Mass Effect 3

 PC
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 7228 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,703 out of 7228
  2. Mixed: 1,119 out of 7228
  3. Negative: 2,406 out of 7228
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  1. grmbrand
    Mar 19, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Contrary to the formula of the first two games, all plots lead to a single set of endings that feel out of place with the rest of the franchise (including much of what happens in ME3 prior to the ending itself). I am hopeful that this was a brilliant marketing move on Bioware's part and that DLC can clarify the outcome. I'll update my rating accordingly should this happen.… Expand
  2. JKflipflop
    Mar 19, 2012
    3
    Game is an epic 10/10 up until the last 10 minutes. The ending of this game is so bad that it not only ruins the rest of this game, but indeed it brings down this entire trilogy. In one stroke this went from being this generation's "Star Wars" to a joke. Your choices don't matter. At all. It was all so you could be force fed some BS by StarChild and forced to picked between differentGame is an epic 10/10 up until the last 10 minutes. The ending of this game is so bad that it not only ruins the rest of this game, but indeed it brings down this entire trilogy. In one stroke this went from being this generation's "Star Wars" to a joke. Your choices don't matter. At all. It was all so you could be force fed some BS by StarChild and forced to picked between different colored explosions. Honestly, I'm still in shock. I can't fathom how the writing team that gave us this series completely imploded on itself in the home stretch like this. Abhorrent.… Expand
  3. Slamdance
    Mar 19, 2012
    3
    An absolutely atrocious wash of bugs and graphic issue, combined with Bioware's DLC pandering and an incomprehensible group of endings make this an easy game to not recommend. If you liked your choices mattering in the final moments of ME1 and ME2 be prepared for massive disappointment. If you still think this games for you, good luck; just don't fall down the plot holes.
  4. FellishBeast
    Mar 19, 2012
    3
    Been a die-hard fan of Mass Effect since it's release. Mass Effect 3 is the best entry in the series...until the end. The end is hollow, half-assed, and does not change REGARDLESS of any of the decisions you have made up to that point. It just feels wrong. There is no closure and it really does ruin the entire series for me.
  5. ChaosSS
    Mar 23, 2012
    3
    We were promised an epic battle for Earth ... The sophisticated dialogues and the consequences of choice. As a result, none of these promises, in the ME3 is not satisfied. The game drags in the first half. And the second is simply FAIL. I will never buy a single BioWare game (
  6. Jhereg
    Mar 24, 2012
    3
    Mass Effect 3 is a great game with a few minor quibbles like the "one key to rule them all" binding and requiring Multi-Player to increase your EMS. Truly well done....until the end! All the endings are functionally identical and there are only three of them. The ending mechanics diverge violently from the accepted process of the Mass Effect Universe both canonically and play mechanicsMass Effect 3 is a great game with a few minor quibbles like the "one key to rule them all" binding and requiring Multi-Player to increase your EMS. Truly well done....until the end! All the endings are functionally identical and there are only three of them. The ending mechanics diverge violently from the accepted process of the Mass Effect Universe both canonically and play mechanics wise.
    I fail to see how they think I am going to buy any DLC when in the end nothing I do changes anything and the work towards the endings is pointless. Why Bioware...Why?    … Expand
  7. Bossk-Office
    Mar 28, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am a big fan of Mass Effect who loved the first two games. And this game certainly delivered, just the way I had hoped â… Expand
  8. tekken7
    Mar 31, 2012
    3
    Mass Effect 3 was a major disappointment. I have purchased and played the entire Mass Effect 1-3 series; beginning in 2007 with ME1. Job well done to Bioware for creating such a fun and entertaining product. Unfortunately, EA/Bioware failed to deliver on what it promised customers (per the company's own prior marketing & press release) for Mass Effect 3. Many reviewers of ME3 who areMass Effect 3 was a major disappointment. I have purchased and played the entire Mass Effect 1-3 series; beginning in 2007 with ME1. Job well done to Bioware for creating such a fun and entertaining product. Unfortunately, EA/Bioware failed to deliver on what it promised customers (per the company's own prior marketing & press release) for Mass Effect 3. Many reviewers of ME3 who are critical of the game list many, if not the same problems. Here is my list: (1) players are provided with nothing remotely close to the unique, personal experience they were promised by Bioware; (2) I was left with a sense that all of my carefully weighed choices were really illusory and accounted for nothing; (3) lore errors and plot holes; (4) based on the prior themes, story telling style the ending is out-of-character, confusing & underdeveloped. Such a creative and talented Bioware team could have -- AND SHOULD HAVE -- delivered a more in-depth series of true, multiple endings with a better sense of lucidity and closure to conclude the wonderful Mass Effect series. Let us all remember that EA/Bioware is running a business -- an enterprise to make money to produce shareholder value and employ many, many people in North America, Europe and Asia. The golden rule in business (that is if you wish to stay in business) is to produce products that consumers want to buy. Regardless of your feeling concerning "whiny fans", "artistic integrity", etc... Isnâ… Expand
  9. HellZero
    Apr 4, 2012
    3
    Ending looks like was written by a 10 year old. Full of plot holes, just feels incomplete and full of nonsense. A dissapointment like I never had before in a video game.
    Dumbed down story line in comparison to the first mass effect.
    Again, ending removes all replay value. Combat is more dynamic and fun, but what made the previous games stand all (story, narrative, player engagement) in    Ending looks like was written by a 10 year old. Full of plot holes, just feels incomplete and full of nonsense. A dissapointment like I never had before in a video game.
    Dumbed down story line in comparison to the first mass effect.
    Again, ending removes all replay value.
    Combat is more dynamic and fun, but what made the previous games stand all (story, narrative, player engagement) in this one only ruins the entire franchise.    … Expand
  10. bozlr
    Apr 7, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Where do you even begin with how bad this game was. I guess the part that was the worst, was the constant homosexual agenda shoved down your throat that you can't do anything about. Games are not the place for the politics of small group to be pushed on the rest of society. We play games to have fun, not to be spoon fed politically correct garbage. If you are going to put gays in a game, give the user the option to get rid of them or kill them off. Then there is how dumbed down the entire game has become. Exploring the galaxy is now just swinging through a system, pinging your sensors a few times, and collecting a few things. Customizing your armor lacks the amount of choices to really do any kind of personalization to your Shepard. A game this size with a multi-player part should have tons of different armors. There was only one location to visit, the Citadel. Seriously, they couldn't come up with some other places we could go to a few times for missions and to pick up side missions? This game was easily missing 20 hours of single player gameplay, if not more. The game should have grown, but instead was dumbed down and shortened with a so-so multi-player element tacked on.

