Has anyone noticed that the average user reviews has been steadily declining?

It seems like people who rate the game after playing 30 minutes rate it much higher than people who have played it for 10+ hours. The more people play it, the less they like it.

When it comes down to "why did Gamespot rate a mediocre game so highly", I think we can attribute this to "insufficient time played" rather than any deliberate attempt to deceive.

@ g0nz0j03 said, "Also, for the record, it's not irony when someone smarter than you calls you an idiot." And who can forget, "lambaste whiny little tools who piss and moan." Your claims to superior intelligence don't appear to be in alignment with the quality of your comments. Lots of name calling in your post. Have you confused actual intelligence with an ability to cram lots of insults into a paragraph? This is a common mistake. Did you know that 75% of people think that 75% of people are stupid? I strongly suspect that you are in both majorities.

@ Brebber said, "If you don't like, DON'T FREAKIN PLAY IT!", and "But the work of art is done; it is finished. It cannot be altered or deleted." Both silly points. "Don't freaking play it?" Somehow I don't see BioWare issuing a statement saying, "Please watch the ending on YouTube, and if you agree with the large number of fans who think it's crap we encourage you not to purchase the game." Do you think they'll say that? Didn't think so. So much for "don't freaking play it." And as far as changing it goes, "It cannot be altered or deleted?" You do realize this is software, right? Last time I checked, software can be changed rather easily. That's where the "soft" part comes in. Lots of companies do it. Really. They got these things called "patches" and "DLC" now. High tech. You should read about them. Maybe there is an article on wikipedia.

@ g0nz0j03 said, "The tenor of comments here is proof positive that there's nothing like an echo chamber to convince loud-mouthed idiots that their voice is the only voice." Ironically, the tenor of his comment is that all those other people's (i.e., the people he loudly calls, "loud mouthed idiots") opinions are worthless and that his is the only correct one. The irony is magnified by the fact that his comments are under an article written by someone who clearly feels that HER opinion is the only valid one. Irony truly is the most powerful force in the universe. Perhaps Shepard should have blasted the Reapers with an irony cannon? g0nz0j03 could have been the Catalyst.

Mass Effect 3 is ART! Q: "How do we know this?" A: "Because Laura Parker says so. Didn't you read the article?" Q: "But who says Laura Parker gets to decide what is art?" A: "Why, Laura Parker says so! Didn't you read the article?" Q: "But I disagree! It's not art, it's a video game I spent money on!" A: "If you disagree with Laura Parker, then you are wrong. Art can never be questioned, and Laura Parker decides what is art, and you are questioning art, so you are wrong." Q: "But plenty of other people agree with me! Are they all wrong, too?" A: "YES, of course they are wrong. Laura Parker decides what is art. Art can never be questioned. So ANYONE that disagrees with her - by definition - is wrong." Q: "But Laura has given OTHER games bad reviews in the past. Weren't those games art, too? So isn't she also a serial art-questioner?" A: "No, those other games she reviewed weren't art, because she didn't declare them to be art. So she had every right to give them bad reviews." I hope this clears things up.

Check out this link. An absolute "must read". Someone else linked to it below - I just read it and was floored. An excellent summation. Unlike the silly pile of dreck above. http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/

This article is just plain silly. Petulant and "holier than thou". Even if I agreed with the premise this article would irritate me. The main premise seems to be "how dare those nasty people question BioWare's 'art' and suggest they make changes". Oh, and let's compare them to the people who said nasty things about a poor defenseless developer. Will we be trotting out the Hitler comparisons next? Concerning the author's primary point, it is not rational to state a science fiction video game is nothing more than art. Yes, clearly there are artistic elements. That doesn't make it pure art. Art is unbounded expression with no expectation that it make any real sense. A science fiction video game IS expected to make a certain amount of sense. To summarize the ending: "A glowing leprechaun appears out of nowhere, says 'I created the Reapers!', provides reasons for this that simultaneously make no sense whatsoever and contradict everything we've learned over three games, and then says, 'Well, I've been doing this for a million years or so, but go ahead and blow them up if you feel like it - the switch is over there. And oh, by the way, you're going to die.'" Then you get a short, crappy final cutscene that make less sense than the leprechaun. This is not art. This is a plot from Futurama as written by Salvador Dali. Fixing it is not abandoning artistic principles. It is admitting and correcting an error. A sign of adulthood in most circles.

Two comments: First comment: The reviewers who discuss the people disappointed by this game completely misunderstand the reasons. I couldn't care less about the homosexuality stuff (well, OK, I avoided talking with Cortez), and didn't care that the ending was unhappy, and I didn't care about the DLC (except that I bought it and now wished I hadn't). What I cared about was that the ending to the series I've spent hundreds of hours playing just plain sucked. It was utterly nonsensical, totally canned/scripted, and poorly written. I don't see that mentioned too often by reviewers, but plenty often by fans. Second comment: Yeah, I agree that ME3 sort of starts you out in a confusing spot. I played the Arrival DLC where my Shepard effectively committed mass murder (though she was very sad about it afterwards). I expected ME3 to start with some sort of "Breaker Morant" style trial. The whole Vega thing was very confusing.