

These were the only times players could obtain credits, with the exception of the extraction wave, and they were not coincidentally the most difficult waves.

On the third, sixth, and tenth waves, instead of just murdering everything in sight, the team would need to complete objectives designed to flush the team out of cover, such as grouping together as a team to hack a single computer (“circle hack”) or carrying a box of valuable technology to the extraction area (“pizza delivery”). It was a frantic and intense horde mode, ala Gears of War, where you’d have to wipe out wave after progressively-harder wave of enemies until you could extract on a shuttle in the eleventh wave. ME3 ’s multiplayer, while somewhat bare-bones at release, was still an opportunity to knock about space as your favorite alien races with up to four of your best friends, wiping out the scum of the galaxy together. I can appreciate this point of view, especially with many of these AAA games beginning to exclude single player elements entirely, but in the case of ME3, I feel this viewpoint is short-sighted. Another aspect of the game that found criticism was the addition of a multiplayer component, which a large portion of the fanbase felt took away from the quality of the main single player game and was a stupid attempt to appeal to the Call of Mountain Dewty: Doritos Warfare crowd. ME3 was highly criticized after release due to the controversial ending I don’t feel any need to discuss it further here, as more than enough words have been spoken/typed/screamed loudly/wept about it at this point. However, I desperately want to let my heart sing to you all about my favorite game franchise, and thankfully there’s a somewhat smaller aspect of the franchise that hasn’t been touched upon in discussion very much here or anywhere else: the multiplayer from Mass Effect 3. The Mass Effect franchise fills my heart with so much joy and I could talk about it for weeks on end, but we have already covered it extensively around these parts and I do not want to step on my compatriot Sarah’s toes she is very nice and this would be impolite. Well, for me, that’s because it was only yesterday, because I’ve been playing Mass Effect again in preparation for Mass Effect: Andromeda ! It seems like only yesterday we were traversing the galaxy as Commander Shepard, dancing terribly, saying “I should go” to people, killing Geth and Reapers with a slew of great teammates and even greater friends, and occasionally boinking.