    Then there are the endings....
    After playing through 3 games with ~100 of my life, this ending was like EA coming to my front door and personally spitting in my face.
    It's easy EA/Bioware, here I'll fix it for you.
    Shepard gets to the Citadel after fighting his way there, hits a switch, and the Crucible docks. People onboard the Crucible fire it and it Destroys all the Reaper tech locally, then spreads through the mass relays, then balloons out of the galaxy, destroying any trace of the Reapers. The Citadel is now in Earth orbit and Earth becomes the new hub of the Galaxy because of this. The Citadel is fixed up and peace reigns in the galaxy till a new enemy from another galaxy emerges for us to fight in Mass Effect 4. Epic ending, everyone gets what they want, and another game is set up.

    EA will be lucky if I buy another one of their games after this mess.    … Expand
  11. KaityUK
    Apr 7, 2012
    3
    Game was way over hyped prior to release and with to me rings alarm bells. Played the PC version at a friends, appalled, poor graphics, poor story, poor voice acting, poor continuity, poor game play. ME2 was great, ME3 is pap.
  12. Rougan
    Apr 10, 2012
    3
    Im a game developer and i cant believe what i get on ending of ME3. This is clearly unchecked and against the previous experiences (and major fanbase expectations). The only way to repair [some of] this mess is move to indoctrination theory. But.. if indoc is true.. then the ME3 is INCOMPLETE: we dont retake Earth as advertised, not yet.. This is the major destruction of a fanbase inIm a game developer and i cant believe what i get on ending of ME3. This is clearly unchecked and against the previous experiences (and major fanbase expectations). The only way to repair [some of] this mess is move to indoctrination theory. But.. if indoc is true.. then the ME3 is INCOMPLETE: we dont retake Earth as advertised, not yet.. This is the major destruction of a fanbase in entire game history.… Expand
  13. OneCoolMF
    Apr 11, 2012
    3
    There are plenty of very thorough and complete reviews out here now, so I'll just try to add some extra value for someone still trying to decide whether to buy this game. Like many other reviewers, I've been playing since ME1, and also as many other reviewers have said, I cared enough to take the time to get on Metacritic and throw in my 2 cents.

    BOTTOM LINE: I regret buying this game    There are plenty of very thorough and complete reviews out here now, so I'll just try to add some extra value for someone still trying to decide whether to buy this game. Like many other reviewers, I've been playing since ME1, and also as many other reviewers have said, I cared enough to take the time to get on Metacritic and throw in my 2 cents.

    BOTTOM LINE: I regret buying this game at full retail price. Wait until you can get it cheap, hopefully after they've fixed the bugs and added some worthy DLC.

    Here's why I feel this way: Much of the game feels rushed, dumbed-down, and simplified, and in the end, I just feel like it didn't work out like it should have. And I really mean it didn't work! Besides issues noted elsewhere, I had my own. I ignored the bad reviews here and got the game a couple of weeks ago. I held my nose and bought the Day 1 DLC. But my extra squadmate never showed up. I looked all over the galaxy. I looked at the online walkthroughs. I did what i was supposed to do (as near as I could tell) and searched where I was supposed to search. But I never hooked up with my would-be Prothean buddy. I got the extra duds for the rest of the squad, but that didn't justify the expense of the DLC. I still feel ripped off about this.

    There were also vital elements of the game that were just simply never explained. For example, how do you raise your war readiness? The game never tells you that you have to play the multiplayer to do this; I had to read that in another review tonight. Oh well, I've already completed my playthrough, and I won't be going back.

    HELLO ..... how about including a game manual; even a rudimentary, rinky-dink manual that covers the basic game elements? Also, as other reviewers have stated, dialogue choices seemed narrower and shallower. This specifically affected me in the romance part of the game. I flirted with a couple of characters, and then BAM I'd completed some sort of irreversible step which locked me into romance with a character I didn't even like (Ashley). So when it came time to bend her over in my cabin, I told her I was too busy for her. But the game still had my character telling her he loved her later. Oh well. In ME1 and 2, It was a lot more obvious that you were taking an irreversible step with any of the romance options.

    As an aside, I'll note that I wasn't very thrilled with my squad choices. More, please. All this time saving the galaxy and I only get 5 squad members? The only real new choice I had was indeed a novel addition and I brought her on lots of missions, but I still felt more choices would have been better. If only the DLC actually worked!

    On the positive side, they fixed the tedious scanning borefest with something much more workable. And I enjoyed the combat, for the most part. After I leveled up my Vanguard, I had plenty of fun charging into battle.

    But I got tired of all the melodrama, which seemed forced on my character. I felt like I was in a bad WWII shooter that served as thinly veiled propaganda. The dream sequences with the child were annoying and nonsensical at best, and the forced emotionalism of the child in the game just really seemed out of place.

    As for the ending ........ yeah it wasn't great. But the real issue I had was that the actual choice you have at the end isn't obvious. Heck, it just looked like two outcomes to me, and not three as I see reviewers here have mentioned. I literally flipped a coin and went up the right platform, not really clear as to what I was doing. When I got close enough to guess which outcome this would result in, I realized this was not the choice I wanted ..... but the game would not let me turn around and go the other direction. Not because of a door or barrier, nay, but just because the game wouldn't let me walk back the way I came once I got past a certain invisible point.

    Overall, I had some fun playing it and and I enjoyed the missions that tied up lose ends from ME1 and 2 around the galaxy. But in the end, this could not overcome my disappointment in the glaring faults I've discussed, nor the other issues that previous reviewers have noted.

    I feel bad for Bioware. I've been a fan for a long time and I think they genuinely care. But I can't say this was a good game when it has so many faults that should have been remedied before release. Guess I'll just blame it on EA. I don't really care to go back again even if they add DLC to fix things.    … Expand
  14. AthanasiosT
    Apr 12, 2012
    3
    Well, let's put it that way : ME1 was top of the list. ME2 comes second. I played ME3 because I felt I had to follow the story, but I was deeply disappointed. It's clearly the worst of the three (poor scenario, repetitive shooting, poor RPG elements) and really has a weird (being polite here) and non rewarding ending. Sorry Bioware....
  15. Rurouni
    Apr 14, 2012
    3
    The game was a solid 8 for the first third of the game, a 5 as I neared the ending and a 0 at the finale.

