Mass Effect 3 Review

[penthesilea180]

Susan, I'm really hoping you and the rest of the staff do a podcast on the ending controversy. Personally, I agree with your review that this is a great game and I didn't like the ending either. I can't say I have read all of the previous 440 posts, so I apologize if you have already addressed my question.

You've said the ending didn't invalidate the 35+ hours of previous game play. But, I wonder if you think that the ending affects the replay value of series. Do you have any other characters besides Joanna? (Awesome name btw. I happen to share it.) If so, will you replay ME3 with them knowing the ending? If not, why not?

 

[Metalrocks]

i havent finished the game yet, since i do take my time, but even on the official ME3 forum people are complaining about the endings and other stuff in the game.
i will see for my self what ending i will get and if its really as bad as so many say.
so far i do have some complains:

- no holstering the weapons.
- no updating missions status, especially the many side quests you get. so you are left in the dark if you actually have done something or not.
- no neutral choice in dialog wheel.
- at times very long cinematic.
- talking friendly to other people quickly leads to flirting.
- no importing faces from previous games.
- also funny was, when you told the person at the beginning of the game you love her (at least i kept the relationship going from part 1), later on in the game, your partner said she wishes to be with you and i had to choose again if i want her or not. WTF???

otherwise, i do enjoy the game. it is fun and the story is grabbing. my really main issue is, the importing faces problem. i really hope this gets fixed quickly so that i can import my other sheps.

 

[James Raynor]

'The ending the fans deserve'


That's so ironic with the fact that the ending was awful.

 

[Kekkonen1]

I have quite seriously never felt so betrayed by a game in my life. Now dont get me wrong, I LOVED ME1 and ME2. I LOVED Bioware, ever since Baldurs Gate, Kotor etc. I didn't even mind Dragon Age 2 that much, they cant all be winners I thought and shrugged. I never jumped the hate-wagon for the day-one DLC (even though in retrospect, considering how large a part the dlc plays in the main story it should have been in the game). But this is just too much! I will think VERY seriously before ever buying a Bioware-game again... With this and the whole Tali-reveal debacle I am seriously put off by the thought of playing another Bioware game.

Now I wont write anything about the ending, others have already pointed out much better than I could WHY it sucks. But MAN it sucks!

This ending is seriously comparable to if Star Wars Episode 6 had ended by George Lucas waking up exclaiming: "It was all a dream!".

Many use the term that a game went Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) to show how a game with a seemingly well grounded story can suddenly go ape shit on you. I think we need to coin the term Went ME3 to show when the makers of a game spend the last 10 minutes shitting on everything they and their fans have collectively built over 3 huge games.

Also, I agree with others that the reviewer could at least have taken the trouble to watch the different endings or play the game again to see how they differed (they basically dont) and how different choices affect the universe (again they for the most part dont). It quite frankly baffles me how the entire world of game reviewers seems to unisonely praise a game that so many of the fans feel betrayed by. I can absolutely accept that a few reviewers might like it due to differing taste. But is seems virtually impossible to find any review that actually calls Bioware on all the crap they pulled (not just the ending mind you, the game is very small in scope compared to ME2 and is watered down in so many areas). I would give this a 6 or 7 out of 10.

For the most part I am not angry or enraged. I just feel immensely sad. And it's not the kind of good sadness that can come from letting go of a story and characters that you have cared for for a long time. It's the kind of sadness that comes from feeling betrayed by someone you loved and whom you thought loved you back. I was supposed to play ME3 again straight after I finished it with one of my other 3 Shepards I had brought with me since ME1, all with different choices and romance and I was also thinking of playing ME1 and 2 again to get even more variation... But I doubt I will ever play either 1, 2 or 3 again. What is the point?

 

[Kingsnake661]

You saw the endings and still gave it a 4.5 star review? I'm not sure i can take your reviews seriously anymore. We obviously are not on the same page. But then, alot of reviewers and me don't see eye to eye, and I hardly think you'd care how i feel. And realistily you shouldn't, but really? 4.5 with that ending? NEAR PERFECT with that ending? To each his own i suppose.

Believe it or not, I would have given the game the same score before the ending as after it. Mass Effect 3 is an amazing game, and probably my favorite game in the entire series.

