Mass Effect 3 'Earth' DLC includes three new maps, Platinum difficulty level and brand new in-mission objective

EA has announced that the latest downloadable content for Mass Effect 3 will be available for download on July 17th on Xbox LIVE and Origin and on the PlayStation Network in North America on July 17th and in Europe on July 18th.

Available to download at no additional charge, Mass Effect 3: Earth adds three new maps - London, Vancouver and Rio De Janeiro and will introduce a whole new team of elite N7 forces, along with an arsenal of lethal new weapons, unique upgrades, the all-new Platinum difficulty level and a brand new in-mission objective.

Mass Effect 3: Earth includes the following content:

Three New Maps –  Defend Firebase Rio, home to the N7 training facility, along with Firebase Vancouver and Firebase London in the last stand for mankind.

New Array of Playable N7 Characters – Step into the boots of the Alliance’s most elite military units with the N7 Demolisher Engineer, N7 Destroyer Soldier, N7 Fury Adept, N7 Sentinel Paladin, N7 Shadow Infiltrator and N7 Slayer Vanguard.

New Powerful and Unique Weapons – Lay waste to the enemy by unlocking the N7 Piranha Shotgun, N7 Typhoon Assault Rifle and Acolyte Pistol.

New Powerful Upgrades – Outfit your weapons with 12 new modifications and fortify your gear with 11 unique upgrades to defeat even the toughest foes.

New “Platinum” Difficulty – Conquer bronze in your sleep? Take down Silver with one hand? Beat Gold without breaking a sweat? Then grab your friends and test your skills on the brand-new Platinum difficulty.

New In-Mission Objective – Randomly occurring during waves 3, 6 and 10, this new objective will challenge teams to keep a targeted agent alive by protecting and escorting them to a designated extraction zone on each map.