Anyone who views a story being driven by its characters as a negative has no business reviewing video games. Characters are supposed to be the driving force of a plot. It's what makes books, movies, video games, and even spoken narrative interesting. I cannot believe that someone would complain about it, and treat it as a negative.

Good for you, Brendan. I couldn't agree with you more, although I'm a bit surprised at the number of people who do. Mass Effect is an ambitious project, from a storytelling standpoint. It's a shame to see such ambition tainted by this fan response. It's also a shame to see that so many gamers don't consider video games art. Clearly they're not paying attention.

@pellwood32 Cars don't tell stories, Pellwood, and as such your comparison makes no sense at all. Changing the ending of a video game isn't anything other than selling out, because video games ARE art. They're not all big, important pieces. They're are all the Mona Lisa or Citizen Cane. Some are Calvin and Hobbes and Die Hard, and they're meant to be entertaining above all else, but they are art. They tell stories. They have writers. They have artists.

It's one thing to disagree with the ending of a series. That's been going on since the original Sherlock Holmes novels. But giving into the pressure of the masses isn't always the right thing to do. Sometimes it's just selling out.

Please. Let's cry wolf about pre-orders now, shall we? If you're someone who enjoyed Assassin's Creed and its sequels and aren't tired of them, why wouldn't you pre-order? The Assassin's Creed games have released good game after good game. It's no different than camping in line to get a ticket for a concert or buying your favorite author's new book. People may pre-order for the swag factor, but that was only introduced when it became clear that developers and publishers were losing money on companies buying and selling used games. Online DLC exists the way it does for the same reason - to make money for the people who make the games when simply making the game isn't enough. I pre-order games. Usually not this far in advance, but I do use pre-orders. People write about the industry like there's never going to be innovation again. For some reason, we seem to think the current state of affairs is how it always be, but there's just simply no reason to believe that. In twenty years, we might see Assassin's Creed games the way we see Tomb Raider now - a famous name that has lost its mainstream edge. Or maybe it will be more like Mario, adapting its gameplay as the era changes, but also holding onto its roots. Who knows? But it's pretty silly to blame pre-orders.