User Reviews

Great conclusion to the series

Kpb17 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 01:45:00 GMT

Despite a lot of negativity towards the ending, I thought this was a good game. I personally wouldn't have ended the Shepard saga the same way as Bioware did, but they're the developers, not me. The combat system in this game is great. I would reccomend picking up the Trilogy if you haven't played them, and also picking up the new Citadel DLC. That was also a lot of fun.

A Brief Summarization

Paradigmthefallen — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:05:00 GMT

A competent Roleplaying Shooter. A tad bit linear and lacking in narrative at a few points. Multiplayer is enjoyable but repetitive (new maps don't account for a lack of new ways to play the game). Microtransactions are included, and DLC is a bit overpriced. Only proceed if you absolutely love horde mode or want to see the finale of Mass Effect (and beware of the ending if that is the case). Otherwise, best to start with at least Mass Effect 2.

The Ending

Vinsent — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:07:00 GMT

I'm only going to review the ending of this game. The game itself has already been reviewed many times and I don't think I need to spend much time on it. Many people are claiming the ending to be horrible, I'm going to explain why it's NOT.
I've thought about this a lot. It's been nearly a year now. I think we must remember that in Mass Effect 3, the Reapers are already here. It's not like the first or second one, where we are doing things to prevent their coming and/or prepare ourselves for it. No, it's already happening, right from the start of the game. Throughout this game, literally, millions and millions of lives are lost within the galaxy. The reapers first landed on Earth, I KNEW right away that this was not going to end very nicely. Honestly, I think it's a little naive to think that this was going to have a sort of soft, happy ending. Forget about spoiler alerts, because "the Ending" is in the title. So if you haven't played it yet, stop reading now.

Based on the circumstances, Shepherd couldn't possibly survived. And really, I looked at his death as being highly honorable. Let's remember, that humans are looked down upon by the other races of the galaxy, and for a human to be the one to actually end the reaper threat was incredible. We also need to remember that many races, like the Protheans and thousands more before them, couldn't unite the whole galaxy for an epic final showdown the way Shepherd did.
And why complain about the ending? There's two main endings and a 3rd hidden ending. For personal reasons, I did like the ending. Honestly. Didn't like it. But I respected it. I thought it was fair, creative, unpredictable (huge plus), and logic. Sacrifices must be made in war, and the ending honors that concept, rather than be typical and having our main character(s) all survive and live happily ever after. I wouldn't have ending this game any other way and I truly believe that the ending is what the game deserves.

Farewell Commander Shepard...

Nex Gen Reviews — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 00:49:00 GMT

Mass Effect 3

Nex-Gen-Reviews

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Creator/Producer:

Bioware

ESRB rating:

Mature

Genre:

Third Person Science Fiction RPG

Well, that time has finally come. Its been months since I've beaten Mass Effect 2, and now, I have just finished Mass Effect 3 merely hours ago before starting this review. I went in a bit skeptical because of the surrounding controversy surrounding the ending of the game. I wanted this to be better then ME2, but Mass Effect 2, even though it is clearly mechanically inferior to ME3, its ending, the suicide mission, was just so great. Now in my review, I will venture into major spoiler territory about the ending, so if you have not played, either stop reading this review, or be carful what you read (if that is even possible). But then again, alot say the ending was fine, but I knew I couldn't be sure until I experienced it my self....

Concept:

Everything that introduced in the previous mass effect's (I still have not played the first), and evolved or emphasized in this sequel, both Science Fiction elements and story. The story around is more dramatic, it really inflicts this feeling of the galaxy ending, and features by far the greatest war developed in by a medium Never have I have experienced a fictional or movie based on a war greater then this one, and you really do feel like you're in charge. Importing my save from Mass Effect 2, I notice all my decisions in the previous game unfold in this one. You operate an alliance comprised of many species and war assets, and you have this feeling of progression as you accumulate all these war assets. There are many great battles that you engage in over the course of this massive game, many great new environments, even some of the new introduced characters in the game are enjoyable additions (Specialist Treynor for example). And the reapers, oh the reapers, are a much greater threat then the Collectors featured in the previous game. The sense of scale they add is truly gratifying. If played with a great sound system, the experience is indeed enhanced a great deal, so make sure you have one. These towering foes that we all prepared for in the final game are finally revealed, and they are even more threatening then I ever imagined, one of the greatest game enemies ever crafted since the Dragons in Skyrim and the Big Daddies in Bioshock.

Ever encounter (not many, around four in all) with the reapers are truly epic. The feelings these destroyers of humanity evoke upon you are far some of the greatest you will have in a long time. Never has any fight, any boss in Mass Effect 2 even half way compared to the feeling of epic-ness and awe with these Reapers deliver in this game. Right from the beginning the game draws you in, you see these reapers right from the get-go and it's a perfect way to begin a game. But your first fight with a reaper gives you a sense of truly what these things are capable of. Later on in the game, you will see some truly amazing space battles among fleets of space ships, they are great to watch, even if they are rather short. These are also more holographic things in this game then there was in the last one, and that is cool because I like holographic things. So this game defiantly has its science fiction elements down.

Score- 10

Controls:

As decent as they were in the last game, they have been evolved and vastly improved in this game in nearly every direction. Shepard has more maneuverability, allowing him to seamlessly transition from cover to cover without frustration. He can now rolls in every direction, a feature that made me wonder how I made it threw Mass Effect 2 without. Melee combat has been improved vastly, which opens for more opportunities in combat. It's also very satisfying to launch your Omni-blade right into an enemies face. Awesome, reminds me of Resident Evil 4's combat, which is a very good thing, and I would like to see it improve even more in future installments. The RPG elements have been evolved, while not exactly as best as they can be they still offer more choices then in ME2. Also, the level cap has been raised by 60, and by the end of the game, I have almost made it to the cap (I think it was 56 or somewhere around there). I feel though the RPG elements could have been better. I would have liked to have seen deep skill trees like those seen in Skyrim, or Far Cry 3, that would have been more fun, but I'm happy.