Like i said, to each his own. It does suprise me, but then, alot of things people do really suprise me. *shrug* The game was good. Far from perfect. The side missions were clunky, the journal didn't update, well, at all, no easy way to keep track of who wanted what and where. Not to mention the side mission were just kind of... lame. At least the non combat ones. Go find crap and bring it us? One or two fedex missions are fine, did a few in the first two games, but this was a whole new level.

I like, no, i loved the dialog, but hated the conversation style they used. I'd prefer the zoomed in and face to face talking of ME1 and 2, this was, eh, less effeive and, for me personally, harder to hear. (I have hearing issues, very bad ears. Not deaf, but not normal.) I totally agree with her assessment of the combat roll being hard to get used too. i died so many times trying to take cover and rolling into enemy fire... or trying to roll and huging a wall... clunky.

At the end of the day, ending aside, it was the weakest of the 3 games.

The major pro's are wonderful charater development and diaolg, dispite how it was delivered, and fun combat, after you get used to goof combat rolling. (shoters are not my strong suit, maybe it's just me.)

Add in the ending and it's... well, the ending really does ruin it for me. It was a 3.5, IMO, before the ending. Like a 2 after. Nowhere NEAR a 4.5 on my scale, even without the ending, but videogame reviews of major triple a games like this hardly ever get the panning the desrive. It's just how game reviews work it seems.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I pretty much agree with her review but i get the feeling she hadnt finished the game. the ending is really something people need to be warned about

As I've already said, several times, I finished the game. I didn't like the ending, but didn't think it invalidated the 35 hours of enjoyment that came before it.

I certainly enjoyed the 35 hrs that came before that, before that it was fantastic and near perfect. Heck, the 60+ other hours for the other two games, also great.

But that ending ruins the series. Completely. Many things can be forgiven, a bad ending can't. No Catharsis? No go. That's the sad truth of writing. As creator and writer you have a -responsibility- to end your work well or you risk spoiling the entire work. Ultimately my player agency was subverted and my work done in the previous games lost some of it's meaning and significance. This game will be remembered for it's ending, for good or ill.

 

[a ginger491]

Wow. It's pretty amazing that as more time passes the posts get more and more negative. I think maybe I should make a graph.
OT:

Spoiler: vague details about the ending

The game should be docked a grade for how terribly unfulfilled the ending felt. There is no closure as to what happens to anyone other than Shepard and the crew of the Normandy

I stayed up a lot longer than I should have some nights playing this game because I wanted to get to the end of the tunnel, to see after all the hard work I'd put into the universe a great and deserving conclusion to Mass Effect. Instead I get an ending that was, and I don't throw around these words casually, worse than Halo 2's.

 

[Nikolaz72]

I pretty much agree with her review but i get the feeling she hadnt finished the game. the ending is really something people need to be warned about

As I've already said, several times, I finished the game. I didn't like the ending, but didn't think it invalidated the 35 hours of enjoyment that came before it.

I certainly enjoyed the 35 hrs that came before that, before that it was fantastic and near perfect. Heck, the 60+ other hours for the other two games, also great.

But that ending ruins the series. Completely. Many things can be forgiven, a bad ending can't. No Catharsis? No go. That's the sad truth of writing. As creator and writer you have a -responsibility- to end your work well or you risk spoiling the entire work. Ultimately my player agency was subverted and my work done in the previous games lost some of it's meaning and significance. This game will be remembered for it's ending, for good or ill.

I sorta liked some of the endings, youknow... There is like 8 endings depending on whenever you saved the collectorbase or not, whenever you played multiplayer or not, and how much military strength you have. One of them I believe is as close to a good ending as you are gonna get.

Spoiler: spoiler

Shepard/Anderson survives, geth and other synthetics live, reapers leave. Mass Relays are destroyed

You gotta wonder though, if you do that that ending how is that huge Asari/Salarian/Krogan/Elcor/Hanar/Drell/Turian/Batarian/Human fleet gonna leave the Sol System? xD. . I can see Earth becomming a -bit- more Multicultural in the following years.

