Geek Syndicate
GAME REVIEW - Mass Effect 3 (XBOX 360, PS3, PC, Mac)
will understand it when I say that I have some issues with the last 5 minutes of a 25 hour playing experience, but they’re in the delivery of the ending, not the actual content, and you know what? 5 minutes of 25 hours, I can live with that. So, let’s talk about the actual game, shall we? I remember buying Mass Effect, back when it was only available on the Xbox 360 in 2007 or 2008 and the franchise wasn’t the huge juggernaut it since became. I quickly fell for it, and the promises it made, both as an original Space Opera background with a sac kload of potential, but also the daring concept of saving your save game so your decisions (some of which are life-anddeath for some characters) would carry forward to new instalments. The biggest decision was of course buying it for the xbox, not waiting for the PC version. This decision and turned out to be only reason that, by 2012, my xbox is still sat, dust-covered and forlorn, underneath the TV, waiting for Mass Effect 3 and the chance to be played with again. Mass Effect 2 followed on, heavily overhauling the games mechanics, whilst sending the main plot off down an extended, character heavy sub-quest which didn’t really seem to fulfil that promise outside of a few dialogue lines and some returning cameos, introducing a swathe of new characters and expanding the universe without seeming to move the main plot forward that much. The main plot of course being that the galaxy is threatened by ancient, massively powerful machines that are due to pop by soon for a cup of tea, some biscuits, and the extermination of all space-faring species. So when Mass Effect 3 starts with you fleeing the Earth as it comes under massive assault from ancient, massively powerful machines, seeking to rally the races of the Galaxy and deploy an equally ancient and (hopefully) massively powerful super-weapon to save it and everything else, it really feels like this is the game you were promised. The game starts out by playing for the highest stakes and never let’s up; the fate of whole planets, alien races and civilisation itself really does seem to ride with you in your little ship, flitting across the Galaxy chasing leads and cries for help. Ironically the greatest strength of ME3 may also be its greatest weakness. Everywhere you go, nearly everyone you meet, is someone with history. Cameos abound, references to previous games - to decisions you made, but other may not have - come thick and fast, characters appear who may be dead to other people, relationships and outcomes are fundamentally affected by the baggage you carry (Players not importing old saves won’t be presented with the same characters though, unknowns may well replace them! – Editor). For me, its a wonderful thing, knowing that the game my wife will play, the game
Developer: Bioware Publisher: Electronic Arts
The Review:
Endings are hard. Ask yourself, how many trilogies fall apart in their third act? How many films or books end anticlimactically?. How many great, great computer games fall at that last, climactic boss fight, once you’ve got all the weapons available, or out-leveled the content and it becomes a routine thing really, to swat him aside and watch the end cutscene? With all the internet drama and commentary around the ending of Mass Effect 3 that’s blown up since it was released, do we have to add it to that list of series that gets so close to greatness but just can’t reach it? Well this is a review of the game, and I intend to keep it pretty spoiler free, but I can’t really avoid the ending “issue” so for those of you who have finished the game, I hope you
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