Weapons are now upgraded easier, you can now just buy upgrades at will and upgrade your favorite weapons fully within seconds, rather then have to scavenge up enough materials to purchase these upgrades in the previous game (Which would take forever, almost until end-game). Weapons can also be suited with a number of attachments, which is a very welcome feature, allowing you to tailor different modifications to your style of playing. Take a pistol and equip it with an extended magazine and scope, or take that same pistol and apply a longer barrel for greater damage and an attachment that improves all-around accuracy. This applies with all the weapons!

All in all, the controls are more streamlined and more enjoyable, combat is the best it has ever been.

Score- 9.5

Content:

What this game does great, is it trims down are the annoying side garbage from Mass Effect 2, like the painful, time swallowing (but rewarding) planet scanning, and those dumb-ass bypass and hack mini-games which began to got on my nerves later in the last game. All that dumb crap in the previous game made alot of my play time. This game manage to take me five hours longer to complete without any of those annoyances, instead making exploring the galaxy easier and allowing me to focus on the story and combat situations without any distractions. Now, this game comes with a PLETHORA of content, a potential 40 hours worth. It took me about 25 hours just to do what I did, and I did not even complete half the side quests, which I will do in a replay.

This game takes to minor step backs though. Within the galaxy map, the game populated almost every area with reapers, who at first, seem interesting. They will raid you while you scan planets, and you will have to make an escape. But this late becomes annoying in the final hours while trying to locate as many war assets as I possibly could. One other thing is that my favorite locations from the previous game, which are Illium and Omega, do not make a return, but there is still the Citadel, which has been expanded. In my review for ME2, I remember complaining about the lack of size and freedom these town markets offered, but the Citadel in this game, while still not a full fledged city as I wanted, has been expanded. There is easily double the space offered in this one area then there was in the Citadel in the previous game, which is welcome, but not satisfying enough. While the Citadel offers amazing sights and geometry, I still would have liked to see a double-sized Illium or Omega like the Citadel (but really want I want is a full city I can fly cars through and explore multiple areas and locations, that would be truly awesome).

The best addition though, is the War Asset feature. I completed many side missions and scanned many planets to raise my points to help contribute to the final battle, and I found this process to be very enjoyable. By the end, I still had MANY side missions left, almost an overwhelming amount. Now, the side missions are not as good as they were in Mass Effect 2. The loyalty missions offered more variety in gameplay and more character interaction then the ones in this game. The side missions in this game, while some are fun and enjoyable, most just seem like annoying shooting galleries, which discouraged me to do alot, but a few are fun though, like helping around the citadel. The main missions though, are much better then they were in Mass Effect 2, offering more engaging fights (which become ridiculous after a while) and more (also more intriguing) environmental designs. Across my adventure, I have been threw snow-capped mountains, elegant specie home worlds, treacherous catacombs, war torn cities, there is more here then the dull bug infested environments, and the dark factories in Mass Effect 2 (but it also had its share of interesting locations also).

And as with previous Mass Effect installments, the great and wonderful choice making mechanic is back and I'm damn glad it is. Thats really all I have to say. There is more content here then there was in Mass Effect 2, some superior, some inferior, but all in all, this game will keep you busy for a while.

Score- 9.5

Story:

The story this time around is more dramatic and on a larger scale. Mass Effect 2 was about preparing for this inevitable threat, and Mass Effect 3 is about fighting it. Commander Shepard as a character is one of my favorite in gaming, and he is even more likable in this game then he was in the last one. Basically, this game is about saving the galaxy in a war against the greatest threat of the galaxy. Within the course of the game, I have experienced many great moments, some of those which developed in the previous game (Spoilers ahead). A few include Mordin curing the genophage, which was great, and Grunts stand off against those bug-things. But no moments compare to those with the reapers and the last. Every character in the previous games make a return in this one, while a few are just cameos, its still nice to see familiar faces. I just wish I could have seen more (Especially Miranda). The relationship with your loved one was weaker in this game (at least for me <3 Miranda) then it was last. I only seen my love interest four times, and briefly also, and only two of those times were they any enjoyable. I wish some of these characters could have been apart of your squad again, but there not, which reminds me, the squad in this game is only about half the size as it was in the previous game, which is a sad face for me, I enjoyed interacting with my squad in the previous game, but at least I get Garrus and Tali, oh and some gay dude and a lesbian chick.

Joker returns, and I am glad for that, I just like Joker alot as a character. Another this that impressed me was the inclusion of EDI's body. Not only did it allow for EDI to become a more evolved character, it also allowed for a deep story for her self. We see this synthetic life form develop organic qualities, and I liked that part of her. I enjoyed seeing her transformation of a more human-like character, Its one of the most interesting parts of the game. And her relationship with Joker is really funny also.

