'Earth is burning. Striking from beyond known space, a race of terrifying machines have begun their destruction of not only the human race, but the entire galaxy as well. As Commander Shepard, an Alliance Marine, your only hope for saving mankind is to rally the civilizations of the galaxy and launch one final mission to take back the Earth and destroy the Reapers once and for all.'
The Mass Effect franchise is something that has always been close to my heart. When I bought ME 1 & 2 back in the summer of 2010 I was immediately enraptured by it's sense of story and direction, not to mention it's lofty ambitions that wouldn't be fully realised until now. Bioware released Mass Effect in 2007 claiming that it was not only the first in a trilogy of games, but would also see the choices that the player makes in the first game affect the other two games as well, forming a personal, deeply layered experience. Now while the first ME had a few issues (mainly to do with the gameplay), it's epic scope coupled with a gripping story more than made up for it's shortcomings. ME2, was to but it bluntly, was one the best video games I've ever played. It had improved combat, a kick-ass roster of squad mates to choose from (each one of them were fully fledged, deeply interesting characters that I could fully get invested in) and to top it off it even had improved gameplay over the first Mass Effect, opting for a more third person shooter focus. Of course there were still a few niggles to be found, the planet scanning was a MASSIVE borefest (more so than the Mako in ME1) and there were a few presentation issues here and there but hey, nothing is THAT perfect I suppose. I should also mention that my choices from Mass Effect 1 did affect my play-through, and it gave the game a much more personal slant than say....the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum: in other games you feel like you are inhabiting a character, Mass Effect creates the illusion that you are the character. So after what felt like a decade of waiting, Mass Effect 3 finally came out last Week. To say I was giddy with excitement was an understatement, hell I couldn't wait to pop that sucker in and finish the story of MY Shepard.
...But things started out badly. You see, for people that have played both ME1 and ME2 without altering their characters faces in any way like me you'll get a nasty surprise when you try to import your character from ME2: all your decisions and experience will carry over just fine, but the game won't be able to recognise your characters face and revert to the 'default' Shepard. So you either play the game with an entirely different face (that will completely destroy any sense of immersion held by the previous games) or try to reconstruct the face the best you can. While I chose the latter option it wasn't a perfect reconstruction so for the first few hours of play I felt extremely alienated and detached from the experience. After that though, I slowly forgot about what my character looked like and more on the highly addictive way of Storytelling. While the story of Mass Effect has always been consistent in it's quality, the level of stand-out moments have been increased two-fold in this game. This time it even gives a more involving look into your Shepard, you definitely see the more human side of him/her in this game. There's one particular moment in the beginning of the game where you see a boy (the only depiction of a kid in the ME universe) hiding in a nearby air vent. The boy is scared and no matter how hard you try, he won't be persuaded into coming with you. We then see him being blown to smithereens by a Reaper a few minutes later, as he's trying to escape the earth in a shuttle and I saw the look of disgust and utter horror in my Shepard's face. Then later I experienced his nightmares, all of them depicting him running towards the boy before bursting into flames. In the final nightmare I even see Shepard burst into flames as well, this time while holding onto the boy. So the death of this one kid will have a deep effect on your character, and the dialogue options have changed since the second game to reflect this. For me, it's these details that make the story of Mass Effect 3 stand out. Everybody you talk to has this underlining grim tone, and the effects the war is having on everyone around you is apparent, as is the main theme of sacrifice. The game is packed full of heartbreaking moments, you'll deciding the fate of an entire species, sacrificing one