1966 réponses à ce sujet

[Jade5233]

You asked for positive and negative feedback so here it goes:

POSITIVES (and these comments pertain prior to beam hitting Shepard):
-Intricate storylines that tied in even minor quests from the first and second games. Many permutations occur depending on if you completed the quests and how. Amazing.

-Emotional connection. It was my greatest gripe with ME2--that no one really cared about Shepard, just what she could do for them. The characters made me feel they very much care for her in ME3.
-When NPC characters died, the moments were very moving and poignant.

-Variety of locations for conversations

-Kinnect makes gameplay smoother and more responsive. In playing ME2 again I realized how much I missed it.

-Crewmate interaction and banter was added back in.

-Loved that there was a progression of femShep’s relationship with Kaidan. It wasn’t automatic.

-Loved that Kaidan felt even more like a real person, faults and all. Loved how much his character grew through the game and through the series.

-Inside jokes about the Mako/Hammerhead, Shepard’s dancing, Vega’s previous last name.



NEGATIVES about the Game Before the Ending.
-The journal system is abysmal. I’ve never played an RPG before where the quest tracker doesn’t track its quests.

-The graphics in the intro are below ME2 and ME1 standards.

-Decreasing the conversations choices from 3 to 2 on the dialogue wheel, which decreases our role play of the character.

-Slow motions scenes were difficult to play, especially for biotics since powers were not useable.


CRITICISMS of the ENDING
-Multiplayer mode or sources outside of single player are required to open all endings.

-We were promised a variety of endings depending upon choices made in the saga. We got 3 that all dovetail into one that has very minor variations.

-Regardless of previous choices in the saga, there is no option for a “happy” ending where Shepard survives with his/her love interest.

-It makes no sense that Joker, the Normandy and its crew would be fleeing the battle through a mass relay, especially since it take several hours to get to Sol’s mass relay from Earth.

-Why are characters that were part of Hammer Initiative and that were in the final drive with Shepard when the beam hit, now magically upon the Normandy when the Normandy crashes?

-How was the Citadel (a mass relay) magically transported to Earth?

-The Catalyst does not make sense within the context of the ME universe
-if the Citadel was part of the Star Child, the why didn’t he open the Citdel for Sovereign?
-introduction of a key character/concept into the saga in the last 5 minutes of the game

-Destruction of the mass relays, according previous Mass Effect lore (such as Arrival) should cause destruction of the entire system surrounding it. And all of the mass relays were destroyed. Hence all of the major systems/planets should have been destroyed.

-The Turians and Quarians are trapped in Sol system without a food source and will die of starvation.

-The cured genophage is rendered moot since the vast majority of the male Krogans are trapped the Sol system.

-Galactic cilivilization has been utterly destroyed since it was dependent upon intragalactic commerce and relations. Now each planet/species is stuck in their own system without contact with outside systems.


WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
-A wider variety of choices/endings. DAO was one game and it had 21 or so endings. A saga of 3 games should at least have that.

-The option (not everyone has to take it) of an ending where Shepard & the love interest of choice can live out their lives together helping to rebuild the war-torn galaxy (or retire).

-Endings that reflect choices made throughout the saga, not just in the last 5 minutes.

-And ending that makes sense within its own context. Not a new concept that was thought up in the last 5 minutes of the game.


My problem with the ending is that not only did my Shepard sacrifice herself, but she did so without any choice in the matter (since all endings are essentially the same) and for a resolution that leaves the galaxy only slightly better than if the Reapers had destroyed it. And for an ending that doesn’t even subscribe to the tenants of physics and lore that were previously established in the Mass Effect universe.

This isn’t acceptable, BioWare. I’ve played KOTOR. I’ve played DA:O. Not to mention ME. I KNOW you can do better than this. You ask for us to trust you. We did. This is what we got. I ask you to prove that you are the company that we thought you were. Set this right for us so we can return to believing in you once again.

[Draemian]

My Mass Effect 3 score : 40/100

Most of the game was very excellently done, the flaw(s) however weighed not only this game but the preceding ones in my mind, I am hoping to regain the ability to play the other two masterpieces someday, as well as to buy the DLC for the previous games that I didn't like Kasumi's.

Positive aspects and aspects with room to improve:
I was surprised but in a good way that my crew was no longer staticlly attached to one location in the Normandy/Citadel.  It was harder to find them for a minute sure, but it led to a more realistic feel and contextual conversations that made it worth it.  That said, more conversation with more choices with the crew is desirable, though this can be easily added in midgame DLC as reactions to the added missions.  This minus did not break the game for me though.
I think the combat system was the smoothest of the games yet, I also enjoyed the balance between the weapons and weapon moding between ME1 and ME2's system, ME3 was the closest to what I'd like.  The armor system was ok, I found it a bit harder to mod my armor to my game style, mostly a problem with the interface but I'd also like additional armor pieces to be added in future DLCs.
I would have liked additional 'hub' areas like the citadel.  Mass Effect 2's use of the Citadel, Tuchanka, Thessia were good, and I'd like Mass Effect 3 to have more than ME2, maybe the hubs could be used as a place to do repeatable missions or numerous small missions that could raise readiness instead of multiplayer although that was not as big of a sticking point to me as to others.
The mechanic of recieving missions was not very good.  There were no details on where/how to complete them.  There was no indication of my progress mid-mission.  This is something I am sure could be fixed.
Visually the game is magnificent.
The music/scoring of the game was great.
I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue/voice acting which is part of the reason I want more!


The Ending...
The Ending of Mass Effect 3 was a truly painful moment for me.  I reloaded and played the ending three times because I was confused what was going on.  Some of the critical issues in it:
-Choices throughout the trilogy did not make significant difference in the endings
-War assets were barely acknowledged and effectively not shown
-Shepard loses his will to resist others telling him how things will go down, he does not have the option even to act as he did with Saren, the Illusive Man, Soveriegn and Harbinger.
-The aftermath of the battle was not shown, brief text and a discussion between an old man and child an undetermined amount of time later is not remotely enough- I wanted specific information on how each group carried on based on the actions I had taken in the trilogy.  Also what happens to the surviving members of the squad and LI is as far as Im concerned ignored.  The Normandy crash scene lacks logic in terms of how squadmates from the mission on earth go aboard as well as why Joker is abandoning not just the battle but also me after I had just had a conversation in which he affirmed his dedication.

This rating is difficult for me to make however.  Its lowness is purely because of issues with the ending.  With endings added in (heck. I'll pay for DLC endings if thats what it takes) the rating of the game would shoot much higher, and depending on the quality of the work would have the potential to approach a perfect score.

[Eullogy]

Mass effect 3
A good game that could have been amazing

 
Greetings fellow fans and Bioware,

I have heard many opinions on one side and the other, and would
like to provide my own review/critique on Mass Effect 3.

A viewpoint I have tried very hard to keep objective.

I will attempt to keep my tone professional as possible
during my primary examination. Let's get started.

Mass Effect is an excellent game in many respects, its game play
is the best of the series thus far, and is most certainly the nicest looking. The
level system is a beautiful compromise of the first and second installment. The
level of polish is exceptional, one look at Mars and you are transported. 

The fun doesn't stop there, all your old friends and enemies
are back.  With them you will embark on a
grand quest to save all life in the galaxy.

From here, my review will differ from all the
"critics" that Bioware seems eager to hear from regarding the quality
of their game:  Yes, the game looks
great, all the elements that made the first two games outstanding are
there.  However, there are some elements and information that ultimately
makes this game sub-par for a Bioware experience.  I will deal with the "ending" issue
people have in due time, but first, indulge me.

First of all, the journal. It seems like such a near-inconsequential
element doesn't it?  The first two games
had an encyclopedic journal system that would give you almost blow-by-blow
updates when you opened up specific quests. While the primary entry would list the
goal and whom (if anyone) you were to return the quest items to down to the cluster,
system, planet, and location in space-station. Look up "Comprehensive"
in the dictionary and Mass Effect 1 and 2's journals are there.

The journal in ME3 is just ... there. On several quests you
didn't know where to drop the information, items, etc.  It actually turns out that on some quests you
can just buy the information from the Specter terminal and deliver it. But to
find the recipient you have to reload the area to make them selectable.  These bugs, should have been squashed before
release. It is clear that the game was rushed in several aspects.

Gone are the mini-games involving bypassing or hacking,
scanning and mining. Vehicle sections are completely absent. Last but not
least: fluff missions.

The last two games had an abundance of little missions that
were fun and broke up the game play. Little missions that weren't necessarily
combat, or puzzles, all of which were in ME2. It is understandable that they
could cut most of this stuff out because Shepard needs to get to saving the
universe. But then what is with all the little fetch-quests that you come
across in your travels? Why waste time on them when they could have been adding
more encounters and combat to the campaign? 
I know I wasn't alone in wanting to see Dekunna and having to fight with
minimal shields to keep my own weight from crushing me. A very interesting
twist on established game-play: That is what was missing in ME3, which can be
explained very easily. Rushed production. 


Even pushed back, the release date is understandable. It's
also understandable that Bioware feels obligated to stick to its guns an say
"that's the end." But this is a clearly rushed game. People would be
willing to wait another two years for ten more hours of game play. Ask any of
them and they would have waited with giddy anticipation. 

There are many factors, but in all, Mass Effect 3 is a good
game, and conclusion to a property. A Great triumph of video games as art and
worthy of critics praise? No, sadly not.

Thank you for your time.

Now before I dissect the "ending" problem, perhaps
it would be best if you knew a little more about me so that this isn't just labeled
"amateur opinion".  (Since I'm
not a critic employed with a major website, my opinion is apparently just that
and doesn't mean as much as someone whom is paid to give theirs and high
ratings.) I'll attempt to warn you if my pesky opinion pops up.

My name is Joshua, I was born in Alaska and have been living
in Minnesota for the past ten plus years. 
I have graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a
Bachelors of Fine Arts in Animation.  There
I learned how to make comics, concept and character work, computer animation, screenwriting.
And most important of all, how to tell a solid story, visual, and otherwise.

It was in College that I was introduced to RPG's (pen and
paper mostly). Since then I have made several campaign settings and run many
adventures that my players have insisted are "fun". I have never
claimed to be original in my stories or campaigns I've run for people. But it
has been in running these formulaic 
adventures that sudden and truly original stories have emerged.
Cooperatively told stories, that is what is an RPG to me.

Now for that ending.  


The reason people do not like it is basic. The major issue
being that the player has lost control. One thing that is sure to anger any
player is when they suddenly lose control of their character.

When Shepard is running for the beam of light in the final
act, he jumps and yells when someone gets vaporized next to him. This is okay.
However, this is the survivor of Torfan here. He should have jumped and yelped
maybe once or twice. Then jumped once more, then not at all after that, showing
his grim determination. Instead his constant jumping and yelping just started
to make you feel he wasn't actually the extraordinarily brave person we all
felt he was.

Another big mistake was the Catalyst as it was introduced in
the current ending. This shifts the threat away from the Reapers, the
unstoppable force is basically just automatons, instantly evaporating the tension
and menace they radiated before. Now the Catalyst lays this excessive
exposition on you about "organics vs synthetics" (see: Man vs Machine),  and how the cycle it has created is the only
way. This completely undermines the established facts we have seen before. 

Here let me say it in a different way:

The real issue here is that the Reapers were a much scarier foe
when you didn't entirely know what they were about or why.  Are they a "higher lifeform" that
is simply following its own feeding cycle, are they building themselves up to fight an even bigger enemy?  Who knows, but
whatever they are, it was much better than being a bunch of wind-up toys for a
cosmic gardener.

Now let us look at the facts:

In ME1 it was hinted at by Saren, and established as fact in
ME2, that Reapers are not completely machine. 
In effect we are not only told, but shown
that the Reapers are a near perfect synthesis of organic and inorganic life.  Now let's not get bogged down by discussing
all the holes the Catalyst presents here, what is important is that there is no
boss fight.

Breaking a clearly established formula upsets a player,
especially because he is diminished and never gets any of his strength back. ME1-2
had a multi-stage, end level with increasingly intense boss-battles.

You would expect Shepard to lurch into the beam and fight
his way through the citadel like in ME1. 
Collecting weapons along the way, using medi-gel to keep himself moving and
his powers available. culminating in an amazing end-boss to reach/activate the
Crucible.

