Well Mass Effect 2 faired well when we looked at it a while back, so lets move onto the third entry in the series. That’s right, it’s time to take a look at Mass Effect 3, and just how everyone feels about the ending to BioWare’s space-faring trilogy.
Of course, the ending is the key bit isn’t it? Some aren’t all that happy about with it, in fact there seems to be an almost worrying level of fury about the game’s conclusion. BioWare have responded with the Extended Cut DLC, although we don’t know just what that will change or clarify when it arrives in the summer; perhaps it will just enrage fans of the series further and we’ll see an Extended Extended Cut at some point.
For now though we’ll have to content ourselves with looking at what’s in the game so far. I haven’t quite gotten around to it yet, in fact I’m only about five hours into the first Mass Effect right now, but, fortunately, Blair took a look at the game when it released.
He picked out the scale of the war the game centres around as particularly enjoyable, and found that the side missions which aid in your war effort are every bit as epic as those which form the game’s main story. Although he did enjoy the main plot, he found that at points the writing slipped a little and that a few areas in the game didn’t quite live up to its own high standards.
Overall though he was pleased with the game, rating it at a very good 9/10. In summing up the game he had this to say:
In some ways, Mass Effect 3 isn’t as fresh or as satisfying to play as its predecessor. In others though, it’s a much grander game with the true galactic scale being fully realised in this final instalment of the trilogy. Whilst there’s some issues with writing, some of the mechanics and various other glitches, the epic scale and relatively strong narrative push these aside, giving Mass Effect 3 its rightful place amongst the great, sci-fi epics of our time and acting as a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
Whilst Mass Effect doesn’t tower above its predecessors in terms of innovation, sheer entertainment or narrative, the scope of this Galatic War is unmatched in most games. Playing Mass Effect 3, you’ll truly feel as though you’re a Commander, saving not only the human race and Earth but many more planets and races from the brink of extinction.
So that’s our review out of the way, now it’s time to ask you what you thought of Sheppard’s third outing. Were you one of those who felt the ending let things down, or did you think it wrapped things up nicely? Did the stakes of the game’s core story appeal to you, or was it all a bit too much? Ultimately, we want to know whether you left feeling satisfied, let down, or somewhere in between.
If you feel like sharing your views all you need to do is drop a comment below by Sunday afternoon. Once you’ve done that you need to select a rating for the game from the Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It or Avoid It scale. Simply pick which of those labels best represents your opinion of the game and add it to your comment. In Monday’s Verdict article I’ll take your ratings and work out what the community’s overall rating of the game is.
nofi
Never heard of it.
bigbaldwolf
ha ha. Your mind has deleted all memory of it
Old School
—SPOILERS—
If you’ve seen Babylon 5 then you don’t need to play Mass Effect lol. ME has near enough copied everything about B5:
-Babylon 5/Citadel
-Shadows/Collectors
-John Sheriden/John Shepard (JS)
-The whole chaos and order plot.
In fact during ME2 I had a feeling they would go the same route as B5 and explain the Reapers as a means of Chaos and Order the same way B5 did with the Vorlons and Shadows. Anyone else think that John Shepard should have told the Stat Child to “Get the hell out of my Galaxy”? Lol.
Old School
Star Child*
bowie
William Gibson, in the book Pattern Recognition, suggested that “there must be some Tommy Hilfiger event horizon, beyond which it is impossible to be more derivative, more removed from the source, more devoid of soul.” I think Mass Effect is that event horizon. It is so derivative of other works of fiction that if you keep looking you will not find an end to the ways it clumsily duplicates that which has gone before. I was so underwhelmed by ME2 that when ME3 came around I chose to avoid it sight unseen. Listening to the commotion made about ME3 it is pretty clear that what disappointed me about ME 2 was not something Bioware felt the need to fix. Which makes me glad I didn’t bother with it.
baggyg
The game felt as though EA pushed Bioware to release about a year before it was finished and as a result the ending was terrible. The reason being that 90% of the closing FMV was exactly the same no matter what you did.
Bargain Bin It!
tonycawley
Fmv? There’s no fmv in the game whatsoever!
LTG Davey
Forget Haze, forget Resident Evil 5, even forget Ninja Gaiden 3; for many years to come Mass Effect 3 is going to be known as the biggest letdown in the world of gaming (for me at least).
While playing Mass Effect 1 & 2 I overlooked the sub-par gameplay and instead focussed on the terrific narrative, which was complemented by some great characters and a solid script.
Sure, Mass Effect 3 has these elements too, but they are completely over-shadowed by a dreadful ending, one which is rife with plotholes and fails to take any of your previous decisions onboard.
As such, instead of offering that terrific sense of closure you should feel when finishing an epic trilogy (be it films, books or videogames), I felt confused, cheated and, well, more than a little bit pissed off!
Any motivation to replay the game was shot dead at that point. To me Mass Effect 3 is now just another generic shooter and therefore not worth the effort. BARGAIN BIN IT (if only for the reasonably enjoyable multiplayer modes)
Taylor Made
That’s a bit of an over the top comment nothing is worser than haze lol. ME3 is better than ME2 in every aspect but I heard ME1 is far better. But ME3 is a good game one of the best games to date & the ending wasn’t even that bad compared to a lot of games. Skyrim is awful
LTG Davey
Don’t get me wrong, Haze was a far, far, far worse game than ME3 in terms of actual gameplay/visuals/everything, but I found ME3 far more disappointing as my hopes for it were so high.
Mundham
How has Skyrim got an “ending”?
The Lone Steven
I think he means the ending to the main quest thus the end to Skyrim. :)
Taylor Made
Overrated bargain bin It. The online is ok but irrelevant as you can get all the trophies but one on the campaign
I love the reaper costume though
bigbaldwolf
Despite the obvious issues with the ending I still think that this is a very good game. The characters and voice acting are brilliant and the new enemies add variety. The gameplay feels like it has been improved and the overall look is a polished as ever. I would have to say Buy It
posem
never played any of the mass effects, and I wanted to get ME3 to try it out, but after all the commotion surrounding the ending I have been put off completely, not only because I now know the game inside out because of the media explosion, but because I feel anger towards both the gamers and the developers when I really should not. Don’t think I’ll ever make the step to try out the ME franchise now. Avoid it for me.
Lymmusic
Tough one. In some respects its better than mass effect 2, so buy it. In others it is far worse. A lot less side missions and exploring, forgettable multiplayer, and such a divisive ending, so rent it.
In summary, is your typical difficult 3rd album, not as good as the second. Rent it
Tuffcub
The box is pleasingly shaped the same as all my other PS3 boxes. Thats all I cant tell you, I have no inclanation to open the case.
psychobudgie
send it here and I’ll open it on your behalf
Tuffcub
And what do I get in return? Apart from nowhere to rest my coffee?
psychobudgie
I can offer you a Heavy Rain origami bird (pre folded) and a used biro.
TSBonyman
It’s not really a continuation of the gameplay that i loved in ME2. I traded it in before i finished it. Was thinking about maybe picking it up when it’s GOTY, but then i realised there’s going to be little or no sp-expansion in any of the DLC. ME2- one of my favourite games ever, ME3 doesn’t even come close imo. Bargain bin.
Darth Newdar
Sorry, but my beady eye won’t let you get away with this one. First sentence, third word – “faired” should be “fared”. Sorry.