I'd like to post my opinion on Mass Effect 3, and on my Mass Effect experience as a whole. Now I'm fully aware that I'm not a regular poster in these parts, but I have multiple play-throughs accross both PC and Xbox and have avidly scoured through as much of the game as I can to find every little morsel of information. And I confess, I'm not 100% overjoyed with it all, but I am by no means disappointed either. In fact, on the whole, I can say I'll most likely go through the trilogy again in the near future (never done it all with a woman, oddly... that needs rectifying). So, to begin.
The Good
1) The general story. I have to admit, throughout the series, I've been absorbed. The atmosphere was built and built and throughout the whole of Mass Effect 3, you got a genuine sense that this was something big. Whilst there were a few missions that seemed to treat the Reapers as a secondary objective, the general feel of the game kept us in some form of suspense. I didn't find it overly cheesy as many 'unite everyone' genres can be, which is a sign of solid writing. It was no more an act of arrogant heroism than a clear act of desperation. We had to do what needed to be done and that showed throughout the game.
2) The characters. This isn't 100% positive, but I'll cover the bad bits later. Generally, the characters were well thought out, written quite well and interacted with each other far more than they ever did in previous installments. I loved it. It was brilliant to see old faces interacting with each other, chatting to new crew members and passing conversations with my Shepard. One of my main gripes for ME2 was the lack of character interaction. I'm pleased to see this addressed in ME3.
3) Shepard. I could have covered this with number 1, but quite frankly, I find that this would be better adressed seperately. In short, there were parts of the game that made me feel quite angry. Not at the game, or anything like that. It was simply a sensation that parts of the story brought about. I was quite pleased to see this same emotions being shown in my Shepard. A certain part of it angered me so much that for brief periods, my combat tactics completely changed from patient, controlled fights to all-out melee charges. I almost felt like I had to be wreckless to appease my Shepard. Adding to this, I enjoyed seeing how the strain was slowly getting on top of our leading man (or woman). As a primarily paragon Shepard, I wasn't prone to making tough decisions. It was all self-sacrifice and keeping the casualties down, so to see my 'holier-than-thou' Shepard struggling with his emotions was a welcome and understandable touch. He is, after all, only human. Decisions were neither good or bad, they were all 'for the cause'.
4) Home planets. For the most part, I thought it was nice to finally see what the other major species homeworlds were like. Naturally, you went to Tuchanka in ME2, but vsiting Palaven (ok... it's moon), Thessia and the brief stop at Sur'Kesh were all great additions to a long-awaited trip to Earth. I suppose, to some extent, once you've seen one planet burning, you've seen them all but I would have liked to have seen more of them in their glory. Still, what we had was nice.
5) Weapons. I love a good gun. I like to shoot things. I like to watch as I pour hundreds of rounds into an unsuspecting husk and follow it by reloading and repeating on another husk... and then running for my life as bullets seem to do sweet diddly squat to the banshee behind them! But generally, awesome alterations to this system. It's nice that some weapons had totally different sounds, as well as the looks when they were customised. I was also pleased to see the return of some familiar friends and welcome newcomers to the family (Raptor... yum yum yum). On the whole, I liked this. No doubt very similar to other games (Battlefield 3 springs to mind), but that doesn't make it any less welcome. P.S. I also like popping people's heads off. Nice touch!
