For a brief glorious moment the Mass Effect 3 single and multiplayer demo appeared to participants in the Xbox Live Dashboard preview before someone clearly realized their mistake and took it down. Before that time, though, some gamers were able to get a small glimpse of one single player mission as well as a detailed look at the multiplayer’s character customization options.

According to those who experienced the demo, the mission on display was very similar to what was shown at E3 and GamesCom, with Commander Shepard fighting for his life as the Reapers invade Earth. This particular moment brilliantly showcased the emotional storytelling BioWare is going for this time around, and also gave us a brief taste of Shepard taking names once again.

On the multiplayer side of Mass Effect 3, Xbox Live beta testers were treated to your standard character customization fare (changing appearance, picking a character race and sex, and deciding on what class path they wanted to send their character on).

During our Comic-Con hands-on time there was a brief tease of those same branching paths available to players — allowing them to decide between two sets of “power options” — so it would make sense for that to be available in the multiplayer as well.

Unfortunately, aside from those few details on the demo, there isn’t much information. On the bright side though, many figure this small slice of the game is actually going to be the same segment that BioWare will make available some time next year during the official demo.

How might one participate in the Mass Effect 3 demo you ask? Simply purchase a copy of Battlefield 3 for instant access. This is going to be one of the most hotly anticipated titles of next year, so don’t miss out on your chance to play it before anyone else.

Did any Xbox Live beta testers get a chance to check out the Mass Effect 3 demo/beta? What do you think of the small slice of the multiplayer character customization that was on display?

Mass Effect 3 releases March 6, 2012 for the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360.

Source: NeoGAF