Mass Effect 3 demo out today, also gives free Xbox Live Gold upgrade for a few days

That's right, if you're a Silver XBLA user you can get some free Gold time just by downloading the demo.

Included with the demo which has two campaign different areas to play through is a sample of the multiplayer, though that won't up until the 18th I read. Guess we'll see, my download is done.

I read somewhere that the multiplayer part of the demo won't open up until the 18th, but I couldn't find that source again. Having just played the demo, it's not open at the moment.

Demo thoughts:

Firstly, this demo is pretty in depth when it comes to customising your Shepard and choosing what class he or she is. You have full range of the character creator that you get in the full game it seems, and in the second half of the demo you get to experience the fun of having a good number of character points under your belt to build up the abilities of your Shepard and squadmates. There seems to be a bit more depth again to how you level your characters up, with rank 4+ of what looks all abilities diverting, letting you pick some advantages over another in the same category. Pretty neat.

Presentation is nice. Probably the best the game has looked. The setting of Earth at the start under Reaper attack is pretty epic, even a few snippets of dialogue are your stock action movie cliches. Still, there were parts where I was standing still to look around at what was going on - and there was a lot.

Controls are fine for the most part - there was some parts in the game where tapping the button the Vanguard charge was mapped to didn't result in an action. I got the notice that I couldn't perform a special action while my abilities were recharging, but I hadn't even used anything yet (unless Cryo ammo puts you on a cooldown now?). Also, sometimes it can look or feel that when your character runs it's not like they have full traction of the ground they're on (weirder to see somebody run in front of you, maybe it's just the animation) but that's a very minor complaint. You charge straight into cover quicker and can even move from cover to cover ala Gears Of War. There's also the ability to jump over gaps in the terrain and you can even drop down and climb up multi-tiered areas, and not to just get from A to B either: in the second part of the demo there's a point where you're fighting in a 2 story area, where you can move up the stairs to the second story of the area, and then drop down off of the tier down to the ground floor again to take any remaining enemy forces down there from behind (o ho ho). This sounds a bit simple but it impressed me - shoot outs aren't a narrow corridor of just hide 'n shoot anymore.

Speaking of, the fights are far more intense and the enemies a lot more deadlier. Mind you, I was playing this demo on hard but I died quite a few times thanks to a few Cerbies (and some dumb actions of my own). Firstly, enemies can and will lob grenades right behind your cover right next to you, keeping you on your toes and forcing you out of digging your heels in at one point all battle. They will also pincer and crossfire you from angles, not just coming at you from your direct front en masse. Secondly, some of these shits heads have massive shields. Like, physical riot type shields. Thirdly, there's an engineer enemy that will place automated turrets. And they SUCK. (I also got the feeling that they would repair the turret also but I wasn't sure).

I'm going to replay the demo as other classes (and as Femshep) but off the bat I have to say that, malfunctioning charge notwithstanding, Vanguards are fucking beastly when powered up. You have a melee attack like in the last game, but if you hold it down you can do a heavy attack - and the first time I did one, I was expecting that omni-tool blade that we've all been seeing in like, every video. Instead my Vanguard shep charges up his fist with energy and thrust punches a bitch. The Nova attack is pretty cool too. It takes away all of your shields but it's worth it to jump in and Falcon Punch some dudes. They're going to be really interesting to see in action in multiplayer, I can see them being VERY dangerous.

Gonna have to download this. . .

Playing through the demo again now as a FemShep Infiltrator. Some things I forgot to mention:

• The music is great. The score at the end of the first part of the demo with the french horn-esque noise punctuating the action is great.
• Enemies will deploy smoke grenades (or a smoke something) in battle which is so dense it's effectively blocking your long range vision - really cool and another way enemy tactics can keep you on your toes.
• I got faked out, hard. All I'll say is, I know usually it seems you can take your time between action breaks, but when you're urged to do something quickly, in one case here it will pay to do it.

I'm playing on Xbox but the demo is up for PC now too.

Are there promo items associated with playing the demo? That's the only thing that would get me to d/l it.

Very interesting that the game allows you to pick how you want to play. Whether you want a straight 3rdPS, an RPG, or a Dating Sim. I might try all 3 in the beginning to see if I lke one style over the others.

Graphics seem way crisper than 2, environments far more vivid. Honestly, I was almost considering passing on number 3, but I think the demo has got me pumped to get ME3.

There was supposed to be, but nothing attached to the single player portion of the demo. I'm guessing you'll unlock the bonus stuff possibly through the multiplayer once it opens up.

Action = All the dialogue scenes are done for you automatically, you don't get to choose what to say.

RPG = The general Mass Effect experience. Action is as hard as you want it to be, you get to choose what to say.

Story = all the action sequences are on super easy mode.

For me there's only one option: RPG. Any self respecting gamer will choose the same.

I'm a busy man with two kids, I might go story.

I'm a lazy man with no kids, I might go story.

I am legitimately disgusted in you both.

Interesting note about the demo that I picked up:

In the second part of the demo you run into Major Kirrahe from Mass Effect 1. He's notable in the fact that depending on how you do on the Virmire mission where you meet him in ME1, he can live or die. If you haven't played ME1 however and instead pick up from ME2, Kirrahe is automatically assumed dead (when you first meet Mordin Solus in a ME2 only play, he basically says as such).
So it's interesting to see him in the demo...

It woulda been cool to do the whole follow up on the previous games. But ME1 info died with my first 360. ME2 info is on my PC.

I'm probably gonna go preorder this tomorrow too.