character to save another (now that IS heartbreaking, especially when they're two of your most beloved characters) and even determining the future of all life in the galaxy going forward. Each of these moments have impact, and are beautifully done. If it weren't for the combat aspects, you'd think you're watching an interactive movie. It's still fascinating to see all your decisions from the previous games add significance to this one, whether they impact in small (sometimes unnoticeable) ways or alter some moments entirely. Your actions at the end of ME2 in particular will definitely alter this game, because a lot of your squad mates could have died (or lived) depending on your actions. If I was to find a fault I'd say there were a few balancing issues though, because some of the smaller decisions you've made in the last two games will have bigger impact that most of the 'bigger' decisions! Remember the fate of the Collector base in ME2? Almost completely ignored, and yet a decision you made on a whim in ME1 could completely change the dialogue for some of the characters. Still, it's nice to see that people remember what you've done, and act accordingly around you because of it. Still, the story in ME3 is both epic in both scale and scope (more so than the previous entries in the franchise), you see entire worlds being devastated right before your eyes, not to mention some awesome space battles that could rival anything that Star Wars and Star Trek could throw at the big screen combined. It also wraps up all the major story arcs that have been slowly burning in the background since Mass Effect 1: In Act one you escape Earth and cure the genophage, Act 2 resolves the big Quarian/Geth conflict and Act 3 wraps up Cerberus and the Reapers. It's perfectly paced throughout but to be honest with you, I actually think the Reaper storyline has the worst resolution out of all of them (despite being the most important one), but I'll get to that a bit later. The other arcs are well handled though, each of them are capped with an emotional punch that will suck your eye-balls dry. Oh god, a nickle for every time I felt like crying...there are some really sad cut-scenes in this game! Cudos to the Cerberus arc in particular though, Martin Sheen voices the Illusive Man perfectly and it's a fitting end to a character who really did keep me guessing till the end. Wow...just wow. Speaking of the voice acting, can I just say that it's one the best casts I've seen in ages. On par with Arkham City I'd say, and if you've played that game then you know how big a compliment that is! A few questionable decisions of course, like hiring Freddy Prince Jr and Jessica Chobot (seriously, WTF?) but I welcomed the new characters with open arms by the end as they slowly (but surely) won me over. It's nice to see that Keith David's character Anderson got more screen time as well, he turned into quite the father figure for my Shepard. Even though ME3 is one of the most epic things in existence, the best moments in the game are still doing a tour of the Normandy (your ship) and having conversations with the different characters and just generally chilling out with them. It's nice to have a drink with Tali in the bar and watch her slowly get drunk, like in this video:
I was also relieved to see my past squad-mates return, and even though they were merely extended cameo's the game still managed to wrap-up there ongoing story arcs successfully. The gradual end of all the on-going arcs gives everything finality, the game is really satisfying in that aspect. While there have been many debates online over the ending (and by ending, I mean the LAST 3 minutes of the game), you can't deny that while it falls flat on it's face in a few key aspects (like player choice, not to mention lack of logic) it nonetheless packs a powerful punch for people that have been spending time in this universe for what must be...oooh...100 hours by now? Look it's not the best of endings, but it's good enough, in my opinion. Besides, it ties in nicely with the bleak nature of the game, and fits in with the overall theme of 'Sacrifice'. Would I object to more endings/finality being added for DLC? No, definitely not. And remember, should the 100 odd hours before the last five minutes of the trilogy be discarded just because the ending was a bit trite? No, definitely not! Oh yeah, and I bought the Day One DLC that everyone was going on about. The Prothean character is quite interesting, I don't regret the purchase at all.