Instead you get to talk to someone,  and choose your end cut-scene color. This
isn't such a big deal, ME1&2 had essentially the same ending cut-scenes, however
there is a problem here:

The Normandy crashes on some alien world as the relays are
destroyed, this presents probably the biggest agitation for fans. For one, it
is completely unnecessary, also it's simply a pile of plot holes.

Joker, Liara, and Javik hop out...

Wait, what? Javik was with
me on the ground, running for the beam.  Oh dear, this appears to be a rather serious plot
hole. Also Joker took the Normandy and just ran for it through the relays? Just
another one of many things that don't jive with what we know.

Too many questions are asked, and very little is answered
properly for any enthusiastic fan to be satisfied. It is a bad Hollywood summer
blockbuster ending, attempting to wrap everything up in the least effective
way. Telling, and not showing, is what my screenwriting instructor would have
said. I am not saying that this is the worst ending I have ever seen, it is
passable and it has closure. It is an ending, but it needs work.

Now my opinion is looming, don't read on if you want to hear
my two possible ending fixes.  One is
Bioware friendly. It requires the least amount of change, and respects the "artistic
vision" they intend. The other, is what I feel the ending should have been
like (and if ideas from it are incorporated into the Bioware friendly ending,
excellent).  I can't promise it will be
easy on anyone, but the rule of screenwriting is simple,  your imagination has an unlimited budget.

Bioware Friendly Ending for Mass Effect 3:

Simply leaving out the scene of the Normandy flying through
a relay, crashing, and people coming out, would fix a lot. The scene after the
credits could be moved to just after the end scene instead of after the credits.
That format of having a "P.S." is reserved for games and movies that
are going to have a sequel, and this most definitely will not have one.

And that is pretty much it.

Well, not really. You could even leave out the conversation
with the Catalyst and the player would then have to figure out what thing to
grab or destroy.  Or turn the Catalyst
yellow-orange, and have the conversation actually be with Harbinger, where it's
revealed that the Catalyst is actually the person sacrificed to activate the
Crucible. Answering the riddle of the who and the why of the Reapers is not
entirely necessary. All the player needs to know is that this can stop the
Reapers, and the Reapers know it.

Perhaps then Harbinger could reveal that those sacrificed to
create a Reaper are not actually dead. Perhaps they are alive in a virtual
space, and they all plead with Shepard to not annihilate them. Either way it
goes, there is no need to redo entire cut-scenes.

Now I will tell you how to make an outstanding ending, it
would require massive amounts of work.

LONDON:

Shepard and crew leave for the conduit, leading the assault
in a Hammerhead IFV. In this segment the player can race straight ahead to the
next segment but will go unsupported. They can also zip around the battlefield
giving aid to various advancing squads, which will determine how many make it
through the conduit to help Shepard on the Citadel. 

Reaching the next segment, the Hammerhead takes damage and
is forced down. If the player did not save more than half the assault force on
the previous section, he continues on foot as the current game. If he does save
them, they continue forward in a Mako with miniaturized Thanix cannon. Fighting
harvesters and the like until reaching the next segment.

The Mako takes a hit and is disabled, they continue on foot
and complete the defend the missile section. Everyone makes for the conduit.
The events play out as in the game as it stands, however Shepard is unconscious
for who knows how long and actually is the last one through the conduit. 

CITADEL:

Shepard and crew regroup, (including surviving troops, whom
will be split away to draw attention while Shepard's team makes for the council
tower) easy, normal, and hard difficulty Shepard uses medi-gel to stabilize
health and continue on with half-shields but full abilities. Insanity
difficulty setting: Shepard's health continuously drops leveling at just one
bar, at which point he cannot use any of his abilities save grenades.

The squad fights across the Presidium to the tower, enemy
concentration is heavy.

Reaching the tower, (let's say for this section that
Shepard's suit is mostly intact and just damaged heavily, so that he can survive
in vacuum) they fight enemy squads up the tower. Here we reveal that the
Reapers are again constructing a Human-Reaper, this one nearly fully formed.
Which then becomes aware of their presence. The squad then has to fight enemies
while taking cover from the Reapers' fire.

They successfully reach the control to open the Citadel, and
have a confrontation with TIM. You could convince him with enough
paragon/renegade. Either way the squad fights him as Harbinger assumes direct
control (can you see I'm basically just recycling and combining things from the
first two games?)

CRUCIBLE/CITADEL:

Reusing the area where you make the choice. This could be a
multi-part battle where the squad must survive/fight through waves of enemies.
Harbinger standing directly above, raining enemies down and taking pot shots.
The squad fights off waves waiting for the Normandy to make a pass firing its
Thanix to knock Harbinger off balance long enough for the squad to run past the
leg blocking their path.  

The options for this final confrontation are endless..

Maybe Harbinger and a Cerberus-made Human-Reaper controlled
by TIM duke it out while Shepard ascends the tower. and before reaching the
finale, Shepard is sucked into a virtual environment inside Harbinger: A place
where all the past extinct races live on in harmony and plead their case. After
denying them (or not), Shepard must fight his way free.

The point here is quite simple: The player is going to be
much happier with the ending because for the last ten minutes (or in this case,
thirty to sixty) of the game they are in control. The last parts of the game should
be game-play. More importantly Shepard needs to at least seem to be winning by
the end.

All in all, the ending needs to be just as spectacular as
everyone hopes, which I am afraid Bioware has built up for us more than they
may have wanted.

Well there are just a couple solutions for you.

In all honesty I dreamed of working for a place like
Bioware, my wife would love to as well. 
In fact she was more upset by the ending than I. Being a writer that
loves the work they have done with the characters in the series, she was
furious and apologized to me for buying me the special collector's edition (which,
thanks to my financial situation, was my Christmas/birthday/anniversary present).
I still like the game. I'm not that upset; just terribly disappointed. So much
so that were I offered a job now, I would seriously consider declining. It's
managed to crush my dream just a little bit.

As a GM who runs RPGs regularly it seems to me a simple
matter of course to construct an end adventure that will satisfy all the
players at the table. Being a cooperative experience at the table, I've had to
learn to compromise. Things never really work out as planned. Players will do
things I've never thought of (and nothing angers a player more than me saying
their stuff doesn't work when there is nothing stopping them), and it's my job
to roll with it and make it work.  PC's
can want things to work out, but there's the end to the adventure they want,
what I want them to want, and what they deserve.  I simply feel that the ending as it stands
contradicts itself so much that it feels like something from an entirely
different universe. One that maybe someone thought was great when they first
wrote it, but as the universe and people have evolved, was not properly updated
to incorporate everything.  It's an
ending that the Mass Effect universe doesn't deserve.

No amount of game developers circling the wagons against the
silly dedicated people who have made them a success is going to help.  "Artistic vision" and all that is
great, but that is not a shield to throw up against rational criticism. RPG's
are shared, cooperative experiences,
they are not movies, books, or First Person Shooters.  I
knew an amazing screenwriter who would have just shot this down before you got
even a quarter of a way through the Catalyst talk.  And I personally would have taken his advice.

 

Modifié par Eullogy, 23 mars 2012 - 03:42 .

[Lord Emporer]

 I gave it a overall score of 78/100. I weighted my scores to
show what is important to me
Key         weights score weighted scoreending         15.00% 20% 0.03combat 10.00% 100% 0.1main story 20.00% 90% 0.18side stories 12.50% 100% 0.125Replayability 10.00% 60% 0.06romance 14.00% 80% 0.112Mission/map/codex  menu 2.50% 70% 0.0175multiplayer 2.50% 90% 0.0225map diversity 8.50% 100% 0.085Cinematics/graphic improvement 5.00% 90% 0.045 80% 78%
Combat 10/10

                Combat was clean and divers, it was never boring. If I ever started getting 'tiered' with the way I was fighting, I could switch how I
was doing fighting seamlessly as I went.


Main story 9/10

       I felt it left
some parts (people) were a little shorted so you all get an 'A' not an 'A+'

 

Side missions 10/10

                Where
good and affected the overall game play

 

Ending 2/10

     The ending was so
bad that when I got to my 'three chooses'(four if you count dying if you take
too long) I thought I had made an error and restated the level to see what it
was that got me there. After that I was left with A) destroy all tech killing
the geth and EDI (and all those in space, so mostly likely the quarian are out
too since they are space based) killing everyone in the galaxy plus the reapers
to make some new thing. and finally C) which I what I picked, where you take
over the reapers kinda (as you are not 'you') I thought that it may help with rebuilding
in some way. However, in all three you kill earth/all planets near the relays when
the relays explode. Then to add insult to my already pore mood my team...my friends
they left the battle and me and jumped heading to some unknown place for an unknown
reason.  Really
I think I can sum up how the ending with quote "I reject your reality and
substitute my own" ~Adam Savage

 

               

Replayabblity 6/10

                After 'completing'
the game I have no desire to play the game at all. in time I will play again but
I will never again go to the end. That is unless you all on the mass effect
team tell me that somehow all the major solar systems did not go boom with the
MRs

 

Romance 8/10

                While
it was good there was little added really other than "let’s screw". What
I mean is that there was no really deepening of    the relationship

 

Mission selection 7/10

                It was clunky
and rather annoying to deal with.

 

multiplayer 9/10

     Had a fair bit of
fun playing it,  its kinda  limited on play style but fun. One thing that I
wish that there was is ability for two players on the same console.  I like playing Games with my brother but with
this game we will not be able to.

 

Map diversity 10/10

It was great, as I have come to expect from the Mass Effect team.

 

Ending notes

Really, the worst part of the ending to me was the feeling
that I was lied to. When the team tell me things like

“…..This story arc is coming to an end with this game.
That means the endings can be a lot

more different. At
this point we’re taking into account so many

decisions that
you’ve made as a player and reflecting a lot of that

stuff. It’s
not even in any way like the traditional game endings,

where you can say
how many endings there are or whether you got

ending A, B, or
C…..The endings have a lot more sophistication and

variety in them.”

~Casey Hudson

 

“There are many different
endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How

could you go
through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and

then be forced into
a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can’t

say any more than
that…”

~Mike Gamble 

I would have scored the ending much better than a two maybe a 4-6 but I really feel
the team 1) lied to me and 2) that the mass effect team has always done so much
better than this. They have never left such glaring plot holes/inconstancies in
there games. I am not talking about little things like calling FOBs F-O-B
military terms is not what they know and thats fine. So is the fact that many
of the people I gathered are never seen in the cut scenes (which are beautiful)
or the fact that joker did not break a bone in the crash, but big holes that
made me not even want to pick a options for my three choices. In fact, I once
died looking around for some other option than everyone in that I cared about dying
(at the time I did not know my team had turned cowered and left me do die, even
going so far as to pick up the other member of my away team. While leaving me
to die slowly). Really  the team as done
much better in the past.

Modifié par Lord Emporer, 23 mars 2012 - 07:15 .

[blurryhunter]

My Mass Effect 3 Score: 90/100

Now I'll start by saying that I look at games as a whole and when I go about having to tell someone about those games, especially if I'm asked for some form of scale rating, I go about determining its place on that scale based upon the literal amount of game I enjoyed against what I did not.

Positives: I couldn't possibly list specifics. Here's why. Everything about Mass Effect 3 that I feel is negative is very specific and it would be shorter to list the things I didn't like, rather than both positives and negatives. The other, and I would argue larger, reason why I can't point out specifics about the positives is simply because of how engaging and fluid I felt they were. Every positive experience I had with the game, and there were many, were so well merged one after the other that, to me, separating them into a bullet list wouldn't do it justice. It was a single, fluid experience for me, and except for a few reasons, listed in a moment, it was an overwhelmingly positive one.

Negatives: There were four. Tali's picture, the Journal - Mission tab, Reapers and Scanning, and the endings to the game itself.

Tali's Picture: I believe that the set up, the idea of a picture to be viewed at the leisure of the player and even the use of a photo, verse in-game picture, was fitting. I liked the scene where it gets picked up and over all, I enjoyed it. I was disappointed to learn of the origin of the base photo used, however, and had expected, at the least, a unique picture to be used for such a unique and important long standing character from the series. I would like to see the hand in the photo altered (it always looked off and seemed to distract from it even before I knew the origin of the base photo) to better fit the character model and perhaps an in-game reveal, even brief, to allow the picture and the character to really fit.

Journal - Mission tab: I found myself lost on several occasions trying to find what system a particular planet was in or where I was at in the progression of a few missions. I would have liked to see the systems of any planets needing attention due to missions, be they Priority or secondary, be listed. At about this point in time, I'd imagine Shepard knows where they are, so it wouldn't be hard to imagine having that information.

