The conclusion of my favorite series.
User Rating: 9 | Mass Effect 3 X360
Let's cut to the chase, Mass Effect 3 did almost everything right except for the ending. You've heard it all before and sadly its pretty much true. Bioware kind of botched the end of this game. I understand why it went down the way it did to a certain degree, but it was still disappointing. The game itself was pretty excellent as a whole. If you are familiar with mass effect 2 then you should feel right at home. Three continued the evolution of streamlining the experience so that you can focus more on combat and story as opposed to having to mess with tedious loot swapping and scanning mini games. The leveling up process is straight forward and mostly unchanged. The weapons are broken down into a series of simple classes. You may only find 4 or 5 weapons of a particular type, but you are given a number of upgrade options to aid in customization. There are a decent number of armors to choose from and collect, yet you never feel like you have to play that constant game of musical chairs by swapping pieces in and out. Having some good armor upgrades helps, but it won't make or break you. The combat continued to improve subtly and the skill menus are the best they have ever been as far as user friendliness goes. Controlling your teammates in battle is fairly simple and satisfying. The dialogue function is unchanged and for good reason, why mess with a good thing. The controls were responsive throughout. The music was stirring as always and the visuals were downright beautiful. Once again you can load your character from the previous two games and continue your story replete with all your victories and missteps. The story has you dealing with a full scale reaper invasion. Oh how ever shall we stop them? You will find yourself recruiting all the races of the galaxy in your desperate struggle. Tough decisions will be required as always. Just go with your instincts baby. Your progress is monitored by a military force/galactic readiness meter. Herein lies the first and most ridiculous flaw to the ending. No matter who you recruit or how ready you are the ending doesn't reflect those aspects appropriately. The ending introduces a series of flaws that go against the grain of previous story elements. And although you are given a "choice" as to how things wrap up it still feels very restricted. And although the ending is emotionally charged and somewhat moving you don't feel like your efforts in this game or the others truly paid off. And that's the saddest part of all; for a series that made every decision count, in the end..................it didn't.
Summary: Mass Effect 3 was incredibly fun just like its predecessors and as always it lured you into its grip and didn't let go. Ahem, until the end when its grip slipped.
