Mass Effect 3 earns it's place as one of BioWare's best production, right alongside Baldur's Gate II.
Story: The Reapers are finally here and are targetting Earth with only one thing in mind: harvesting the advanced races of the galaxy. Shepard's mission ? Ally these races to send the Reapers back where they came from. All along the game, you find yourself on missions to unite the galaxy into one massive army and save the day for a third time. However this time the world and the atmosphere is a lot more grim than your previous adventures throughout the galaxy: the desperation and unrest is brillantly portrayed throughout the habitants of the various worlds. The relation with the new and old companions grows deeper and on more than one occasion you'll find yourself emotionally shaken by the forming and breaking of these bonds. The excellent voice acting adds to the entire atmosphere, giving you both moments of laughter and moments of sadness. The game builds up to an epic climax, which doesn't end in a massive boss fight (however there are quite a few throughout the game itself) but in several minutes of intense dialogue and choice making. Despite all the hate, the ending resembles any Deus Ex game ending with a final, ultimate decision to make that will affect the entire world. It provides a solid end to the Mass Effect trilogy, leaving no loose ends.
Gameplay: The shooting is solid, improving on both ME1 and ME2 and resembles Gears of War mixed with some biotic abilities. It doesn't move much out of the defined third-person shooter shoot and cover mechanics but it works pretty well. However you will run into a few frustrating glitches with your cover, but they aren't frequent enough to ruin the game. Abilities offer more freedom than in ME2, allowing 6 upgrades for each ability instead of 4, with a branching tree for each abilities to gain different bonuses.
Graphics: Even though the graphics remain solid, BioWare cowered from the full potential of the Unreal Engine. The last update to the engine offers impressive DX11 post-process effects and displacement maps but none of those features were used, to my disappointment. However the artistic direction is nothing short of great and the often vibrant environments contrast with the grim atmosphere, but it doesn't live up to what it could have been on the Unreal Engine.
In short, Mass Effect 3 is an amazing game with a solid, intense storyline, great characters, strong shooting gameplay and brillant art direction. This game is a must have for RPG and Shooter fans alike.