Now let's talk gameplay and overall presentation. While Mass Effect 1 had some pretty crappy combat (by anyone's standards), Mass Effect 2 really improved on this, to the point were it was actually 'fun' to play. Mass Effect 3 takes most of what Mass Effect 2 did, but amps it up to the next level. Guns feel more responsive, the customisation options are a nice addition and your enemies have some pretty nasty tactics up their belt this time. On normal difficulty it's gets pretty challenging at some points, but not to the point where you have to put your controller down in frustration. One new enemy in particular, the Banshee, can kill you in one hit if she gets too close, and the fact that she can teleport towards you just makes me want to turn around and run the hell outta there! The enemy types are all well done in general, with the Geth having the superior firepower, Cerberus with their devious tactics and the Reapers with their aggressive onslaught of sheer terror. The level-design is also improved, it's not just a well dressed corridor this time around, some of the level environments are huge AND on multiple levels. Shepard is way more agile in this game, leaping over gaps and running full bound into enemy territory. He plays better to, but the cover mechanics are still a bit fidgety in some cases, due to an extreme overuse of the A button on my controller. There are times when you want to jump over something but instead you break into a sidewards roll. So the combat is still fun, but the new enemy types and their different tactics make the game interesting, as well as the revamped level-design. Multiplayer, a new addition to the series, plays on the combat element and gives a Team of up to four players different objectives to do in a 25 minute time slot. Having played multiplayer extensively, I think it's a welcome addition, the positive points being that it encourages teamwork and enables you to increase your 'Galactic Readiness' in the single player campaign. Speaking of which, the way the game ties multiplayer and single player together is nothing short of genius and encourages everyone to play both modes, unlike some other games out there *COUGH* Call Of Duty *COUGH*. But instead of playing multiplayer, you could just do the several meaningless side-quests in the campaign to boost your galactic readiness instead, which are not only poorly handled in the games Journal, but basically boil down to tedious fetch quests anyway so there's absolutely no point in doing them. The side activities in the ME games have always been sh*t though, so no change there. No, play multiplayer, it's better than the alternative *SHUDDERS*. And the in-game journal has been taken a notch down as well, it barely updates you on anything at all and isn't even clear on some of the objectives. Basically, it's SH*T. Now for new players coming to the series who know absolutely nothing about the main story, the game will rewrite itself so that the dialogue is more exposition heavy and the characters explain certain things better. The game can even tailor itself to your liking with the options system at the beginning of the game. Do you want to breeze past the combat sections in favour for a more story driven experience? Then just select Story mode! Want improved combat but less time fiddling with the Story? Then choose action mode and all the decisions will play out as cut-scenes (but seriously, who in the right mind would want that? It's taking the BEST thing about Mass Effect and dumbing it down)! Or perhaps you want the best of both worlds? Then choose the full role-playing experience! So the game essentially tailors itself to your liking, it can be whatever type of game you want it to be, and that's just awesome. But come on, anyone who doesn't pick the role-playing mode will be missing out. Moving on to presentation, the game has had a significant update in the graphical department since ME2. I don't know what it is but the characters just look better this time around, and the environments are all pretty on the eyes. It's probably all down to the lighting effects. Like I said in the Story section, the action scenes in particular look stunning, and I couldn't tell if I was watching a movie or a video game in some sections. There are still a few issues here and there though, in my playthrough some characters got stuck in the scenery and during cut-scenes sometimes disappeared completely, and that's without all the hazardous screen tearing! Overall it's better than ME1 & 2 in most parts, but worse in a few others.
So is ME3 worth the time and effort? Yes. Does it justify me buying all three games in the series? Absolutely! Is it satisfying? In most area's, yes. Does the ending suck? Kinda, but it isn't as bad as some people have been saying. And finally, is it the best in the Trilogy? Yes, but by an EXTREMELY small margin. Here's my full list of both Pro's and Con's:
PRO's:
+ Gripping storyline, full of emotional weight
+ Hard choices with real consequences
+ Epic action sequences
+ Fun combat, level design, improved enemy AI
+ Multiplayer
+ Improved customisation
+ A near perfect end to a near perfect trilogy of games
CON's:
- Presentation issues
- Awful questing system and journal
- Dodgy cover mechanics
- Character importation bugs
- Iffy ending
Unlike other reviewers, I tend to evaluate the experience as a whole, so for example I don't take away 0,5 from the final score if the ending is poor, and add 0,5 because the combat is fun, I look at whether the ending outweighs the combat in terms of importance to me as a player or vice versa. So as a complete experience, I can without a doubt say that ME3 is a 10/10 (and the Mass Effect Series as a whole a 10/10), it sets a new standard for video game storytelling and ends Commander Shepard's story in a really satisfying way (for the most part). I just hope that this isn't the last time we'll see the Mass Effect Universe, perhaps they'll start a new trilogy after this focusing on another event set in the same universe? The ending of ME3 was a pretty bold move for the franchise, you can't argue that it didn't DRASTICALLY change life in the galaxy no matter what ending you chose. If Bioware were to follow up on the future of the Milky Way then it would more than justify that ending....Mass Effect 4: The Ending Explained anyone? Hmmm...interesting. Either way, this better not be the end. *SOBS* I DON'T WANT IT TO END!
