Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months or so, chances are you’ve heard of quite a stirring in the Mass Effect community. The release of the final installment in Shepard’s trilogy has caused quite a controversy in regards to it’s ending, in how fans received it and the complications of ‘artistic integrity’. Perhaps partly because of this, it’s easy to see how Mass Effect 3 has some of the greatest highs and lows of the trilogy so far. However, BioWare’s finale to this trilogy has a lot more than just controversy going for it.
Spoiler Alert: There are (minor) spoilers of Mass Effect 1 & 2 in this review. You’ve been warned.
Mass Effect 3
Developer: Bioware
Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360 (reviewed)
Story
For those new to the series, Mass Effect is about the eventual coming of a robotic space-faring army, known as the Reapers, to wipe out the galaxy. There is little known about this mysterious race of synthetic lifeforms, only that they make an effort to wipe out galactic races in cycles of about 50,000. As Commander Shepard, you are responsible for uniting all the forces of the galaxy to retake Earth, which is captured by the Reapers early on in the game. If you haven’t played the previous games, BioWare has made sure to make the experience available for everyone, so you just as easily start from this game.
For veterans, this will feel right at home for you, and all the decisions that you’ve made through the first and/or second games will carry through your import of your Shepard. Many of the game’s plot arcs are extremely satisfying if you took the time to play the earlier installments of the series, and familiar faces will show up everywhere. It’s quite impressive how much BioWare has been able to tie everything together. Romances also continue, in addition to new ones and for the first time in the series, male homosexual relationships. Choice has always played a part in BioWare’s games and it’s nice to see them opening more options up for Shepard.
It should be mentioned just how amazing of a task BioWare has been able to pull off by integrating so many of the game’s previous choices in interesting ways. Each mission can vary in dozens of ways with different characters or events based on who lived or died in previous games, among many of the other choices you could have made. It’s absolutely astounding and should be applauded.
All of this being said, despite some areas of truly fantastic narrative writing (it literally made me cry at points), Mass Effect 3 also contains some rather confusing parts, the most significant being the ending. Without spoiling anything, the majority of people are upset that it feels like the ending has nothing to do with the choices made throughout the series, even the ones in this game. This is puzzling, as Mass Effect has always been about choice to some limited degree, and to not have any say or any significant variance in the ending because of your choices is bound to disappoint invested players.
There’s really nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said at this point, as I can’t really speculate what was going through the minds of the developers, who had to have had a reason for it all. Since then they’ve announced plans for the free Extended Cut DLC but we’ll have to wait until then to see how fans appreciate it. As troubling as the lack of information has been from BioWare, I suspect newer players won’t care as much, and really, up to the end, the game is really a blast to play.
Gameplay (Single Player)
Gameplay has seen a few changes since Mass Effect 2, particularly the more refined combat. Shepard can now roll in any direction, jump across pits and is altogether more agile. Each of the game’s 6 classes has been extended with new abilities and additional levels, featuring branching evolutions that make your choices more interesting and adaptable to your playstyle. Weapons can now also be customized with mods such as scopes, extra clips and more – not necessarily original but it does add another layer of depth. While at it’s base it remains as a third-person cover shooter, it feels like the best combat the series has offered yet.
The main objective in Mass Effect 3 is the collection of War Assets for the inevitable last stand against the Reapers, as you go out to complete missions and side-missions, you will unlock new forces based on the choices that you make. Playing the game’s multiplayer missions will also contribute to these assets, which, despite what BioWare has claimed, is pretty much required unless you completed prior games with all the ‘correct’ choices. Still, if you want the game’s ‘best’ ending, you’re going to need to recruit a lot of help, one way or another.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a BioWare game without their signature dialog trees, and the simplistic “wheel of choice” hasn’t changed much. I did notice that this time around a lack of “neutral” choices in comparison to previous games, most times offering either the “Paragon” (altruistic) or “Renegade” (selfish) options and nothing in-between. This made conversations feel a bit more linear but I can understand why the middle ground was taken out in some situations – the galaxy is at war, after all. Given the number of choices that the game accommodates for, it would make sense if the developers didn’t have the time to add a middle choice for every conversation.
