Mass Effect 3 - Xbox 360

BioWare certainly hasn't been sitting back and basking in the glory of Mass Effect 3 since it was released back in March. Instead, they have been busy preparing and offering a slew of free DLC for both multiplayer and the campaign, and that trend continues with the Earth DLC due out this week.

Like other multiplayer DLC, Earth adds new weapons, characters, abilities, and maps, but this one ups the difficulty ante with a new "Platinum" setting that even the developers find incredibly challenging. "In the office, we had a squad together that beat it once," said producer Mike Gamble. So if you've been looking for a challenge, you can probably stop looking and start putting a squad together.

Six new classes are available to help you try and turn platinum, including the Destroyer Soldier, Paladin Sentinel, Demolisher Engineer, Slayer Vanguard, Shadow Infiltrator, and Fury Adept. While the engineer's new Supply Pylon that gives ammunition to friendlies with a circular radius looked sexy, slinking in the shadows is more my speed, so I selected a female Shadow Infiltrator, and took her through the paces.

• NEWS: Mass Effect 3 Earth DLC Revealed -- New Maps, More Upgrades, and Platinum Difficulty

With a lengthy tactical cloak period, and armed with the new Piranha-class auto shotgun, this is a deadly assassin. The new Shadow Strike ability lets you teleport behind an opponent and kill them with a single slash, while the Electric Slash ability sends out a wave of energy that can damage multiple foes. While some might prefer to cloak and snipe, I prefer getting behind the enemies, and then sneaking up on them while cloaked and armed with a shotgun.

The three maps that will be introduced are Firebase London, Vancouver, and Rio, with Rio arguably providing the best visuals, as you can see Rio in all of its glory in the background. Of course by "glory" we mean "being attacked by Sentinels," but you get the picture. Earth isn't a huge piece of DLC, but it introduces new weapons, classes, and abilities, contains new maps, and best of all, is entirely free. It's hard to go wrong with that price.