UPDATE: Apparently, after an extreme backlash from the fans over the ending to this game, Bioware is going to change/add to the ending with further updates/DLC. It's nice to see that they listen to their fans, perhaps they can change the Journal system to?
...But things started out badly. You see, for people that have played both ME1 and ME2 without altering their characters faces in any way like me you'll get a nasty surprise when you try to import your character from ME2: all your decisions and experience will carry over just fine, but the game won't be able to recognise your characters face and revert to the 'default' Shepard. So you either play the game with an entirely different face (that will completely destroy any sense of immersion held by the previous games) or try to reconstruct the face the best you can. While I chose the latter option it wasn't a perfect reconstruction so for the first few hours of play I felt extremely alienated and detached from the experience. After that though, I slowly forgot about what my character looked like and more on the highly addictive way of Storytelling. While the story of Mass Effect has always been consistent in it's quality, the level of stand-out moments have been increased two-fold in this game. This time it even gives a more involving look into your Shepard, you definitely see the more human side of him/her in this game. There's one particular moment in the beginning of the game where you see a boy (the only depiction of a kid in the ME universe) hiding in a nearby air vent. The boy is scared and no matter how hard you try, he won't be persuaded into coming with you. We then see him being blown to smithereens by a Reaper a few minutes later, as he's trying to escape the earth in a shuttle and I saw the look of disgust and utter horror in my Shepard's face. Then later I experienced his nightmares, all of them depicting him running towards the boy before bursting into flames. In the final nightmare I even see Shepard burst into flames as well, this time while holding onto the boy. So the death of this one kid will have a deep effect on your character, and the dialogue options have changed since the second game to reflect this. For me, it's these details that make the story of Mass Effect 3 stand out. Everybody you talk to has this underlining grim tone, and the effects the war is having on everyone around you is apparent, as is the main theme of sacrifice. The game is packed full of heartbreaking moments, you'll deciding the fate of an entire species, sacrificing one character to save another (now that IS heartbreaking, especially when they're two of your most beloved characters) and even determining the future of all life in the galaxy going forward. Each of these moments have impact, and are beautifully done. If it weren't for the combat aspects, you'd think you're watching an interactive movie. It's still fascinating to see all your decisions from the previous games add significance to this one, whether they impact in small (sometimes unnoticeable) ways or alter some moments entirely. Your actions at the end of ME2 in particular will definitely alter this game, because a lot of your squad mates could have died (or lived) depending on your actions. If I was to find a fault I'd say there were a few balancing issues though, because some of the smaller decisions you've made in the last two games will have bigger impact that most of the 'bigger' decisions! Remember the fate of the Collector base in ME2? Almost completely ignored, and yet a decision you made on a whim in ME1 could completely change the dialogue for some of the characters. Still, it's nice to see that people remember what you've done, and act accordingly around you because of it. Still, the story in ME3 is both epic in both scale and scope (more so than the previous entries in the franchise), you see entire worlds being devastated right before your eyes, not to mention some awesome space battles that could rival anything that Star Wars and Star Trek could throw at the big screen combined. It also wraps up all the major story arcs that have been slowly burning in the background since Mass Effect 1: In Act one you escape Earth and cure the genophage, Act 2 resolves the big Quarian/Geth conflict and Act 3 wraps up Cerberus and the Reapers. It's perfectly paced throughout but to be honest with you, I actually think the Reaper storyline has the worst resolution out of all of them (despite being the most important one), but I'll get to that a bit later. The other arcs are well handled though, each of them are capped with an emotional