In-between missions you can roam around your ship and talk to your squadmates, who will progressively tell you more about themselves. What’s different this time is that characters will actually move around the ship between missions and have conversations with others. The game benefits greatly from this and it always brought a smile to my face to see camaraderie amongst my space-faring, galaxy-saving crew.
The galaxy is as large as ever and you’ll get plenty of opportunities to fly around and explore, however this time, there’s less overall interaction, which is disappointing. I can understand that with the galaxy at war there’s no time to stand around mining minerals, but the scanning system has been simplified such that a press of a button will sweep nearby planets looking for anomalies and other things of interest. To be honest, I wasn’t actually that adverse to the scanning minigame in the second one as a good pacebreaker. It feels like this mechanic could have been evolved in a more engaging way – perhaps strategizing with other forces to do the harvesting, in turn helping the war effort?
Gameplay (Multiplayer)
Multiplayer has also been introduced for the first time in the series, the mechanics of which will seem fairly familiar if you’ve ever played a Horde mode type game, however BioWare has added a few of their own touches that actually make this a great addition to the game.
Players work in groups of 4 to survive 10 waves of attacks by a specific enemy type, with objectives such as special target killing and device hacking popping up on the 3rd, 6th and 10th round. After the 10th round, you’ll be “extracted”, essentially requiring you to be at a certain place on the map before the timer counts down. The cool thing about this mode is that you’ll be able to choose a character from one of the 6 types of classes featured in the single player game and not only that, you can eventually unlock different races like the Asari, Turians or Krogans, etc. that each have their own abilities and strengths. This gives the combat a great deal of variety as each character only has 3 abilities (unlike the 5-7 you get in single player), but generally the chosen three that a class/race combo has has good synergy.
Unlocks for new classes and weapons in Multiplayer are akin to a trading card-like system, where credits earned from games can be spent on several tiers of “booster packs”, each containing items ranging from common (such as stat-boosting equipment lasting only a single match) to rare (new races for each class, etc.). The system is randomized too to give it a bit of an addictive feel. It’s a clever tactic and can easily give you the feeling of “just one more pack” addiction. It is, however, complicated by the fact that players can also spend REAL money on these packs, meaning that EA and BioWare are betting on your time being more precious than your money in order to unlock everything the multiplayer has to offer.
Now, I wouldn’t mind this “free-to-play” adopted system except for the fact that consumers still need to pay ~$60 for this product. Time will tell if all the money invested in the game’s multiplayer by players will perhaps lead to free downloadable content, but for the moment I’m worried about the success of this system and what it may lead to in future titles. There’s a reason it’s called “free-to-play” and not “pay-to-pay”.
Presentation
On the presentation side, the series has never looked better on the Unreal Engine. This game oozes sci-fi and takes a page from J.J. Abrams as the amount of lens flares in the galaxy verges on the point of ridiculousness. Still, the galaxy looks and feels alive and varied from one planet to the next. It’s truly to the developer’s credit how much of a universe has been built and displayed in this series and how unique each civilization looks. You’ll never get tired of seeing more and it will keep you wondering what is next.
Voice acting is top-notch, as one would expect of BioWare and as the stakes are so high, you really do get to see how the stresses play out on characters. Running around your ship to listen to your crewmates interactions is an absolute treat and should be done whenever possible.
The music in the game is arguably one of the best soundtracks you’ll in a game, capturing the emotional intensity of the Reaper invasion perfectly. If you don’t take a chance to stop and listen for a few minutes, you’ll be missing some of the finest scores that this industry has offered yet. Sounds from guns each feel unique and enemies have that satisfying crunch when they hit the ground or explode.
The Final Word
BioWare’s grand trilogy comes to a close with what some might call a whimper on this mighty series. However, the game can’t be judged solely on it’s ending, and while perhaps not as vast as Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 has some of the most emotionally engaging moments in the series. For the most part, the storytelling is spot on and it’s nice to see some of the major plot threads of the series come to a close. Combat is fast, has tight controls, and offers some of the best variety that the series has had to date. Even the multiplayer mode, “Galaxy at War”, while not essential, is a blast to play and has been well-balanced. While diehard fans are bound to be upset by the game’s conclusion, the experiences I had before the last 10-ish minutes of the game were spot-on. Only time will tell what will happen to the game’s ending in the Extended Cut DLC expected out later this summer.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
