#36 Mass Effect 3

• Original release year: 2012
• Consoles: XBox 360, PS3, Windows, Wii U

I’ve touched on this subject a little bit in my features on the prior entries in the Mass Effect trilogy, but it is certainly interesting to see how the series is held in such a high regard, yet, really, it is the second game that people really love. The first game was a little bit “clunky” and “unrefined”, whilst the second game, in a lot of people’s eyes, improved the gameplay dramatically. The third game and the focus of today’s feature, in many ways, continued to improve and refine the gameplay, as well as escalating the drama, as Shepard faces the assault of  the Reapers. Yet, Mass Effect 3 pissed off a lot of gamers and it wasn’t just the fact they completely fucked up the journal, making it borderline impossible to properly track mission progress. It’s because after building a huge amount of anticipation for how the trilogy would end, the climax just didn’t impress a lot of people. It felt rushed and (gotta keep it spoiler free) left things leaving a little unresolved (it also ultimately left people feeling that the choices given throughout the saga ultimately were just an ‘illusion of choice’, as choices didn’t really impact the ending). It forced Bioware to issue an extended ending as DLC.

I still think Mass Effect 3 is a great game.

Despite the controversy though, there is no denying that right up to the ending, although not necessarily the best in the series, Mass Effect 3 is still an awesome game. Yes, whichever ending you get, you will most likely find it unsatisfying, but up until end, Mass Effect is brilliant. You still have all the great character interactions and decisions that need to be made, which like always with Bioware, are fantastic. The story is epic and gameplay-wise, Mass Effect 3 brings back a lot of the RPG and customisation options that were trimmed down in Mass Effect 2. Combat is also improved and the graphics reach the franchise’s peak.

Overall, Bioware has, without a shadow of a doubt, created a truly awesome game with Mass Effect 3. Everything feels like it has been improved, with RPG customisation having more depth than Mass Effect 2 and the story being epic. Yeah, the journal sucks this time and the ending kinda blows, but otherwise, The rest of the game is outstanding enough to make up for the game’s shortcomings.