However, I miss the more gritty, darker moments from Mass Effect 2, like Thane's assassination mission, that mission offered a very tense sequence assisted by a very appropriate score. Its kind of like Jokers moments in the film "The Dark Knight." Now lets talk about the final moments of the game (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD). We all know the game was going to end with a battle on Earth, now the question of if this finale stacks up to the suicide mission in ME2 I will later answer, I will now talk about the actual ending, the last five minutes when the Shepard encounters the crucible. Many gamers are all enraged over the lack of decision with this final sequence. Either blow up the galaxy in Blue, Red or Green. My color was Red. But I honestly dont see what was so bad about the ending, I actually felt it was rather good, NOT the best way the game could have ended, but it wasnt bad at all. My choice was destroying the reapers, but many say the ending sucked because Shepard sacrificed himself just to save the reapers, well thats one ending, which I agree is poor, but if you get the Red ending, I feel it was decent. Shepard sacrificed himself to blow up the galaxy, destroying the reapers in the process, but yet preventing further possible wars like this. It's not entirely horrible, nor is it great, but its just fine in my opinion. I also have yet to see the extended cut ending, but all in all, I was fine with the (my) ending. It's also nice to know that Shepard continues to live as a legend.

Now back to the finale. It didnt stack up as well as I expected it to, and it may not be as good as the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, I still enjoyed it though. It's a good finale, just short of great, but I just felt like it needed more variety then just shooting up countless frustrating waves of hard-core enemies, which almost ruined the experience. I would have loved to have fought the battle with everyone of my old squad mates from the previous game, especially after the suicide mission, it would have been amazing to fight along side my favorite characters for one last time, in the greatest battle ever. I can only imagine how great this would have been, seeing all the heroic and final scenes of these characters, bringing hope up in one another at the brink of the most helpless situations. The suicide mission would never be able to stack up to that, NEVER. But Bioware (or perhaps EA) did not choose to do it this way, if they were smart they would have. This was a little bit of a disappointment to me.

I did enjoy saying my farewells to my favorite characters, it really did bring a wave of emotion over me, of how they all talked about their future and how they would spend it together, and then by end-game, all that was wiped away by an impactful decision. The last 20 something minutes though, right where you race to the reaper and get beamed to the Citadel, and have your final run in with the Illusive Man, all that was handled well and offered a memorial final sequence. I just wanna say again though, the ending isnt as bad as many people make it out to be, it's actually (If you make the right choice) a decent end to one of the greatest game franchises of all time.

There is one other thing I might add, Mass Effect 3 has some great antagonists. The illusive man deserves an award for being a good ally (but suspicious) in Mass Effect 2, and a worthy villain in this game, which is rare that you see such a thing. Kai Lang (Though he seems like a rip off of Raiden from Metal Gear Rising) is a very awesome antagonist also, offering some of the best boss fights in the franchise, and his end is great also.

All in all, Mass Effect 3 concludes an amazing trilogy when a story that envelopes you and swarms you with emotion. An unforgettable and definitely Game Of The Decade worthy.

Score- 9.75

High Lights:

Easily put, the Reapers. The reapers dominate awesome, and offer greater fights ever seen in the franchise. They will most definitely earn my enemy of the year award (not villain).

Score- 9.5

Realism:

Its science fiction, however, like in Mass Effect 2, the characters all feel real and the improved graphics and enemy AI do enhance the experience even more. The AI has been vastly improved, and they will obliterate you on the battlefield.

Score- 9

Overall Experience:

Mass Effect 3 is one of the greatest games I have ever played, and will most likely win my Game Of The Year award. After completion, I debated over my final verdict for the game. While it may have a few minor annoyances and flaws, and it didnt have the greatest ending ever, I still think it pulls through and meets my expectations, not surpassing them, but meeting them. It almost reaches that 10/10, but not quite. It would have If it did the ending slightly better, and let you experience the final battle on Earth with all the old squad mates from ME2, these would have been great opportunity to maximize emotion and definitely pull that 10/10, but the final battle was decent enough. Saying farewell to these characters is like saying farewell to a family, a beloved family that we all explored over three games (for me two). But the epilogue gives me some hope. Bioware has confirmed a Mass Effect 4, and while it may not have Commander Shepard in it, I will damn-sure be looking forward to it and hope to see a few familiar faces. Mass Effect is not only the greatest science fiction trilogies ever made in a medium history, its one of the greatest trilogies in general. I salute you Bioware. And I cannot wait for future entries, my brain is at the brink of exploding in anticipation. Farewell Commander Shepard, Farewell...

Overall Rating:

9.75/10

Platinum Award Received

The Good Stuff:

Nearly Every Category In ME2 Improved ++

Amazing Story ++

The Greatest War Depicted In a Medium ++

Wealthy In Content ++

Best Science Fiction Experience To Date +++

Satisfying Conclusion +

The Bad Stuff:

Ending Could Have Been Better (But It Wasnt Bad)

Post Indoctrination Theory Discussion:

Its been about a week since I finished this review, and over that week time a been doing research on this "Indoctrination Theory" thing that I've been hearing way before I played the game myself. And I must say, its very quite interesting. I read about five detailed anylizations of the ending with the Indoctrination Theory, and I watched two very detailed and well put together documentaries and video analyzes also about the ending with the Indoctrination Theory. For about 3 days, I was addicted and fascinated about this idea, but a few things discouraged me as well. A few people say that the Indoctrination Theory is not true, no matter how much we want to believe it is, but they didnt do enough to convince me otherwise. The Extended Cut DLC is what worries me, because if its cannon then it would refute the Indoctrination Theory. I really would not like that, I find the Indoctrination Theory one of the most fascinating things ever in gaming history, and I hope its true.

A few say that the Extended Cut DLC may just be an attempt to "Indoctrinate" us gamers to believing that the ending we saw really happened, but in ME4 everything will be truly revealed. I would almost dismiss the Indoctrination Theory myself, but there is just too much evidence, that I cannot bring myself to doing so. If you watch the video's you will understand, even if most of the evidence can be debunked, there are still a few things that you cannot debunk no matter how hard you try, like Shepard's eyes for instance when he chooses the blue or green endings. You can clearly see that they are the eyes of an indoctrinated person, the same excact eyes we have seen on the Illusive Man and Sovereign in ME1. This is one thing that I dont think can be dismissed. Another thing is the trees around the beam area at the end of the game right before the final part with the citadel, the part where Shepard is on the verge of death. There are trees that weren't there before until Shepard was hit by the beam from Harbinger. And the even more erie part is that the trees are the same ones from Shepard's dreams.

