I'm not sure how many people on this site have experienced Mass Effect. If you haven't, play the games immediately, because they're not only one of the best third person shooter / RPGs of today, not only one of the best sci-fi space epics of today, not only one of the most well told stories in gaming of today, but one of the best game series of all time. After over five years of building up your character and their decisions through two other games and tons of DLC adventures, Commander Shepard's story is finally coming to an end in what is arguably the most anticipated game of the year: Mass Effect 3. With so much hype, does this game bring a satisfying end to Shepard's story, or does it fall short of expectations? I've beaten it, and here is my review.
Keep in mind that this is MY review of the game. Your opinion may very well differ from mine.
Story
About six months after the Arrival DLC in ME2, Commander Shepard has been grounded on Earth, stripped of rank and ship. This just so happens to be the worst possible time to be on Earth, because the Reapers, sentient starships that return to the Milky Way galaxy every 50,000 years to purge it of virtually all organic life, touch down on Earth and begin killing everyone and everything in sight. Earth is overwhelmed within minutes of the Reapers arriving, so Shepard is forced to abandon Earth to unite all the races of the galaxy together in a unified final stand to eventually return, and take Earth back.
Normally I say that the most important part of a game ISN'T its story, but its gameplay. Mass Effect might be the only exception to this rule of mine, since if you're playing this game, you're playing it to see every decision you've made up until now come to fruition. I must say that everything wrapped up almost perfectly. Almost every character who is still alive makes at least a cameo in this game, sometimes as a temporary squadmate, sometimes just as a friendly face. If Mass Effect can deliver on anything, it's giving this generation of gaming some of the most well written characters you can find in a game. Garrus is probably the best sidekick I've ever seen. I played this on the PS3 so I never got to experience the first ME, but even then I felt like he was my brother, and knowing that I probably won't see him again in the ME universe made me quite upset. There were several moments where this game truly moved me, at least twice to the point of tears. The only other game to do that to me is Final Fantasy X, which came out in 2002. It took 10 years for a game to make me cry again, and that game was Mass Effect 3. Overall, every decision you've made leads up to a satisfying resolution that leads to an incredible final mission, and in addition, there are several powerful moments in the game just because of the world you're in. When you're victorious, it feels monumental. When you fail, it's devestating, because you know that every time you screw up, another species might die, or a world will be stripped of all life. Everything is done absolutely brilliantly...
...until the last ten minutes.
To anyone following ME3 on this site, I am certain that you've heard the uproar among fans that the end of Mass Effect 3 has created. Some people are saying that the game is now unplayable because of the way it concludes. I will not lie: the end of Mass Effect 3, without spoiling anything, was quite disappointing to me. I may make a thread about it later, but I'll keep it at this for now: the end overall just doesn't fit the theme ME has built over the years, and it feels like your choices don't really matter in the end.
Gameplay
Like I brought up earlier, this game is a hybrid of the TPS / RPG genres. The shooting aspect of ME3 remains largely unchanged from ME2, with a few minor tweaks. These few additions, however, are for the better. Shepard now has unlimited stamina, so his sprint has gone from useless to extremely useful. He also gains the ability to roll, use a new melee weapon called the Omni-Blade, and can move into, over, and around cover much easier. The shooting isn't as amazing as something like Gears of War, but it is better than it has ever been in the series.
Many fans were disappointed in how there were far less RPG elements in ME2 after ME1. This game fixes that. As you level up, your powers gan go off into several different branches, and how you level your abilities makes a noticible impact on how they work and how useful they are. Weapons can be modded to change their performance and how they look, and Shepard can now only carry so much weight with him before his weapons start to affect how quickly his powers recharge, forcing you to balance efficiency or firepower. Characters now have something unique to say every time you speak to them, so every conversation you start won't lead to the same dialogue wheel saying the exact same things for the entire game. In fact, the wheel is used far less in this game. It's still utilized often, but mostly when the choices you make cause a huge impact on the rest of the game.
The previous games featured a Morality system, with Paragon (Good), and Renegade (Bad). Paragon and Renegade are still around, but it's been changed from Morality to Reputation. Instead of two different scales for your morality, both Paragon and Renegade decisions and actions are added together for your total Reputation, so you're no longer punished for doing too many Paragon choices on a Renegade playthough or vice versa.
And yes, the game features cooperative multiplayer in the vein of a classic "Horde Mode", which can improve how ready you are for the final battle. Is it forced? Yeah. Is it anything special? No. However, it is surprisingly fun, and I did get some enjoyment out of it. I recommend using it for your single player benefits too, so you're good and ready when you begin the fight to take back Earth.