Reapers and Scanning: This one had me a bit underwhelmed. The idea I had gotten from the game was that there was a chance they would pick up on a scan, not that they would pick up on it every single time, with slight exceptions, like a mission that requires a planet landing in the same area. I thought it sort of cheap that the moment a Reaper caught up it was a direct to Game Over screen, though I'm glad the Resume option picks up at the entry to the area itself. It just seemed like you would have to fight to get away, or something to that effect.

The Endings: To put it simple; the endings seemed to completely defy everything that was established in the Mass Effect universe, such as the codex entries, while giving no reason for doing so. One the things I've always had a hard time believing in happens to be when a game insists that the player (movies with viewers and books with readers are culprits too) fill in the missing pieces. I understand that there are people that enjoyed the endings, but I have to ask them this, as just a small favor; go back into the game, look at the Codex entry that talks about desperation tactics against the Reapers, and look at the part where it says Mass Relays destroy all life in the system they're located in when they explode.

I'm not calling into question a theory. I'm calling into question what was established as real with the addition of the Arrival DLC and confirmed by the addition of that very Codex entry. There are other reasons, of course. Joker and the crew escaping to an unknown planet. Members of the crew who were right with Shepard being on board. However, to me, the moment the Mass Relays are shown detonating is the moment the whole thing ceases to ground itself anymore and starts floating off; it was already at risk with the 'Star Child' moment as it was.

The endings, of course, did not reflect the choices made by the player from the series beginning up until the series conclusion, but while I think that something akin to the epilogue from Dragon Age: Origins would have been perfectly fine (and I actually expected something like that), I can't help but think there was just a lot of misunderstandings at play.

BioWare, you did a great job on many facets of the game and, as many have mirrored, but I'll say again, if you hadn't created an otherwise amazing game, we wouldn't care this much to bring it to your attention. I have several games, sitting on my shelf, with problems no different from what I see wrong with Mass Effect 3. Everything was fine until the end. However, I just shrugged my shoulders, went 'That was weird' and moved on. Those were one off games, though, not a series so well established as Mass Effect.

You deserve to make this game, and this series, go down in history as the best, if not first, attempt at a gaming 'experience.' I, and others, are simply saying that, unfortunately, the endings are one of the only things holding this game back from really being the end of the best gaming series created in a long, long time.

Modifié par blurryhunter, 23 mars 2012 - 04:02 .

[SogaBan]

BioWare has heard us, at least as it seems, but no news of any updates/patch/DLC to change the ending(s). Follow the link:

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/324/index/10089946

... a feedback from the project director himself - the one and only Mr. Casey Hudson...

Modifié par SogaBan, 23 mars 2012 - 04:44 .

[SystemsAlliance]

My  Mass Effect 3 Score : 65/100

I will also put on my weighing on the score. The weighing didn't represent the score, but just a comparison, between one point and the other points. Because some points has more weight than the others.

The Good Side :

• Better Music (+10). The music is better, although the ending music of ME 2 is better than any music in ME 3. The ambience music, the combat music, the sound of everything, in my opinion, is much better than ME 1 and ME 2.
  
• The Story, up to Harbinger beam (+90). The story, although not long, really give credits to Bioware. The helplessness situation on Earth, the situation on Palaven, the genophage cure on Shur'Kesh, the death of Mordin in Tuchanka to disseminate the cure, the inspiring speech of Krogan female, the death of Thane, my old buddy, the situation of Rannoch, the war between the geth and quarian, the view of the quarian regarding their existence, the death of Legion, the situation on Thessia and Horizon, and the final inspiring speech from Hackett. Not to mention the cool farewells on Earth, before the final assault. The one memorable ot me is from Jarvik that "Shepard is the avatar of victory" and of course, from my LI, Tali. One of my greatest moment in ME 3 is shooting bottles in the Citadel with Garrus, this is one of the awesome moment. In simple, the story feels great, and that the story really pictures that the galaxy is in chaos, and fear of death is everywhere.

• Better Movement (+10). Although there are some complaints regarding the use of "Space" keys. I think Shepard's ability to move is better. His jumping animation is better, his taking cover animation is also better.

• Better Enemies (+20). This has been a very good improvement. The enemies are better in their movement and tactics. Enemies also use various tactics (Assault Troopers use grenade, Centurion use smoke grenade, Banshee use biotic, etc.) The variety of tactics used by enemies are great.
  
• Better Combat (+10). The weapons available to Shepard are also varied enough, and the addition of firing range in Citadel to test out weapon is a good thing. The weapons avaiable are also varied enough, not to mention an interesting concept of weight that affects power recharge speed.
  
• Better Normandy (+5). In my opinion, although the Normandy looks unfinished and little full of things, it is better than the Normandy in ME 2. Apart from some things that is useless, such as the door scanner, Normandy's SR 2 in ME 2 looks really good. 
  
• Better Melee Combat (+5). The melee using omni-blade, or biotic-punch, is simply inspiring and good. 
  
• Weapon Customization (+5). This is a great addition to ME 3, and supplant the gameplay rather well. 

The Good & Bad Side (0).

• Exploration (0). Exploration without planet scanning is a welcome addition, and exploring without vehicles is a good thing also. But the ME 3 exploration is also tedious, not to mention Reapers, who at first feels like a challenge, and later times becoming a boring chore. Exploration, in my opinion, did become better, but not good enough.
  
• Graphics (0). The graphics didn't become better, and didn't become worse. It is here then.

The Bad Side

• The Ending (-50). This goes without notion, and affects a lot of my score. Why affects a lot? Because as a fan, and this is a last game, a thorough ending or a clear ending is one of my goals of this game. The ending alone has a lot of plot holes (indoctrination theory, Normandy jumping out, star child, Reaper's origin, etc.). Altough we can't judge a game solely by the ending, as an RPG game, Bioware must also be judged by the story, not only by gameplay. As I defined above, ME 3 is great at its story, up to 10 minutes in the ending.
  
• Side Quests (-25). Side quests in ME 1 are great, side quests in ME 2 is good, but side quests in ME 3 is downright boring. Most of them only involve scanning planets for artifacts, which is boring. We need narrative on our side quests. The existence of N7 mission is welcome, but they have more N7 missions in ME 2 than in ME 3. Not to mention that N7 missions are located in multiplayer maps. Side quests shouldn't only include scanning, but also must include some active combat. 
  
• Romance (-10). The romance, although expanded to include additional character, such as Traynor and Cortez, didn't bring much interest. Previous romance with characters such as Tali and Miranda, feels empty, not to mention that there is no scenes involving them, although implied heavily before the Cerberus base attack. The romance should include more dialogues and events.
  
• The Final Battle (-25). The exchange of fire between united galaxy's fleet against the Reapers is great, and simply epic. We can clearly see Asari Fleets, Alliance Fleets, Quarian Fleets, Turian Fleets. But that's all about it. We want to see the Destiny Ascension cut the enemy. We want to see Geth Fleets actively engaging the enemy. Simply put, we want to see all of the races we have gathered fight. We want to see space battles be won easier because there are Geth Fleets supporting us. We want to see the land battles easier because we are supported by Geth Primes and Volus Bombing Fleets. We want to see the space battles easier because we are supported by Salarian Third Fleet, full strength of Alliance fleet. We want to see land battles easier because we are supported by the Krogan, the rachni, and by biotic artilleries. We want to see the space battles harder because we let the Quarians destroyed, or let the Geth destroyed. We want to see the land battles harder because we are not supported by Aralakh Company, or because we eleminate the Rachni. We want to see the land battles easier, because we are supported by STG and Spectre. We want to see the land battles harder, because we are not supported by Elcor "living tanks" or by not supported by Eclipse mercenaries. Simply put, we want to see the effects of all our assets in battle, and the outcome of the battle brought by my actions. We want to see Eclipse mercenaries, Blue Suns, Rachni, Armali Sniper Team, STG, Spectre, Geth Platoons, Quarian Marines, and so much else. Simply put, we want to see our assets in action, and the positive/negative actions of all assets brought together by us.
  
• War Assets (-10). Although War Assets is a good thing, in a sense, it is generally a bad thing. It sums everything in numbers, and the method of procuring them is not interesting. Not to mention Galactic Readiness, that can only boosted in Multiplayer. In logical sense, what the N7 teams can do (in MP) is to boost War Assets, not Galactic Readiness. Shepard's action through diplomatic and covert action, is more logically boosts the Galactic Readiness. Spepard travels over all the galaxy to unify all races against Reapers, surely it will boosts Galactic Readiness. 
  
• Less Interrupts (-10). There are significant reduce of interrupts in the game. In ME 2, there are a lot of interrupts that bring up cool scenes, but there are less of them in ME 3. Interrupts, whether Paragon or Renegade, is a very good thing in ME universe.
  
• Less Hubs (-10). Only Citadel? Some hub worlds should can be still visited.
  
• Less Squad Banters (-10). We have some cool loyalty mission in ME 2, where we will really delve into the story of our teammates, our brothers and sisters in arms. Although one scene really stand out (Garrus with us shooting bottles, and letting us to miss) all other squad banters and scenes rings hollow and damp.
  
• The use of stock photo in Tali (-10). As a Tali fan, this really bothers me. Not to mention that is is only a stock photo, only edited slightly.
  
• The Upgrades (-5). The upgrades feel hollow, and can only gained by exploration, which is boring. Upgrades obtained by accessing certain terminals and data banks are better, and more logical.
  
• Numerous Bugs (-5). Shepard's shame talk, Liara's monitors. and Face Import.

Those are my reviews. 

[jgomezish]

Someone needs to put that song over the footage of Joker hauling ass from the colored explosion onward. Fits better.

[JaShatta]

I am curious the little boy in the start of the game, i've been analyzing the little spirit or the so call catalyst at the end of the game, and the little boy do look like the same one from the start. also when he say i cant protect or save no one makes me wonder more since in the end the Catalyst claim he did this for destruction to balance the cycle etc... The dreams also giving signs to me that he the Catalyst

[Dyrkul]

I give it an F, 40/100
Disappointment is really not a strong enough word to describe how I feel after playing this game.
I didn't learn my lesson after pre-ordering Dragon Age 2, despite the awful game that it was, I still said, hey its Bioware and ME is their flagship, they can't drop the ball again, right? ....its clear Bioware didn't learn any lessons from DA2 either. Like DA2, nearly every aspect of this game screams either rushed production or lazy production.

Graphics:
You can get away with mediocre graphics if you have a compelling story, but when you don't, they become glaring issues. Most of the Textures and models appear to be completely recycled from ME2, but some even look like they're straight from ME1 (ie.  the red skycar on the Samara/Temple mission...pixelated much? Or Garrus' face - every cut scene you get to enjoy the blocky pixels of his face texture and the flat, normal map-less and displacement-free 'texture' of his scars). It leads one to question if Bioware is on such a tight budget they can't update models and textures, or do they just simply not care to about their PC users anymore and just shoot for the baseline graphics of PS3/X360? The Witcher 2 is over a year old, had compelling story and voice acting and it runs circles around the visuals in ME3 - I can't believe CDProjekt had more budget and cut less corners than an industry titan like Bioware working on its flagship game?

Many character animations are awful -  they look like pre-vis work rather than final sequences...actually scratch that, I know pre-vis artists who'd be embarrased by some of ME3's animation.

There are graphics glitches everywhere - weapons magically vanish in cut scenes. Shepard hands Tali a rock, and then it vanishes in the next shot. There's a random shot of empty air during the Councillor Udina's death cut-scene, Garrus completely vanished during a cut scene on Jacob's mission and became a disembodied voice when Jacob goes to greet him. Where was the QA?

It also appears that Bioware's artists spent more time up-rezzing EDI's breasts than they did fixing the lumpy face models, waxy flesh or dead eyes of every human Female, ie. Miranda, Ashley, Traynor...or giving Tali a face.

Which is really the point at which Bioware's lack of effort or time is most readily apparent. Quarians/Geth are integral parts of the ME series and yet in the culminating moment of their story, when Tali returns home and can take off her mask, we get....a cut-away so we can't see her face, and then she gives us a 'picture' for our cabin. This editing doesn't improve the story, this doesn't enhance the emotions of the moment (in fact, seeing Tali's face as she takes in a view of her homeworld would be a really powerful emotional beat), instead it says, Bioware didn't spend the time (seriously 1 week max for a modeler/texture artist) to do a 3d model for Tali's face and texture it. In fact, they apparently had only about 10 minutes to grab a stock photo, do a quick photoshop clone brush over some fingers, add a lens-flare, and ta-da! a picture of Tali...except, wait, Tali has hair?! So Quarians have lived in suits so long their immune systems have degenerated, but they've managed to keep beautiful flowing long hair? Yeah that makes sense. Lazy, rushed, whatever the excuse is, its still an excuse.

