Mass Effect 3
Smokin' Reapers
Review I had my doubts whether any game could live up to the amount of hype seen surrounding Mass Effect 3’s release. I shouldn't have been concerned though, I love it. The twisting compelling narrative; the authentic character interaction; the seamless integration of cut scenes and action and, last but definitely not least, the awe-inspiring attention to detail. All these things make me invest my emotions in Lucy Shepard; becoming immersed in my own unique and intricate narrative.
Muck spread
Those of you who didn't play the previous instalments of Mass Effect not only missed out big time, but without previous knowledge of earlier parts of this complex overarching trilogy you could easily end up confused. The essence of Mass Effect 3 is that I am plunged into an all-out galactic war to take Earth back from the nearly unstoppable nasty bio mechanical Reapers.
Every 50,000 years the Reapers awake and exterminate the universe of all intelligent life in a rather nasty cycle of destruction – The Matrix anyone? As Commander Lucy Shepard, I have warned the-powers-that-be of their imminent arrival, and now the Reapers are here I am the only one who can save Earth from annihilation. Dealing with pesky Cerberus and a bunch of infighting alien races while saving the world isn't a one woman job either. So, having my team of elite, battle-hardened militia definitely makes life easier in the face of such overwhelming odds.
Robo smoke
The longer I played Mass Effect 3 the more I recalled conversations and characters from the first two instalments. Consequently, I am convinced that you need to have played them to get the most out of Mass Effect 3. This latest episode is tying up something that is very much a trilogy and, to really appreciate the interconnected narrative, you need to have some sense of your former role in the multiverse. Indeed, Mass Effect 3 reinforces this sense of previous history, as it allows character data from the last two games to be imported so you can carry on your unique story – quite a selling point.
My time on Mass Effect’s earlier versions has all been spent on a PC, but having been sent a PS3 copy I decided to start as a new recruit. I figured in the long run this wouldn't detrimentally affect me or my storyline, as it's the character that's imported and not the stats or equipment. To be honest, the Mass Effect 3 multiverse is so deep and complex – and I have played a wealth of different characters in different universes between Mass Effect 2 and this instalment – that I am almost glad decisions that I can't remember aren't coming back to haunt me.
Who you callin' four eyes?
Having completed the demo on PC, I go into a seizure at the flickering low frame rate on the PS3 version. If you invest in a console version of this game you’re doing yourself and the game a massive disservice because the Mass Effect 3 multiverse and everything in it is stunning – that Unreal Engine 3 just keeps giving. Admittedly, the graphics don't compare to Skyrim but there will be a heatwave in Tamriel before anything does.
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COMMENTS
Of course, what you could do is buy ME1 and/or ME2, which you can now get for cheap, and thus learn the story from the start. Then, if you like them, you could buy ME3 at a later date - which, by that time, will also be available for cheap. Thus you will get the whole trilogy for less than the price of ME3 today. I'm too good to you people ;-)
Re: I completely agree
I know right, the build up to the end was amazingly well put together, except for the fact you somehow end up wearing clothes you never wore and your armour vanishes, go up, have a chat with the [spoiler] and then sit watching planet [spoiler] with [spoiler], that would have been the perfect place to end the game with a long CS, with the Catalyst firing off and doing it's thing as Shepherd and [spoiler] die together. Then they could have fast forwarded to a couple of years in the future and show the results of your hard work.
Tali on planet [spoiler] wearing a hat as a Geth tends to her garden.
Liara and the Prothean (if you have DLC) exploring old Prothean ruins together.
The 2 Krogans having military drills with Garius whilst Krogan women watch on holding babies
(or cutscenes depending on which chars are still alive and the choices you made through the series).
Since 2007 we have been investing ourselves in the "lives" of our character and his/her comrades, the ending we got was weak, weaker than weak, it's no longer a matter of "oh, I so want to try X in 1 to get Y in 2 so I get ending Z in 3" it's "meh, not even worth playing again, the endings are just so bad".
I've played and completed ME3 and the ending destroyed the entire series for me, totally and utterly ruined any replay experience through ME1-2 to try different scene endings for ME3. For instance, in ME1, don't save the council, in ME2, kill half your crew, does that have any effect on the ending for ME3? Nope, none of the choices you made in ME1-2 actually matter when it comes to the ending of ME3, you get the same 3 "options" all of which suck, it's almost as if BW couldn't think of a way to end the game.
It was supposed to be a final that answers all the questions and closes the story on what has been an epic adventure, it left a bad taste in my mouth and a "what the fuck?" as the only question answered.
Don't get me wrong, the game itself was fun, it's just the ending, that horrible ending that ruined everything I had done over 3 games, 5 minutes worth of gameplay totally screwing over hundreds of hours worth of gameplay, choices, hard decisions....
I had planned (after beating ME3) to work a new ME1>2>3 char going "renegade" to see the effect on how the story ends, now I'm just going to delete ME3 because it has NO replayability factor, none, zero, zilch.
Re: Not sure on this
> PC version suffers from Origin - I have Steam on it, been told you can't have both.
Whilst Origin is a steaming shit sandwich that EA has kindly rammed down our throats for no fathomable reason, it does co-exist with Steam without problems.