    I was really looking forward to ME3 to build on the fantastic experience of ME2. I even bought the collector's edition in anticipation of a fantastic closure to the series. Sadly the plot holes that emerged, as well as a sense that the ending sequences were rushed out led to probably    The game was a solid 8 for the first third of the game, a 5 as I neared the ending and a 0 at the finale.

    I was really looking forward to ME3 to build on the fantastic experience of ME2. I even bought the collector's edition in anticipation of a fantastic closure to the series.

    Sadly the plot holes that emerged, as well as a sense that the ending sequences were rushed out led to probably one of the biggest games related letdown I have experienced in a long while. I can not in good faith recommend this game to anyone.

    I suggest that the game websites that reviewed this game on launch do a before-after review after they have finished the game. I would be interested to see the final score on metacrtic.    … Expand
  16. LewisMweiR
    Apr 15, 2012
    3
    Great game until you reach the anti-climax deus ex machina lost ending,the mass effect franchise is one of the best of the game industry and is sad that the trilogy end is such a disappointing way
  17. Broxigar
    Apr 27, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am so sad I had to do this, I never thought I would have to. Mass Effect WAS an epic series. However I cannot condone what they have done with this game. If you don't buy this game new you will have to pay more to access the tacked on multiplayer. Yea, you heard me. There was Disk Locked Content that you had to pay $10 to unlock, which most people were going to given that the character was a Prothean. They promised you would not need to do multiplayer to get all the endings, however the best ending (a five second scene of Shepard taking a breath) is not possible to obtain without doing the multiplayer currently. Excluding 2 or 3 the side quests are atrocious. The gameplay is improved and the characters are great, Garrus being the stand out, but all this is forgotten as you try to figure out what happened in the last 10 minutes and realized it wasn't written by the same people who did the rest of the game. It's a disaster I won't even bother to go into detail as I'm sure every other review hits on it. This is the single worst ending in the history of gaming. It's like Bioware doesn't want anyone to buy from them again. Giving me a terrible ending and adding the text "Buy more dlc" isn't going to make me happy.… Expand
  18. Naherven
    May 20, 2012
    3
    Mass Effect 3 can best be summed up in one sentence; a slap in the face to fans. Major decisions made in previous Mass Effect games barely matter, as the story either glazes over or outright replaces player-made choices. Neutral choices seem to be absent from most dialog, removing a lot of the Role-playing from the Role-playing game. Renegade choices, which were mostly a MachiavellianMass Effect 3 can best be summed up in one sentence; a slap in the face to fans. Major decisions made in previous Mass Effect games barely matter, as the story either glazes over or outright replaces player-made choices. Neutral choices seem to be absent from most dialog, removing a lot of the Role-playing from the Role-playing game. Renegade choices, which were mostly a Machiavellian "ends justify the means", "I did what I had to do" mindset in previous games, now come off as just plain, absurdly evil decisions with no real justification. The pacing is bottom-tier as well. The opening level, which is supposed to be an amazing, exciting scene is reduced to a railed tutorial level. Scenes, which try to depict Shepard as suffering from the stresses of saving the galaxy, come off as hilariously bad, as if written by someone who had never heard of the proper definition of PTSD. Strangely enough, there are some beautifully-written, tear-inducing missions and scenes, scattered about the rest of the game, making the overall experience feel very jarring. As many, many other people have stated. the ending is just god-awful. It feels incredibly rushed and (without spoiling much) adds a Deus Ex Machina from nowhere, watering down any possible chance at a well-written, open ended ending and ending up with an "A", "B" or "C" cookie-cutter end. It's incredibly sad to think that most Creative Writing 101 students could come up with a better ending than what Bioware and Hudson pulled. The most ironic part seems to be that, of all things, the multiplayer is the most enjoyable part of a supposed RPG game, as the multiplayer is surprisingly well-made and has a high replay value. Being an idealistic man, I honestly hope that Bioware didn't mean to make the game as bad as it was. I hope that the ending was so poorly-written, so incredibly bad because EA demanded the game meet a very exacting deadline, causing parts that required great care and thought to be sloppily churned out. But with Bioware and others scoffing at fans' disapproval, labeling it as just "whiners" or "a vocal minority" and Bioware planning to release "Ending DLC" not to retcon the atrocity of an ending, but to "clarify" it makes me lose any hope of seeing this injustice made against the fans, the story, the RPG genre, the medium, and the art of story writing as a whole from ever being rectified.… Expand
  19. Lulgrim
    May 22, 2012
    3
    A good action title with gameplay massively polished since ME and ME2 and similar cheesy epicness, this time the scale is a bit larger so even more epic, really. Until you reach the ending, which leaves a sour taste in your mouth and basically makes you never touch a ME title again. Not the new one with the smoother gameplay and not even the previous ones, since they are now also ruinedA good action title with gameplay massively polished since ME and ME2 and similar cheesy epicness, this time the scale is a bit larger so even more epic, really. Until you reach the ending, which leaves a sour taste in your mouth and basically makes you never touch a ME title again. Not the new one with the smoother gameplay and not even the previous ones, since they are now also ruined for you story-wise. Replay value is actually *negative* since there is no reason to replay ME3 but you won't replay 1 or 2 anymore either. Yes, I also didn't believe it can be so bad as people complain but it IS. What utter garbage.… Expand
  20. aleyas
    May 25, 2012
    3
    For those new to series, ME3 as a stand alone game is probably not bad, though without playing ME1-2 it's rather difficult to understand multiple references to earlier series events. But again, if to play with pressing SPACE all the time to skip dialogues to short cut to action - then neither story no its end matter and you have only to worry about some bugs and your characterFor those new to series, ME3 as a stand alone game is probably not bad, though without playing ME1-2 it's rather difficult to understand multiple references to earlier series events. But again, if to play with pressing SPACE all the time to skip dialogues to short cut to action - then neither story no its end matter and you have only to worry about some bugs and your character refusing to move properly according to your commands from time to time.
    But I used to be a ME series fan and I was playing and paying for entertainment I was getting. I have started with ME2 and soon dropped it for a while to play ME1 first and then returned to replay ME2 for better ending. And I was ready to replay ME3 to get desired outcome. And here comes not only ingame issue with linear plot and bad joke devastating ending - but also an ethical issue with Bioware managers publically lying to users, encouraging them to play and replay by assuring them that it's possible to achieve higher scores necessary for a secret ending without myltiplayer. Which is not true. But people believed, why should not have they - it worked like this in ME2. And purchased and played and replayed.
    And then the stupid ending itself, promised to be variable, not a display of RGB colour model. Amazing how Boiware been building its loyal userbase for 5 years managed to ruin the best RPG franchise in one go acting as if there was no tomorrow and the only thing important was to make people buy the copy of the game regardless. No apologises, no explanation, quite the contrary...Looks like Bioware regards its users as a cattle which exists only to be soothen with **** if necessry and milked.    … Expand
  21. BlueB52
    Jun 17, 2012
    3
    The ending honestly just brought anger and depression. It literally ruined the series it was quite terrible. Bioware let down it's fans on this one.
  22. avrell
    Nov 18, 2013
    3
    Storytelling, RPG elements and dialogue have all disintegrated a significant degree since ME2. Any illusion of some greater adventure is no longer there. You have an L shaped corridor after another to clear of enemies.

