Seemingly lost in all of the Smash Bros. Brawl hubbub, Mass Effect’s first piece of downloadable content titled “Bring Down the Sky” was released a few days ago for a mere 400 points ($5) on Xbox Live Marketplace. As a professed Mass Effect enthusiast with over 80 hours put into the game between two characters, the task of conquering the new gameplay area fell to my level 60 Soldier with full Spectre gear. After one run through the DLC, I decided to attempt an exercise in punishment and try it again with my level 14 Adept on Insanity difficulty level. More on that a bit later.

Before I get any further and discuss gameplay, let’s touch on the setting a bit. Bring Down the Sky takes place on an asteroid above the planet Terra Nova. Engineers are in the process of moving it into orbit above the planet for mining purposes when the asteroid is attacked by Batarian raiders and sent on a collision course for the planet. The call goes out for help, and of course Shepard is there to save the day. To do that, you’ll have to disable three fusion torches (think of them as giant rocket boosters) and chase the Batarians out. Along the way, you’ll be able to find some bonus areas and complete a side-quest or two.

Accessing the downloadable content in the first place could prove a bit troublesome for players that haven’t managed their saves well. Asteroid X57 gets added to the galaxy map and can be travelled to at any point in the game that you have control of the Normandy. If your only saves are in the beginning of the game before you get the Normandy, or the last hour or so when you don’t have access to the ship, you’ll have to do a bit of work before you can access the DLC.

Upon landing on Asteroid X57, a sense of familiarity immediately sets in. You’re in the Mako, on a barren landscape, but there are a lot of places to investigate on the map. In fact, Asteroid X57 might be the most densely populated area seen yet in Mass Effect, with a terrain map that isn’t terribly large, but with ten different areas to explore. In all, you’ll find three survey outposts, a radio station, a weapons cache, a transmitter tower, a fortified base, and the three previously mentioned fusion torches. I never encountered any minerals or artifacts on the planet, but that’s to be expected as Bioware doesn’t want to mess with the item totals for side-quests that aren’t contained exclusively within the DLC experience.

One of the first things you’re forced to notice about Bring Down the Sky is its new turret types which will make the Mako experience at least slightly different from what you’ve seen before. Turrets on Asteroid X57 have protective barriers surrounding them that only retreat when you’re within their usually close firing range, making it impossible to just keep your distance and fire away. Bioware also increases the difficulty by forcing you to fight six or more turrets at a time usually, and I swear that the turrets fire faster missiles and more frequently. Add in the occasional turrets that move on tracks, and you’ve suddenly got the most difficult Mako fights available in Mass Effect, and they are a blast.

Once clearing out the exterior defenses of a fusion torch, you’ll have to head inside to shut it down. Here’s where you get your first encounter with Bring Down the Sky’s new enemy race, the Batarians. The Batarians fight like most other enemies you’ve encountered in Mass Effect, but there is a good mix of snipers, Biotic users, and regular grunts. Players might initially be discouraged when they see that the fusion torch buildings are the same bunkers we’ve fought in dozens of times already, but at least the barriers and obstacles have been rearranged so that the combat doesn’t feel terribly familiar. In fact, the second fusion torch bunker has a great layout of crates that even have ramps to let you fight on top of them, which adds a whole new level (pun not intended) to the combat. However, what really sets the fight sequences apart in Bring Down the Sky is the number of enemies you’ll have to fight at once, which is much higher than most of Mass Effect’s other encounters.