Gameplay -
Grenades! Cover system! a Melee weapon! Congratulations Bioware, you've almost reached Gears of War 1's level of functionality. And Shepard can jump! Oh wait, he can't actually jump except in pre-scripted points and moments...

Pre-scripted moments - Kai Leng, if I can't win, why am I fighting him? If no matter what I do, I can't kill him before a cut scene where he takes the Prothean VI, why not just give me a cut scene from the get-go? Thanks for wasting my time. I also enjoy running towards the beam in London, just to be cut down, no matter what I did. That was awesomely interactive too.

In ME2, many minor side quests had missions you could  go on, people to fight, or to outsmart or smooth-talk. Preachers, vorcha, quarians raising money for their pilgrimage...ME3 only does this with the ME2 character cameo missions, and the major side-quest, N7s. Like DA2, all minor quests are now errand-boy stuff only: pick up item, talk to person, reward. Though at least in ME3, the dialogue reactions actually deal with the specific quest-item instead of DA2's, "oh, so that's where I left that" response to returning the remains of a loved one.

Bypassing doors minigame is gone, and instead of something interactive, we get to watch Shepard hold out his omni-tool for 20 seconds...fun!

Normandy layout - the war room had to be separated from the galazy map by two halls and security screen that slows you down, and we have to walk this empty path over and over after every mission? Fun!

Money is so prevalent its useless in ME3. In ME2, it had value, we had to pick and choose which upgrades to buy, how many probes to get, when to refuel...now, other than the 3 spectre guns, you can buy/upgrade everything and still have funds leftover.

And now, to the story:
If M. Night Shyamalan and Michael Bay co-wrote a script it would consist of bad dialogue, little-to-no character arcs, boobs, explosions, big robots and then a "twist" at the end that makes no sense, in otherwords, it'd be Mass Effect 3.

Problem #1 is that the First mission of the game, Mars, basically gives you the solution to the game - the Crucible blue-prints, and the rest of the game is in a way, just wasting time until the Crucible is built. ME2 was about uncovering the purpose of the Collectors, and finding a way to stop them. ME1 was revealing the traitor, and stopping him. In ME3 there's no more mystery, there's no journey to discover the truth about the reapers, discover their origin and one weakness, you just build an army and return to Earth..and then the starchild shows up.

The dialogue is generally attrocious. There are a few gems in the familiar banter between crewmates, but the plot dialogue is expository and bad. Because the plot is really about wasting time, there's no sense of urgency or ticking clock, causing many of the emotional beats to be incredibly forced and unmotivated. Shepard's "dreams" and his overreaction moment with Joker after the Fall of Thessia are great examples - instead of being serious its laughable. He's so stressed that he went dancing with Jack, shooting with Garrus, and has drinks with James and Cortez?

The character deaths are another example of forced melodrama. In ME2, you had to work hard in terms of play to save everyone. In ME3, players have zero control in many places, I suspect, because the writers are using forced emotional beats to cover the lack of organicly developing ones within the plot. As a result the deaths are totaly forced and unintelligent. Mordin's death is no Gorman/Vasquez moment where they have no choice but to accept death and go out with a bang, instead he dies because he has to take an elevator to physically push 3 buttons on a virtual readout atop the tower? Huh?! I have an unshackled AI as a crewmate - you're telling me in the time it takes for Mordin to take an elevator ride up, calmly stroll in like the building isn't on fire, and push said VIRTUAL buttons, EDI couldn't have fixed the system ten times over? The same EDI who can read all human literature in a couple seconds at another point in the game?

Thane dies because despite being a crack-shot assassin, despite Shepard also being a crack shot, suddenly both shoot like Imperial Stormtroopers, and just forget about biotic powers. Seriously, bad-guys with Wakizashi's in a game with guns is silly. Kai Leng and the Phantoms were a joke, even playing on Insanity.

Legion dies because....I don't know. Geth aren't limited to their physical bodies, didn't I just do a mission to attack their server to stop the units in the field? The moment is so non-sensical that a Geth Prime has to show up and explain what just happened to Legion, and it still doesn't make sense.

The characters: In ME1 and 2, Garrus, Liara and Tali have solid and growing character arcs and relationships with Shepard. Ash was throwaway and still is. ME2 introduced Jack and Mordin, two of the most colorful and well written characters I've ever seen in a game. The rest of the crew, Grunt, Miranda, etc were also fairly complex, and getting to know them, and earn their loyalty was really the best part of the game. In ME3, character loyalty missions are non-existant, we get the crewmates power just by having a couple conversations and then thats about it. And instead of continuing to grow and develop the great characters of ME2, they all just get a lip-service cameo where they generally repeat things they said in ME2 and then vanish from the story, to be replaced by EDI and, the oh so creative: soldier with minor authority issues, Freddy Prince Jr. Loco indeed.

The final 'solution' -
So in order to stop intelligent organics from creating synthetics that will wipe out all organic life, the Catalyst/Repears are synthetics who periodically wipe out all intelligent organic life? This has to be the most inane story idea ever. And if the Citadel was controlled by this starchild/Reaper ally, the why didn’t he open the Citadel for Sovereign? Really, I don't want to get started on all the plot-holes this 'ending' creates.

The most shocking thing about this absurd concept is that the only character in ME3 with a major arc is EDI, a synthetic learning to live with organics and thus completely contradicting the Reapers, and the need for "synthesis". Was the plot writer unaware of the work being done on EDI's arc? And then there's the Geth/Quarian conflict, which is really the most important B-plot spanning all 3 ME games - its potential resolution of peace between sythetics and organics also completely and utterly contradicts the need for Reapers, and synthesis.

The criticism of the choices is pretty well documented elsewhere, but what the heck kind of mumbo-jumbo is a 'new dna' combining organic and synthetic? Joker has circuitry on his skin? On plant leaves? Gawd you guys were short in the idea department.

Bioware used to be a sure-thing, fun gameplay and solid, sometimes spectacular characters and story: Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, Jade Empire, KOTOR, etc, all leading up to Mass Effect 2. But after DA2 and ME3, I don't know if its the management/ownership of EA and their production schedule designed to churn out shooters rather than complex RPGs; if Bioware has lost their creative edge or seen an exodus of talent; or if they've just become complacent and lazy, but they are a pale shadow of what they used to be. It's truly disappointing.

[Iorwerth]

I'm really not sure how to score this, I loved 98% of the game and was willing to place it--when combined with the decisions I made in the other two games of the trilogy--into my top five favorite games, which incidentially includes three other Bioware titles. But the last five minutes were so inconsistant with the character of the rest of the game that I don't know how to combine the two experiences, but please bear with me.

I loved all but the last 5 minutes of ME3. Moradin's death in particular stood out for me as particularly humanizing, touching, and tragic. Having him going out singing his opera was a beautiful touch. My relief at seeing Grunt alive after his suicidal charge is another example of how emotionally gripping this game was for me. Thane's death and Miranda's were both touching. The conversation with Tali about her house on Rannoch was moving. I loved helping EDI and Joker through their relationship. And, honestly, it felt really satisfying to kill Kai Leng at the Cerberus base, perhaps too much so. Really I guess the point here is the characters were incredibly well developed throughout this trilogy.

The gameplay was superb, the questlines were incredibly well written. The quarian/geth plotline and curing the genophage, both stood out, but even the random sidequests/conversations were well done; for example, speaking with the couple at the Persidium Commons, who in the first ME, I had resolved an argument about gene therapy for. I loved walking past people having conversations and listening to how those conversations progressed, e.g. the sgt. and pvt. at the docking bay or the turian staffer and the teenager in the refugee area. This kind of detail was phenomenal. Speaking of detail, without a doubt the visual detail was fantastic, the game looked gorgeous, from looking up at Palavan to the grand vista looking out at Earth from the Citadel as you sat there with Adm. Anderson. The music and sounds were also definite strong points for the game, I love the soundtrack. I should also note that I'm much happier with the scanning system utilized in this game than the one in ME2, thanks for changing that.

I should also be clear, I loved even the majority of the ending of the game. Telling everyone you'd see them at the end of the battle, in Garrus' case possibly at heaven's bar, sharing Liara's view of eternity, or listening to Wrex's speech. Everything up to and including Adm. Anderson's death was exactly as good as I have come to expect from Bioware. Another thing that I actually loved about the ending was that Bioware got Buzz Aldrin to play a part in it. Buzz Aldrin. The second guy to walk on the moon. How awesome is that? I'm not sure how I feel about his part, but his inclusion was wholly suitable for an epic sci-fi story.

All that said, I really want to question some of Bioware's decisions. The connection between the single and multiplayer game being a big one, one that I can live with, but not a decision I'm comfortable with. I just don't think that having to play multiplayer in order to unlock anything in the singleplayer game is a good idea, let alone unlocking endings. Bioware's decision to explain major plot points outside of the game in other mediums (e.g. the comic books, novels, etc), is aggrevating. Who is James Vega? Why am I (Shepard) grounded again? I have found the answers, but having them in the game would be much more satisfying than figuring it all out afterwards.
Up until the last five minutes of the game (again, essentially until after Adm. Anderson's death) I was absolutely satisfied. But after that everything seems to fall apart. Shepard's acceptence of the deus ex machina child giving three possibilities is, I believe, wholly out of character. Since when does Shepard accept the word of genocidal machines and the choices they present? My Shepard, for example, had talked Saren into shooting himself, he had told the Illusive Man, the guy who brought him back to life, to get over himself, and later he talks the Illusive Man into also shooting himself. Then suddenly Shepard just accepts that in order to save the galaxy he needs to destroy the relay system, thus destroying galactic civilization and sentancing millions to death, in the best case scenario? Not to mention that having made a peace in a three-century long war between the Geth and Quarians, he lies down before the logic of the god-child and implicitly accepts that in order to keep organics from being destroyed by synthetics, synthetics must destroy organics every 50,000 years?

Regardless of what choice is made we recieve essentially the same cutscene, merely with a separately colored explosion and a different version of Shepard's death. It appears that there is only one ending, one completely different from each of the others in the series. Twice we save the galaxy/humanity, but now we destroy civilization to save it? Without the relays the turian and quarian fleets starve, space stations like Omega follow suit, and the Krogans, their males at war, their females at the homeworld stand to go extinct, without the genophage's intervention.

The cutscene following that decision leaves more questions than answers. For example, how did Joker learn there was explosion to fly away from? How did he get crewmen from the planet onto the ship? (Ash was with me at the end).  The deviations from character seemed to be precisely against everything I knew about these characters. EDI herself said that I helped her feel alive, Joker had been a good friend, there for me since the beginning, and why, of all people, would my love interest, in this case Ash, abandon Shepard, not to mention the battle to save the galaxy? Plus the ending included no real conclusion. In my opinion, one of the wonderful things about Dragon Age: Origins was the epilogue telling us what happened to the characters. The scene of Shepard's party crashing on some alien planet just told us that the party abandoned Shepard and then died out because a couple dozen individuals of various species cannot establish any sort of a population.

I've read through the Indoctrination Theory, but that is a fan's interpretation. If the ending needs an outside explanation the point really isn't coming across, plus it would mean that there still isn't really an ending which, again, is rather unstatisfactory.

Again, I cannot stress enough that I loved the vast majority of the game, but this ending just didn't fit and for the conclusion of a wonderful story to be this out of character it seriously damages the view on the rest of that story. The two most critical parts of a flight are take-off and the landing, the journey may be great, but crashing at the end tends to spoil the trip.

I really wish I could provide some sort of constructive feedback/suggestions to help with the ending, but after years of malnourishment my imagination has atrophied. It would be nice to have a choice to retire to wherever and lounge on a beach performing experiments on seashells, become the next human Councilor (hey, the spot is vacant and leadership will be required in rebuilding the galaxy), and I'm sure at least one of my Shepards would sacrifice himself. There is one small change I would ask for, though. I come from a military background and this kind of stuff means a lot to us. After we hear of Kelly Chambers' death, I would really like to see her name go up on the memorial in the Normandy, it really is the least we can do.

