for a grand total of 30 seconds, and he still manages to look DERP the entire time.

I had a feeling this might happen.
Very difficult to introduce a new crew member this late in the series, and still make him interesting.

JeanLuc761:
- The human council is clearly mentally deficient (or badly written).

I wonder how this will differ if the original council is still alive.

JeanLuc761:
Overall the demo was decent, but my criticisms boil down to one very specific thing: The demo barely feels like Mass Effect. It feels closer to Gears of War in the Mass Effect universe. Much of this is likely limited to the demo, but it's disconcerting nonetheless.

The concern of making it more of a shooter, and less of an RPG has been raised by quite a few people.

TopazFusion:
You probably won't be able to answer much of this.
This is really just some of my musings.

JeanLuc761:
- The human council is clearly mentally deficient (or badly written).

I wonder how this will differ if the original council is still alive.

JeanLuc761:
Overall the demo was decent, but my criticisms boil down to one very specific thing: The demo barely feels like Mass Effect. It feels closer to Gears of War in the Mass Effect universe. Much of this is likely limited to the demo, but it's disconcerting nonetheless.

The concern of making it more of a shooter, and less of an RPG has been raised by quite a few people.

This webcomic puts it in a humorous wayPHA+PGRpdiBzdHlsZT0ndGV4dC1hbGlnbjogY2VudGVyOyc+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9jZG4udGhlbWlzLW1lZGlhLmNvbS9tZWRpYS9nbG9iYWwvaW1hZ2VzL2xpYnJhcnkvZGVyaXYvNTUvNTU2NTUuanBnIiBhbHQ9ImltYWdlIi8+PC9kaXY+PC9wPg==

Sorry, when I said "Human Council" I meant the security council on Earth, not the Citadel Council.

As far as the game becoming more shooter, less RPG, the FINAL product doesn't have these issues. They were simply stripped out of the demo for whatever reason.

Zhukov:

Question:

Does the Sur'Kesh part of the demo contain the introduction section? The part where...

Spoiler: Click to ViewPHA+Li4uV3JleCBqdW1wcyBvdXQgb2YgdGhlIHNodXR0bGUgYW5kIHlvdSBnZXQgdG8gY2hhdCB3aXRoIEtpcmFoZWUuPC9wPg==

Yes it does :D

A heads up to everyone: There is a facebook app that gives you a chance to get the demo now.

https://apps.facebook.com/xboxmasseffect/uk

You can retry every two hours.

Got it and played the demo, all in all i was more then satisfied.

There's a demo out?!

...Dammit, not up on the PSN yet... ;_;

AntiChri5:
A heads up to everyone: There is a facebook app that gives you a chance to get the demo now.

https://apps.facebook.com/xboxmasseffect/uk

You can retry every two hours.

Got it and played the demo, all in all i was more then satisfied.

I'm trying that right now...exactly how are you supposed to decode it? Just pick random things and hope you get lucky? Also is multiplayer included?

Pretty much, yes. Click on the things and hope you get lucky. If you don't, try again in two hours.

The PSN and PC demo will not be out till the 14th i believe.

And no to the multiplayer.

AntiChri5:
Pretty much, yes. Click on the things and hope you get lucky. If you don't, try again in two hours.

The PSN and PC demo will not be out till the 14th i believe.

And no to the multiplayer.

I'm guessing the PC demo requires Origin, right? Sigh, maybe I'll...*grumblegrumble*...dammit EA, why do you have to pull such a dick move?!

AntiChri5:
A heads up to everyone: There is a facebook app that gives you a chance to get the demo now.

https://apps.facebook.com/xboxmasseffect/uk

You can retry every two hours.

Got it and played the demo, all in all i was more then satisfied.

Cheers man!

Are there any unlockables for mass effect 3 in the demo? I probably won't play it unless there's stuff for the game in there haha.

What's this Origin everyone keeps talking about? I played ME2 to perfection and got my save files ready to go, but is there something extra that I need?

Does anyone know if this app works for North america?