    With above in mind, this game can only be seen as a cover shooter such as Gears of War. Considering how other game elements have been either abandoned, simplified    Storytelling, RPG elements and dialogue have all disintegrated a significant degree since ME2. Any illusion of some greater adventure is no longer there. You have an L shaped corridor after another to clear of enemies.

    With above in mind, this game can only be seen as a cover shooter such as Gears of War. Considering how other game elements have been either abandoned, simplified or streamlined, it is curious how clumsy and void of fun the shoot em up bits are. Nothing about moving and controlling Shepard feels intuitive. Decision to cram taking cover and sprinting behind same button results in plenty of mid combat situations where you really have no idea what will happen when you press the lottery button.

    ME3 is essentially a clumsy cover shooter among others. I would not recommend this game to anyone. I am amazed meta score among reviewers is as high as it is.    … Expand
  23. AidanByrne
    Jul 6, 2012
    3
    The entire game focuses on a story which doesn't relate to Me and ME2 very well. Most missions you do come across as tacked in just to add gameplay hours, at least 3 Deus Ex Machina plot points (We don't have a cure for the genophage....wait...yes we do now; How can we know what the catalyst is? Hey, there's prothean beacon over there! Reapers cannot be defeated. There's a thing calledThe entire game focuses on a story which doesn't relate to Me and ME2 very well. Most missions you do come across as tacked in just to add gameplay hours, at least 3 Deus Ex Machina plot points (We don't have a cure for the genophage....wait...yes we do now; How can we know what the catalyst is? Hey, there's prothean beacon over there! Reapers cannot be defeated. There's a thing called crucible, no one knows what it is or what it does, but hey, it's big! Must work!), and many more senseless things happening.
    Also, using cerberus as villains was simply a retarded cop out for enemies, and they ruined TIM in the process, turning the "ultimate renegade" into a deranged power hungry maniac.
    It's just sad how they handled ME2 characters, especially when romanced.
    The gameplay flows a bit soother than ME2, but it still has rather stupid cover mechanics. Also in the gameplay, the auto-dialog... Probably the worst idea they could have!
    Now, to the endings... Well, it is said that if a part of the story feels completely out of place, it can be disregarded from the plot so logically, the game ends before the companions are picked up by the Normandy during harby's nap time, therefore, I'm still waiting for the endings.    … Expand
  24. jerjud45
    Aug 3, 2012
    3
    Most people may concentrate on the ending, but there is so much more that this game got wrong, especially when comparing it with previous releases in the series. The writing in many parts of the game was absolutely terrible, and Shepard did not feel like Shepard in many scenes. The overusage of memes from previous games was cheesy, out of place, and down right irritating. TheMost people may concentrate on the ending, but there is so much more that this game got wrong, especially when comparing it with previous releases in the series. The writing in many parts of the game was absolutely terrible, and Shepard did not feel like Shepard in many scenes. The overusage of memes from previous games was cheesy, out of place, and down right irritating. The journal/quest system, which they nailed in the first and second games, is an absolute mess in Mass Effect 3. The people responsible for the new journal system in 3 should be shot in the face for their incompetence, when they had 2 examples to build off of in the previous games. The ending, even with the Extended Cut, is still very unsatisfying and breaks the flow of the entire trilogy.

    I will give it props on its combat system, which is an improvement over Mass Effect 2's system. Personally though, I would have preferred it to stay more like Mass Effect 1, since these games were intended to be rpgs and not shooters.

    Although the writing sucked most of the time, there were indeed some memorable moments and decent scenes. Overall, this game just needed more work. The game seemed rushed, and is not a typical Bioware release because the quality just isn't there. It's really disappointing to see this happen to such a great franchise and developer. Since DA2, Bioware just can't seem to do it anymore. First DA2, then SWTOR, and now ME3. Bioware is a developer to stay away from in the future as their quality has severely diminished, and I am sure this is largely due to EA's influence.