ALL the evidence is very hard to deny, but those two things I pointed I think are impossible to deny, especially the eyes. Me, I believe in the Indoctrination Theory, and even if it isnt true, ima be ignorant and believe it anyway, because its one of the greatest ideas I ever heard, and if it is true, I shall award Bioware of accomplishing the greatest mind f*** in Gaming history. I am very, EXTREMELY, even more then I was before the theory, excited for ME4, to find out the real truth. This was just a little thing I wanted to share, because it really fascinates me and gives me hope. Thanks for reading.

Farewell Commander Shepard...

Nex Gen Reviews — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 00:23:00 GMT

Mass Effect 3

Nex-Gen-Reviews

(Warning, Major Spoilers Follow, Read At Your Own Risk)

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Creator/Producer:

Bioware

ESRB rating:

Mature

Genre:

Third Person Science Fiction RPG

Concept:

Score- 10

Controls:

All in all, the controls are more streamlined and more enjoyable, combat is the best it has ever been.

Score- 9.5

Content:

Score- 9.5

Story:

All in all, Mass Effect 3 concludes an amazing trilogy with a story that envelopes you and swarms you with emotion. An unforgettable and definitely Game Of The Decade worthy.

Score- 9.75

High Lights:

Easily put, the Reapers. The reapers dominate awesome, and offer greater fights ever seen in the franchise. They will most definitely earn my enemy of the year award (not villain).

Score- 9.5

Realism:

Score- 9

Overall Experience:

Mass Effect 3 is one of the greatest games I have ever played, and will most likely win my Game Of The Year award. After completion, I debated over my final verdict for the game. While it may have a few minor annoyances and flaws, and it didnt have the greatest ending ever, I still think it pulls through and meets my expectations, not surpassing them, but meeting them. It almost reaches that 10/10, but not quite. It would have If it did the ending slightly better, and let you experience the final battle on Earth with all the old squad mates from ME2, these would have been great opportunity to maximize emotion and definitely pull that 10/10, but the final battle was decent enough. Saying farewell to these characters is like saying farewell to a family, a beloved family that we all explored over three games (for me two). But the epilogue gives me some hope. Bioware has confirmed a Mass Effect 4, and while it may not have Commander Shepard in it, I will damn-sure be looking forward to it and hope to see a few familiar faces. Mass Effect is not only the greatest science fiction trilogies ever made in its gaming, its one of the greatest trilogies in general. I salute you Bioware. And I cannot wait for future entries, my brain is at the brink of exploding in anticipation. Farewell Commander Shepard, Farewell...

Overall Rating:

9.75/10

Platinum Award Received

The Good Stuff:

Nearly Every Category In ME2 Improved ++

Amazing Story ++

The Greatest War Depicted In a Medium ++

Wealthy In Content ++

Best Science Fiction Experience To Date +++

Satisfying Conclusion +

The Bad Stuff:

Ending Could Have Been Better (But It Wasnt Bad)

Post Indoctrination Theory Discussion:

A few say that the Extended Cut DLC may just be an attempt to "Indoctrinate" us gamers to believing that the ending we saw really happened, but in ME4 everything will be truly revealed. I would almost dismiss the Indoctrination Theory myself, but there is just too much evidence, that I cannot bring myself to doing so. If you watch the video's you will understand, even if most of the evidence can be debunked, there are still a few things that you cannot debunk no matter how hard you try, like Shepard's eyes for instance when he chooses the blue or green endings. You can clearly see that they are the eyes of an indoctrinated person, the same excact eyes we have seen on the Illusive Man and Saren in ME1. This is one thing that I dont think can be dismissed. Another thing is the trees around the beam area at the end of the game right before the final part with the citadel, the part where Shepard is on the verge of death. There are trees that weren't there before until Shepard was hit by the beam from Harbinger. And the even more erie part is that the trees are the same ones from Shepard's dreams.

The Journey Ends

HardrockAJ — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 04:33:00 GMT

Mass Effect 3 is by far one of the most memorable games I have ever played.

Great game with one glaring flaw.

bossfight1 — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:33:00 GMT

Halfway through ME3 I was ready to declare it one of the greatest games I'd ever played. The gameplay was fun, the multiplayer was great, and the story was exemplary...

Until the last ten minutes. Yep, this review is more of a rant. Won't spoil anything.

The ending has a massive flaw in logic, pays NO HEED to the choices you made, despite the claims Bioware made months before the game launched, ends almost in the EXACT SAME WAY no matter what choices you made, and leaves you dead in the water. It's like the game just chucks you out of the experience, yells "BUY DLC" before slamming the door, and leaves you cold and confused in the alleyway outside. The game is still great, but if you've become emotionally invested with the franchise, get ready for a kick in the balls.

