endtherapture:
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: Click to ViewPHA+V2hlbiB0aGUgc2hpcCBjYXJyeWluZyB0aGUgYm95IGJsZXcgdXAsIGFuZCBTaGVwaGVyZCBsZWZ0IEVhcnRoLCBJIGR1bm5vIGl0IGZlbHQgc28gcHJvZm91bmQsIEkgaGF2ZW4ndCBiZWVuIHRoYXQgYWZmZWN0ZWQgYnkgYSBnYW1lIHNpbmNlIFRoZSBXaXRjaGVyIDI8L3A+

I actually shed a tear then.

i liked the demo an interesting look into the game. the faces looked .. off. i cant describe it properly and a small niggle i wasnt keen on sherpards uniform at the start but thats a pet peeve.

i guess ill get used to the faces playing it for hours if they are kept the same

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)

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

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.

I'm by no means a fan of the Mass Effect series, I disliked Mass Effect 2 on a video game level, hated it on a cultural level and the original Mass Effect was the pinnacle of mediocrity to me, but I actually liked the Mass Effect 3 demo. I liked that there wasn't a lot of emphasis on bungling around the stupid dialog wheel hoping that saying "I disagree" doesn't turn into a feet-stomping "renegade" tantrum just because it's the choice on the bottom of the menu. I liked how it didn't try to be a dreadfully superficial RPG and a mediocre action game, it was just a pretty decent action game (for a cover-shooter with regenerating health anyway). Lastly, I liked how the UI didn't make me want to throw up. Sure, the writing is still cliché and bland, the level design too linear for the combat and most of the characters are completely juvenile, that isn't going to change at this point (because apparently people [REALLY REALLY] like it). It's still a fast paced and nicely polished third-person shooter, only now that it has more of a focus on one specific area it's more satisfying and less awkward, (though hopefully there won't be such a jarring shift between combat and story areas). In closing, I might actually get through this Mass Effect game on my first play-through instead of it taking me four attempts to finish the first Mass Effect and never finishing Mass Effect 2.

I played the demo yesterday so here's my take on it.

When I started the game and wanted me to choose the type of way that I want to "experience" the game got me very confused.I can't see the difference between Story/RPG mode(I don't even count the option that auto chooses the dialogue options,that's just stupid).I have tried playing with both settings and for the life of me I can't see which one is meant to be played.Someone please enlighten me.

Now here are some minor rants/things I didn't like from the overall demo:

When I saw James Vega for the first time I thought to myself how many steroids did this guy take.He's like double the size of my character.

The NPC's face animation and lip sync was a bit off,as well as the textures throughout the whole game
I hope they fix this before launch.

Sprinting is quite off,as if the torso and legs don't move in the same time.It's even more awkward as a female Shep,doesn't seem fluid at all.

The action/cover key all molded in one got me into more trouble that I would of thought.Going over the cover when I pressed it only once and such nonsense.You can't press it on your squad mates during missions which was a letdown.

Wanting to use your omniblade and having to wait for Shep to auto lock on a person when hes moving is gonna cause problems for people that play on higher difficulties.

I found it overall quite good,despite finishing it in less than one hour which is quite disappointing.

It's a Mass Effect game so obviously is a buy for me,wanting to see how Shep get's out of this "The world is gonna get wiped out by the Reapers" nightmare.

I think you're "meant" to play the one with all the content (RP). Really it's up to your own personal preference though, that's why you're given the option in the first place. The action one sounds interesting to me, I don't have a grudge against story content but the cinematic conversations sounds pretty neat considering the usual options you get in the series.

Just tried out the multiplayer. My first game I became detached from my body and fell through the map when I became reattached. My second game was the most fun I've had online in a while.

Valanthe:

sad moment spoilerPHA+V2hlbiBJIHNhdyB0aGF0IGtpZCBhdCB0aGUgZW5kIG9mIHRoZSBpbnRybywgSSB3YXMgbGlrZSwgIk9oIGdvZCBkb24ndCBtYWtlIG1lIGJyaW5nIHRoZSB3aGlueSBzaXgteWVhci1vbGQgb24gYm9hLSBzaHV0dGxlIGJsb3dzIHVwLSBPaCBzaGl0Li4uLjwvcD4=

I felt bad because I was thinking the same "don't make me take them" followed by "oh, so if I had taken them along..."

