Yesterday afternoon, BioWare announced the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer’s biggest add-on yet.
Titled “Retaliation”, it may be the single most influential piece of DLC to bring players back to Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer mode. While it adds a whole slew of new content, the most important parts are these: The Collectors, the main antagonists of Mass Effect 2, make a return as a multiplayer faction for players to fight, including entirely new enemies, some returning ones from Mass Effect 2, and Collector spins on existing enemies, such as Husks. Cerberus and the Geth will each field an additional enemy unit as well, including the Dragoon and Drone, respectively. Additionally, existing multiplayer maps will be enhanced with new “Hazards” which should change the gameplay dynamic from map to map. For instance, the trailer (seen below) shows a Drell player fighting in what appears to be Firebase Ghost in a heavy rainstorm, with lightning striking overhead. This will likely encourage players to stay indoors while fighting the enemy, or risk being zapped by the elements. Other hazards include acid, meltdowns, whiteouts, and many more. These hazard maps will exist in addition to their normal versions and will be rotated in and out. Finally, Retaliation will add a challenge system to the game, allowing players to accomplish goals and feats of strength to earn banners and special titles to show off, as well as being able to check friends’ progress in these goals, promoting a sort of friendly rivalry.
Retaliation will also add extra characters, weapons, and items that we’ve become accustomed to with these DLC packs. Players will be able to unlock new Collector weapons in the form of a Sniper Rifle, Sub-Machine Gun, and the previously-exclusive Assault Rifle. New equipment will also be unlockable to mod weapons with, and three new ammo types will also start to appear in booster packs. Finally, Retaliation sees the introduction of two more Turian classes: the Havok Soldier and the Ghost Infiltrator. One (or possibly both?) of these classes is shown in the trailer, sporting heavy EOD-style armor with booster jets, allowing the new class to charge forward.
Even in the face of all of this new content, the best part hasn’t even been mentioned yet – like all previous multiplayer DLC, Retaliation will be provided free of charge through Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC this Tuesday, October 9th.
Do you still enjoy Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer mode? If you’ve hung up your hard suit, will this DLC pack be enough to bring you back? Let us know! And in the meantime, check out the Retaliation trailer below!