The Best Entry in the Best Series

We Are All Geth — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:33:00 GMT

It's hard for me to do justice to this series with mere words. What Casey Hudson and the developers at BioWare have done with this series is nothing short of spectacular. I've never found it easy to name my favorite thing in any category, but they managed to make it easy for me when it comes to video games. The Mass Effect trilogy is, in my opinion, the greatest video game series ever made, and its conclusion, Mass Effect 3, manages to just barely overtake Mass Effect 2 as the greatest entry. All three games are perfect 10's as far as experiences go, though parts 1 and 3 have some technical glitches, but none that bother me much. As far as the ending is concerned, since so many seem obsessed with it, I personally loved it and find the more severe complaints about it to be ridiculous. Anyone who says that the ending ruined the entire series for them can leave the room. You are idiots. To those who say the ending didn't satisfy them, I understand though I disagree. I'll say this first, whatever your opinion of the ending is, if you haven't seen the Extended Cut then you certainly owe it to yourself to do so. It's much better and helps to give closer to certain aspects of the ending that left players disappointed. For me, the ending was excellent, unconventional, and only slightly flawed. I am not a part of the camp that felt that every choice you made should have somehow manipulated the ending, because truth be told, what you're asking for isn't exactly realistic. There are hundreds of choices in each game, and the thought that the ending could be tailored around everyone's unique and complex experience is basically asking for literally thousands of possible endings. The truth is that too much focus is on this one scene of the game. Your choices may not have that desired effect on the conclusion, but that was never the point. Your choices effect the overall experience, which is much more important if you ask me. This game's story is spectacular, and is filled with incredible moments and difficult choices. It is a landmark in gaming history, just as its two predecessors are, and is the best game of 2012 by far.

Mass Effect's epic conclusion

silver6kraid — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:22:00 GMT

So, after completing Mass Effect 3 last night, I have only really have one thing to say. This game, this series, has moved me more than anything I've ever experience. Not just in books or film or anything like that. I mean media period. The characters are believable, loveable or even hateable. No matter what every single character makes you feel something. Every single plot point makes you feel something even. Anger, sadness, joy, you name it. I truly fell on love with this universe over the past four years. I have become so emotionally invested that on numerous occasions I shed tears, leaped in joy and shouted "YES". Needless to say Mass Effect as a whole has had a profound effect on me. Every plot line resolved itself in a very satisfying way that exceeded my expectations. Best part is that they can resolve in a different way depending on your choices. It's one of the best Scifi epics I've ever seen period. Unfortunately there is something that does bog this game down. The ending. It is perhaps the most disappointing thing about the game. That's not to say it's the worst ending ever. It's bitter sweet, tragic and there are some good ideas burred there, unfortunately a rushed and sloppy execution ruin it. It's not what I wanted, and it almost felt like everything I'd invested in the series didn't really amount to anything. It did, but that feeling wasn't there. Take Mass Effect 2's ending, perhaps one of the best finales in the history of gaming, it made me feel triumphant, great, like I had really accomplished something. Mass Effect 3's has no such effect. I guess from an emotional standpoint it fails where it should have succeeded. It was too complex when it needed to be simple. It was bold, but the payoff was not worth the Buildup. But, what I've spent the past day trying thinking about, and the conclusion I've come to is that it's not about the ending. The ending doesn't really matter to me. The Journey I took with these characters in this universe is what I am going to remember fondly. Mass Effect is perhaps my favorite series of games ever, and I'm glad I experienced it. If the ending falters so be it, at least I still have everything else to love.

With that out of the way, I feel I have to talk about something besides the story. The import system returns and works brilliantly to connect the three games together. You run into people you've previously met and just casual mentions remind you of what you'd done. You really should play the first two by the way. Starting at the second or third game would be a mistake despite what the marketing says. This series works so well because it's all connected, and missing out on any of it would cheapen the experience. The gameplay is vastly improved from Mass Effect 2. The combat is intense, Guns handle amazingly and none of them feel useless. You can mod them all as well. This means that chances are your weapons will be tailored to your liking no matter what. The new weight system, which determines how fast your powers cool down depending on how many guns you carry, coupled with the ability to carry any number/kind of guns you want helps make you feel even more in control. The powers are all improved as well. They can be upgraded in several different ways thanks to improved skill trees. This helps for stratigizing and customizing your character completely. It takes the best aspects of both Mass Effect 1 and 2 and combines them. The AI is considerably more intelligent. They are clever, resourceful and it makes for a great challenge. There are a wide variety of them as well. Mainly it's the Reaper ground forces, Cerberus and the Geth. All of them require a different tactic and each of them are distinct. The sound is brilliant as well, the guns sound realistic, the music is powerful and it really sets the tone from the story. The Voice acting is top notch, with every returning actor delivering their best performances. The Cut scenes are very well directed as well, though some occasional bugs can disrupt the immersion, but it's so minor that I don't even care. The Graphics are good, while not the best and starting to kind of show their age, Mass Effect is still a beautiful game. Textures could be better and some pop in rears its ugly head every here and there, but again, it's forgivable. This is especially made apparent by the massive scale of the set pieces. When you see Reapers descending towards Vancouver at the beginning of the game, you really see how big they are, nay, you feel how big they are. The newest and probably most innovative thing about the game is the war room galaxy readiness system. You have to search the galaxy for resources, war assets and support in order to have a chance of taking Earth back from the Reapers. There are so many ways to do this it felt a little overwhelming. I spent hours on the Citadel just doing side quests to gain support. Every little bit counts in this game and it really feels that way. With that I shall segue into what is perhaps the most controversial aspect of this game, the Multiplayer. I am happy to report that this component is both totally optional and a lot of fun. It's a 4 player class based co-op mode that requires you to survive wave after wave of Geth, Reapers or Cerberus. After a few rounds you have an objective that gets you money that you can use to buy more weapons, classes and equipment. You fight them as several classes from Vanguards to infiltrators. The characters you create are your own, you can customize them similar to Shepard, but to a smaller degree. This multiplayer helps you in the overall progress of the game but like I said, it's totally optional and I didn't need to play much to be completely ready to fight the Reapers.