If any of you mods/devs made it this far, thanks for your time and we really do support you, your games have taken us on incredible journeys into the unknown and we'd like more, just try touching down a bit softer next time. Those same familiar mechanics, like an epilogue, could go a long way towards helping us understand what you might toss at us.

Modifié par Iorwerth, 23 mars 2012 - 06:19 .

[fle6isnow]

I've played through ME3 twice now, with two characters I've played since ME1. I'd give the game a rating of 85/100.

The Good

Gameplay
-Combat mechanism is awesome. I still miss crouching, but rolling and jumping are so much fun. I love the new melee options, especially the badass omniblade.
-Not being shoe-horned into weapons by class is a very nice touch. It makes the gameplay so much better, and I definitely felt like I could tailor it to how I wanted to play.
-The weapon/armor modding system is one of the better ones out there. It's streamlined, yet you can still get a lot of choice within that simple framework. I also love how you can actually see the weapon changing as you mod it.
-Other characters moving around the ship and interacting with each other? This totally blew my mind. It makes the crew feel more organic and realistic, and it made me care about them even more. Some people may not like that the crew got "Zaeeded," but personally this was ok to me because they actually say things that are relevant to the mission instead of being blown off for calibrations most of the time.
-I like the "eavesdrop" method of getting side quests. It forces you to really explore the world and listen to what's going on around you, and that to me makes the game more immersive.
-Heck, I even like the Reaper scanning mini-game. I think it's cute. I mean, if you don't think of them as giant robot spaceships who are out to kill advanced sentient life.

Design/Music
-I love the weapon designs. LOVE THEM. If I could hug Brian Sum and whoever else worked on those, I would. They're all so damn sexy (especially the Disciple), and each of them feels like they have their own personality.
- The soundtrack and sound design are really well done. I love how themes from the previous games are brought back and used to underscore how the story ties in from the very beginning. The music for the cut-scenes really fit the action on the screen. Furthermore, I love the auditory easter eggs they left everywhere.
-Dat Reaper sound, man... so iconic. It's probably THE sound you remember from Mass Effect, just like the light sabre sound is the sound you remember from Star Wars. I'm tempted to make it my ring tone.

Story/Characters
-I like how the story changed a LOT based on your choices in the previous games. I think with just the Tuchanka mission, there were 16 different ways it could have gone depending on who lived or died in the previous games.
-I like how for MOST story arcs, there was a neat ending and resolution.
-The continuing romances are good. That Garrus scene on the Citadel...best thing ever. Thane dying was devastating, but in a good way. I even liked that Jacob cheated on Shepard because it just makes both of them seem more human.
-ME3 is probably the only game that made me cry buckets of tears over pixel characters. I cried so hard when Mordin died that I had to stop playing and bake cupcakes to cheer myself up. Seriously. I cried when I thought Grunt was gonna die, and I screamed with joy when he made it out of the Rachni nest. I cried when Thane got stabbed, and again when he died--and I didn't even romance the sod. I cried when Legion uploaded himself to the rest of the Geth. Of course I cried buckets at the end.
-Most of the dialogue is great. I love the references to previous games, inside jokes, crew banter, etc.

The Ending
I like choices for the endings. I really do. I think many people complain that in the end, all that "choice" didn't matter, but that's not true--the whole series gives you a lot of choices, and we can see how it affects everything on a personal and even species level throughout the entire game. However, those choices ARE tiny details compared to the history of the whole galaxy and the cycle that has lasted for millions of years, and yes, that is the whole--albeit disappointing to many--point. There's just something very poetic about that and I was glad that it wasn't all "rah rah the day is saved." Goddamit, I like my space operas tragic.

All that Shepard has done has been leading to this one moment where s/he can either embrace the Reapers' philosophy via the Control/Synthesis endings or throw off their shackles via the Destroy ending.  That being said, I do have issues with how the endings were implemented and animated.

The Bad

Gameplay
-The side quests could have been a bit better. Not complaining too much, because every RPG has bull**** side quests and fetch quests.
-The cover system is a tad too sensitive for my tastes. I've been screwed by pressing the spacebar too long, lol. It might just be me, though.
-Some powers seem a bit OP--Overload in particular. I played a Sentinel on Insanity for my second playthrough, and it seemed way too easy with my Overload and Warp maxed out. Not that I'm complaining too much, but that's something to think about if you want the game to be more balanced and difficult.
-Glitchy animation, like squadmates disappearing during conversations, and squadmates getting stuck.

Design
-The way the FemShep moves and runs. It's weird. It's more feminine, but in a somewhat bad way. She's a marine, not a cheerleader. And in some of the animations, I had hoped FemShep would be more feminine instead of just copying the animation from BroShep, but oh well, minor details...
-Securitel helmet is ridiculous-looking, but I guess it's a matter of taste.


Story/Characters
-No new male romance for Female Shepards. I understand that this game was more about continuing your relationships than making new ones, but as someone on the forum said, FemSheps get the shaft in this game (or lack thereof). Why couldn't James Vega be a romance option? All that flirting leads to nothing, WHAT!?!?! And that teaser at Purgatory where I thought you could romance Joker but then he picks EDI over Shepard. It's understandable, since the Normandy is his true love, but still... ouch, man.
-Kai Leng should be given more explanation in game for those who didn't read the novels. That conversation with Miranda where she mentions the assasin  we all love to hate would be a great place to insert the back story. Or heck even just the part where Hackett sends Leng's dossier would be a good place to insert the back story--easier too.
-I know the Dark Energy thing was thrown out as the ending, and I agree with that decision, because for me, Mass Effect was more about the struggle between Synthetic vs. Organic and Godmachines vs. Mortals. However since it was hinted at during the past games, I felt like there should have been closure for that story arc as well.

The Ending
-Plot holes in the ending. Yes, I liked the ending choices, but a bit more explanation would have been nice. I mean, I can definitely make sense of it in my head, but having something concrete would help. Maybe put back the planned conversation with the Starkid about the history of the Reapers. Have an animation sequence where Joker picks up the squad once Shepard gets up the beam and waits near the Citadel to see if they will need to pick her up.

The Ugly

Gameplay
-Quest Journal. This is THE biggest issue in gameplay. Whoever came up with this should be reprimanded. It needs to update properly, because it is pretty much impossible to keep it straight in your head that you got X item to be given to Y person at Z location. You need to make it clear that some quests will expire--no need to put the time limit because that is too much hand-holding, but just indicate that it is timed.
-Missing audio, particulary with Traynor on the bridge. If I didn't have subtitles on, there are a lot of times where I would have missed what she said.
-Numerous glitches in the maps. The most glaring ones are when you fall
off the map and can't get back during missions where you have to jump over spots, but there are some other ones, like getting stuck on the bridge of the Normandy if you stand at a certain spot (to the right of Joker's pilot chair, right over the sign on the floor, I believe).


Design
-The godawful N7 dress FemShep gets. Yuck, just yuck. Please bring back the snazzy dress from Kasumi's DLC, or make a feminine version of the stylish jacket BroShep gets.

The Ending
-Lack of a final boss. It shouldn't have been the Illusive Man--that conversation with Anderson and TIM was just fine as is--but maybe instead of just trying to avoid the Reaper's lasers while trying to get to the Citadel beam Shepard can do the same thing as the battle with the Reaper on Rannoch, laser targeting and all. It would be perfect if said Reaper was Harbinger, too. It doesn't have to be destroyed per se, but
disabled enough for Shepard to get to the beam.
-I think my biggest complaint is that the animation for each ending is too similar. I know that in the previous games we got almost identical ending animations no matter what you choose, but in ME3 the lack of difference is anticlimactic. Like I said, I'm fine with the ending choices, but it just needs a bigger bang to end the series, you know? I don't even mind that the crew gets stranded on some planet--I mean they definitely could have escaped through the Charon relay with FTL once they saw the Citadel blow up with Shepard on it--but it needs to be animated better. In my opinion, the Control ending shouldn't have ended with the Mass Relays exploding, because Shepard is choosing to embrace the Reapers and control the technology. I can also imagine Shepard becoming the next Catalyst in this scenario, which to me is very effective in a creepy dystopian horror way. Synthesis, I think can go either way--low EMS gets the relays destroyed, while high EMS keeps them. Destroy ending should definitely end with ALL Reaper tech including Mass Relays, Citadel, Geth, and EDI being destroyed. In any case, the ending animations can and should be more dramatic and DIFFERENT from each other.

Will I play this game again? Sure! I have a paragon Shep I haven't done yet. And maybe I'll do a more multiplayer while I'm at it. I love this game, and even with the issues it is still one of the best and most epic games I have ever played. I trust that Bioware will listen to the fans and fix the issues.

Modifié par fle6isnow, 23 mars 2012 - 06:58 .

[Breakdown Boy]

My Review

Gameplay (9.5/10)

The added barrel roles and general agility added to Shepard/ NPC's and enemies added a new dinamic that made combat sequenceslook and feel so much better than the previous two titles.

The weapon amount, inventory and mods were spot on as was the weight system that allowed players to customize their own style of play such as where I used a SMG and a shotgun with my Adept.

The only short fall would be general bugs such as npc's dissapearing from screen and some difficulty getting behind cover on some occasions.

Story (9/10)

The Mass Effect saga has a host of beloved characters and it is understandable that not all of them can get loads of screen time due to production budgets, time etc. In this I belive BW did a great job. All the characters and LI got their moments, some more that others and that would be the sad part of this installment. Especially thosee LI's that were newly established in ME2 were given the side burner and Liara was kind of pushed unto Shepard as the cannon love interest.

Also some aspects of the ending was stupid and did not need to be there (Nromandy crash, relays being destroyd etc.).

But in the end I was still gripped and and the emotional rollercoaster was undeniably awsome.

Graphics (7/10)

The cut scenes where amazing and the gameplay graphics where awsome, what gives this a low score is the poor female characte design screen and the stupid hair texture/ meshes that the characters have. Too much volume is a very bad thing, it looks like some the women have toooooo much product in their hair, it was like watching a sci-fi version of Hairspray.

Also the face port is issue is unforgivable, I loved my Shep and it looks like even if his face would have come through, it still would not have looked correctly. This was a huge stuff up.

Sound/ score (9/10)

ME3 benefits from the great scores of ME1 and ME2 but fails to live up to the great score of ME3. But the music and sound still drives the story and the action in an amasing way. (sound dissapears from certain scenes when players skip dialogue)

Conclusion

This is most likely the best series of games I have played in my life, the entire trilogy has become my favourite story of all time, the small silly stuff at the end won't spoil this for me. I loved this game and it left me speechless and I then started a new game as a differnt class.

Great job BW (this excludes the face issue and the silly stuff in the ending for that you guys should make amends)

[Cyras. Knight-Errant]

I loved the game (Xbox360) and it's probably the best installment of the series, especially when it comes to narrative. ... Yeah, there is the issue with the ending, but first ....

The pros/cons

The Story/Narrative:
+ the story and overheard conversations show whats at stake in the galaxy. personal drama, politics, opportunistic behavior.

