The Mass Effect trilogy, as I have previously explained, is heavily focused on the single-player story.  The first two ME games were comprised of nothing except single-player gameplay.  How, then, can ME3 have a multiplayer mode and stay true to the most important aspects of the franchise?

The explanation, though slightly baffling at first, is simple: the multiplayer mode of ME3 is actually a component of the single-player mode.  Confused yet? When BioWare first announced this, most ME fans were, too.  However, BioWare actually thought it through well.  The way it works is easy enough to understand.  An important part of the single-player story is something called “Galaxy At War.”  This is basically a numerical summary (compiled into a percentage) of all the war assets that Shepard has collected, each of which will assist in the final fight against the Reapers.  The assets themselves are amassed only in single-player; however, the sum of all the war assets is multiplied by a “Galactic Readiness” percentage to determine what the final strength of the assets will be when the final battle is launched. This Readiness percentage starts at the lowest it can be, which is 50%.  This can be increased by playing multiplayer.  Each multiplayer match the player partakes in increases the Readiness percentage anywhere from 0-3%, depending on the success of the match in question.

Thus, if no multiplayer is played at all, the Readiness percentage will remain at 50%.  If enough multiplayer is played, the galaxy will eventually reach 100% readiness.  This is easier said than done, however; if the player stops playing multiplayer for a while, the Reapers will begin to push back.  In other words, the longer the player doesn’t play online, the more the Readiness percentage will drop until it reaches 50% again.

Not to worry, it’s not that hard to achieve 100% readiness.  And doing so is fun, since the multiplayer itself is quite entertaining.

As I will explain in part 5…