Mass Effect 3 Interview
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360: Was there ever a danger that this third game would have to repeat the basic story template of the second game (roaming the galaxy and building a kick-ass team)? How did you ensure what you created was new?
CH: No, each story is really a different act in the trilogy, and has a different function. Now that we know that the Reapers are real, and they have arrived to capture our world (and many others) with overwhelming force, it creates a different kind of story structure.
There is more time pressure, but at the same time the scale is much greater and Shepard's allies have access to a whole new level of war assets. So ME3 is much more about how an entire civilization wins a war, versus collecting a team for a covert mission.
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360: Why attempt multiplayer? How exactly does it tie into the singleplayer and what was it about co-op, specifically, (and not deathmatch) that attracted you?
CH: There are obvious benefits to having a multiplayer aspect to a game it extends the playability, adds value to the offering, and lets you share something you enjoy with your friends.
Even when we started working on ME1 it was clear that games were moving towards various forms of integrated multiplayer but we just weren't able to find a way to implement it that made sense with the storyline and properly complemented the single-player experience.
But with Mass Effect 3, we realized that it finally made sense. With the entire galaxy in a war for survival, it's not just Shepard's exploits that are interesting there are battles all over the galaxy that would be cool to experience.
Letting players take part in that larger war effort was the concept that finally made sense in the Mass Effect universe.