    If you have never played the Mass Effect series before, I would recommend staying away from it, as you are in for some disappoint in the 3rd installment. The first 2 are great games, but you will want to play this one too, which will ruin everything for you.    … Expand
  25. SleepingDog
    Aug 23, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A terrible ending, your choices from ME1 and ME2 doesn't have any impact. The game feels rushed, the story doesn't add up at all. Too many plot holes, terrible quest system, lack of dialog choices. Most of the time your Shepard will speak on his/her own. Compared to the previous games ME3 is much more linear and depth less.… Expand
  26. stern
    Jan 8, 2014
    3
    In this third and final release, slowly the narrative coherence of Mass Effect eroded, until near the end, at a fast pace it completly crumbled.
    In ME2 you could say that the villains were unjustified and meaningless in a narrative sense, you could say that choices, events and positions were forced into your character and many were literally asspulls, but at least ME2 provided plenty of    In this third and final release, slowly the narrative coherence of Mass Effect eroded, until near the end, at a fast pace it completly crumbled.
    In ME2 you could say that the villains were unjustified and meaningless in a narrative sense, you could say that choices, events and positions were forced into your character and many were literally asspulls, but at least ME2 provided plenty of well written and thoughtful content in the form of loyality missions for example, to couterbalance this. In ME3 there is no such thing and what starts as a contrived, average to bad story, end as a complete mess with giant holes where obviously the writers or devs didn't know what they were doing.
    Or if you played Deus Ex 1, a classical and mind-blowing game unlike ME3, you'll simply know that ME3 ending is a rip off, out of thone, feel and athmosphere from the rest of ME series and even from the rest of the third game itself, not addressing any of the questions and propositions that the ending should address.
    Mission after mission asspulls are thrown at the player and they are supposed to contain core elements of the narrative without any connection with the previous games. "Oh, you know, we found the ancient plans to this super-weapon, we don't even know what it does, but it's our only hope! Why didn't I mention these ancient plans before? I don't know", "Oh, the genophage was stabilished as a necessary evil, was even fully approached in a previous game? Too bad, let's use it again in the narrative in a total different way!", "You reproggammed heretic Geths? Nah, it didn't change anything!", "Forget Ilos and the Conduit, forget Haelstrom!" and so on, with even poorer resolutions than before, sometimes even with implausible forever happy conclusions, where magically everything worked out for everyone and butterflies and rainbows are in the sky.
    As for other aspects, some can be praised: they finally fleshed out powers, cooldowns and shields/armors/barriers, even adding power combos, making the gameplay as a pure adept or as an enginner very interesting. Too bad the game fail to explain this and you are supposed to search in the internet for a guide to which power detonates the other and what defense is vulnerable to what power (for example, energy drain is useless against armor, carnage is useless against shield, etc). The combat system is finally fun and interesting if you have patience to micromanage your squadmates, because they are useless otherwise and never use the proper powers if left by themselves.
    Other aspects must be criticized: the missions journal is confusing and doesn't match the missions name in the galaxy map, the weapons customization is dumbed down and mostly useless, upgrading equipment is a chore, side missions are utterly boring and repetitive, re-using multiplayer maps and the same mission model (active console A, hold postion B, etc), there are plenty and I mean plent of bugs even so long after release, sometimes advancing the main plot makes side missions expire and several, several characters are out of character or at least with very poorly written lines. The game feels short and I wonder if this is because they decided to focus on multiplayer instead.
    Unlike ME2, I can't recommend any DLC except for Javik. Citadel is cringe worthy and apparently made for 15 years old, Leviathan is stupid, inspired by movies such as Abyss and presents more implausible asspulls than answers, Omega is boring and will make you skip full dialogues out of boredom.
    ME3 is so bad that makes ME1 a master piece in comparison, it'll age bad and be a waste of your time. I recommend reading the relevant plot in wikis and skip this game.
    Too bad they are making a 4th installation, I predict a even worse product.    … Expand
  27. TailGunnner
    Aug 13, 2013
    3
    EA ruined this master piece and it made to suck it fans money. The every singe chose you make gets you to a realy stupid ending and each of all doesn't matters a little bit. They didn't relise the whole game so they can suck the money of their fans and lought at them and them make a "DLC" to fix it and say that they made it for fans... what kind of a sick mind would ruin a great fanbase.EA ruined this master piece and it made to suck it fans money. The every singe chose you make gets you to a realy stupid ending and each of all doesn't matters a little bit. They didn't relise the whole game so they can suck the money of their fans and lought at them and them make a "DLC" to fix it and say that they made it for fans... what kind of a sick mind would ruin a great fanbase. I am not inculuded to this fanbase. The only reason I gave this 3 is that the action might be good enught for someplayers who doesn't goes and chack out the storyline...… Expand
  28. GamersUprising
    Jul 23, 2013
    3
    It's by no means a bad game, the game play is amazing, the dialogue is great, the characters are relatable and it has that emotional tone that the first two games carried. What brought it down from a positive rating is the ending which managed to piss SO many gamers off. The ending of this game is a total slap in the face to fans of the Mass Effect games. It was like the developersIt's by no means a bad game, the game play is amazing, the dialogue is great, the characters are relatable and it has that emotional tone that the first two games carried. What brought it down from a positive rating is the ending which managed to piss SO many gamers off. The ending of this game is a total slap in the face to fans of the Mass Effect games. It was like the developers completely forgot about the fact that all of the games are based around choice, but the ending betrays that fact. All three endings are incredibly similar, which made us feel as if our choices never mattered in the first place. I love the Mass Effect games but the ending of this game just brought it down. Never has a game ending developed so much controversy than the ending of Mass Effect 3, and that's a damn shame.… Expand
  29. M8ass
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    Mass effect 3 will have a special place in my heart, as my first rapist. They said when you were a kid never to take candy from strangers, never go into their creepy van, and never enter their homes, well the stranger was EA and they raped us, good and well.

    Their master plan involved deception and building the hype with excellent writing and clever storytelling, and they decide to end    Mass effect 3 will have a special place in my heart, as my first rapist. They said when you were a kid never to take candy from strangers, never go into their creepy van, and never enter their homes, well the stranger was EA and they raped us, good and well.

    Their master plan involved deception and building the hype with excellent writing and clever storytelling, and they decide to end it by raping the fan base, and destroying years of hype, destroying one of the most original sci-fi franchises in order to make a profit.

    I have learned my lesson and will never, ever again purchase another product by EA ever again on release date, i will wait until other suffers before i decide if i want to be a part of the carnage or not.    … Expand
  30. AndrewLB
    Apr 21, 2014
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mass Effect 3 had some absolutely wonderful high points, but the lows completely ruined the series I had come to love over the years. Lets get the high points out of the way first since they are few and while great, are completely overshadowed by what's wrong with the game.
    First off, the graphics were outstanding even though the game was a console port, as was the music. The genophage cure series of events were absolutely incredible as long as Rex was not killed off in ME1. The paragon resolution to the genophage was heartwarming and the renegade resolution (if Mordin didn't die in ME2) was one of the most painful things I've ever done in a video game. Shooting the guy in the back was soooo wrong.
    I also enjoyed many of the aspects with previous squad members and friends from both ME1 and ME2. Running into Major Kirrahe from ME1 was a real treat and the deathbed prayer was so unexpected and moving that I actually got all teary eyed... a feat no video game had achieved in almost 30 years of gaming.