Presentation
Mass Effect 3 isn't the greatest looking game out there, but it's still visually impressive. The scope has definitely never been larger than it is here, and it's nice to see that utilized to great effect. There are, however, an unusually large amount of framerate drops and visual glitches in the game. The framerate is usually steady with some mild falls here and there, but occasionally, the game slowed down to a stuttering pace, and during conversations, character models would flicker, or would be looking the wrong way. None of these are overly negative aspects that hurt the game, but they're far too noticeable in an otherwise extremely polished game.
The soundtrack is incredible, delivering several epic, touching, and memorable pieces throughout your experience with the game. Several of the previous people working on the soundtrack return, but the biggest difference is the loss of Jack Wall, who is replaced by Clint Mansell (Requiem For A Dream), who adds his fair share of talent as well.
The voice acting is the strongest it has ever been in the entire series. Every line from every character in this massive game is delivered perfectly. What most impressed me, however, is that after two games with several DLC expansion, Mark Meer (male Commander Shepard), finally learned how to use emotion in his voice.
Verdict
After about 40 hours of experiencing everything this game had to offer, I thought Mass Effect 3 was:
AWESOME!!!
There are some visual hiccups, but they're nothing that makes the game less playable. The ending is quite disappointing, and it did somewhat drag down the experience for me, but you know what? Every minute before those final 10 minutes were some of the best moments of gaming in this entire generation. If 99.9% of a game is spectacular, and 0.1% is below average, guess what? The game is still spectacular. While it could have wrapped up better, I can say without a doubt in my mind that this game almost perfectly concluded the story of Commander Shepard, and I am sad to see so many characters I've grown to love depart. If you've played the rest of the series, you'll already have this. If you HAVEN'T, don't only buy this game, but buy Mass Effect 1, and Mass Effect 2 as well, and create your own unique experience with your own Commander Shepard with your own unique choices. This is definitely, for the most part, the best entry into the Mass Effect trilogy, and is definitely on my watch for Game of the Year. You are doing yourself a disservice by not experiencing everything Mass Effect has to offer. Buy this game, and buy every other ME game. You will not regret it, you have my word.
So, do you have Mass Effect 3 for the 360, PC, or PS3? What did you think? Was I too harsh or too leniant? Did I miss anything? Let me know.
I'm not sure how many people on this site have experienced Mass Effect. If you haven't, play the games immediately, because they're not only one of the best third person shooter / RPGs of today, not only one of the best sci-fi space epics of today, not only one of the most well told stories in gaming of today, but one of the best game series of all time. After over five years of building up your character and their decisions through two other games and tons of DLC adventures, Commander Shepard's story is finally coming to an end in what is arguably the most anticipated game of the year: Mass Effect 3. With so much hype, does this game bring a satisfying end to Shepard's story, or does it fall short of expectations? I've beaten it, and here is my review.
Keep in mind that this is MY review of the game. Your opinion may very well differ from mine.
Story
About six months after the Arrival DLC in ME2, Commander Shepard has been grounded on Earth, stripped of rank and ship. This just so happens to be the worst possible time to be on Earth, because the Reapers, sentient starships that return to the Milky Way galaxy every 50,000 years to purge it of virtually all organic life, touch down on Earth and begin killing everyone and everything in sight. Earth is overwhelmed within minutes of the Reapers arriving, so Shepard is forced to abandon Earth to unite all the races of the galaxy together in a unified final stand to eventually return, and take Earth back.
Normally I say that the most important part of a game ISN'T its story, but its gameplay. Mass Effect might be the only exception to this rule of mine, since if you're playing this game, you're playing it to see every decision you've made up until now come to fruition. I must say that everything wrapped up almost perfectly. Almost every character who is still alive makes at least a cameo in this game, sometimes as a temporary squadmate, sometimes just as a friendly face. If Mass Effect can deliver on anything, it's giving this generation of gaming some of the most well written characters you can find in a game. Garrus is probably the best sidekick I've ever seen. I played this on the PS3 so I never got to experience the first ME, but even then I felt like he was my brother, and knowing that I probably won't see him again in the ME universe made me quite upset. There were several moments where this game truly moved me, at least twice to the point of tears. The only other game to do that to me is Final Fantasy X, which came out in 2002. It took 10 years for a game to make me cry again, and that game was Mass Effect 3. Overall, every decision you've made leads up to a satisfying resolution that leads to an incredible final mission, and in addition, there are several powerful moments in the game just because of the world you're in. When you're victorious, it feels monumental. When you fail, it's devestating, because you know that every time you screw up, another species might die, or a world will be stripped of all life. Everything is done absolutely brilliantly...