+ fantastic Voicework (besides the monotone voice and facial expressions of Diana Allers)
+ great sound and music
+ Wonderful moments, creating strong emotional bonds with the characters. Shoting bottles with Garrus, Mordin and the seashells , Joker and Tiptree, Talis mapping of her house on Rannoch. Just to name a few.
+ Nice conclusions for even the smallest decision in ME1+2 (Verner and Jenna, eventhough it seems a bit forced ;-))
+ Crewmates wandering around the Normandy interacting with each other.
- Long conversation in the main quests with few dialog options, made them feel like cutscenes. I often though i would like to answer in a harsh or calming way, but Shepard chose to anwer all by herself. (Full conversation mode not action)

Gameplay: classes, Missions-design & Controls

+ New skills, that added to the existing classes (Vanguard: Charge->Nova->Charge<3, Merging Sabotage and AI hacking,)
+ Skill-Customization to suite playstyle
+ Biotic-Powers working on shielded enemies
+ Weapon Mods, adding to the prefered playstyle. A wider range would have been nice, but that's nitpicking.
+ No camping: Flanking enemies, Enemies that use altitude as advantage, grenades (smoke, frag)
+ Combat-Roll and switching covers
- All on the same button, not always reacting properly. Ending with Shepard rolling arround in cover, or getting in cover (next to it) while doging a grenade.
+ Great Main quests and side quests with former squadmembers. (favorite mission: The Shroud)
- N7: The multiplayer maps in singleplayer felt like multiplayer maps. Killing waves, press a button, defend button, kill waves, press button and so on. No conversations, no cutscenes.
- DA2-style fetch-quests
- the journal, that isn't one (need some kind of quest actualization)


Graphics/Animation:
+ Ok for Xbox360. (imo: story, art design, gamplay are more important then high end graphics)
+ Great vistas, beautiful skyboxes, landscapes (Tuchanka ruins)
+ Facial animation, textures of main characters
- The visual gap between main and side characters. Non essential characters, look somehow as if they are imported from ME1.
- Running Shepard

The ending:
- makes all decisions in ME3 feel obsolete, what's the use of cured krogan, unified quarians and geth if all goes to hell anyway. Just a war asset, a number.
- three chocies, detached from all you've done in the three games. Which defy the logic of the game up to this point
- no closure for the galaxy (don't care if shep is dead)
+/- just a dream/indoc/masterful plan by bioware to play with the minds of the fans

Summary: Torn

The Mass Effect triology is the greatest scifi-epic i've encounterd so far in gaming. And ME3 (ME2<ME1<>ME3) is probably the best installment of the series. The combat mechanics may not be the best in third person games but aremostly solid and better than before.  The graphics suite the game and design, creating strong visuals. But imo this is all second to the strong story which is the reason i play ME. During the game the characters I've learned to love and care for become even more fleshed out, highlighting motives, conflicts and relationships and their stake in the conflict with the reapers. Old grudges, cold wars and problems surface in the final hours of the galaxy. I was moved by the reunions, deaths and sacrifices. That's some great writting. The story pulled me in and didn't let go ...  until it all caved in at the end (or 10 minutes before it). I won't demand a change in the ending, even if it pretty much ruined the replay value for me, knowing nothing i did in the last 5 years of ME matters in the end of ME3.

A masterpiece weakend by a disappointing ending. Loved and hated at the same time. Still, thanks for delivering a overall great game.

Modifié par Cyras. Knight-Errant, 23 mars 2012 - 10:32 .

[The Gman707]

I was a little shocked by the ending. having made all the right (paragon) choices and completed all the side quests, i expected to be able to get a true happy ending to the story. That is, however, about as strong a sentiment as i can make on that. I dont hate the ending. My team was alive, the reapers had gone and shepherd became a hero, pretty much a win really. It would have been nice to think of a unified galaxy living on in peace and harmony, and maybe Bioware will adress this in the next DLC, but it could have been worse.

The ending was epic and emotional. Sheps self sacrifice to ensure that life at least continued was nerve shredding. It's the perfect hopeful tragedy. Hopefully future DLC will expand on what has gone before to show how the galaxy recovers and how it copes with the loss of the mass relays.

The best thing about the ending, though, is that we will all remember it.

[MrDragunov]

Bioware. Thank you for one of the most epic experiences i have ever went through. I played all 3 games in a row. And this was a lifetime experience. I laughed, cried, fell in love with the characters, worried and cheerd for them. This was a story i will never forget and would like to see continue and expand.

It is a shame to see all the criticism. And i feel very sorry for the developers who had to recieve it. Remember there are people who appreciate your talents and creative juices. Once again, thank you Bioware!

100/100

Modifié par MrDragunov, 23 mars 2012 - 09:46 .

[playdude29]

Mass Effect 3 - a mixed bag, but in a good way!^^

Love:

- Some of the new soundtrack (the dramatic theme with the Kid and some of the themes in the middle)

- Old Soundtrack, when you meet someone familiar (its fine in that case)

- All Gameplay improvements: flow, more weapons and customization, more powers and especially the enemy variety, which is actually made out of very diffrent enemies challenging you to use all your abilities right - Kudos!

- Design and Graphics: ME continues to be one of the visually most interesting franchises out there and I especially loved to walk into the Illusive Mans office, which is the prime example for the absolute best design in ALL of Mass Effect

- Continuing characters and story archs: Of course I want to know, what happens with the Genophage, Quarians and Geth and Protheans. Decision Making is the absolute icing on the cake for this, a galaxy at my hands

- New Characters: I really enjoyed Specialist Traynor and James and Fan Favourites: Captain Bailey and Aria (at least for me)

- The specific endings to the most important story archs, yeah I want to make this an extra point: I absoluty loved loved loved Mordin ending the genophage and Legion sacrificing himself to the Geth.

Like:

- Bonding with your squad. Why is this not under "Love"? Because I missed the longer converstions from ME2. In my mind the perfectly balanced game between story and gameplay. Also I didn´t need two thirds of my ME1 squad in ME3 as well. Garrus and Tali were already in ME2 and could have been imprtant characters outside of your squad. Oh God, whats this! Incoming Hate! I can feel it!

- Face animations: Strange point, I know. But they are important to Mass Effect. They are imressive enough, considering the obvious technical limitations. Just please license a new technology for your next game, Assassins Creed or L.A. Noire style!

- "Overall" Soundtrack: Yeah I already had soundtrack twice, but you reding this know as well as I do how important this is to Mass Effect. For ME2 I´d have to put ALL the soundtrack down under "Love" or even higher because "Love" doesn´t cut it. It was perfect and the best game soundtrack I ever heard. So now you obviously didn´t have the same amount of new Soundtrack for ME3 and some of the new Soundtrack was underwhelming in comparison to ME2 (though I suppose that´s very hard to beat). You really should have kept Jack Wall with all your might, instead of just reuse his work too often. It feels like a world of diffrence between ME2 and 3 to be honest. Thats because it was written for ME2. You want to be remembered for new, great sondtrack, right?

- Little side storys and quests: They were fine and often even interesting, but vague. A diplomat needs an artifact to inspire his people, a C-Sec Officer wants weapons, makes sense. My Tip: Limit the amount of side storys but have them be just a bit longer, showing the big diffrence you made. This is simple: A patient finally can walk again, a group of volus transports the artifact you gave them with awe and one of them says something like "Yeah, I´m not kidding you it´s really the artifact" into a little Monitor.

- Space exploration: Simplified and yet intensified, so only improved

Dislike:

- quest system is broken, just patch that plz, i think you know the issues

- the stripping of details from story lines and character developement. First a backhanded compliment again: Mass Effect 2 is my definition of perfect story telling in games. It just seemed focused, yet rich and was completely geared towards an end, that was like a dark, looming idea in the background until it exploded on the screen. Also the amount of added details on each story line was just perfect: Mordin gave a face and a voice to people in horrible yet responsible positions, just for example. In ME3 we learn right at the beginning, that the Illusive Man wants to control the Reapers. Later we learn he wants to do that with the Catalyst. And his vision is to harness everything the Reapers are. Okay, so is that it? This storyline should really be filled with details of what he expects future civilization to be like, of how he sees humanity at a raw, dumb stage (explained in detail), of maybe his personal backstory that he could tell Shepard in order to covince him, that he knows, what he´s talking about. It´s one of two major plots of the Game, but comes down to "I want to control the Reapers because they have so much to offer." This hardly developes throughout the game, you pretty much get his whole idea at the first conversation with him. It doesn´t matter much, that his ruthlessness gets displayed in later cerberus actions, because we already know, that "the ends justify the means" is his profession, philosophy and hobby.

- The smaller squad: I would have been fine if it would have just been an 8 people squad, with 4 completely new members (that you don´t have to pay for). I also wanted to chose people from my suicide squad, at least Jack, Mordin, Miranda and Samara. Make it optional, who of those guys can come along. As I already mentioned, I didn´t need 4 people from my ME1 squad, but your fans probably demanded it. Did nobody demand people from the suicide squad? Also every character really needed 3-4 longer scenes in which you cement your friendship with him/her. As I said: ME2 was perfect in that regard.

- Missing visual (or other) presentation of your war assets in the final battle. I just expected to see the diffrent soldiers and weapons in full effect. It really should have been unique for every player. I wanted to see my mercenary forces take on a reaper with the atomic rifle (what was it called again?) or something like that. Also my suicide squad which is ON EARTH should really have gathered again to punch a way through for Shepard. Thats what they call awesome.

Hate:

- Strong word but the ending deserves it. No Way around this one. Main issues:

- Vagueness: The God child says, that synthetics will always destroy organics and to secure a new chance for organics every 50000 years he lets the Reapers destroy them so they can´t even create the machines, that will kill them. Even if this very far fetched idea would be true, could the Child maybe be bothered to explain to us, why and how exactly it is, that synthetics will always destroy organics? That point is not automaticly clear to players, you know. Ironicly, the only machines the player knows, that threaten them, are the Reapers. And the only other example...

- ...the Geth, are working WITH organics right outside. So it is abolutely less than clear, how this constant threat to organics through their own creations works. It is almost absurdly contradictory.

- the choices need to be very diffrent from each other and the diffrence needs to be shown in a long long epilogue in detail. It is fine if you present us with choices that are all bad and good at the same time. But the way they are good and bad needs to differ drasticly. The synthesis option, for example does not need all Mass Relays destroyed, since they just send out a pulse combining all DNA. Equally the Control ending does not need the Relays destroyed, because why would Shepard do that? Instead it should show the Reapers leaving under the new control (like they do in the game) but then do something completely diffrent, maybe extract resources from all planets while constructing a mega-structure in space. Meanwhile their lights shine diffrently and they growl with a hint of Shepards voice in it, making you wonder, what he has become and what will happen. The destroy option should have been the one, where the Relays get destroyed. Then we would witness what the fleet at earth does, how the leaders react, including other planets like Palaven and Thessia. In two options (not the control one) we should see Shepard flee from the Citadel or at least giving him a heroes death at the citadel.

In conclusion the ending lacks logic, explanation, personal closure, actual diffrences (visibly!) and therefore personally left me cold, which is actually worse than hating it.

My review shall end on a positive note though, because for the most part ME3 is an amazing video game. It improves on most aspects, massively on some (combat!), falls short on some issues, but only in comparison to ME2.

My Rating: 80/100

[Krogangreetings]

mine:

http://www.rhythmcir.../mass-effect-3/

[showes13]

My Mass Effect 3 score: 90/100
What I loved about ME3 is the detailed story and how it all came together. I loved how you could form relationships with those on your crew, and your love interest. I thought it felt even more meaningful and deeper than the previous 2 games. I liked how we got to know Shepard, the fact that she is just human and she is dealing with emotional struggle as well. She was not just this superhero, but a real person who is desperate trying to hold it all together.
Up until the ending this was honestly the best game I've ever played, and I've played a LOT of games. None of them got me as involved where I felt like I was really part of it like ME3 did.
The reason the ending didn't do it for me is because of how dark it was. My interpretation is it was a dream in which she fight with reaper trying to indoctrinate her. And we are left to assume that after she either fights it off or gives in, she is dead and reapers win. Since we are not told otherwise, and it ends as such, I guess I don't want to just assume she gets right back up dusts herself off, and puts an end to the reapers for real. Unless we get told otherwise in future DLC.
My problem with such a grim ending is that it kind of ruins replay value, knowing that you are doomed no matter what. It also kind of makes me depressed. It's not like reading a sad book or watching a sad movie. Sure maybe I will cry after a sad movie, but it was only a few hours of my life and i will get over it. This game has had me involved over the course of several years and well over 100 hours of play. I am so much more attached to Shepard and ME universe than any character from movie or book. So it hurts so much more to know everything Shep has done was in vain and everyone is doomed.
I like how games let us escape reality for bit, and be a hero and save the world and feel happy. Let life teach us about the harsh realities, let games be our escape from that. Let them gives us hope, not crush it.

[wheeloftime32]

I give the game a 40/100. This is my first review so please bear with spelling and grammar.  I am going to rename mass effect 3, dragon effect 3.  I don't like how mass effect 3 has been turned into a casual gears wanna be clone.   If I wanted to play gears on my 6th xbox because they have all melted down I would.  Bioware you used to set yourself apart, with  deep engaging gameplay elements, and epic sweeping stories, but that is gone.  Now it feels like I am playing a wanna be hollywood action film, complete with plastic woman, and muscle head men.

I have been a long time fan of bioware. Mass Effect 1 was one of my favorite rpgs of all time.  It was full of awesome and epicness.  I have lost a lot of interest in bioware products after dragon age 2, and the trend has continued. Bioware products will no longer be a day one buy for me. I am going to wait and see what fan reaction is before I buy.  I mean no personal attack on bioware.  I feel bioware should care about making a complete experience instead of trying to break up the game and milk the game for all the money it is worth.  From Ashes is a prime example.  I know it was said it was made after, but my trust as a consumer is gone with Bioware.  As a consumer of your products, I am not happy. 

