Mass Effect 3 Review

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Well, the review is accurate.....except for a few things.

1 - A significant amount of your choices from the previous two games have no impact on the ultimate outcome, even the seemingly important choices. Most things are relegated to one-liner acknowledgements.

2 - Your squad pool is stupidly small, and definitely limits you a lot more in composition than ME2 or even ME1.

3 - All of the game's ending's suck. Every. single. one. Not only are they terribly written, each of them causing massive plot holes/inconsistencies by their existence or implied outcomes (Hint: One of the biggest bombs in the game comes right at the end, where it makes everything that made sense before not make sense any more, ever), but exactly none of them are fulfilling and one is likely to leave people frothing with rage because it is so bad.

4 - The story assumes the player knows a lot more about ME than many will - a shit ton of players who didn't read all of the books are going to be confused as the why Anderson is no longer Councilor even though they picked him in ME1.

5 - There are several annoying glitches, including one that often causes the game to not be able to read your face gen date from ME2 characters, meaning you have to have the code written down or memorized exactly how to customize your character.

because I really CBA to read the novels before Friday, what happened to Anderson?

Other than that, I think I may literally explode with hype if I hear just one more good thing about this game before I get it.

 

[ECasThat]

Meh... :-/
Still not going to buy it.
Maybe...
Maybe if a GOTY edition or other form of game + all dlc pack comes up in a steam sale... Maybe...

 

[The Pinray]

This game has blown my mind... I actually LIKE Udina in it! Also, he dyed his hair. Random.

And Diana Allers? Yeah, she's sorta annoying.

 

[mxfox408]

One warning:

The PC version of this game has some serious problems right out of the box. I ordered my Collector's edition from Amazon.com (still en-route) but my dad who didn't want a CE just got his from Gamestop and has been trying to get it to run behind me. The problem is Origin won't launch the game on windows 7 systems saying it's not compadible with 64 bit tech. He spent some time getting ahold of one of their customer service guys in a chat mode who told him that ME3 will not run under the current version of the Origin software, implying there was an update needed, the problem being that the most recent version of Origin availible is the same one he happens to be using.

I am not going to say ALL PC users will run into this problem, if you've gotten it running, good for you, but he has run into this problem and has a pretty good rig (and it's not a hardware issue, the CS Rep even said it's Origin). To save yourself some frustration if your still waiting to install it, you might give it a day or two despite the massive anticipation because it seems EA apparently has some things to iron out with Origin... which is absolutly insane with a release like this.

If you happen to have hit this wall, your not alone, and apparently they are working on resolving it whenever they get that "new version" of Origin out there.

mine worked just fine but I updated origin prior to launch and made sure ally settings were set. I'm playing the pc version.

 

[HannesPascal]

Well the greatest question of them all is: Are you able to finger quote the turian councilor?

 

[Fifty-One]

I guess we'll just take your word for it then.

Author and editor lower themselves to actively trying to belittle people that express rather widely held concern about state of the media and industry? If you have nothing to hide, act with dignity. But the way you are reacting so severely to what is to all intent and purpose just another post on forums is ... Bad.

At least it smells to me that way. Perhaps you will enjoy your "fans" cheering you on, but you just made me make consider weather another year's subscription here is money well spent.

There are much better ways of insuring your journalistic integrity. At least have the balls to admit your scores are complete publisher service, since we have not seen a game get 2 or 3 in ages, hm?
No offense Susan, but your defense just made me lose a good ton of my own belief in your integrity. You are obviously a fan of the series, which is in itself a problem when you are supposed to score things objectively.

I didn't realize "expressing rather widely held concerns about the state of the media and industry" is what we're calling trolling these days.

Also, it's the third game of the series. You're either a fan or you aren't.

 

[Coreless]

Wow, you know things are getting absolutely ludicrous when just about every positive review, on any site, about any game (big or small) is automatically branded as "bought" by the publishers and the reviewers integrity immediately called into question. I think people are getting way to overzealous about gaming these days and seriously need to have their heads and priorities examined.

 

[PingoBlack]

Also, it's the third game of the series. You're either a fan or you aren't.

Fans are just by definition not objective. From that perspective it would be better for someone who is not a fan to do a review.

Unless you equate not being a fan with the concept of "hater". Your quick use of term "trolling"
somewhat supports this notion. I hope I am wrong of course.

But I will hereby claim this:
Not being a fan does not equal being a "hater".

 

[Susan Arendt]

I was really hoping this review would tell me whether or not I would like the game, but it left out a pressing question: if someone hated ME2, but loved ME1, would they enjoy ME3?

Hmm....depends on why you hated ME2, I think. Can you expand on that a bit?

 

[CrazyBlaze]

I won't be joining the contingent of whiners and naysayers.

I'm sure there will be faults, there always are, but the overall experience is bound to be worth it.

I salute you. There is no game that doesn't have any faults. Everyone needs to sit back, take a chill pill and just enjoy the game they want to play. If they don't think they will like it, will no one is holding a gun to their head.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Well, the review is accurate.....except for a few things.

1 - A significant amount of your choices from the previous two games have no impact on the ultimate outcome, even the seemingly important choices. Most things are relegated to one-liner acknowledgements.

2 - Your squad pool is stupidly small, and definitely limits you a lot more in composition than ME2 or even ME1.