punch that will suck your eye-balls dry. Oh god, a nickle for every time I felt like crying...there are some really sad cut-scenes in this game! Cudos to the Cerberus arc in particular though, Martin Sheen voices the Illusive Man perfectly and it's a fitting end to a character who really did keep me guessing till the end. Wow...just wow. Speaking of the voice acting, can I just say that it's one the best casts I've seen in ages. On par with Arkham City I'd say, and if you've played that game then you know how big a compliment that is! A few questionable decisions of course, like hiring Freddy Prince Jr and Jessica Chobot (seriously, WTF?) but I welcomed the new characters with open arms by the end as they slowly (but surely) won me over. It's nice to see that Keith David's character Anderson got more screen time as well, he turned into quite the father figure for my Shepard. Even though ME3 is one of the most epic things in existence, the best moments in the game are still doing a tour of the Normandy (your ship) and having conversations with the different characters and just generally chilling out with them. It's nice to have a drink with Tali in the bar and watch her slowly get drunk, like in this video:
I was also relieved to see my past squad-mates return, and even though they were merely extended cameo's the game still managed to wrap-up there ongoing story arcs successfully. The gradual end of all the on-going arcs gives everything finality, the game is really satisfying in that aspect. While there have been many debates online over the ending (and by ending, I mean the LAST 3 minutes of the game), you can't deny that while it falls flat on it's face in a few key aspects (like player choice, not to mention lack of logic) it nonetheless packs a powerful punch for people that have been spending time in this universe for what must be...oooh...100 hours by now? Look it's not the best of endings, but it's good enough, in my opinion. Besides, it ties in nicely with the bleak nature of the game, and fits in with the overall theme of 'Sacrifice'. Would I object to more endings/finality being added for DLC? No, definitely not. And remember, should the 100 odd hours before the last five minutes of the trilogy be discarded just because the ending was a bit trite? No, definitely not! Oh yeah, and I bought the Day One DLC that everyone was going on about. The Prothean character is quite interesting, I don't regret the purchase at all.
Now let's talk gameplay and overall presentation. While Mass Effect 1 had some pretty crappy combat (by anyone's standards), Mass Effect 2 really improved on this, to the point were it was actually 'fun' to play. Mass Effect 3 takes most of what Mass Effect 2 did, but amps it up to the next level. Guns feel more responsive, the customisation options are a nice addition and your enemies have some pretty nasty tactics up their belt this time. On normal difficulty it's gets pretty challenging at some points, but not to the point where you have to put your controller down in frustration. One new enemy in particular, the Banshee, can kill you in one hit if she gets too close, and the fact that she can teleport towards you just makes me want to turn around and run the hell outta there! The enemy types are all well done in general, with the Geth having the superior firepower, Cerberus with their devious tactics and the Reapers with their aggressive onslaught of sheer terror. The level-design is also improved, it's not just a well dressed corridor this time around, some of the level environments are huge AND on multiple levels. Shepard is way more agile in this game, leaping over gaps and running full bound into enemy territory. He plays better to, but the cover mechanics are still a bit fidgety in some cases, due to an extreme overuse of the A button on my controller. There are times when you want to jump over something but instead you break into a sidewards roll. So the combat is still fun, but the new enemy types and their different tactics make the game interesting, as well as the revamped level-design. Multiplayer, a new addition to the series, plays on the combat element and gives a Team of up to four players different objectives to do in a 25 minute time slot. Having played multiplayer extensively, I think it's a welcome addition, the positive points being that it encourages teamwork and enables you to increase your 'Galactic Readiness' in the single player campaign. Speaking of which, the way the game ties multiplayer and single player together is nothing short of genius and encourages everyone to play both