Mass Effect 3: Leviathan

The first piece of DLC single player content (apart from the extended cut, which doesn't really count) for Mass Effect 3 has arrived and it's for the most part a fun addition to the main game and well worth your time. The DLC starts rather quickly as Commander Shepard is called to a science lab on the Citadel in order to investigate rumours of a 'Reaper killer' named Leviathan. What follows is three hours of part exploration, action and a few quiet emotional moments that builds towards a finale that to be frank: 'Changes the history of the Galaxy as we know it'. 

Now that all the multiplayer packs and ending touch-ups are finished, it felt like a breath of fresh air to finally play Leviathan. Almost like revisiting an old friend, Mass Effect 3 has constantly been put in my Xbox since it's release back in March (mainly because of the spiffing multiplayer events). Simply put, it's a great blend of action, drama and good 'ol Sci-Fi all bound up into one tasty morsel and Leviathan is exactly like that. I mean it's a more bite-sized approach (barely clocking in at three hours) for sure, but an enjoyable one at that. The Story of this DLC, like every other part of Mass Effect, is well done. The new characters introduced are perfectly relatable, and it all moves along at a fairly brisk pace with plenty of extra-dialogue from your squad-mates and a continuous flow of exciting moments. Shepard's confrontation with Leviathan at the end ties up a lot of loose ends and it feels like it's almost hinting at what a Mass Effect 4 would be like. Ultimately though, despite the galaxy-wide ramifications you'd think it'd have, the story has absolutely no effect on the ending or the main storyline, which is disappointing: 7,5/10.

As for the gameplay in Leviathan, it's mostly the same as in the original game but with a few new elements added (like one computer drone escort mission taken directly from multiplayer) that doesn't really do much. The combat is perfectly fine, but after hours of mowing down the same enemies in multiplayer all day long it gets tedious pretty fast. The exploration elements and bare bones puzzles added to the lab sections of the game were short but sweet, and I would like to see more of detective Shepard in future DLC please: 6/10. 

The main reason for you to get this DLC though (other that the story of course) is the three stunning environments that this game lets you play in. The first level is set on a creepy mining colony, and the level design does wonders for the atmosphere. The second takes place on a makeshift colony on the side of a cliff as it crumbles around you, and it's quite the fantastic action set-piece that gets your pulse going in more ways than one. The third and final level takes you aboard a dilapidated cargo ship in the middle of the ocean as the waves crash and thrash you about, and you top it all off, you finish the DLC by going underwater in a giant Atlas mech! The production values alone are worth the ten euros or six pounds that I paid for this thing. I mean it looks and plays perfectly: 10/10

So overall if you're a Mass Effect fan and you can't wait for the inevitable fourth game, this is a great little piece of downloadable content for you to pick up.