One of my friends is convinced they are not a real person, since nobody seems to notice them but shep.

First of all, LADDERS. I am excited about the new movement possibilities. I can see myself hunting for ladders and jumpable gaps in the middle of combat already to find possible goodies.

Also, the soundtrack is beautiful especially the track that is playing with the child and the Reaper, loved it.

I do agree about the face animation thing, it all looks a little bit..cartoony, default femshep in particular. I played it first with the default femshep and wasn't really into it because her face distracted me, but when I used the facecode of my femshep from ME1 and ME2 it was a lot better.

And Ashley, HELLOOOOO BETTY. It's a little bizarre hearing her voice coming out of this bombshell.

I'm worried that I'm being overly cynical about this.... But there's some things that just don't feel right about it.

Did anyone else notice how Shepard & Anderson kind of ran like neanderthals?

As someone pointed out, maybe we're missing some content to avoid spoilers, but did those 'Military leaders' seem a bit like whiney 'Oooh nooooes please save us from the big bad' bitches?

The conversations, post invasion start don't seem all that concerned/urgent... more like, 'well this is inconvenient'.

There was no option for codex!!! Not even a grey'd out one :(

Even though there was admittedly few instances where you had conversation options, both outcomes seemed to be exactly the same. Ie, regardless of what you say, same thing happens to 'lil Timmy.

This I'll be honest is just a personal gripe, but the 'Cannibals' seemed really cartoony to me.

Please don't get me wrong. I am so freaking excited about this game. I'm just worried that after the destruction of DA2, that ME3 is going to suffer a similar, if not worse fate in order to make it more appealing to the masses.

How long is it? I want to try the demo, but i'm hesitating because of that annoying origin thingy, i don't want to install it for 30 minutes of gameplay.

kasperbbs:
How long is it? I want to try the demo, but i'm hesitating because of that annoying origin thingy, i don't want to install it for 30 minutes of gameplay.

The single player itself lasts just under an hour, unless you really take your time going from one place to another. Multiplayer adds a significant value to the demo as well.

OT: Any problems I had with the demo can (allegedly) be attributed to the age and size restrictions of the demo. March 6th can't come soon enough.

im really disappointed...

What i know of the story from this demo makes no sense given the events of Mass Effect 2.
Why would reapers attack Earth instead of just attacking the relays again, with the same scale fleet that attacked Earth? Theyd easily succeed.
Why are Cerberus token bad-guys with no faces or emotions? We know plenty about Cerberus, such as the fact that they helped you save the galaxy like, a month ago... but now were back to "kidnapping children and attaching them to rape robots for fun, because were Cerberus!" Cerberus...
Why would my nasty, sociopath of a Shepard, who, on his best day, would only do bad things if it was for a greater good, and downhill from there... why would he, get all weepy about some random, idiot child (who frankly, commits suicide) dying?

I hate the 'floaty' walking animations and Andersons weird running animation.
Whos this "James" guy and why can i already imagine tearing out his internal organs for fun?
Why are we back to the Mass Effect 1 team again? They were boring the first time and the only people missing are whoever-died and Tali. Cant they be bothered to make some new characters, who would at least be interesting for a little while because they are new? :/
And why does Ashley look like Zero Suit Samus with Miranda's face?

No real dialogue options in the demo... no investigation, everyone responds with the same sentence no matter which option out the Blue/Red-Black/White-whatever you want to call it spectrum.

And still... its a boring, cover based shooter.
On no level did it impress. :|

Edit: i forgot about the A button.

i want to activate something, it takes cover...
i want to take cover, it rolls...
i want to roll, oh no wait... i dont.
Why is it even there!?

I thought it was excellent, an almost perfect blend of ME1 and ME2, I did have trouble with biotics though, did anyone else find it much harder to arc powers around cover

Also, the shadows look really weird if you turn dynamic shadows off

My biggest problem so far is the goddamn sprint/use/roll/cover/jump all in one button. I fired up a few rounds of multiplayer, but couldn't for the love of god in and out of cover or run around without sticking to the wrong walls or performing an action in the wrong direction. It made finding good cover basically useless, and when you die after 2-3 shots that's a bit critical.

