BioWare has revealed that it was originally planning to do a standalone competitive online FPS for the Mass Effect series called Mass Effect: Team Assault, but later integrated the idea into Mass Effect 3 and turned it into the co-op mode.
This news comes from the recently released iOS app, The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3.
“The goal was simple,” said presenter Geoff Keighly, “”to create a standalone multiplayer experience in the Mass Effect universe that would mix the play styles of Unreal Tournament and Battlefield 1943 – and likely be released as a downloadable game.”
However, after 4 months of development, BioWare shelved the idea and decided to integrate it into Mass Effect 3 and it’s setting of a war ravaged galaxy, and Team Assault “was put on the back burner”.
A few official prototype screenshots of the game are given below (click to enlarge):
[Kotaku]