Mass Effect 3 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. Top 5. Top 3. Maybe the best.
There is a lot of discussion on what doesn’t work in ME3, and most of it is fair and true. The ending is bad. Miserable, really. But it has the skeleton of what could have been a great ending. Cut the game 5-10 minutes shorter, lose the tri-colored beams, and you have a dying Shepard sitting next to his mentor and father figure Anderson, taking that last, long break they have been needing. And right before, in the original ending, your two squad member choices burning into ash from the reaper’s blast. A tragic spin on the choice, for me at least, killing my two favorite characters who I took with me for one last fight. The one time I shouldn’t have.
Gameplay in ME3 has stepped up again. Visuals, animation and writing are at their peak in the third installment - reaching the top of an already tall mountain. The inclusion of multiplayer seemed tacked on when announced, but it was a great time. Shockingly, it still holds up.
But the writing is what rises above all else. A culmination of characters and choices over a 100+ hour trilogy, as a final installment is has the ability to write some final stories. And it does with precision.
Mass Effect is the gold standard for characters in games, and ME3 goes beyond. It is deep, harrowing, funny and ambitious, even if some choices were made with monetization in mind.
I’m wrapping up my final play through of the series right now. This game still rocks.
There is a lot of discussion on what doesn’t work in ME3, and most of it is fair and true. The ending is bad. Miserable, really. But it has the skeleton of what could have been a great ending. Cut the game 5-10 minutes shorter, lose the tri-colored beams, and you have a dying Shepard sitting next to his mentor and father figure Anderson, taking that last, long break they have been needing. And right before, in the original ending, your two squad member choices burning into ash from the reaper’s blast. A tragic spin on the choice, for me at least, killing my two favorite characters who I took with me for one last fight. The one time I shouldn’t have.
Gameplay in ME3 has stepped up again. Visuals, animation and writing are at their peak in the third installment - reaching the top of an already tall mountain. The inclusion of multiplayer seemed tacked on when announced, but it was a great time. Shockingly, it still holds up.
But the writing is what rises above all else. A culmination of characters and choices over a 100+ hour trilogy, as a final installment is has the ability to write some final stories. And it does with precision.
Mass Effect is the gold standard for characters in games, and ME3 goes beyond. It is deep, harrowing, funny and ambitious, even if some choices were made with monetization in mind.
I’m wrapping up my final play through of the series right now. This game still rocks.