I think it is great bioware wants to flesh out the ending, but at the same time, its going to be 10 dollars a pop for something that should have been done to begin with.  These statements are leading into my frustation with the series as a whole.  As a gamer the industry said we are going to raise your prices 10 dollars due to increased development costs, and as a long time gamer since the 70s, I am seeing the gaming industry as a whole turning into a huge money grab.  Developers aren't worried about making deep engaging anything, they are there to amass as much money as they can and move on.  I feel very sadly bioware has fell into this category. It wasn't the halo, call of duty, or gears fan base that made as popular as you are. It is the RPG fan base that stuck with you through thick and thin. 

In Mass effect one a huge epic awesome experience for me. The premise of the repears were fantastic.  Everything about them was so misterous and awesome. The story ended in an epic finale.  Mass effect 2 came along and it completely dropped the ball.  Shephard became Doctor Phil, you learned nothing about the repears, you learned nothing about their origins, and at the end you were thrown some hastily put together idea of a humanoid reaper.  I left playing the game outraged at the ending.

Along came mass effect 3, and I was hoping because of the awesomeness of mass effect 1 that 3 would be awesome.  It was terrible for me. It was outright boring as an rpg player.  You knew every check point there was going to be waves of either repear or cerebrus troops, and I could tell you exactly when a banshee or an atlas would drop.  The game felt very scripted.  

It started off awesome on mars you get the blue prints for the weapon, but through out the game you learn nothing about the weapon.  Then shephard is once again going to pointless missions that have no bearing on tmoving the story forward.   You get a cutscene from hacket saying such and such group is going ot the crucible project. Then you get the "we are going to beat them line". I felt very very bored, but I kept playing hoping I would learn something about the repears, but you don't. You don't learn anything about them through out the whole game. 

You don't even know what the crucible is, and you have no idea what it is doing. All of the choices I made in one had no bearing on 3.  There was one epic moment in mass effect 3 for me. It is the moment you defeat the reaper and it talks to you.  I wish there were more epic one on one moments with reapers, and I wish I could learn how they came to be. The whole epicness that was instilled by mass effect 1 is gone. Mass effect 2 and 3 feel like hollow and empty action games.  I am beyond tired of shooters, and shooter clones. 

GRaphics I give a 7 too.  The unreal engine is dated, but it looks good. Where is the film grain.

Shooting mechanics are a mixed bag. I cannot tell you how many times I just wanted to back up, and I ended up bouncing between cover.  I do like how some of the weapons feel.  Good job there bioware

Audio is fantastic. I LOVE THE SOUND TRACK. The explosions rock on my audio system

Story 2/10  You dropped the ball in mass effect 2, and it continued in three.  You know nothing aobut the repears, the crucible. I would like to learn about the struggled older civilizations had with the reapers.  The ashes dlc was an awesome exaple of what I want to see. It was epic watching Prothean and reaper forces go at it.  The story line of cerebrus learning how to control reapers was pretty out there.  You are telling me out of the thosuands of cycles, someone how humanity learns how to control an infinitely more powerful race of beings.  That really kind of has no credibility to me. 

Multiplayer I give a -2 too. Yeah, a -2.  Bioware swore up and down you wouldn't need to play multiplayer to get a perfect ending. As a buyer of your products, I felt betrayed and lied too.   I did every single side quest I could find, and Iw as only at 3900 effect strength.  I had to play multiplayer to bumb it up.  It was not fun.  Another thing that annoyed me was this. AT the end my shephard decided to be level one again.  I ran throught he last few hours of the game lvl one because it reset my skills.  That tells you how meaningless the powers really are. I ran through it with a pistol, and a grenade like assault rifle.  

I know the dev team worked really hard on this, thank you for your countless hours away from your family and friends. I am not happy with the decisions in this game, and I hope I have spelled it out well enough for everyone.  

[wheeloftime32]

Dyrkul wrote...

I give it an F, 40/100
Disappointment is really not a strong enough word to describe how I feel after playing this game.
I didn't learn my lesson after pre-ordering Dragon Age 2, despite the awful game that it was, I still said, hey its Bioware and ME is their flagship, they can't drop the ball again, right? ....its clear Bioware didn't learn any lessons from DA2 either. Like DA2, nearly every aspect of this game screams either rushed production or lazy production.

Graphics:
You can get away with mediocre graphics if you have a compelling story, but when you don't, they become glaring issues. Most of the Textures and models appear to be completely recycled from ME2, but some even look like they're straight from ME1 (ie.  the red skycar on the Samara/Temple mission...pixelated much? Or Garrus' face - every cut scene you get to enjoy the blocky pixels of his face texture and the flat, normal map-less and displacement-free 'texture' of his scars). It leads one to question if Bioware is on such a tight budget they can't update models and textures, or do they just simply not care to about their PC users anymore and just shoot for the baseline graphics of PS3/X360? The Witcher 2 is over a year old, had compelling story and voice acting and it runs circles around the visuals in ME3 - I can't believe CDProjekt had more budget and cut less corners than an industry titan like Bioware working on its flagship game?

Many character animations are awful -  they look like pre-vis work rather than final sequences...actually scratch that, I know pre-vis artists who'd be embarrased by some of ME3's animation.

There are graphics glitches everywhere - weapons magically vanish in cut scenes. Shepard hands Tali a rock, and then it vanishes in the next shot. There's a random shot of empty air during the Councillor Udina's death cut-scene, Garrus completely vanished during a cut scene on Jacob's mission and became a disembodied voice when Jacob goes to greet him. Where was the QA?

It also appears that Bioware's artists spent more time up-rezzing EDI's breasts than they did fixing the lumpy face models, waxy flesh or dead eyes of every human Female, ie. Miranda, Ashley, Traynor...or giving Tali a face.

Which is really the point at which Bioware's lack of effort or time is most readily apparent. Quarians/Geth are integral parts of the ME series and yet in the culminating moment of their story, when Tali returns home and can take off her mask, we get....a cut-away so we can't see her face, and then she gives us a 'picture' for our cabin. This editing doesn't improve the story, this doesn't enhance the emotions of the moment (in fact, seeing Tali's face as she takes in a view of her homeworld would be a really powerful emotional beat), instead it says, Bioware didn't spend the time (seriously 1 week max for a modeler/texture artist) to do a 3d model for Tali's face and texture it. In fact, they apparently had only about 10 minutes to grab a stock photo, do a quick photoshop clone brush over some fingers, add a lens-flare, and ta-da! a picture of Tali...except, wait, Tali has hair?! So Quarians have lived in suits so long their immune systems have degenerated, but they've managed to keep beautiful flowing long hair? Yeah that makes sense. Lazy, rushed, whatever the excuse is, its still an excuse.

Gameplay -
Grenades! Cover system! a Melee weapon! Congratulations Bioware, you've almost reached Gears of War 1's level of functionality. And Shepard can jump! Oh wait, he can't actually jump except in pre-scripted points and moments...

Pre-scripted moments - Kai Leng, if I can't win, why am I fighting him? If no matter what I do, I can't kill him before a cut scene where he takes the Prothean VI, why not just give me a cut scene from the get-go? Thanks for wasting my time. I also enjoy running towards the beam in London, just to be cut down, no matter what I did. That was awesomely interactive too.

In ME2, many minor side quests had missions you could  go on, people to fight, or to outsmart or smooth-talk. Preachers, vorcha, quarians raising money for their pilgrimage...ME3 only does this with the ME2 character cameo missions, and the major side-quest, N7s. Like DA2, all minor quests are now errand-boy stuff only: pick up item, talk to person, reward. Though at least in ME3, the dialogue reactions actually deal with the specific quest-item instead of DA2's, "oh, so that's where I left that" response to returning the remains of a loved one.

Bypassing doors minigame is gone, and instead of something interactive, we get to watch Shepard hold out his omni-tool for 20 seconds...fun!

Normandy layout - the war room had to be separated from the galazy map by two halls and security screen that slows you down, and we have to walk this empty path over and over after every mission? Fun!

Money is so prevalent its useless in ME3. In ME2, it had value, we had to pick and choose which upgrades to buy, how many probes to get, when to refuel...now, other than the 3 spectre guns, you can buy/upgrade everything and still have funds leftover.

And now, to the story:
If M. Night Shyamalan and Michael Bay co-wrote a script it would consist of bad dialogue, little-to-no character arcs, boobs, explosions, big robots and then a "twist" at the end that makes no sense, in otherwords, it'd be Mass Effect 3.

Problem #1 is that the First mission of the game, Mars, basically gives you the solution to the game - the Crucible blue-prints, and the rest of the game is in a way, just wasting time until the Crucible is built. ME2 was about uncovering the purpose of the Collectors, and finding a way to stop them. ME1 was revealing the traitor, and stopping him. In ME3 there's no more mystery, there's no journey to discover the truth about the reapers, discover their origin and one weakness, you just build an army and return to Earth..and then the starchild shows up.

The dialogue is generally attrocious. There are a few gems in the familiar banter between crewmates, but the plot dialogue is expository and bad. Because the plot is really about wasting time, there's no sense of urgency or ticking clock, causing many of the emotional beats to be incredibly forced and unmotivated. Shepard's "dreams" and his overreaction moment with Joker after the Fall of Thessia are great examples - instead of being serious its laughable. He's so stressed that he went dancing with Jack, shooting with Garrus, and has drinks with James and Cortez?

The character deaths are another example of forced melodrama. In ME2, you had to work hard in terms of play to save everyone. In ME3, players have zero control in many places, I suspect, because the writers are using forced emotional beats to cover the lack of organicly developing ones within the plot. As a result the deaths are totaly forced and unintelligent. Mordin's death is no Gorman/Vasquez moment where they have no choice but to accept death and go out with a bang, instead he dies because he has to take an elevator to physically push 3 buttons on a virtual readout atop the tower? Huh?! I have an unshackled AI as a crewmate - you're telling me in the time it takes for Mordin to take an elevator ride up, calmly stroll in like the building isn't on fire, and push said VIRTUAL buttons, EDI couldn't have fixed the system ten times over? The same EDI who can read all human literature in a couple seconds at another point in the game?

Thane dies because despite being a crack-shot assassin, despite Shepard also being a crack shot, suddenly both shoot like Imperial Stormtroopers, and just forget about biotic powers. Seriously, bad-guys with Wakizashi's in a game with guns is silly. Kai Leng and the Phantoms were a joke, even playing on Insanity.

Legion dies because....I don't know. Geth aren't limited to their physical bodies, didn't I just do a mission to attack their server to stop the units in the field? The moment is so non-sensical that a Geth Prime has to show up and explain what just happened to Legion, and it still doesn't make sense.

The characters: In ME1 and 2, Garrus, Liara and Tali have solid and growing character arcs and relationships with Shepard. Ash was throwaway and still is. ME2 introduced Jack and Mordin, two of the most colorful and well written characters I've ever seen in a game. The rest of the crew, Grunt, Miranda, etc were also fairly complex, and getting to know them, and earn their loyalty was really the best part of the game. In ME3, character loyalty missions are non-existant, we get the crewmates power just by having a couple conversations and then thats about it. And instead of continuing to grow and develop the great characters of ME2, they all just get a lip-service cameo where they generally repeat things they said in ME2 and then vanish from the story, to be replaced by EDI and, the oh so creative: soldier with minor authority issues, Freddy Prince Jr. Loco indeed.

The final 'solution' -
So in order to stop intelligent organics from creating synthetics that will wipe out all organic life, the Catalyst/Repears are synthetics who periodically wipe out all intelligent organic life? This has to be the most inane story idea ever. And if the Citadel was controlled by this starchild/Reaper ally, the why didn’t he open the Citadel for Sovereign? Really, I don't want to get started on all the plot-holes this 'ending' creates.

The most shocking thing about this absurd concept is that the only character in ME3 with a major arc is EDI, a synthetic learning to live with organics and thus completely contradicting the Reapers, and the need for "synthesis". Was the plot writer unaware of the work being done on EDI's arc? And then there's the Geth/Quarian conflict, which is really the most important B-plot spanning all 3 ME games - its potential resolution of peace between sythetics and organics also completely and utterly contradicts the need for Reapers, and synthesis.

The criticism of the choices is pretty well documented elsewhere, but what the heck kind of mumbo-jumbo is a 'new dna' combining organic and synthetic? Joker has circuitry on his skin? On plant leaves? Gawd you guys were short in the idea department.