EDIT: How did the game feel? Did you feel like you had to fight it at all to get into the right cover or use powers or did the combat have a nice flow to it?

FangShadow:
Does anyone know if this app works for North america?

It does, in canada anyway. Don't know about the states.

Thanks for the good word on this game. I still am leaning towards skipping it for a while.

SweetLiquidSnake:
What's this Origin everyone keeps talking about? I played ME2 to perfection and got my save files ready to go, but is there something extra that I need?

You just need an EA account, I'm guessing.

Which is the same thing as a BioWare Social Network account, or a Star Wars: The Old Republic account, etc.

i plan to stay away from the demo and wait till the official release

Just finished the demo and it was pretty awesome. Something else I noticed is that you have an inventory again. (I don't think you could access it but I found a "carry weight" stat in the level up screens)

The combat felt a lot more fluid too, which was a plus. Also cover isn't almighty, the grenades and heavy fire definitely push you to keep moving.

EDIT:

FangShadow:
Does anyone know if this app works for North america?

EDIT: How did the game feel? Did you feel like you had to fight it at all to get into the right cover or use powers or did the combat have a nice flow to it?

Yes it works in the states.

AntiChri5:
A heads up to everyone: There is a facebook app that gives you a chance to get the demo now.

https://apps.facebook.com/xboxmasseffect/uk

You can retry every two hours.

Got it and played the demo, all in all i was more then satisfied.

I'd LOVE to use this bloody ridiculous app, if only it FUCKING LAUNCHED THE FUCKIGN APP WHEN I TELL IT TO AND NOT JUST BRING UP THE FUCKING AGE VERIFICATION SCREEN AGAIN GAAH!

I only just managed to get the bloody Xbox website working again in time to redeem all these goddamn DLC codes I'll no doubt be receiving for this game, and then i get THIS pile of wank failing in my face!

Edit: Okay, I got it working, and I won!
I won a Normandy prop.
... which I already had from a concurrent promotion. Which boasted 'limited stock'.

GODDAMN EA.

Loop Stricken:

AntiChri5:
A heads up to everyone: There is a facebook app that gives you a chance to get the demo now.

https://apps.facebook.com/xboxmasseffect/uk

You can retry every two hours.

Got it and played the demo, all in all i was more then satisfied.

I'd LOVE to use this bloody ridiculous app, if only it FUCKING LAUNCHED THE FUCKIGN APP WHEN I TELL IT TO AND NOT JUST BRING UP THE FUCKING AGE VERIFICATION SCREEN AGAIN GAAH!

I only just managed to get the bloody Xbox website working again in time to redeem all these goddamn DLC codes I'll no doubt be receiving for this game, and then i get THIS pile of wank failing in my face!

Glad to see DLC is going a good job of keeping you god damn dirty customers out of the game ;) .

I wonder if you can play the demo without installing Origins? Probably not.

Eitherway, it sounds more Gears of Wary then I'd feared. Feels bad man.

ZeZZZZevy:
Just finished the demo and it was pretty awesome. Something else I noticed is that you have an inventory again. (I don't think you could access it but I found a "carry weight" stat in the level up screens)

The combat felt a lot more fluid too, which was a plus. Also cover isn't almighty, the grenades and heavy fire definitely push you to keep moving.

Carry weight is the weight of the weapons you've equipped. The lower the weight, the faster powers recharge.

inutaisho7996:

ZeZZZZevy:
Just finished the demo and it was pretty awesome. Something else I noticed is that you have an inventory again. (I don't think you could access it but I found a "carry weight" stat in the level up screens)

The combat felt a lot more fluid too, which was a plus. Also cover isn't almighty, the grenades and heavy fire definitely push you to keep moving.

Carry weight is the weight of the weapons you've equipped. The lower the weight, the faster powers recharge.

Am I the only person to whom this doesn't make sense?
So we have a half-cyborg soldier Shepard, carrying an assault rifle, shotgun, pistol and heavy weapon, say.
The heavy weapon is REALLY heavy... so he can't fire his machine gun as fast as if he wasn't carrying the heavy weapon?