Also, I only played the multiplayer. Slight problem I had there, about 5 minutes into the match, it says the hosting player has left. So it restarts the match, with only me playing, and difficulty doesn't seem to scale with how many players are in-game. Obviously I got hammered. Same thing happened later on, I was left to fight with 1 other guy and he left too.

So:
1. Fix the 1-key solves all problem.
2. Scale multiplayer difficulty with amount of players.

But seriously, at least for the PC port you can have as many keys on your keyboard for different actions as you want. Why not include that?

I didn't read anyone's comments yet so I don't know if they follow topics have been addressed however, here are my Pros and Cons.

Pros: 1) The game play seems a lot more refined, although movement can still be a bit jittery specially while running, I like being able to roll and duck in/out of cover and roll to dodge fire while charging in on the enemy.
2) The leveling system seems really good. Its essentially Mass Effect 2 but, now you get the option between two perks later on in levels which I really like, it allows for a really personalized play style.
3) To paraphrase a certain Australian "The story writing is top notch but, Bioware doesn't score points for that anymore, birds fly, fish swim, Bioware writes good stories"
4) The look and atmosphere of the game seems really well done and *SPOILERS!!* I thought the kids story from viewing the trailers was just going to be a stupid "Call of Duty cash-in" on our emotions but, it actually gave me a sense of direness and bleakness of the situation that its not a war your fighting, your fighting against extermination.
5) I have a Kinect and I did find myself using the voice commands which actually worked really well in combat and allowed me to keep up the action with out having to pause, getting Anderson to fire concussive shots and throwing troops into a singularity with Liara. (Never used it for the dialogue tree though)
6)I actually like the fact you don't have regenerating health. Your shields regenerate which makes sense but, your health won't go up unless you use a med-kit which actually gives them some form of use, as in Mass Effect 2 I had enough of them to cure cancer. It defiantly makes you think more about your tactics and adds a little more intensity to the combat which is a +/+ in my opinion.
7) Garrus, Mordin, and Wrex. Enough said.

Cons:
1) I never got a sense I would like the Jason Vega character from the initial screens, less so with the voice cast trailer (the character just seems like a douche bag muscle head)and with playing the demo I still don't get the impression I will, that and its presented like he's known Shepard forever, I'm sure his back story will explain this but, however I still feel like the character seems rushed or just personally one I won't like, which isn't necessarily a fault of the game but, just a personal beef.
2) Now this is nit picking too, but, I still feel like the "choose an experience" shouldn't have been added, seriously why is there an option to have all your dialogue chosen for you? This is supposed to be an RPG not Gears of War except with a good story (no offense to Gears fans just didn't find myself emotionally invested or caring that much about it's story). The option to play it like "normally" is still there so I can't complain to much, still I don't feel we have to cater to every person in existence that's why there's an easy mode.
3) Also not to do with the demo but, just the game in general. I was initially pissed that Chobot would be in the game, and while I'm still miffed I can deal with it. However, just in general to Bioware if the some how happen to see this, my complaint to you is why? Why in the fuck her? She has no experience at all other than being a host for IGN and maybe two shows. She has no background in movies, acting, anything to do with sci-fi, or voice work. I'm not saying everyone needs to have an Oscar to do voice work for a game but, I feel like it was just a stupid decision. Maybe, I'll be pleasantly be surprised and she'll do a good job but, still felt like you could have gotten someone better, also she works for a game reviewing site, that doesn't seem like a bad PR move to you?

Overall I had reservations about the game with all that's gone on with the game ie) addition of multi-player, catering to a wider audience, and the Chobot thing but, the game looks solid and I'm just as invested in the series as ever, so here's hoping the whole package satisfies just as much.