3 - All of the game's ending's suck. Every. single. one. Not only are they terribly written, each of them causing massive plot holes/inconsistencies by their existence or implied outcomes (Hint: One of the biggest bombs in the game comes right at the end, where it makes everything that made sense before not make sense any more, ever), but exactly none of them are fulfilling and one is likely to leave people frothing with rage because it is so bad.

4 - The story assumes the player knows a lot more about ME than many will - a shit ton of players who didn't read all of the books are going to be confused as the why Anderson is no longer Councilor even though they picked him in ME1.

5 - There are several annoying glitches, including one that often causes the game to not be able to read your face gen date from ME2 characters, meaning you have to have the code written down or memorized exactly how to customize your character.

Wow.. you really need to read the novels to understand what the hell is going on? It explains why ME2 made no damn sense

No, no, you don't have to have read the novels to understand what's going on at all. I haven't read any of the books and I had no trouble following along at all.

 

[Luke3184]

Dear god the amount of entitlement surrounding this game is unbelievable... Seriously, the game and its writing are the property of Bioware and they can do what they want to do with it. If it turns out that EA stopped them from doing what they want, rage on EA.

It simply comes down to whether you think cash spent > enjoyment got from game, if you don't think so then don't buy it. From my experience 'The Escapist' is pretty reliable and reasonable. Hats off for the great great review.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I was really hoping this review would tell me whether or not I would like the game, but it left out a pressing question: if someone hated ME2, but loved ME1, would they enjoy ME3?

So far I've only played the demo but I'll say this for it. The combat isn't quite as cover dependent as ME2's was. It is still cover based, but there's a much bigger focus on moving around, rather than just choosing one wall to hide behind and then just mowing everybody down from there.

Whether or not that means anything positive to you I don't know.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I won't be joining the contingent of whiners and naysayers.

I'm sure there will be faults, there always are, but the overall experience is bound to be worth it.

Yes, but in this case it's a wonderful three course meal interrupted by being forced to drink a vial of arsenic. It rather spoils the whole thing.

I'm easily impressed, so I very much doubt that ME3 won't be one my favourite gaming experiences of all time.

I haven't come this far for nothing.

hangin' on a prayer... it almost sounds like you're trying to convince yourself

Not really

A lot of people did nothing but ***** and moan about ME2, while our very own escapist staff lauded it as a great game.

I loved ME2.

So chances are, I'm more inclined to follow the opinion of Susan, than some nitpicking nobody on the internet.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Except that I don't have to give up any creative rights. At all.

Bioware and I are just mutual fans who like eachother's work.

Dunno why that's such a difficult notion to grasp.

I didn't say you did, I said that in the past, artists have done that. And Bioware has been very deliberate in their music selection in the past, why would they deviate from that now (not implying that you are not good, but rather that Bioware has selected every song up to this point very deliberately to produce certain outcomes, but in this case, the logic they used is not clear.)

The logic is perfectly clear: They genuinely enjoy Gavin's work and think it's a cool way to promote their game. They had his song "Normandy" playing on a loop over their booth at PAX, they've had him on BioWare TV before. They're fans. He, likewise, is a huge fan of Mass Effect, which comes through in his songs. He also has quite a following, which gives them some bonus advertising, word of mouth, and PR opportunities with hardcore gamers. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. I fail to see the mystery here.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Except that I don't have to give up any creative rights. At all.

Bioware and I are just mutual fans who like eachother's work.

Dunno why that's such a difficult notion to grasp.

I didn't say you did, I said that in the past, artists have done that. And Bioware has been very deliberate in their music selection in the past, why would they deviate from that now (not implying that you are not good, but rather that Bioware has selected every song up to this point very deliberately to produce certain outcomes, but in this case, the logic they used is not clear.)

The logic is perfectly clear: They genuinely enjoy Gavin's work and think it's a cool way to promote their game. They had his song "Normandy" playing on a loop over their booth at PAX, they've had him on BioWare TV before. They're fans. He, likewise, is a huge fan of Mass Effect, which comes through in his songs. He also has quite a following, which gives them some bonus advertising, word of mouth, and PR opportunities with hardcore gamers. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. I fail to see the mystery here.

Gavin is an amazing musician, it is such a shame to see why people have to hate on him. Bioware has provided an amazing opportunity to open Gavin up to more of the world. They have him promoting their games with his music and Gavin gets his music and talent out there for everyone to hear and experience. Its a mutually beneficial for both of them. Also great reviews Susan. I generally don't read reviews due to having made my mind up already or not interested and this was like the third or fourth review I read on this site. Time to start reading more because it sure feels like The Escapist has made the good line of fans of games and journalism integrity.

 

[krellen]

I was really hoping this review would tell me whether or not I would like the game, but it left out a pressing question: if someone hated ME2, but loved ME1, would they enjoy ME3?

Hmm....depends on why you hated ME2, I think. Can you expand on that a bit?

I feel it changed the whole feel of Mass Effect. From the game mechanics turning from an RPG with shooter elements (I liked that I had to level up a gun skill to be effective) to a shooter with very very light RPG elements to the story turning from a hopeful and optimistic defence against horror to a dark and dreary "there is no light" feel to the environments changing from expansive (if bumpy and mountainous) alien vistas to a series of tight, largely brown corridors, ME2 didn't even feel like it was in the same genre as ME1.

The tiny bits of gameplay I saw in your review seemed to suggest ME3 draws far more heavily on ME2 than ME1, but there really just wasn't enough information to make a clear judgement on it.