In 2007, BioWare released Mass Effect, the first game in a new epic trilogy of action/RPG games. In 2010, they released Mass Effect 2, the second much-anticipated installment, to rave reviews. A week ago, they released Mass Effect 3, the epic conclusion to the trilogy.
Unfortunately, as many gamers have discovered, the galaxy does not end with a bang, but rather, with a very disappointing whimper.
NOTE: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS OF MASS EFFECT 3, SPECIFICALLY THE ENDING. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
Mass Effect 3 opens on Earth, as Shepard (the main character), is on trial for the events of The Arrival DLC, released after Mass Effect 2. Almost immediately the Reapers, a race of immense sentient machines who harvest all advanced life in the galaxy every 50,000 years, arrive on Earth and begin exterminating all life.
During the next 30 hours of gameplay, Commander Shepard is sent from one end of the galaxy to the other forging alliances, assembling the largest fleet in history, and constructing a superweapon called The Crucible and take back the galaxy. Along the way, he picks up allies, both old and new. Ashley or Kaidan (whoever the player saved on Virmire during Mass Effect) return as a squad member after a cameo in Mass Effect 2. Liara T’Soni returns as well after a stint as the Shadow Broker, an integalactic spymaster. Garrus Vakarian and Tali’zorah vas Normandy also return as squad members, making them the only ones other than Shepard to appear in all three games.
Filling out the rest of the roster are three new characters: James Vega, an Alliance marine voiced by Freddy Prinze Jr.; EDI, voiced by Tricia Helfer, the ship’s artificial intelligence, who is able to acquire a body; and if you buy the From Ashes DLC (which I HIGHLY recommend), Javik, a Prothean soldier (who has some of the best lines and insight in the game, and sounds like Djimon Honsu).
To facilitate the war effort, Shepard must gather ships, fleets, scientists, engineers, and raw materials from around the galaxy. Each of this is a War Asset, and contributes to the overall readiness score in the single player game.
Since the beginning of the Mass Effect Trilogy, BioWare has placed an emphasis on choice, giving players the option of choosing whether to be paragon (Good) or renegade (Evil), which can affect what options are available to you throughout the game and how non-player characters treat you. Over the past two games, those choices have had major impacts, and in Mass Effect 3 those choices will profoundly affect what options are available to you as you attempt to save the galaxy.
From a gameplay perspective, Mass Effect 3 is worlds better than it’s predecessors. Bringing over the best elements of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, while omitting the worst and modifying others, it shines from a command and control perspective.
Although I’m not much of a multiplayer guy, I have been enjoying the multiplayer quite a bit. Unfortunately, BioWare made the decision to link multiplayer matches to the Galaxy At War readiness rating, which affects what percentage of your War Assets you can use, and what ending you get in the single player campaign.
Speaking of which, there has been a great deal of controversy over the ending to Mass Effect 3. To put it mildly, gamers HATE it, and frankly I can’t blame them.
After approximately 120+ hours of gameplay, after carrying character save files over the past five years, BioWare threw everything that made the Mass Effect series so great out the window, forcing players to choose between three terrible options that had zero connection to the rest of the series’ gameplay.
THAR BE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! GO NO FURTHER, LEST YE BE SPOILED!
The cycle of the Reapers annihilating advanced civilization is explained as a response to synthetic life always annihilating organic life. By storing harvested organic life in Reaper form, and harvesting it at the apex of each civilization, the Reapers make way for new life to grow and develop, and prevent the creation of synthetic life.
The first option is the Renegade option, Control, where Shepard sacrifices him/herself to control the Reapers and save the galaxy. In this ending, Shepard dies.
The second option is the Neutral option, Synthesis, where Shepard sacrifices him/herself to fuse Organic and Synthetic life together in a new form of DNA.
The third option is the Paragon option, Destroy, where Shepard destroys the Reapers and the vast majority of technology in the galaxy.
Depending on your War Assets and readiness, Earth will either be destroyed or saved.
Depending on your playthrough, Shepard may live in a very brief post-credits cutscene, but only if you pick the Destroy option.
And, no matter which ending you choose, the Citadel and the Mass Relays are destroyed, crippling galactic civilization.
The controversy over Mass Effect 3‘s ending is that you are limited solely to the three choices presented. The whole point of the 120 hour Mass Effect exercise was emphasizing player choice. The whole point of Mass Effect 3 was to gather every force in the galaxy to take back Earth and defeat the Reapers. To be left standing at the end of the game with no way to defeat the Reapers without also destroying the galaxy seems almost cruel.
In giving the players so much choice and freedom to determine the course of the lives of the characters they have created, BioWare allowed players to become emotionally invested in their Shepards and their crews. The introduction of a deus ex machina at the very last second is lazy storytelling, and Shepard and the cast of characters BioWare created deserve better.. They might as well have had Shepard look in a glowing briefcase.
However, gamers are a resourceful lot. There are already plenty of new scripts that tie together all the disparate elements of the series, and others that work their way around it entirely. And, with the notable exception of those that involve Shepard on Shepard slashfic (which is just ten kinds of weird), they’re almost all universally better than what BioWare gave us.
SPOILERS ARE DONE.
So, how to judge Mass Effect 3? My first playthrough took me approximately 30 hours. Of that 30 hours, I enjoyed the hell out of the first 29 hours and 30 minutes. Great gameplay design, great story, etc.
The last thirty minutes will stick in my craw for a long time, or at least until BioWare fixes it, because it’s basically two Reaper-sized middle fingers to the entire fanbase, and everyone that played the whole trilogy from start to finish.
All that being said, I can’t wait to get back into the Mass Effect universe.