Actually forgot to mention this and didn't see if anyone did. How does everyone feel about the new "hacking system"? I enjoyed the little hacking mini-games in Mass Effect 2 or at least they made me feel like I was actually hacking or bypassing something, now you just hover your hand over a loading bar which just seems bland. I wish they went full out and did a Deus Ex: Human Revolution style hacking system and have your tech skills add to your proficiency with it. However, in the demo you do have to do bypassing or hacking under fire so implement a system like that would have to pause the rest of the game which would break the flow and sense of being under pressure, taking fire while you try to bust through a door so I don't know they're goods and bads to both systems.

Daystar Clarion:
The moment that Shepard's eyes met the boy's, who than proceeded to get blown out of the sky by a Reaper, I knew that I was going to love the game.

This is it people.

It's on.

Or really, the moment that soft dramatic music starting playing.

I had concerns with the fact that the story being focused on the war with with the reapers, and the introduction of more human characters (one of whom appears to have walked straight off the lot of a Gears of War game) that the tone of the game would be..*clears throat* WARWARWARAWESOMEMANLYWARWARWAR. But the first level alone proved me completely wrong about that. (although I'm still dropping off James Vega on the nearest threshermaw infected planet)

So...finally got to play through the singleplayer (only got one round of multiplayer in last night) and I think I'm pretty pleased...

Cover system is great, movement and all the sounds were great, major improvements there. I also liked the graphics to some extent, in particular I liked that the female shepard actually had some muscletone to her arms...odd thing to notice but there it is. I also liked how all the guns I've used so far handle, that shields can't stand up to much fire.
It is also nice how varied the enemies are. I for one had more trouble with this Cerberus guardian that I couldn't flank and where Liara or Garrus couldn't reach to help, then I had with the Atlas mech, simply because I was in no position to properly deal with it...which is GREAT, that's how it should be!

Had some issues though with cut-scenes in the demo, might be because it IS a demo and I'm playing a PC, but I don't like it anyway. That was with it stuttering at points and lips don't moving in certain segments...but oh well, one can hope that won't occur in the real game.

Multiplayer is fun! Or at least the match that I got in was, we ended up losing at the end of wave 10, I was all alone with my poor engineer but managed to do a fighting retreat for some time before getting killed...and got my engineer from level 1 to level 4 while having a blast doing so. And yes, it's wave after wave of enemies, but the small sidemissions help to vary it, and there's always something going on to keep the blood pumping.

EDIT: I also see a lot of talk about the boy...for me it didn't do much...I had played for maybe five minutes and I don't know the kid at all, I simply didn't feel invested enough. Though it DID bring home the point that the Reapers aren't taking prisoners. :-p

I've noticed several people commenting on the opening being too cut scene heavy. I have to agree with this. Cut scenes totally belong in cut scenes, not in the frantic escape from the city while avoiding mutant death monsters and giant killer machines thank you very much.

Also, the child's death surprised me somewhat, because I actually did care about it as opposed to just being angry at the game for manipulating me. This definitely gives me hope that even if Bioware tries to deliberately manipulate my emotions in an overly overt (see what I did there?) manner it might actually work and I will find myself enjoying it.

Also, once I started getting used to the controls, combat was a blast. It is alot more... responsive? I guess? Which resulted in some deaths early on but as I started getting used to it I started to just enjoy the hell out of it.

Promising demo.

Loved the demo, served as a perfect appetiser for the main thing.

Bring on the 9th I say, it will be a long 3 weeks.

endtherapture:

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When I saw that I couldn't help but think a Renegade Shep just smiling at that moment.

As for the game I had quite a few beefs.

CONS

1) Origin EULA showing up telling me I needed to accept it in order to try out the Demo.
Seriously? I just wanted to look at Single Player, I don't give a flying 2 cents about the multiplayer aspect and you force me to accept it in order to try out the Single player? Not going into too much detail on this, just saying this upset me greatly.

2) As mentioned earlier the facial and texture aspects of the game. Hopefully this demo is like a beta and that will be fixed in the released version.

3) As mentioned as well earlier, despite me choosing RPG as my choice of preference it still feels more like it is an action game.

4) From what I saw so far, not a lot of Biotic abilities, as well it didn't feel as powerful as ME1. I am hoping this will change in the final version.

My praises of the game however:

PROS

1) Leveling up looks like it took a step back in terms of ME1 which I don't mind combining it with ME2. Not entirely awesome, but tolerable. I liked the tree to say the least.