6) Endings. Yes, I know, if you've made it this far (well done by the way, I'd have thought you'd be bored by now
) you're probably wondering 'how can this be in the good part'? Allow me to explain. From what I could see, there were several endings encompassed within the game. It's those endings that I liked. I enjoyed seeing conclusions to long running sub-story arcs. The genophage brought to a close, the Geth/Quarian conflict running it's course, annimosity between Krogans and Turians finally being overcome, Several characters (if they survived) finding closure in their own corners of the galaxy. These were all well written and well integrated into the main story. These little bits are what tempt me to go through the whole series again just to see the alternative outcomes. There are so many places, especially where the Krogan are concerned, where I could see some significant alterations as a result of my decisions.7) Multiplayer. This is a bit of a mixed bag if I'm honest. I enjoy it. It's nice that I can finally team up with friends online and shoot more things. It's also nice that it can be loosely connected to your own main game. After all, aren't we at war? More maps, more weapons and more classes please... well as long as you don't forget, you were a single player game long before you moved into teamwork
8) Prothean squad member. This was a clever touch really. Many misconceptions are based around our own imaginings of what we believe something prior to our own existance to be like. Now I'm not sure how everyone else perceived Protheans, but I always thought the were quite regal, peaceful and generally... nice. Especially when listening to some of the voiceovers on Ilos in ME1. I concede, Javik may be war-hardened having only ever seen the galaxy in a state of war, but he was certainly not cut from the mould of my own perception. And before you go pointing out that I was wrong, Liara was wrong too and she was a Prothean expert. What chance would I have?
9) Romance. Never played a game for romance until ME1. On the whole, it was a nice touch and I enjoyed persuing crew members throughout (even going through my sleep-around stage with one of my Sheps. Different woman every game? Sounds like a challenge! Or man... if you're that way inclined
).The Bad.
1) Character interaction. On the whole, this was a good area, but I found the lack of conversations ME1 style made it feel like I had less time to get to know my crew and was forced to progress my story quicker than I would have liked just to get their responses. I always enjoyed conversations with my crew in ME1 and 2 and was quite sad to see that many of the people in my squad were not really all that chatty. There have been a few years of stories that I'd like to have caught up on. Many of which would have lead to explanations of how characters changed from ME1 through to ME3. Take Ashley Williams for example. In ME1, she was a no-nonsense, kill it and deal with it later kind of girl. In ME3, it seemed like the lioness had become a kitten. Showed sparks of the attitude, but lacked feirocity she had previously. It's acceptable, yes, people change. But I never felt like I would find out why she'd mellowed.
2) ME2 absence. This covers a wide range really. I'm pleased to see a full engineering team working on my Normandy, but I was saddened by the complete absence of any of the 'new' faces from ME2. I saved Kelly Chambers and she never reappeared in ME3 (or if she has, I haven't found her yet). I was also sad to see that people like Mordin, Jacob, Miranda etc. Never properly join your squad. Ok, it's nice that ME1 buddies are back, but I haven't forgotten my ME2 ones as a result. Again, I'm not sure how this works out if some other characters die, but ultimately, I felt a bit robbed by the bit-parts some of my crazy Collector killing cohorts from ME2 were given.
3) Prothean DLC. Now I have to confess, I didn't like the idea of a day 1 DLC that we had to pay for. Day 1 DLC doesn't bother me in itself. We had the Cerberus Network in ME2, and that came with loads of freebies and genuinely well made content. And don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Javik and his interactions with the crew. But paying for it... that was a pretty dirty trick. It's been a long time since I paid nearly £40 for a game. And I can say, with a relative degree of certainty, that it will be a long time until I do it again. But to add another £6 or so on top of that for something that played a remarkably large part in the story for a DLC is a bit much. If this is a path Bioware/EA will head down, it may lose more than it gains.
4) Diane Allers. Point number 5 may also be relevant to this, but I'll keep it seperate. I actually liked the idea behind this. Even now, in modern times, reporters brave the front lines to get news back to the people at home. Why should this be any different? What I found to be a problem was that this didn't seem like it was utilised enough. The interviews she conducted didn't reflect on the story or get reported anywhere else. If Shepard is carrying the hopes of so many, surely there should be more playing throughout the galaxy? Why does the Citadel have the universe's most boring news reader when there's an eagle-eye on the Normandy, reporting on everything that's happening? Seriously, this aspect had so much wasted potential. And that leads me onto...