I would sorta have liked to see a game set after affected by what ending you got, but who knows. Bioware told us to keep the Mass Effect 3 saves so maybe we will.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

I agree with you on everything...

Except the ending. Whatever you say, that is not the ending Mass Effect deserved. It deserved something more of the Star Wars trilogy ending, just elongated to include everyone.

 

[Hat Man]

The ending was horrible.

The ending was most certainly not the ending that Mass Effect deserved.

 

[Ruley]

The game as a whole was an ending to the series that the fans deserved. It was brilliant on every level for me and far surpassed the gameplay and storytelling of past games.

However, the actual ending of the 3 game epic trilogy was defiantly not what the fans deserved.

 

[TaL0s]

The ending, as most people have already stated, completely ruined it for me.It was not only disappointing because it was not the triumphant heroic end that everyone wanted for their commander Shepherd, but because it didn't fit with the tone of the rest of the story. Also, the endings(all of them) are full of plot holes and inconsistencies.

(spoiler alert, however on page 13 i assume everyone reading this has already seen the horrific ending)- If not don't read on

Spoiler

First off,the child(machine god), states that the reapers are there to preserve organic life from being destroyed by synthetic life. Now this is the first time this has ever been introduced in the series. Yes there was the war between the Geth and the Quarians but that could be resolved and through that mission they go to state the opposite, that it was the Quarian who wished to destroy the Geth, but the Geth had not gone after the Quarians. So this being the main struggle of the game seemed foreign and contradictory. It also seemed very ironic that the solution to the problem of synthetic life destroying organic life was to create giant synthetics(Reapers) to pretty much wipe out organic life. The concept of the reapers up until that point was that they were there to reap the advancement of the galaxy for themselves and keep it under their control, but now in the last 10 minutes of the game we are somehow supposed to be ok with that?

Secondly, the scene with the normandy fleeing the blast of the was utterly rediculous. Where was Joker going and how did he get there when the normandy had just been in the battle and how did the crew members who had all been with you in London end up on the ship. Not to mention the fact that its a wave of light catching up to them while traveling FTL.

I know some people will say, but not every story can have a good ending. But there is something that feels intrinsically wrong with a sour ending to a game because no matter how artsy a game gets it is still a game. And a game must be able to be won and nothing about those endings felt like a win.

 

[Aurore Hamilton]

Actually, Earth wasn't the first planet to get hit; the Batarian home-world was annihilated right away.

 

[Aurore Hamilton]

Actually, Earth wasn't the first planet to get hit; the Batarian home-world was annihilated right away.

 

[Meatstorm]

I was massively disappointed by the ending as were many others

Spoiler

I don't have a quarrel about Shepard dying. Mostly i have issues with how the game was promised to offer closure and how everything you did before would affect the outcome.

What outcome? I was expecting some kind of epilogue so i could see what i had accomplished and how the choices affected the galaxy and it's races.

Instead of that we get 3 endings (Arguably 4 when taking into consideration the one in which Shepard maybe survives, Even though it is otherwise identical to the "destroy synthetics" ending.

+The amount of things that were there that didn't add up.

I just can't believe they ended this great series with a Deus ex machina with three buttons that cause different color explosions

 

[AngryPuppy]

SNIP

No matter how hard I try I couldn't possibly agree with you any harder.

 

[Frankster]

And finally finished the game. Improved version of me2 is what I'd call this game, between having way more weapon and gear selection with mods and skill trees being a bit more robust, me3 is definitly more rpgish then me2 for those who still worry about that.

Game has same strengths as me2 I feel, combat is fun and multi based on that combat has kept me playing more then I expected (also the first character I unlocked was a krogan... I love playing a krogan in multi and rampaging around in melee), presentation and visuals are slick and gorgeous and is really like playing through a space opera or an interactive film.

