Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

Since 2007 after I played the first Mass Effect, I was in love with the universe and characters that were acting in the space epic opera I was playing. The way the game handled decision making with real-time and long term consequences was something that kept me totally dedicated and engrossed.

This is why I found this final installment to fail short of the glory promised at the start of the franchise. Sheppard (in my case fem-shep) returns to Earth after the events of Mass Effect 2 is under lock and key until the Reapers finally begin their conquest of Earth. I won't bore you with story details as I'm sure you have heard on the opinions on the matter, but I will say that Bioware took a huge risk with having so many choices in the two previous games and while they did a very good job at coming up with multiple branching story paths to see and do it all. The ending leaves more questions then answers and I feel like it doesn't do justice to the other games in the franchise and is a simple cop out to deal with what I'm sure were crushing time constraints.

Every other aspect of the games is solid, the gun play is fluid and the cover mechanic is effective. The series has changed focus from crunching numbers to pure third person action, but that fits with the tone and pace of the narrative they are trying to keep up with. Guns can be customized and you can buy new armor and other various toys, but it's all superflous and unnecessary.

In closing this game was very good and I will be playing it multiple times to get all of the endings, but in the end this game fails to meet the lofty expectations that were promised to us in the beginning. Still a very good franchise, but some of the shine has worn off.