So, Mass Effect 3 is, in a word, amazing. It has affected me in a more profound way than anything else due to Bioware's uncanny ability to get me so emotionally invested. The ending falters, but you should not let it ruin the series for you. This series is perhaps the best trilogy of this gaming generation. It improves on ME2 in every way and is a strong contender for Game of the Year. But above all that, it moved me emotionally in a way that I didn't think was possible.

10 out of 10

The last chapter in gaming's most important Sci-Fi trilogy

Andrew Marcos — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 02:31:00 GMT

Trilogies can be tricky when it comes to entertainment. Rarely is the 3rd installment considered the best, and oftentimes it ends up being the black sheep of an otherwise stellar franchise. With Mass Effect 3, Bioware gives us the epic conclusion to a fantastic Sci-Fi series that is to gaming what Star Trek is to television, or Star Wars is to movies. Even with Shepard's story complete, it still feels like there is so much more to this universe, all while the game still manages to feel like a complete tale without much in the way of unresolved plot threads.

Starting off with Shepard undergoing a court martial for either the destruction of a Batarian colony or cooperating with Cerberus (depending on whether or not you played the Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2), Earth comes immediately under attack by the Reapers. After a quick tutorial and intro sequence, Shepard is back in action trying to rally the various sentient species in fighting the Reapers and taking back Earth, as well as attempting to defeat them using a mysterious artifact known as "The Catalyst".

Mass Effect 3 takes great strides in having your decisions add up, with the use of "Effective Military Strength" tallying up your accomplishments, towards a final score that will determine how will the final battle against the Reapers will go. Other times, those decisions are shown through more direct manners, like a chance meeting, a rekindled romance or an email thanking you for an old deed. Many of these encounters can directly affect the story path, which gives this great sense of ownership over the experience and can shape the tale in a vastly different manner throughout the game. The game does a really fantastic job of having your previous decisions matter, with various side missions and important changes resulting from many of your past decisions and encounters.

The gameplay doesn't feel like a major change from Mass Effect 2, but it offers enough small changes to improve this iteration. Planet exploration is still completely gone (as it was in Mass Effect 2, save for the Overlord DLC), but in place of the dull scanning mechanic in Mass Effect 2 you now have a more interesting mixed exploration focus, where players can go into Reaper space to look for war assets and items. The risk/reward element allows this mechanic to be more exciting, even though it mainly combines the space travel and scanning into one mechanic. The game also removed the various minigames for hacking, with data and money now a click or button press away (with all safes inconspicuously unlocked).

The combat has also undergone a change, with players of all classes now capable of wielding all weapons, only limited by the weight which affects power cooldowns, making players have to choose whether to rely more on weaponry or biotic and tech abilities. Allies are now smarter and more capable with their abilities and are more customizable with weaponry and abilities. Enemies now have many variants to keep players scrambling such as a shield wielding Cerberus or a rocket launcher wielding Geth enemy, with the three main enemy factions (Geth, Cerberus and Reaper) all having different tactics and changing up the combat. The levels themselves still suffer from an unnatural feel when in combat with easy to spot cover points in an area making upcoming combat obvious, but with the threat of invasion everywhere at once and the changing Galaxy as a result, it makes more sense here at least than in previous titles.

It's not a perfect game, and with two amazing predecessors behind it Mass Effect 3 had a lot to live up to. The game still has the player spending too much time in the Citadel looking for side quests and often slows the pace of the story as a result, with some side missions feeling out of place here given the scale of the conflict at hand (fetch quests from artifact hunters should be far from Shepard's concern). The Effective Military Strength you have is a nice way to measure your decisions and choices towards the end goal, but it feels impersonal and relies too much on multiplayer* (which is what Mass Effect fans feared when multiplayer was announced). The combat still feels a bit stiff and awkward, with level design and options not opening themselves up to many different ways through a situation, which was a complaint held for Mass Effect 2. Even though the series tries to stay welcome to newcomers, Mass Effect 3 feels like the last 300 pages of a 1000 page book.

Despite Bioware's best efforts, it doesn't lend itself as well to series newcomers as Mass Effect 2 does due to the culmination of decisions and bevy of characters and factions to know here, so I urge anyone who wants to get into the series to try it from the start if they can, or if they happen to be a PS3 owner to at least start from Mass Effect 2 (which offers an interactive comic on that version). The karma system is also a bit out of place in some situations, while the game does offer some tough choices the binary decision making can dilute the importance of some decisions when you are thinking more about your paragon/renegade scale over which decision you would really want to make. The ending is one part of the game I won't go into detail here due to the risk for spoilers, but I will say that it can be very polarizing, being a bit abrupt with just a few plot holes behind it, but it was far from terrible and definitely made good use of the EMS you earned and decisions you made*.

Overall, Mass Effect 3 is a well-made and satisfying resolution to the series that makes good on the promise of letting us carry over our decisions from the first game, while giving fans more choices to make here for the final confrontation. The story is well written, the gameplay is solid, the combat and RPG mechanics combine and add to the best improvements from the last two games, and new addictive multiplayer mode add up to make this a great final mission for players to undertake as their Commander Shepard. Regardless of what you make of the ending, I guarantee you will have full ownership of the story. Discussing my experiences and decisions with other fans really shows just how ownership I had over my experience and makes this a series unlike any other.

*As of the free Extended Cut DLC, the EMS necessary for the best ending has been lowered drastically allowing players the chance to get the best result without having to touch multiplayer, while still rewarding those that do.

*The Extended Cut DLC has cleared up the ending while giving us a more proper send off to the characters and races we know from the series, with a detailed epilogue explaining the fate of the galaxy.

Good game but not as good as Masseffect 2

Maki — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:52:00 GMT

There is more story,exploreing and more in masseffect 2 you must play that first.