Bioware used to be a sure-thing, fun gameplay and solid, sometimes spectacular characters and story: Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, Jade Empire, KOTOR, etc, all leading up to Mass Effect 2. But after DA2 and ME3, I don't know if its the management/ownership of EA and their production schedule designed to churn out shooters rather than complex RPGs; if Bioware has lost their creative edge or seen an exodus of talent; or if they've just become complacent and lazy, but they are a pale shadow of what they used to be. It's truly disappointing.

You nailed exactly how I feel about this game. 

[Destr1er]

9/10
Some of my choices from previous games were ridden over roughshod. In a series where we were told that our choices mattered, this was a letdown.

I missed the iconic Mass Effect Music to start the game. The music in this game was great, and fit the game well. But I wanted a version of the old music from the original and ME2 in there somewhere.

The ending didn't offer the closure that I, and many players needed. We spent a lot of time with these games and characters, and would have liked an extended ending.

Overall I enjoyed my journey in the Mass Effect galaxy, just a few minor issues and one big one. (The Ending)

[smooshmonster]

Mass Effect 3 Review: I'll keep it short and to the point.

The Good:

The look and feel of the game has gone up a notch. As the game began, it drew me in almost immediately. As the game progressed, I continued to pick up all my favourite squadmates and catch up with them. It was well-written, and while the plot itself was nothing groundbreaking (it amounted, basically, to Dragon Age in space), it is a formula that works. Unite the world against a common enemy, build up your army, and fight the big evil. All of this while trying to do the right thing.

Some of the choices were amazingly difficult, especially on my first playthrough. But the game rewards you for making the right choices anyway, and that was brilliant. For example, I knew I needed the Salarian fleet, but I could not betray my friends and sabotage the Genophage cure. Another hard choice was between the geth and the quarians, but the game rewards you and, with enough paragon points, lets you save both.

Meeting all my old friends and companions through various quests was also an exciting bonus. If only I could choose who to recruit among them, maybe with a limit of how many can join my team. I would have gladly ditched Vega (who I found to be an underdeveloped character) for a chance to get Samara or Grunt back on the ship.


The Not so Good:

Even compared to Mass Effect 2, the game seems too short. The lack of real sidequests is unforgivable. The few sidequests that we do get are generally boring and mostly involve scanning a random planet for a random item that people want for random reasons. Replace that with actually landing on the planet and fighting through some random enemies, and I wouldn't have a reason to complain.

The companion dialogue also seemed limited and the lack of personal quests for them (besides: meet me on the citadel so I can whine) is a definite negative.

Gameplay wise, the game seems to have gone even further to trim down the RPG elements of the game. The journal was lacking. Hacking and bypassing were sorely missed. Locking out guns by class was a good idea in ME2 (although the "untrained" weapons in ME1 were even better). Removing this downplays the uniqueness of each class and reduces replayability even further. All in all, this is not a replayable game, and the ending is the main reason. I will get to that, however, in the Bad.

One button for everything. Is this because it is a console game? I am not sure, but it becomes frustrating when you press spacebar for everything. Press it overenthusiastically and you find yourself vaulting over a desk instead of ducking behind it, only to be killed because you idiotically jumped into the line of fire.


The Bad:

The finale was generally anticlimactic. I personally could've done without the crucible mcguffin. But I would have liked to see more of the final battle. Maybe it could have been more interactive. I could have seen everyone I recruited in small cut-scenes. I could have decided who to deploy where. The final run for the crucible was just as anticlimactic a final battle as you can get. I don't particularly want a boss fight. I didn't mind not having a final boss to fight, but if you're doing away with that, there should be something equally exciting in its place.

I wouldn't have minded a bleak ending, with Shepard dead and the squad stranded. In Dragon Age, I went for the Ultimate Sacrifice ending. But it was my choice. I knew I could have chosen something else. The game does not give you a choice, and that, for an RPG, is unforgivable. Regardless of how you've been playing all through ME1 and ME2, you get the same ending. We seem to be going backwards here.

Day 1 DCL: enough said.

Finally, the reapers didn't need an explanation. We were fine with them being the darkspawn on this world. They didn't need an ethereal AI to be in control of them. One thing that definitely doesn't work in roleplaying games (and I know, I'm a Dungeon Master) is having the big villain explain everything in a last-minute monologue. That's a rookie DM mistake.
And you know what else doesn't work? Railroading your players into an ending because you think it's "artistic".

[epeeist]

93/100 (despite problems)

Thank you, Bioware people, for a very enjoyable game and series of games and fictional universe. I will be replaying the entire series at some point (due to a hard drive crash on a previous computer it's going to take some trial and error to recreate my character's "look", I had done a quick runthrough with a default character prior to ME3 release to have savegame import).

ME3, ME2, Fallout 3 and Fallout NV are the only games I've bought pre-ordered collectors editions of and been entirely happy with that decision and replayed the games almost immediately after finishing them the first time. If I'd bought ME or DAO as a collector's edition (if there was one?) it would be in that group also, but to be honest DA2 not so much (worth getting, but not the same enjoyment and replay value as ME series, Fallout, DAO).

ME3 was far less open-ended than any of the other games noted above, but in context of what was happening that made sense. I enjoyed the game, I have replayed it once and will replay it again.

I am leaving my comments about the end to - well, the end of this post to separate out my positive & negative criticisms of the end from the rest of the game and since Bioware is working on it anyway.

Because I enjoyed the game a lot, I have much more negative criticisms because it would take too long to dwell on the positive, I include just a few specific examples.

Positive:

Enjoyable story, dialogue, characters. Learned more about the ME universe. Smooth play (very few bugs and those I had were fixed by reload or workaround on this site e.g. for the DLC watch videos in opposite order). I had fun and it was a worthwhile, enjoyable collector's item preorder purchase. On replay found that higher level of military strength changed some overheard dialogues (e.g. in FOB, 1st time through overhear marine being treated by civilian dying and civilian commiting suicide, on replay with higher EMS the civilian successfully applies a tourniquet to save marine's life and will try to hold on). Blasto movie dialogue. Interaction between powers made more sense/more fun.

Negative:

Too easy to miss out on things (conversations, quests, XP, upgrades). I understood the "priority" missions as you were supposed to do those ASAP, as a result of which I missed out on many side missions my 1st playthrough. I don't like multiplayer and don't have a tablet or iPhone so very much dislike the impossibility of getting enough EMS to get all varieties of endings even with an import (with my imported ME/ME2 character I got up to about 7100 military strength, with 50% readiness about 3550). Too many items & quests or miniquests relied upon e.g. repeatedly returning to the same Citadel location to hear all of a story (and get a SPECTRE console option), obsessive-compulsively checking every square inch of a mission map to make sure no weapon upgrades or medkits (giving XP also!) were missed, etc. When the theme of the game and mission is saving the galaxy, wandering the Citadel for conversation snippets, and on missions scrounging for upgrades and XP in isolated corners or backtracking just breaks the mood (so that on my first playthrough I just didn't worry about finding everything, and on a second playthrough I referred to a walkthrough because I didn't want to miss upgrades and XP but couldn't be bothered searching around).

Interesting

Insanity didn't seem insane. Don't get me wrong, egotistically it would be nice to think I'm that good at getting the insanity achievements (completing game and unwavering) but I think ME2 insanity was harder (maybe because of starting level 30?). Squadmate Liara singularity together with Sentinel Shepard throw meant only Brutes, Banshees and sometimes Ravagers or Harvesters were difficult (Marauders, singularity plus overload = shields down and floating, recharge is quick and then throw for a combo kill) given how quick the recharges were.

End: +/-

My reaction at the end of my first playthrough was something like "WTF", and I do think it should either have been more explicit, OR if the decision was kept to keep the ending mysterious, have a longer ending, so that in either case there was a "payoff". Even 2001 had a waiting room scene...(and on that note, I enjoyed 2001 much more on a 2nd viewing after having read a brief explanation of what was going on at the end!).

I think the ending was better than mine and others 1st reaction, but not as good as Bioware people thought. Those Bioware people working on the game and story for years would "get" things in a way that even longtime fans and players would not, and the ending was too weird to be that short (longer ending, even if still weird, and/or showing e.g. Humanity rebuilding on Earth, Asari rebuilding on Thessia, other races not just Normandy crashing would have given players more of a "payoff" and perhaps a few scenes dependent upon player decisions through the series?). Also some weirdnesses re plot e.g. I took Liara and EDI on last mission, and (presumably because they were my most-used squad?) they were the ones who were with Joker on the crashed Normandy?!

Second playthrough, I took James and Ashley to avoid that (and because Insanity, I needed shooters!), and the endgame dialogue made more sense.

However, as noted re EMS, with an imported ME/ME2 character (that obsessively did every possible quest including Pinnacle Station), and doing every single quest and sidequests in ME3 (on Insanity, I got "unwavering" achievement and reached level 60 in the endgame for that achievement), gave me enough EMS at 50% to get the 3rd ending choice, but still not (from what I've read) the options to have Anderson survive. That's ridiculous and I can only imagine how much more frustrating it would be for those not doing imported saves (so that they can't have e.g. both Quarians and Geth as allies, etc.) and the difficulty getting enough EMS.

Story/plot thoughts on ending:

Not strictly part of review, but given the "us" the catalyst is clearly synthetic and talks about created rebelling against creators and how the Reapers were supposed to be a solution to that, it seemed to me that the synthetic perspective might be that they came first and created organic life, and that periodic reaping was a means to prevent organics from becoming advanced enough to rebel against synthetics (their creators). The Crucible in that sense can be viewed as being like an incredibly complex computer designed to hack into the Citadel/Catalyst (hence the reason why Shepard is able to make choices and not be stopped, the Crucible is like a hardwired hack forcing the synthetic Catalyst to cooperate). Shepard is the organic champion leading a successful rebellion against the Creators, the synthetics who created organic life?

[The Flame Knight]

Final Score: 80/100

I ed Mass Effect 3 a lot...right up to the end. The main chunk of the game is a pleasure to play. You can see how choices you'd made have had an effect of the galaxy and, in my own experience, any character deaths that occurred felt appropriate for the characters in question. I came into this game feeling it to be totaly likely that Commander Shepard and other prominent characters would die to stop the Reapers. What I did not expect was to find such a lackluster and noncommited ending.

Allow me to explain - The first two titles each had a two-tiered epic finale which I personally refer to as 'The Crescendo of Awesomeness' This begins with the approach to the end and then ends with the fulfilling destruction of the final boss. In Mass Effect, this began with dropping the Mako almost right onto Saren and then the mad dash to the Conduit. It concluded with the battle against Saren and Sovereign with the apex being Sovereign's destruction, both through the destruction of Saren's mechanical parts and through the Normandy plowing right through Sovereign. In Mass Effect 2, prior choices played a part, letting you see how upgrading the Normandy helped with the push to the Collector Base, continuing on with carefully deciding who to help with certain sections of the base. The final battle with the human reaper and Harbinger felt intense and meaningful.

Now here's where Mass Effect 3 began growing shaky. It started off its ending well, showing the sheer volume of ships that show up. The lack of many forces I recruited for Hammer was remarkably large, despite the fact that I had over 80% readiness and tons of assets. I was looking forward to seeing my STG group, my Elcor units, and my merc army, just to name a few. Then we get to the push to the Conduit. We see a Reaper I assume to be Harbinger (I say assume because he's apparently become less talkative since Mass Effect 2 and doesn't say one word to me) who lands and uses the laser equivalent of a sucker punch on me. I am unable to really fight for the rest of the game. There is no final boss, no final battle with even Harbinger.

The final confrontation with the Illusive Man is reduced to a talking match and the final scene sticks out as being really out of place with regard to the rest of the Mass Effect universe. I understand that people have theorized that Shepard is being indoctrinated and that that fact is why the Catalyst feels so out of place. I can completely understand this as an interesting development, but I see it in no way as an ending. In a game series that has had glorious battles, the lack of a final boss is weak to say the best. It would have maybe not been as much of a letdown if you hadn't made such awesome boss battles throughout the course of the game - A battle with a Reaper who ends up getting taken down by the mother of all Thresher Maws and a pretty-much one-on-one battle against another Reaper. These set the bar very high for how grand the final battle would be, and the lack of an equally awesome or surpassingly-awesome battle is a disappointment. The lack of any final boss at all feels like a slap in the face.

As a side-note, I feel it would be a nice idea to allow players to increase their readiness rating without having to use the multiplayer or ios titles.