Mass Effect 3 is the third, and final installment (so they say) of the Mass Effect trilogy. The first chapter of the franchise, Mass Effect, was released back in November 2007 by developer Bioware under Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360, and PC. The game’s story, love scenes, in dept galaxy back drop, characters, and the ability to make choices that would effect the game itself were praised by critics, and fans alike. However the game did spawn some criticism from some players who felt the game’s combat system as clunky, RPG system being too complicated, and the side quest missions which were not part of the main story line, and involved exploring planets were monotonous. A dislike was especially made known for the game’s ground base vehicle, the Maco (ah we remember the Maco so well) for it being to awkward to maneuver. Many defendants of the game credit these critisms as originating from people who don’t play RPG games, and as such don’t understand the system for which these genere’s of games are based on. They also credit the negative comments as being made by people who seemed to try, and play the game as a third person shooter as the game really isn’t. Defending the Maco however was not as strong. It was pretty much not liked by both supporters, and opponents of the game alike. Poor Maco : (. Regardless of the complaints, the game garnered a huge fan base, and many were anxiously awaiting the sequel.
The wait ended world wide in the first quarter of 2010 with the release of Mass Effect 2 on Xbox 360, and PC with a PS3 version released in January 2011. This time around Electronic Arts was the publisher.
The second installment received huge acclaim which caused the fan base to grow even larger. Bioware had seemed to have listened, and actually had done something about all the complaints about the first game, and released a game with much smoother combat gameplay, a simplified RPG system, and revamped the planet exploration mechanic by allowing players to scan planets instead of landing on the planets. By doing so they did away with the unpopular Maco. The game had Mass appeal (see what we did there? Ha!) which drew in players in that would not have normally played an action rpg game. With the huge success of the game, the lore of Mass Effect expanded into books, and comics which gave readers more insight into the Mass Effect universe. Also Bioware released a plethera of downloadable content which extended the games already high replay value. You were hard press to find too many gamers who played the game, and say it was not a strong candidate for game of the year. Well maybe not to hard pressed.
While the second installment was praised by many, a good number of core fans of the first game screamed foul with the decision to “streamline” the RPG element of the game. They found the new RPG system to be too “dumb downed” from the first game, and claimed Bioware had “sold out”, and made the second game more of a shooter then an RPG to appease a wider audience. Fans seemed to have blamed Electronic Arts for Bioware changing the game as they did, and worried the franchise was doomed. This notion was not helped much, in fact it was made worse, by the release of Dragon Age 2. The response to the game was heavily negative from fans of the first game. As such this only served to further fuel the theory that Bioware as a developer under EA was going down hill, and that Mass Effect 3 would not be the masterpiece many anticipated it would be. However one thing that critics, and fans of the game agreed on was that the story of Mass Effect was one of the best in gaming history, and if anything the third, and final installment must be played just if not for anything else to see how the story concludes. Enter Mass Effect 3.
The highly anticipated third charter was released on March of this year on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Questions filled players minds as they picked up their pre-order copies, and patiently waited for their download of the game from Origin to be completed. Will the game appease the worries of some who felt EA would hamper the quality work shown by Bioware over the years? How would all the decisions made by gamers who played, and completed the first, and second games impact the third game? Would Bioware go back to the intricate RPG system that made Mass Effect a hit with RPG players, or would they stick to the streamlined system of the second game? How would the epic story end? Will the game just completely suck? We’re here to give you our answers to these and many other questions with our take on the final installment of one of the most talked about franchises in gaming history. So lets get to it.
Story
The game starts off with our hero, Shepard being detained by the Alliance (for you Trekkies, think Star Fleet) for his / her (depending on what sex you chose) actions in Mass Effect 2. Shepard is then called to meet with the Alliance Defense Council as two outposts in Earth’s outer galaxy have gone dark with no explanation. It is quickly revealed that the reason no word from the outposts have been heard from is that they have been destroyed by a threat Shepard has been warning all who would listen is coming since the first Mass Effect game, the Reapers. The Reapers are highly advanced sentient AI from dark space who every 50, 000 years come, and wipe out all life in the galaxy. One of the planets the Reapers first attack is Earth which is caught completely off guard as Shepard’s warnings about the impending invasion for the most part fell on deaf ears. The Alliance forces are overwhelmed quickly and it is up to Shepard to get help for Earth.
Shepard is aided in his / her quest to save mother Earth by some familiar allies from the first, and second Mass Effect games as well as a few new ones. For you Mass Effect vets, these allies, and squad mates include some fan favorites like Joker (no he doesn’t save the day by limping to the rescue this time around), Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Jack, Grunt, and a certain Asari Archeologist (screen shot below) are just a few who have made the game’s roster.
The main focus of the game is Shepard’s quest to get help from alien races across the galaxy to defend Earth as the theory is if they do not take a stand, and stop the Reapers from wiping out all life on Earth the galaxy as they know it is doomed. The alien races you are trying to obtain aid from are also being attacked by the Reapers as well. Their priority is saving their own home worlds which is to be expected. So when Shepard arrives, and asks them to send forces to help save Earth you can pretty much understand why their initial response to Shepard’s request is…”Umm yea…go f*ck yourself. We got problems of our own”. So its up to Shepard to persuade them that helping to defend Earth is the only way to put an end to the Reaper threat. In order to do so Shepard must complete missions, and favors asked by the alien races which will shift their support in Shepard’s favor, and inevitably have them send the needed reinforcements to Earth. These favors, and missions are not easy, and frequently one favor leads to another, and another, but Shepard has to do what Shepard has to do.
Now of course you could choose to screw some of these races over as it would be in the benefit of some of the other alien races to not complete a favor or two from a rival race who in turn would gladly give you their support in doing so, or not doing so as the case sometimes may be. The choice is totally up to you. Beware though. Your choices have consequences. You screw one race over to appease another, and you might lose assets you may regret not having, or worse cause a fight to happen between you, and a race.
Now if trying to get all these races to help you out to defend Earth wasn’t enough of a challenge, you soon discover that there is a another faction hampering your attempts to rally the galaxy together under one cause. Ironically it is the pro-human group, Cerberus. Former “associates” of Shepard who he / she worked with in the previous game, and is one of the main reasons the Alliance was detaining Shepard in the beginning of the game. At first it is unclear as to why a group who is strongly for the advancement, and human dominance of the galaxy would try to stop you from saving the planet where all humans originate from. Later in the game Cerberus’s true goal is revealed, and its up to Shepard to deal with this threat, and bring all the support he / she is able to muster to back to Earth, and end the Reaper invasion once, and for all.