I loved the element of needing to gather war ressources and help for the final confrontation with the reaper, felt there was definitly a strong element of star control series in you running around and collecting the help of other races. It's a mechanic I wish to see used again in future rpgs and could have potentially made the ending cinematics even better if it took account of what your fleet composition actually was (they show the geth/quarians, but if you recruited the terminus fleet and batarians, you ain't gonna be seeing those which I thought was a missed opportunity)

Now for the ending... There's a lot to dislike starting with the whole setup for the ending which is just stupid imo

Spoiler

You participate in an infantry charge against a reaper....I thought shepard was seriously stupid when he 1v1s a reaper with the help of the quarians, but actually charging one on foot firing its death laser? It's even more stupid that both Shepard and Anderson make it, you can make it look like they are wounded all you want but they survived a direct hit with a reaper laser, that seriously killed my suspension of disbelief

.
Now when it comes to mass effect series you need to turn off your brain whilst playing to not question the plotholes but I felt I really couldnt when that happened.

Then it gets better, the actual visual setup for the final confrontation is just wonderous

Spoiler

Talking to the AI godchild with a badly wounded shepard with that melancholic music playing as the battle of earth wages around you.... That was just beautiful

but the end choices I feel suffer greatly from a lack of feedback. It's not the bitter sweet aspect that disturbs me, but the endings could have been so much better if they elaborated on them more then with just 3 short cutscenes.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I was massively disappointed by the ending as were many others

Spoiler

I don't have a quarrel about Shepard dying. Mostly i have issues with how the game was promised to offer closure and how everything you did before would affect the outcome.

What outcome? I was expecting some kind of epilogue so i could see what i had accomplished and how the choices affected the galaxy and it's races.

Instead of that we get 3 endings (Arguably 4 when taking into consideration the one in which Shepard maybe survives, Even though it is otherwise identical to the "destroy synthetics" ending.

+The amount of things that were there that didn't add up.

I just can't believe they ended this great series with a Deus ex machina with three buttons that cause different color explosions

Fair complaint, I feel. The lack of closure is definitely problematic if you believe they really meant to keep it a trilogy (which they should have).

Susan, I'm really hoping you and the rest of the staff do a podcast on the ending controversy. Personally, I agree with your review that this is a great game and I didn't like the ending either. I can't say I have read all of the previous 440 posts, so I apologize if you have already addressed my question.

You've said the ending didn't invalidate the 35+ hours of previous game play. But, I wonder if you think that the ending affects the replay value of series. Do you have any other characters besides Joanna? (Awesome name btw. I happen to share it.) If so, will you replay ME3 with them knowing the ending? If not, why not?

We're doing bonus podcasts about just Mass Effect, and one of them will be devoted entirely to the endings. We just need Paul to finish playing the game first.

As to the replayability...I don't think it hurts that overly much, at least not for me. I didn't get the ending or closure I was hoping for, but it doesn't impact my overall enjoyment of the game. I'd still find it interesting and fun to pursue other choices, like destroying the Collector Base or not getting back together with Liara in favor of shagging James.

I think that once the initial shock of the endings has worn off, people will calm down a lot. I believe a lot of this anger comes from people actually loving Mass Effect 3 - you can't get that fired up about something you don't care about a great deal. I'm not saying that I think people won't still be disappointed with the endings, I just think a lot of the rage is fueled by the trilogy coming to an end. It's like a breakup, and players got dumped.

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

I haven't gotten this game yet... I will though, just gotta finish ME2 on the 360 first. I had them on pc but, that laptop kinda got fried... Motherboard just choked due to faulty construction so all those saves are gone.

But this whole ending-thing... I'm reminded of other games, like Bioshock, which is awesome if you just consider the last hour non-canon. Much in the same way that Assassin's Creed 2, for me, ended at the start of the Carnivale because just... Too much stupid.
Or infact.. Mass Effect 2. I love that game but the very last stretch... not so much. It's something I always feel more as something to just "get through".
It kind of feels like something alot of games have done the past few years, not just the ones setting up a sequel. Awesome build-ups, disappointing endings.
But it takes alot for me to hate a game just because it ends badly. If it's "just" 80-90% awesome-fun-superfantastic... I'm ok with that.

 

[Hawgh]

While the ending was a bit of a letdown, and I'm really hoping for some sort of "Get all your closure here, folks!" update somewhere down the line, I gotta say Mass Effect 3 is one helluva game.

Journey being more important than the destination, and all that.

It just seems like they decided to concentrate all the poor design decisions in the last five minutes of the game. Was there a bet on somewhere?