    Now... onto the bad. The whole opening sequence was absolute garbage. You can't just throw a new player into a situation assuming they already know these key people from previous games... add in a brand new main character not even ME veterans know even though the game treats the player like they should (Meat-head Vega), and after no buildup have earth attacked where they slap a pistol in your hand and expect you to fight wave after wave of f*cking aliens. You want to see a great opening to a game? Just look at Mass Effect 2. That introduction was one of the most brilliant in video game history. The player gets a sense of how to control movement through the environment, allowing them to get a feel for things, and aren't pressed to instant combat with zero idea what they're doing.
    Second... whatever happened to the promise that all these decisions in ME1 and ME2 having clear and distinct effects on the end of the trilogy?? Where was the payoff for saving/killing the Rachni? Or saving/destroying the Geth deep-space station? or most importantly... saving/destroying the Collector station at the end of ME2? And WTF is up with Cerberus still having the human-reaper even though I nuked the station from orbit? Only my ship had the Reaper IFF to activate the Omega 4 relay and my ship was dropped into Alliance hands as soon as I returned from the galactic center.
    Those are just a few of my problems with the game, but the biggest issue started from when you set foot on the Illusive Man's space station and didn't end till the credits stopped rolling. The entire space-ninja thing with Kai was beyond retarded, and as I said earlier... the human-reaper being there was complete BS... but it really got bad when you return to Earth. The space battle started good, but with no clear payoff for gathering every race in the galaxy to help other than one heavily damaged reaper and no show of the massive firepower you've amassed for the Normandy herself was deplorable.
    The "say goodbye" sequence was hollow, unfeeling, and didn't contain anything that showed the player the deep emotional bonds you've developed with your friends and loved ones. The whole thing was pointless.

    Last and least is my problem with the run to the beam and the f*cking star-brat. Your whole squad gets vaporized, no fight with Harbinger, no dialogue with him. Nothing. He just fries Shepard and leaves the scene. Oh... I can't forget the final boss battle!!! Shepard VS Marauder Shields!!! Bioware were too stupid to come up with a proper end fight so instead they had Shepard face THE ONLY MARAUDER IN THE GAME WITH SHIELDS.... as the final battle. Pathetic.
    Then... after three games where Shepards life was completely dedicated to stopping the reapers, preventing human extinction.... the trilogies antagonist.... the reapers... are pi$$ed out the window for Martin Sheen and a light-up ghost of the brat you tried to help at the beginning of ME3. W....T....F....

    Casey Hudson said in an interview prior to ME3's release that all your decisions mattered and how you would NEVER see a cookie cutter ending where you choose A, B, or C. But that's exactly what they did. It's like the development team at Bioware all went on vacation just after finishing the Illusive Man's space station, handed the keys to the newest Intern who previously was fetching them coffee, and told him to finish the game himself even though he had never played ME1 or ME2 and only was allowed to see a few bits and pieces of ME3 while in development.

    I, along with millions of others absolutely loved the Mass Effect series. So much so that we actually had an emotional attachment to the characters. Other game studios would KILL to achieve such a thing. And the way that Bioware said "f*ck it" and rushed the game out the door to meet EA's deadline for release, which was just in time boost quarterly profits for EA has disgusted me to a level that i'll never pay money for another one of their games. Pi$$ off!    … Expand
  31. Mr_NoFace
    Sep 12, 2013
    3
    friends and other people have been telling me to buy this, now I've finally got it and what a mistake that was, there are three options at the start of the game action I was tempted because most games these days only do action right? because they can't make a good story, role play no thanks I'm alright I'm not going to pretend that this is my life and finally story mode has a shooter thesefriends and other people have been telling me to buy this, now I've finally got it and what a mistake that was, there are three options at the start of the game action I was tempted because most games these days only do action right? because they can't make a good story, role play no thanks I'm alright I'm not going to pretend that this is my life and finally story mode has a shooter these days finally got a good story! no the story of this is the world is getting attacked! if that hasn't been used a load, so yeah I choose story because for once in these new games I want a good story not just go here and kill everyone then go here and press this, while i was playing i would be cut off by cut scenes it was constant and it got annoying I got bored so fast I don't know if that's just if you choose story or if its like that with action to but soon as I forget about this game I might give it another go… Expand
  32. Gingerbread_Man
    Dec 11, 2013
    3
    Loved the first two games. Was nothing but disappointed with this one. Combat felt almost identical to the second, and was fine. Outside of that, everything was different. The characters the second game spent so long building felt largely absent except for cameos. The choices made in previous games had absolutely no noticeable impact. The lore from the first game felt completely abandonedLoved the first two games. Was nothing but disappointed with this one. Combat felt almost identical to the second, and was fine. Outside of that, everything was different. The characters the second game spent so long building felt largely absent except for cameos. The choices made in previous games had absolutely no noticeable impact. The lore from the first game felt completely abandoned by this point, and the replacement arc was nowhere near the scope or impact. I'm not sure if they completely changed the project director by the third game, but it felt like the someone was writing the ending to someone else's story. Wasn't very good in any aspect.… Expand
  33. amorphousblob
    Jan 25, 2014
    3
    The good and bad of Mass Effect 3:

    Good: 1. Vastly improved levelling system that gives a noticeable upgrade with every skill point added. 2. Much more weapon variety. 3. Good weapon modding. Bad: 1. Terrible controls which rely on one button for virtually every action. Attempting to use an object while moving often results in the character launching themselves across the room or    The good and bad of Mass Effect 3:

    Good:
    1. Vastly improved levelling system that gives a noticeable upgrade with every skill point added.
    2. Much more weapon variety.
    3. Good weapon modding.

    Bad:
    1. Terrible controls which rely on one button for virtually every action. Attempting to use an object while moving often results in the character launching themselves across the room or getting out of cover, also no crouch button means the character sometimes stands up in the middle of fire-fights.
    2. Stupid ally AI. Allies are happy to stand out of cover while getting shot at, disappear in the middle of fights or refuse to shoot at enemies.
    3. Levelling is way too fast. In the first mission for example I increased my level three times.
    4. Side missions are boring. The majority of side missions involve jumping to a sector and right clicking a few times. These are necessary for game completion and a real chore.
    5. Player interaction is limited. Much crew interaction does not occur in cut-scenes and player has no control over their own responses. Dialog during missions is within cut-scenes but player still does not get to choose as many responses as in previous games. A Cynical person might assume this problem is due to laziness on the writers/animators part.
    6. Non player characters are boring. Character development appears to have taken a back seat in this game as both new and returning characters have little to say. The only interesting development I caught was jokers relationship but I managed to miss its resolution.
    7. Decisions in previous games appear to have little impact.
    8. Terrible level design. Levels are designed in a boxy arena style and clearly just recycled multiplayer maps, recycled so lazily as to have loads of ammo caches everywhere.
    9. Mandatory multiplayer. In order to get a good ending player is required to play multiplayer battles. This effectively precludes players with poor internet from experiencing some of the single player content.
    10. Dull, dull, dull combat. Most of the interesting enemies appear to have been removed: In combat I have mostly just faced a load of dudes with progressively bigger guns.
    11. Plot points from previous games are ignored. Shepard appears to answer to the alliance now when he was a spectre in the previous game for example.