2) Melee power attack. Biotic Melee power attack was very... VERY sexy. Like Jack punching a mech sexy. I liked the feel of it.

3) The banter is back ( But I don't know how much of it will stay) I loved that scene with Garrus and Wrex. I just hope they keep it going throughout the game and not have it pop up once in a blue moon.

Thats all that come to my thoughts at this time.

Overall I want it on my PC, but I don't want Origin.... Sigh.

Controls need to be fixed immediately.
The "One button does all" logic doesn't work for the multiplayer where spaces are even narrower and the enemies even more in numbers,and you have to move like a frenzied asari on steroids and viagra to survive.

You press SPACE to run,SPACE to revive squadmate,SPACE to get cover,SPACE to climb stairs...

Now imagine if one of your squadmates dies next to a crate that is stick on to a wall that has some stairs on it,and you have to move fast to avoid enemy fire...
You will of course die!

Because your character will do anything else than what you wanted.

It's a true story,happened about 15 minutes ago to me.

I'm currently replaying Mass Effect 1, and it may be just because I've got the difficult ramped up to 'Insanity' but the demo made me realise just how terrible everything about the original, except the non combat and non Mako bits were. The continuity of my Shep, the story, and the achievements are the only reasons I'm continuing with that replay now, it's just become a chore.

On a brighter note I really enjoyed both the single and multiplayer aspects of the demo. Trying to think of a few highlights... most of the 'spoilers' I already knew about from various promos... To those of you who say there wasn't enough story or conversations in the demo, and that worries you about the final game, they were obviously omitted intentionally. Seriously, there's like a whole chunk of the second part of the single player demo missing, because it probably contains a lot of spoilers and non-demo friendly gameplay.

The music from the end of the first part of the single player component stuck out for me, just beautiful. You can really hear Clint Mansell's influence.

Heaven's Guardian:
Wasn't the game supposed to be harder on normal difficulty? Honestly, I thought it was easier than ME2, especially the Cerberus Atlas. It's been hyped as this recurring mini-boss, and it was substantially easier than a crowded room of normal mooks.

You talking about the big mech? He was pretty rough. Especially since the bastard actually stepped over the cover I was using.

I read on it's TVTropes page that ME3 will be "Harder", like Normal is the new Veteran but I'll be playing on the easiest setting anyway. I definitely notice that it was a tad more difficult, but old time players shouldn't have an issue since we know how things work a little.

Kavonde:

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.

ME1 was pretty gritty in most places though.

Astro:
I'm by no means a fan of the Mass Effect series, I disliked Mass Effect 2 on a video game level, hated it on a cultural level and the original Mass Effect was the pinnacle of mediocrity to me, but I actually liked the Mass Effect 3 demo. I liked that there wasn't a lot of emphasis on bungling around the stupid dialog wheel hoping that saying "I disagree" doesn't turn into a feet-stomping "renegade" tantrum just because it's the choice on the bottom of the menu. I liked how it didn't try to be a dreadfully superficial RPG and a mediocre action game, it was just a pretty decent action game (for a cover-shooter with regenerating health anyway). Lastly, I liked how the UI didn't make me want to throw up. Sure, the writing is still cliché and bland, the level design too linear for the combat and most of the characters are completely juvenile, that isn't going to change at this point (because apparently people [REALLY REALLY] like it). It's still a fast paced and nicely polished third-person shooter, only now that it has more of a focus on one specific area it's more satisfying and less awkward, (though hopefully there won't be such a jarring shift between combat and story areas). In closing, I might actually get through this Mass Effect game on my first play-through instead of it taking me four attempts to finish the first Mass Effect and never finishing Mass Effect 2.

You're probably not going to like M3. It's going to be more of the same, with some refined bits. Same characters, same story. I'd move along, to be honest.

Trashy framerates on a well above spec system. I was hitting the mid 20's at points during gameplay. Cutscenes were fine, but gameplay FPS was terrible.

my gloves came off when the kid died, and i vowed to kill the reaper that killed the kid!!!

on a side note, i found it hilarious, how Wrex treated the female Krogan as helpless, and she just took his gun and blasted a Cerberus guy's face off