No. That's silly.

Loop Stricken:

inutaisho7996:

ZeZZZZevy:
Just finished the demo and it was pretty awesome. Something else I noticed is that you have an inventory again. (I don't think you could access it but I found a "carry weight" stat in the level up screens)

The combat felt a lot more fluid too, which was a plus. Also cover isn't almighty, the grenades and heavy fire definitely push you to keep moving.

Carry weight is the weight of the weapons you've equipped. The lower the weight, the faster powers recharge.

Am I the only person to whom this doesn't make sense?
So we have a half-cyborg soldier Shepard, carrying an assault rifle, shotgun, pistol and heavy weapon, say.
The heavy weapon is REALLY heavy... so he can't fire his machine gun as fast as if he wasn't carrying the heavy weapon?

No. That's silly.

I think he means abilities like Charge and Tech armour.

I actually don't think that's a bad idea, from a balance point of view.
It actually gives the player a reason to not carry around an Assault Rifle everywhere.

Though saying that: Soldiers are going to be REALLY boring this time round.

Canadish:

Loop Stricken:

inutaisho7996:

Carry weight is the weight of the weapons you've equipped. The lower the weight, the faster powers recharge.

Am I the only person to whom this doesn't make sense?
So we have a half-cyborg soldier Shepard, carrying an assault rifle, shotgun, pistol and heavy weapon, say.
The heavy weapon is REALLY heavy... so he can't fire his machine gun as fast as if he wasn't carrying the heavy weapon?

No. That's silly.

I think he means abilities like Charge and Tech armour.

Yes, but my point was the equivalent Soldier powers are tied into the weapon. So it wouldn't make sense.

Loop Stricken:

Canadish:

Loop Stricken:

Am I the only person to whom this doesn't make sense?
So we have a half-cyborg soldier Shepard, carrying an assault rifle, shotgun, pistol and heavy weapon, say.
The heavy weapon is REALLY heavy... so he can't fire his machine gun as fast as if he wasn't carrying the heavy weapon?

No. That's silly.

I think he means abilities like Charge and Tech armour.

Yes, but my point was the equivalent Soldier powers are tied into the weapon. So it wouldn't make sense.

Maybe it's how many he has on his back at once, not which one they're holding in their hands at the moment. As a soldier in ME2, the most time I spent using powers were switching between squad warp ammo and squad disrupter ammo, so I probably won't mind this change anyway.

Snagged a code from a BSN member that had extra, and I've been waiting at least an hour for it to finish downloading. Right now, it's at 49% done.

I suspect it's going to play very different from the demo I played back in October.

JeanLuc761:
Snip

Was Wrex playable? Or is he just kinda hanging around/making a cameo?

Wait! The demo is out?! Can I play this too, or were you special? I got Battlefield 3, but I traded it in long ago. Did it have something to do with that?

Well that's informative, though I guess it doesn't really matter to me any more since the origin requirement killed any interest I had, despite being a big fan of the series. Origin justisn't worth putting up with as far as I'm concerned. Still I hope this helps other's who haven't decided one way or the other yet.

Just played it twice my self and i agree with the OP.

Since i am used to the PC version of Mass Effect 2 which on my PC at least runs at 60 FPS with all Full ( currently playing through my ME2 characters since i hadant finished various DLC's with them ) i find the Xbox 360 at least to feel a bit laggy when it comes conversations. It somehow felt wrong. Not sure if its just me and what the frame cap is on the 360 version ( probaly 30 ) but it put off from playing the demo a second time. Other than that i had a great time playing it and i cant wait for my ME 3 CE for the PC to come :)

JeanLuc761:
Much of this is likely limited to the demo, but it's disconcerting nonetheless.

Good review! Hopefully you are right and a lot of these problems will simply be limited to the demo.

RJ 17:

JeanLuc761:
Snip

Was Wrex playable? Or is he just kinda hanging around/making a cameo?

Wrex was never playable in any Mass Effect game.