Mass Effect 3 Could Get Multiplayer

One of the most popular Role Playing Games on the market, Mass Effect, could be getting multiplayer in its next installment, Mass Effect 3.

According to a pamphlet leaked on the Internet from a South African game retailer, BT Games, the game comes with an Online multiplayer pass and much more. The Mass Effect games are a space epic that combines RPG elements with over-the-shoulder third-person shooting.

The games follow Commander Shepard, as he or she (depending on how players created their protagonist) tries to defend humanity against the mysterious mechanized menace, the Reapers, while navigating the intricacies of interstellar diplomacy. The game focuses much on players' choices, as decisions early in the game affect future events, even in later games (if the player has saved data from previous games).

Mass Effect has sold just fewer than 3 million units worldwide on the Xbox360 and the PC. Mass Effect 2 sold a bit higher than 3 million on the Xbox360, PlayStation3 and the PC.

No word on what the multiplayer might be. Since Shepard is always accompanied by an entourage, it would be easy to integrate a co-op mode into the single-player game. Some speculate that there might be a 4-player online multiplayer mission that is highly replayable. Others think it might be a head-to-head shootout between players.

We haven't talked at all about multiplayer in the Mass Effect franchise, but we're exploring multiplayer in all of our games and all of our franchises, Ray Muzyka, BioWare co-founder, said to Eurogamer at E3.

However, the pamphlet could also be a simple mistranslation. Rumors have been confirming and denying the possibility of multiplayer for the past few months. The game could simply come with a 30-day pass of the Xbox Live Gold service, a standard offering for many Xbox 360 games.

We'll find out the answer on March 6, 2012 when Mass Effect 3 is set to release for the Xbox360, PS3 and PC.