Valentines, no; Mass Effect 3, YES

Thanks, EA and Bioware! You've only gone and given us the best Valentines day present you possibly could have: namely, a hands-on taste of the epic conclusion to the Commander Shepard trilogy, Mass Effect 3. And guess what? They've given it to you too! Check for yourself if you don't believe us – the demo's now available for download via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Split into two sections, the Mass Effect 3 demo's single player side shows off a mid-game section that showcases the interactive storyline, the intelligent enemies and the deep customisation that makes BioWare's game one of the most anticipated titles of 2012. Even better, those of you with Kinect also have chance to try out the new voice command system via Mass Effect 3’s Kinect integration.

And after playing the single-player, why not jump in to the four-player co-op missions that are set over two of the maps from ME3? Unfortunately, you might have to wait a while as only select people – specifically those with online passes for Battlefield 3 – current have access to it; the multiplayer doesn’t kick off for the rest of us until Friday. Not long to wait now…