...until the last ten minutes.
To anyone following ME3 on this site, I am certain that you've heard the uproar among fans that the end of Mass Effect 3 has created. Some people are saying that the game is now unplayable because of the way it concludes. I will not lie: the end of Mass Effect 3, without spoiling anything, was quite disappointing to me. I may make a thread about it later, but I'll keep it at this for now: the end overall just doesn't fit the theme ME has built over the years, and it feels like your choices don't really matter in the end.
Gameplay
Like I brought up earlier, this game is a hybrid of the TPS / RPG genres. The shooting aspect of ME3 remains largely unchanged from ME2, with a few minor tweaks. These few additions, however, are for the better. Shepard now has unlimited stamina, so his sprint has gone from useless to extremely useful. He also gains the ability to roll, use a new melee weapon called the Omni-Blade, and can move into, over, and around cover much easier. The shooting isn't as amazing as something like Gears of War, but it is better than it has ever been in the series.
Many fans were disappointed in how there were far less RPG elements in ME2 after ME1. This game fixes that. As you level up, your powers gan go off into several different branches, and how you level your abilities makes a noticible impact on how they work and how useful they are. Weapons can be modded to change their performance and how they look, and Shepard can now only carry so much weight with him before his weapons start to affect how quickly his powers recharge, forcing you to balance efficiency or firepower. Characters now have something unique to say every time you speak to them, so every conversation you start won't lead to the same dialogue wheel saying the exact same things for the entire game. In fact, the wheel is used far less in this game. It's still utilized often, but mostly when the choices you make cause a huge impact on the rest of the game.
The previous games featured a Morality system, with Paragon (Good), and Renegade (Bad). Paragon and Renegade are still around, but it's been changed from Morality to Reputation. Instead of two different scales for your morality, both Paragon and Renegade decisions and actions are added together for your total Reputation, so you're no longer punished for doing too many Paragon choices on a Renegade playthough or vice versa.
And yes, the game features cooperative multiplayer in the vein of a classic "Horde Mode", which can improve how ready you are for the final battle. Is it forced? Yeah. Is it anything special? No. However, it is surprisingly fun, and I did get some enjoyment out of it. I recommend using it for your single player benefits too, so you're good and ready when you begin the fight to take back Earth.
Presentation
Mass Effect 3 isn't the greatest looking game out there, but it's still visually impressive. The scope has definitely never been larger than it is here, and it's nice to see that utilized to great effect. There are, however, an unusually large amount of framerate drops and visual glitches in the game. The framerate is usually steady with some mild falls here and there, but occasionally, the game slowed down to a stuttering pace, and during conversations, character models would flicker, or would be looking the wrong way. None of these are overly negative aspects that hurt the game, but they're far too noticeable in an otherwise extremely polished game.
The soundtrack is incredible, delivering several epic, touching, and memorable pieces throughout your experience with the game. Several of the previous people working on the soundtrack return, but the biggest difference is the loss of Jack Wall, who is replaced by Clint Mansell (Requiem For A Dream), who adds his fair share of talent as well.
The voice acting is the strongest it has ever been in the entire series. Every line from every character in this massive game is delivered perfectly. What most impressed me, however, is that after two games with several DLC expansion, Mark Meer (male Commander Shepard), finally learned how to use emotion in his voice.
Verdict
After about 40 hours of experiencing everything this game had to offer, I thought Mass Effect 3 was:
AWESOME!!!
There are some visual hiccups, but they're nothing that makes the game less playable. The ending is quite disappointing, and it did somewhat drag down the experience for me, but you know what? Every minute before those final 10 minutes were some of the best moments of gaming in this entire generation. If 99.9% of a game is spectacular, and 0.1% is below average, guess what? The game is still spectacular. While it could have wrapped up better, I can say without a doubt in my mind that this game almost perfectly concluded the story of Commander Shepard, and I am sad to see so many characters I've grown to love depart. If you've played the rest of the series, you'll already have this. If you HAVEN'T, don't only buy this game, but buy Mass Effect 1, and Mass Effect 2 as well, and create your own unique experience with your own Commander Shepard with your own unique choices. This is definitely, for the most part, the best entry into the Mass Effect trilogy, and is definitely on my watch for Game of the Year. You are doing yourself a disservice by not experiencing everything Mass Effect has to offer. Buy this game, and buy every other ME game. You will not regret it, you have my word.
So, do you have Mass Effect 3 for the 360, PC, or PS3? What did you think? Was I too harsh or too leniant? Did I miss anything? Let me know.
baylaust out.
Edited by baylaust