Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Broken"

The Mass Effect series has always held a special place in my heart, and that's what makes this review so painful for me. Let me start by saying that the first two games are among my favorite games of all time, and I had high hopes for the third, which may be my problem.

Mass Effect 3 was nearly perfect until it was over. It wasn't necessarily the fact that it WAS over that got to me (though it did seem significantly shorter in length than ME 1 and 2), but how it ended. To keep from spoiling anything, essentially, every choice made through the series is basically null. There is very little choice in what happens in the final cut scenes, and there is literally no clear resolution to what happened after the final battle(s). The ending and short campaign aside, I felt this game achieved many things that most games can't come close to achieving. This game, along with the previous two, created a very believable and non-corny universe, with some of my favorite game play out of any game out there.

To sum it up, I'm not sure what the last ten-fifteen minutes are about...it honestly feels a bit like they cut off the game at some point in the production and decided to throw together an ending with just slightly different cut scenes, regardless if your character is a genocidal renegade, or a Jesus-like paragon. After one of the greatest series of all times, I expected more from Bioware in terms of the ending. I didn't feel it concluded anything, and I definitely had high hopes going into this. Bioware is promising more DLC to "appease the unhappy 'minority'" and create some closure. But honestly, I don't know if I want it. Why didn't we get a legitimate ending to begin with? What ridiculous deadline did you have to work to?

Mass Effect 3: the final game to a perfect series, where the ending just isn't there.