5) Unusued potential. Does anyone remember Haestrom? That star that's going supernova and nobody knows why (murdered your shields in ME2 if you waited around for a tan). This was one of the little bits on ME2 I was hoping would be brought to a conclusion. What could possibly cause a star to age billions of years before it's time? Anyone? That was just one of many smaller side stories. Did all of the collectors live on that station/ship in ME2? Some of the remarks in ME2 indicated that there was more than one collector ship. Shepard even displayed suprise at the ship being the same as the one that wiped out the original Normandy. Is that it from the collectors? I'm a tad gutted we didn't get to see Omega as well. It would have been nice to go back. Still, there will most likely be DLC, and there's a lot of areas they could explore. I shall wait and see how it goes.
6) One central hub. I'm aware that the galaxy is at war and trade isn't easy, but it would be nice if more places than just the Citadel sold things. I know most of the galaxy is being trounced, but still, the odd extra station would be nice. That said, this isn't a particularly big gripe. I just want to see more of the game.
7) The ending. I'm sorry Bioware, but I have to confess, the purpose of the main story arc ending has passed me by. I looked to that to answer the final questions. Can we win? Where did the Reapers come from? Is there an ending where we lose? But for every question that was answered, many more were asked. For a start, the Catalyst. How can the child be the Catalyst? It's circular. The child controls the Reapers, the Citadel is the catalyst, the child is the Citadel, the Reapers built the Citadel... and round and round and round... Now the rest of the ending, ok it's a little stunted, but it's not the end of hte world... although I wish that was one of the options. For the ending to encompass the scope of the game, there had to be a strong possibility that you might lose. You're up against something that outguns, outnumbers and outsmarts you at every turn and can make use of your dead as shock troopers. Tactically, you're on the back foot. Different degrees of victory/defeat based on your own game would have come over a lot better than the endings we have. I was left asking why Joker had left the field of battle, why my Shepard couldn't live happily ever after with his LI (even if this was a 1 in 1 million combination of choices that could lead to this it would have been enough), what the other characters went on to do, whether or not the other races were going to recover... I just felt as if the game had been maticulously worked through, and brilliantly written just for the ending to be tagged on as an afterthought.
Suggestions and Potential Additions.
1) Revisit Shepards past. I would love to visit the location you picked right at the very beginning of your ME1 story. I'd love to visit Mindoir or Elysium if only to see if there is a statue of me there
I'm not saying give us a prequel, but perhaps some DLC which would involve heading back towards where our Shepards grew up. Whether that's plodding around the slums of Earth, revisiting scenes of massacres or re-accquainting with people Shepard knew prior to ourselves taking control, I think it would be a nice touch. 2) A Return to some of the game's iconic locations. Ilium, Omega, Noveria (not just the multiplayer map), Feros etc. We hear so much about them, I'd love to see how the people I helped/doomed are progressing.
3) Exploring some of the untapped potential. There are still questions that need answering. Please don't leave them that way.
4) Character development. Good on the whole, but there's room for additions here. Whether this is just a case of fluffing out the romance or exploring more of a friendship with other crew mates, I'd just love to see more interaction.
5) More stuff. Did I mention I like guns?
In Cunclusion
I know a lot of this post will seem quite negative and maybe even inflamatory. I've tried to be as honest as possible. There were parts of the game I didn't like, but there were many more parts that I did. On the whole, the series has been unforgettable. I still enjoy thinking about just how much I can change if I start from scratch, and how everybody's story will be different. I know there's much more to explore in the Mass Effect universe and I hope that this is only the end for Shepard and not the galaxy as a whole.
Bioware should be proud. 99% of this series has been brilliant. I, for one, will be going through all of the content again, and probably more than once. And whilst I agree with many disgruntled fans regarding the final few moments, I wouldn't agree if I didn't care about the game. I don't want it to be let down by an ending which as far as I can see, is not on the same level as the rest of the game.
Told you it would be long. But as it is, it's only my opinion
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