It is not very often that there is a game franchise like Mass Effect and rarely does such hype surround a game like Mass Effect 3. Ever since the first games release in 2007, gamers have hailed the franchise as one of the greatest in gaming history and the third installment in the series holds true to that title.
Mass Effect 3 starts off on Earth where Commander Shepard has been stripped of his(or her) command of the Normandy and is being put on trial for his actions in the Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2. Before long, the Reapers attack Earth and it is up to Shepard to save the day. Along the way, you will have to break old grudges and bring an end to hatreds between alien races in order to get them to work together and join your cause.
The new engine has definitely made improvements in the graphics department. Aside from some pop-in and occasional frame rate issues, this is the best a Mass Effect game has looked. Character models, animations, and environmental textures are much improved from Mass Effect 2 and the signature film grain and Abrams style lens flares are still there as well.
Game play in Mass Effect 3 is more a reiteration of the previous game than a complete make over like Mass Effect 2 was. Level design is better this time around as there are more ladders and staircases giving the battlefields a more vertical feel and giving the player more ways to approach a firefight. Shepard can now perform rolls and jump across gaps making maps a breeze to navigate and getting from cover to cover is much easier than previous games. During your quest, you must gather war assets that add to your overall military strength which is multiplied by your galactic readiness percentage. The choices you are given to defeat the reapers are increased as your military strength gets higher. Side quests have a lot more weight to them due to the Galactic Readiness mechanic. The more side quests that you complete, the more war assets that you can attain. Major characters will also make appearances in these side quests giving you even more incentive to do them. Multiplayer makes it’s Mass Effect debut in this game. Players are given six maps and three enemy types to choose from and the only game type available is most similar to Gears of War’s Horde Mode, sending increasingly powerful waves of enemies at a team of four players waiting for extraction after wave 10. Multiplayer also adds to your galactic readiness rating but is not necessary to attain the recommended military strength of 4000 or more making it completely optional. The mining mechanic from Mass Effect 2 makes a return, but has thankfully been heavily streamlined to waste the least amount of your time as possible.
The story is still of the superb quality that we have come to expect from the Mass Effect franchise. In traditional Mass Effect style, the story starts us off at a rapid pace and doesn’t slow down until the satisfyingly epic final act. The choices that you have made in the first 2 games still effect how the story plays out in this game making for an incredibly deep and engaging story experience. It is remarkable how Bioware has made the characters that you have met along your journey feel like old friends at this point in the trilogy. It is a level of interaction that no series has brought to us until now and it is for these reasons that I highly recommend playing the first two games before diving head first into this one. If you don‘t, then you will not fully understand the gravity of the decisions that Shepard has made and the game will be a reasonably shallower experience as a result.
Bioware promised us an epic trilogy that’s story would be affected by our actions and choices back in 2007. Bioware has finally delivered on that promise with Mass Effect 3 and it is a gaming experience like no other. Mass Effect 3 satisfies in every way above and beyond what I could have hoped for and keeps Mass Effect at the top of my list of all time favorite games.
Overall score: 10/10