Most immersive game ever

snapszach — Sun, 27 May 2012 23:54:00 GMT

Mass Effect 3 is one of the best games to date. It has a fast paced combat system and with Kinect on Xbox it makes you feel like Commander Shepard giving orders to your team. With new weapons customization you make the weapons you have feel like your own and give some upgrades to you team’s weapons to. In this game unlike the second one you can use all the weapons also so you’re not limited to a small group of weapons, and there are more weapons then the second one. In my opinion the game is much more smother that the other ones. The reason is that you can now run/slide over certain covers climb up ladders, and move from cover to cover with ease

There are some down sides to the game. You can’t hack stuff to get credits or upgrades like the last one. Sometimes it will do stuff on its own like move all by its self in cover. And there are some glitches here and there. But that doesn’t affect the overall game if you don’t let it. There are some armors from the second one that you could get from pre-order packs in the second one, so if you never pre-ordered the second one and never got those armors now you can in this one. The upgrading system adds more point slots than that last one. Also it goes up more squad points to rank 6 instead of four. And the level cap is at 50 now instead of 30.

This game also adds multiplayer to the series. Ofcoures EA has an online pass through but you can buy it if you get it used as always. Overall the multiplayer isn’t bad if you like wave style types. You pretty much half to survive wave after wave of enemy forces with your team. Sometimes it will come up with an objective that you half to do to finish the wave. You can customize your person with a class and a race. But at first the human race is the only one you get other ones by getting chest packs in the in game store. If you want to you can buy it with actually money or you can get them with credits in game. The will ether gives you a random character or guns. It is really fun to play but if you’re not into that’s fine the story line has a lot to offer.

Overall Mass Effect 3 is one of the best games ever and you should get it if you haven’t already. It will make you feel the story line or feel for the people in the game. It will make you want to live in the world. It is one of the most immersive games to date. It is the summer gaming hit and it will make you want to play it multiple times. This is a 10 out of 10 game.

Mass Effect 3 Review - Zaid E

TimeEnoughAtLast — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:24:00 GMT

I absolutley loved Mass Effect 3.

Starting with the strongest point, the story was breath taking and engrossing. Paying as Commander Shepard you face the Reaper threat. A synthetic group of life forms coming to the galaxy to "reap" it of all its intelligently advanced organic life. With the best crew and an army behind you, you attempt the most daring and suicidal mission the galaxy has ever known. With an expanding environment with so many different inter-galactic species you find yourself always wanting more. Old faces from the previous games show up to assist you and the war effort. Without giving to much away, lets move to the gameplay. At the very beginning it gives you the choice to play "narrative" so you have full control over the games story, but not much action time, or "traditional" which allows you to have a firm grasp of controlling the story and an extremely entertaining live action experience. It also allows the choice of "combat" where you barely have control of the story but the gameplay and combat is enlarged. The controls feel fresh and comfortable for people who are used to shooters. The graphics are smooth and reliable. Pop-ups are rare and the anti-aliasing is smooth as a bowling ball. The hit detection is spot on and never has you wondering why you died instead of your enemy. The artificial intelligence's keep the gameplay interesting, and has you always watching your back. Mass Effect 3 is a phenomenal game and is a game for those who enjoy RPG's, shooters, and both!

Not more A** kissing, but an actual review! (ME3)

gentlemanrex825 — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:51:00 GMT

*WARNING: this review may contain minor spoilers!

First of all, I'm not going to waste your time telling you about all the great things Mass Effect 3 has to offer as Gameinformer has already done that and only that. But I will admit that Mass Effect is by far my favorite syfy series and holds a very special place in my heart right next to Bioshock and Shadow of the Colossus.

problems:

- lack of (new) squad members: in ME2, you had a 12 characters to choose from (including DLC), but it wasn't just the sheer number of choices that made each mission awesome, it was how well written each and every squad member was. I found myself looking forward to returning to the Normandy just to talk to Jack or to learn more about Thane. sadly, ME3 has cut the roster to 7 (so far). but it isn't just the lack of squad members that bugs me, it's also the lack of variety; there are no Geth, Krogan, Vorcha, Batarian, Salarian, or Drell squad members. Your teammates from ME2 also make small appearances, and though it's nice to see how they've changed since you last parted ways, it's disappointing how little you get to talk to them.

- The ending: now, I won't go into detail, but I can safely say that the ending of ME3 was by far the worst ending I've ever witnessed in any video game or Movie. The sheer amount of poorly written plot holes and circular logic is staggering and not only wrecks an otherwise wonderful series, but goes against everything Mass Effect is about. What makes it even worse is the fact that Bioware flat out lied to Mass Effect fans, promising to provide a solid ending tailored to each player's Shepard, all depending on the choices made through all three games. In reality, there is only one ending tweaked with different color schemes, as opposed to the sixteen promised. I'm sure most of you are thinking "there's no way the ending of such a well written story could be as bad as most fans claim, right?" I thought the same thing until I beat the game and felt the exact same feeling described by most fans; empty, as though everything you did since the beginning of your cosmic journey never really mattered. Bioware ought to be ashamed for releasing such an awful ending to such a beloved series.

- side Missions: this is honestly a very minor problem, but it deserves some attention. Like in past Mass Effect's, you are given side quests taking all across the galaxy, the problem is that they don't tell you where the quest objectives are. don't get me wrong, you get the name of the planet whatever you need is on, but not the mass relay. this means you need to write down every location listed with a pen and paper (old school style gaming) and explore each and every star system (some filled with Reapers) until you find the planet you need.

- Final Verdict: In it's entirety, Mass Effect is an Adventure unlike any other. never before has a game been so emotionally powerful and well written that it has driven me to tears on multiple occasions. And though the third installment commits nothing short of literary suicide in it's final moments, I would by lying to both you and myself if I did not recommend this Masterpiece.

