Yeah..the dev's did their thing. I came into this series on ME2 (since i had a ps3) and i was instantly hooked....alot of folks are still bent over ME3's ending ( i gotta admit, i thought the initial endings was lackluster just due to the epic scope of the story) but i felt that the extended versions answered alot of questions players wanted answered and the game was better for it.
That said, the journey in ME3 was still one of dread and hopelessness. At every turn you was taking a loss and for every step forward you would take 3 steps back and the situation was incredibly gripping and desperate. i have not seen another series where i have been constantly worrying about characters dying or cared about their well being...that is/was incredible character development and writing.
ME3MP was just the icing on the cake....i have played plenty of other games in between ME3MP...tomb raider, last of us, remember me, deadly premonition,..etc, but i have always come back to this addicting multiplayer. i play this thing almost on a daily basis. Bioware should be really proud of what they achieved here.