    There are tonne more issues but really it all boils down to this: In attempting to broaden their customer base Bioware have turned the most exciting and deep RPG/FPS ever into a complete mess with little appeal to lovers of either genre. Both of the prequels I have played many times, including all the DLC, but ME3 was only good enough to get me to play until about five minutes into the final mission once.

    A huge disappointment.

    (also my characters run animation makes her look like she has sh** her pants)    … Expand
  34. ujmawielka
    Apr 12, 2014
    3
    this pathetic excuse for an rpg game was designed with multi player in mind primarily. the single player experience is only an afterthought thrown into multi player maps. radical departure from the masterpiece of a single player game mass effect 2 was. if you played mass effect 2 and liked it do yourself a favor and give me3 a miss.
  35. Paulystan
    Jun 4, 2014
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. How come this game scored so highly from the critics? It's like DA2. Are the critics actually real people or are the just programs that a large developer can hack into and create their own review? Maybe they were bought off, maybe they didn't even play the game and stayed at home that day.

    I enjoyed the game play and the flash look but it is a game limited by a LOT of stuff. Firstly the epic story that had been developed in ME and ME2 took a nose dive... New writer? My first confusion and concern was the real opening mission... So Earth has finally been invaded by the Reapers and the first stop on the galactic getaway plan is... Mars (I think it's Mars), where you have to fight the reapers who have naturally attacked there too seeing as the Solar System is so small and they need to wipe out all humans... No wait, that's not it... Where you fight Cerberus Who in their attempt to save humanity are ignoring (for most of the game) the upcoming human extinction. So... Put another way, humans are being wiped out in their millions and what do the most powerful humans do in response, that's right, fight each other. Good plan man. There's nothing like the threat of galactic extinction to bring a race together, it's so touching. The interaction with the NPCs seems quite limited to previous games. Every one seems much more 'teenage angst' too which is a bit annoying if you're not 15. It's like everybody suddenly turned emo. Of course the biggest example of the games poor writing and failure to follow the previous games is the fragile time frame and odd 'MUST SAVE THE HUMANS' thing going on... Exactly how long can earth last anyway and why are all the other races planning to go there abandoning their own species and home worlds? Sorry but no matter what excuse you give that will NEVER make sense. Then... (after many more stupid ideas and plot 'twists') the ending/endings/ending (one, three... Who knows). Um... After seeing it once, I will never play the game again and will not engage with the ME universe again. I my opinion it is the worst possible conclusion. Not only do the game mechanics totally break i.e. your decisions change the fate of humanity etc comes down to 'how do you want to die? like this or this or this?' It also doesn't make sense. Are we supposed to all be on drugs or something and go like 'oh double rainbow... starting to look like a triple rainbow'? It doesn't make sense, is trippy and kind of heartbreaking. The time, engagement, people, conversations, romance (way overplayed romance by the way), heart that many players put into the game is crushed by the ending. The ending ruined the whole journey. It would be like Frodo, fighting tyranny and disaster all the way to Mount Doom only to pat his pockets and have forgotten the damn ring. All the choices made- pointless, all the conversations, pointless, all the hope, drive, passion desire... pointless. YOU LOSE is the feeling you're left with and that is just a plain daft decision. It may have tried to be clever but it is quite the opposite. We didn't need clever either, we needed conclusion satisfaction. What we have is a maybe... kind of conclusion and no satisfaction. Does EA have some sort of existential problem it is trying to resolve all of a sudden? Has money made this the case? Can I help by relieving some of the raked money weight?

    Then... The mixed game play. Some great stuff, some linear stuff and some frustrating stuff. Enough from me, if you enjoyed it, good on you. All in all, I found it to be as tangled and frustrating as a ball of wool rolled into a room full of kittens.    … Expand
  36. Sonus
    Jun 1, 2015
    3
    wtf was that ending??? The game is very fun... unite the galaxy to fight the reapers. But that end?? **** it. don't have words to describe how **** this end was.
  37. Redwarrior1up
    Sep 11, 2015
    3
    I really REALLY wanted to love this game, I've been a long time fan of the series.

    I will say this game expanded upon the high points of the series like combat, the great lore and story behind the universe. However after almost $200 dollars into the series and a number of playthroughs I find the 3rd installment to be a mockery of the actual idea behind the game itself. I also hate to    I really REALLY wanted to love this game, I've been a long time fan of the series.

    I will say this game expanded upon the high points of the series like combat, the great lore and story behind the universe.

    However after almost $200 dollars into the series and a number of playthroughs I find the 3rd installment to be a mockery of the actual idea behind the game itself. I also hate to rehash the same things everyone else says but the ending was terrible, I would've liked more after all the time invested in the story, my choices to mean more than a choice between three colors of fireworks.

    I would also point out before the first game came out a much more compelling story was planned but somehow leaked onto the internet and was exchanged for the story we have now.    … Expand
  38. Khalazza
    Mar 13, 2017
    3
    Never forget that ending :(
    10 for all of the game up until the ending. 1 for the ending. Bioware managed to destroy 100+ hours of great gameplay across all 3 parts of the trilogy with last 10 minutes of the game. Impressive achievement, but I don't like it.
    The game is awesome in every aspect up until the very end. Don't know why Bioware did this but they did. They killed DA    Never forget that ending :(
    10 for all of the game up until the ending. 1 for the ending. Bioware managed to destroy 100+ hours of great gameplay across all 3 parts of the trilogy with last 10 minutes of the game. Impressive achievement, but I don't like it.

    The game is awesome in every aspect up until the very end. Don't know why Bioware did this but they did.

