Woohoo! Multiplayer In Mass Effect! Yeah!

A series we enjoy for its intense gun-fire and high octane shootouts... Wait a minute. Wrong game. Mass Effect. Yeah, that's not a game we enjoy for its shooting at all. Quite the opposite in fact.

So you can probably imagine how delighted we are that Mass Effect 3's getting a needless multiplayer component. It's been on the cards for some months, with Bioware never comitting to the rumours. But an Australian copy of PC Powerplay magazine has finally spilled the beans.

"That's right - Mass Effect 3 is getting multiplayer!" said the over-excited publication. "We travel to BioWare's office in Edmonton for hands-on time with the series' first foray into online gameplay, and chat with Mass Effect Series Producer and Mass Effect 3 Project Director Casey Hudson about the decision to go multiplayer in the epic battle for the galaxy."

Various sources have already pointed to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer component being some kind of co-operative mode, which we suppose beyond all cynicism sounds fine. It's just not necessary. Previous Mass Effect's were lousy shooters. Unless Mass Effect 3's had a total gameplay overhaul, we're going to assume it's the same here. Which ultimately means we want to do as little shooting as possible.

Are we on our own?