Tell Me Another Story About the Shepard...

JiroGamer SGS — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:59:00 GMT

This review has been a long time coming, though it took me a while because I wanted to make sure I gave myself time after I had beaten the game to decide exactly how I felt about it. First off, some praise/back story for those new to the series. Mass Effect is a series from BioWare in which the player is given an experience seldom experienced elsewhere: a story that is forged from the choices and actions of the player. Though different games have installed this element in a single title or separately in several games in a series, Mass Effect attempts to meld the experiences from each title continuously. The story telling, characters, and story elements have been one of the most compelling I have ever experienced as a gamer of over twenty years. Last month, the final installment of the trilogy was released, and the question remains; does this title live up to the hype? Without a doubt.

From this moment on, I will most likely refer to the main character, Commander Shepard, often. My play through consisted of the male Shepard, so if I use "him" or "his," assume that the same could hold true for a female protagonist. The game opens to a grounded Commander Shepard whose actions in the second Mass Effect created a world of problems for as much good as was intended. He is called in to meet the leaders of the Alliance when they observe signs of what Shepard had warned them all along; the Reapers (sentient machines designed to eliminate intelligent life) had arrived. No sooner had he given them the much-needed snap to attention, then all Hell breaks loose as the Reapers begin their assault on humanity's home planet. After a quick tutorial that follows Shepard's escape from the destruction, he is given the task to journey to the other civilizations and races in an attempt to form the Universe's largest coalition to counter the onslaught against Earth. As one could imagine, the fight was not merely in the Sol System, as every other race was under the same threat. From here, the actions and decisions made by the player would decide who would join him and the Alliance in the fight.

The game itself plays very similarly to the second Mass Effect, which had much more responsive and fluid controls than the original title. The experience for the player varies depending on the player's history with the series, what class they choose (which can vary from the basic soldier to classes such as the Vanguard which incorporates both combat and biotics, etc.), and what style they select for the game play (mostly reserved for new players). The play style can either create a heavily story-based play that eases the combat for the inexperienced, a combat based that eliminates the "hassle" of decisions and discussions, or a balanced play, which is the traditional (and true) experience. Combat is often intense and fun, the story is as engaging as ever, and in this aspect, the game seems to have fine-tuned much of what it already improved in the last installment.

The highlight for me, not only in this game, but in this series is most certainly story delivery. It had not hit me at first how much time I had originally invested in this story-intensive series until I started running into former allies from the previous titles. This game creates what many styles of media strive for; the feeling of attachment and sympathy for the characters. It is almost elegant how the player develops a relationship with these individuals. I can recall one character whom I really enjoyed talking to in Mass Effect 2. He had been quite enjoyable, and you could understand his desire to right his past. I do not want to spoil much, but when and how he was lost in this installment, I genuinely felt sorrow and almost teared up at this loss, something quite rare for me. These moments of companionship are frequent throughout this series, and the decisions made by the player in both of the previous installments continually come up in the third installment, sometimes simply in discussion, but also potentially aiding in the effort to gain support for the fight against the Reapers. Truly, this series is one that will prove to be a milestone in how to provide players with the feeling of a unique experience, at least in this aspect.

Finally, a note for those aware of the controversial aspect of this series, the ending. I do not wish to spoil this for those who have not played the series or at least this title yet, but I feel this does need to be addressed. The controversy seems to be two-fold, some dislike the variety and options in endings, while others seem to dislike what they feel is a "vague" or for some "generic" ending. In truth, it appears that three major endings are available, with mild differences based on how much time was spent gaining support and also playing the multiplayer, which is considered a sort of side-line support for the main mission. After spending some time debating this topic, I can see both sides to an extent. I also imagine that to try and calculate the outcome of all three games tied together with all variations included would inevitably be difficult, and in truth could create countless endings that would be almost illogical to try and determine. I feel the problem also comes from the same aspect that was also the crowning achievement of the series; the time and emotions invested in the game. I could see where the endings might feel bittersweet, but in my honest opinion, it had to be. The tone set for this game would have been offset by the endings that people wanted to see, and it wouldn't have fit. I also disagree with the sometimes obsessive attacks against BioWare, though I must also applaud those who addressed and voiced their concerns with respect for the individuals who, to be fair, provided us the entire experience in the first place. I will admit the ending was one of many different emotions, from shock to sadness to irritation to noble acceptance, and back again. My only true concern came not from the ending of the story, but the final fight leading up to it. Though the final mission begins and continuously attacks the player relentlessly, the "final battle," if you will, seemed to run out of steam. I wanted an epic boss battle of some sort, an epic final confrontation, but that doesn't exactly happen. Again, I do not want to spoil the game.

In the end, what more can be said? Over the progression of three games, I have been taken on a journey that I did not expect from the humble and noble beginnings of the series. The promises of a story that felt like it was my own were met for me, and in the end I felt myself unwilling to leave this fictional world behind, eager to hear more of the story of "The Shepard," as a young boy once said. I can only hope that what BioWare says is true, that this will not be the true ending to the series, because I most certainly would continue my experience if given the option. Perhaps it is nostalgia or my inability to separate the prior two games from this one, but despite the few flaws I found in the game, I cannot give it anything less than a perfect score, or perhaps that could be considered my score for the entire Mass Effect series. Take it as you will. If you have not played this series thus far, might I highly suggest you make time to do so, for you are surely missing out on one of the greatest gaming experiences of our time. To those who disagree with my opinion, I apologize, but every opinion is simply one in a sea of many. Until my next review, hold fast, make every moment count, "Don't Fear the Reaper," and keep playing.