modes, unlike some other games out there *COUGH* Call Of Duty *COUGH*. But instead of playing multiplayer, you could just do the several meaningless side-quests in the campaign to boost your galactic readiness instead, which are not only poorly handled in the games Journal, but basically boil down to tedious fetch quests anyway so there's absolutely no point in doing them. The side activities in the ME games have always been sh*t though, so no change there. No, play multiplayer, it's better than the alternative *SHUDDERS*. And the in-game journal has been taken a notch down as well, it barely updates you on anything at all and isn't even clear on some of the objectives. Basically, it's SH*T. Now for new players coming to the series who know absolutely nothing about the main story, the game will rewrite itself so that the dialogue is more exposition heavy and the characters explain certain things better. The game can even tailor itself to your liking with the options system at the beginning of the game. Do you want to breeze past the combat sections in favour for a more story driven experience? Then just select Story mode! Want improved combat but less time fiddling with the Story? Then choose action mode and all the decisions will play out as cut-scenes (but seriously, who in the right mind would want that? It's taking the BEST thing about Mass Effect and dumbing it down)! Or perhaps you want the best of both worlds? Then choose the full role-playing experience! So the game essentially tailors itself to your liking, it can be whatever type of game you want it to be, and that's just awesome. But come on, anyone who doesn't pick the role-playing mode will be missing out. Moving on to presentation, the game has had a significant update in the graphical department since ME2. I don't know what it is but the characters just look better this time around, and the environments are all pretty on the eyes. It's probably all down to the lighting effects. Like I said in the Story section, the action scenes in particular look stunning, and I couldn't tell if I was watching a movie or a video game in some sections. There are still a few issues here and there though, in my playthrough some characters got stuck in the scenery and during cut-scenes sometimes disappeared completely, and that's without all the hazardous screen tearing! Overall it's better than ME1 & 2 in most parts, but worse in a few others.
So is ME3 worth the time and effort? Yes. Does it justify me buying all three games in the series? Absolutely! Is it satisfying? In most area's, yes. Does the ending suck? Kinda, but it isn't as bad as some people have been saying. And finally, is it the best in the Trilogy? Yes, but by an EXTREMELY small margin. Here's my full list of both Pro's and Con's:
PRO's:
+ Gripping storyline, full of emotional weight
+ Hard choices with real consequences
+ Epic action sequences
+ Fun combat, level design, improved enemy AI
+ Multiplayer
+ Improved customisation
+ A near perfect end to a near perfect trilogy of games
CON's:
- Presentation issues
- Awful questing system and journal
- Dodgy cover mechanics
- Character importation bugs
- Iffy ending
Unlike other reviewers, I tend to evaluate the experience as a whole, so for example I don't take away 0,5 from the final score if the ending is poor, and add 0,5 because the combat is fun, I look at whether the ending outweighs the combat in terms of importance to me as a player or vice versa. So as a complete experience, I can without a doubt say that ME3 is a 10/10 (and the Mass Effect Series as a whole a 10/10), it sets a new standard for video game storytelling and ends Commander Shepard's story in a really satisfying way (for the most part). I just hope that this isn't the last time we'll see the Mass Effect Universe, perhaps they'll start a new trilogy after this focusing on another event set in the same universe? The ending of ME3 was a pretty bold move for the franchise, you can't argue that it didn't DRASTICALLY change life in the galaxy no matter what ending you chose. If Bioware were to follow up on the future of the Milky Way then it would more than justify that ending....Mass Effect 4: The Ending Explained anyone? Hmmm...interesting. Either way, this better not be the end. *SOBS* I DON'T WANT IT TO END!
UPDATE: Apparently, after an extreme backlash from the fans over the ending to this game, Bioware is going to change/add to the ending with further updates/DLC. It's nice to see that they listen to their fans, perhaps they can change the Journal system to?
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