    They killed DA franchise with DA2 and now this. Not pre-ordering any Bioware game. Will wait until reviews come in    … Expand
  39. BarelyLewd
    Mar 15, 2019
    3
    3 words sum up this game, red, blue, or green. Your choices in the previous games don't matter, just pick yo fav color.
  40. Piruz
    May 30, 2021
    3
    Not as exhausting as Mass Effect 2, not as fun to play as ME 1( if we consider that it was fun at all). Just ended the whole trilogy and i have to say, that they keep that ME level on stable "peace of **** All games around 4/10, but i gave my emotional rate to ME 2( 1/10) and considering ME 1 is the best and that ME 3 is the THIRD game in superpopular series and it is still so bad i'llNot as exhausting as Mass Effect 2, not as fun to play as ME 1( if we consider that it was fun at all). Just ended the whole trilogy and i have to say, that they keep that ME level on stable "peace of **** All games around 4/10, but i gave my emotional rate to ME 2( 1/10) and considering ME 1 is the best and that ME 3 is the THIRD game in superpopular series and it is still so bad i'll give 3 to ME3… Expand
  41. Torgall
    Dec 12, 2020
    3
    Eh the game that ruined this series. You build up truly phenomenal plot and characters just to take a huge crap at it in the end. Even after their attempt to subdue the backlash with DLC leaves distaste.
  42. Chupwn
    Mar 16, 2012
    2
    I was expecting a game superior to Mass Effect 2. I really liked how doing the loyalty missions and side-quests impacted the final showdown. The ending unfortunately looked like it suffered from the developer running out of time/money/ideas. I'm noticing that every time you add a gimmick (aka multiplayer), you have to sacrifice something.
  43. Mikimax
    Mar 14, 2012
    2
    Bioware continues to dumb down their games.
    This game is everything but an RPG. In order to make the game appealing for everybody they stripped everything from it, everything, creating a hollow shell of the first game (a Reaper Husk) I played it through only because of the story.
  44. Fatteh
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    Mass Effect 3 ... I'm left with the same feeling as I was with DA2. How could they take such an excellent franchise and butcher it so. Disfigured and lolling in any sensory depth of story telling. Bioware have really sold out to they're paymasters on this one for what seems nothing more than a quick cash in on what would of wrapped all those hours ... no days; of choices, heart acheMass Effect 3 ... I'm left with the same feeling as I was with DA2. How could they take such an excellent franchise and butcher it so. Disfigured and lolling in any sensory depth of story telling. Bioware have really sold out to they're paymasters on this one for what seems nothing more than a quick cash in on what would of wrapped all those hours ... no days; of choices, heart ache on Tali or Liara, keeping Wrex in check all to culminate into .. this ... "This" ... monstrosity, Thank you Bioware, for the years of great games, characters and story telling, You are sorely missed;.… Expand
  45. fachriunited
    Mar 14, 2012
    2
    i would give it a 9 but after experiencing the last 2 hours of the game, this game is just big dissapointment, the ending just ver bad, worse than skyrim, and war asset dont do anything except the ending, not even affect the final battle just ending, very bad bioware very bad
  46. Ansatsu83
    Mar 9, 2012
    2
    My review is based on the game as a whole. It is poorly planned, buggy, storyline left many unanswered gaps. The multiplayer is mediocre at best, the whole game is an extreme disappointment to the franchise. Bioware should have stopped focusing on that failure of a game known as "The Old Republic" and planned this one and given it their soul.

    The storyline just did not seem intriging, the    My review is based on the game as a whole. It is poorly planned, buggy, storyline left many unanswered gaps. The multiplayer is mediocre at best, the whole game is an extreme disappointment to the franchise. Bioware should have stopped focusing on that failure of a game known as "The Old Republic" and planned this one and given it their soul.

    The storyline just did not seem intriging, the multiplayer has bugs where you can lose unlocked characters and equipment that you buy, sometimes for real money. A lot of players have lost a lot and are pretty angry at bioware.

    I encountered a bug when importing a character from me1, to 2, to 3. I romanced liara in 1, but it said I romanced ashley, which is false. I have never romanced Ashley in any of my play throughs. I loaded the same me2 file into me2 and played the storyline, it was definitely Liara as well.

    On top of this the game has horrible controls. I have no idea which moron decided to put the action button the same as the roll and take cover button but all I tend to do is barrel roll all over the place or stick into cover I don't want to while I try to activate a door or revive a team mate who was in cover.

    I recently lost every bit of gear I had unlocked on multiplayer, a level 4 pistol, a quarian engineer, a salarian engineer, multiple level 3 sniper rifles and assault rifles with multiple level 2 mods, a turian character, an asari vanguard, etc. I am done with mass effect 3 and I highly recommend every gamer stay away from this.

    The only reasons I am giving this a two out of ten, the graphics are still not bad, the worlds seem well constructed despite the controls being terrible. And you get to see Tali's face for once.

    I am sorry Bioware, you have failed us a second time in a couple of months, you have lost your edge just like Bill Roper and his constant failure of game development after Diablo 2. Some advise to bioware, leave your industry...    … Expand
  47. CsendesMark
    Mar 9, 2012
    2
    This is *Gears of War* not Mass Effect, only an action game
    bad story, big gaps
    They went too much to the bad direction :(
    This game isn't give too much to the Mass Effect universe... only that silly ending.
  48. GeorgeA
    Jul 19, 2012
    2
    Forget the terrible, plot hole-ridden abomination Bioware calls an "ending". This game has far worse problems than that. An incredibly lazy deus ex machina plot involving super-mega-awesome reaper destruction device known as " The Crucible" to some of the most ridiculous scenes in the history of video gaming(Tali's possible death sequence, for example). The writing is atrocious and seemsForget the terrible, plot hole-ridden abomination Bioware calls an "ending". This game has far worse problems than that. An incredibly lazy deus ex machina plot involving super-mega-awesome reaper destruction device known as " The Crucible" to some of the most ridiculous scenes in the history of video gaming(Tali's possible death sequence, for example). The writing is atrocious and seems to be done by a seven-year-old fan-fiction writer. The "neutral" dialog response is now completely removed, so most of the time you have two illusionary choices in dialogs, which don't affect anything at all. That is,if dialog wheel even appears, as it has been mostly replaced by auto-dialog. The world of Mass Effect has shrunk from the quite large Citadel areas and dozen of huge,explorable (though empty) planets in Mass Effect to six crammed locations at the citadel with bland grey architecture and bleak Normandy in the third game. Not even four relatively small, but at least completely different hubs like in Mass Effect 2 .But the final nail in the coffin are "quests".The way it works is already anecdotal-you wonder around the Citadel, "overhear" two people talking about some stupid item, your journal will update, you go to that area, scan the planet via boring planet scanner, "retrieve" that item and give it back to those idiots at Citadel. That's it. No dialog wheel, not even a cutscene, nothing at all. There are other kind of RARE side-missions, where you go to a boxed area and kill everything on your way to... retrieve data or item. There is not a single side-mission, which even remotely looks like an RPG quest should, let alone being interesting. The combat is the same as the second game, a boring cover-based Gears of War like shooter with million enemies per level to kill. Weapon mods are almost completely useless, armor sets are literally copy/pasted from Mass Effect 2 DLC. Hell, most of the time you can't even talk to your teammates on Normandy. The only reason I don't give it a zero, is because some really good moments here and there. In all, a disaster of epic proportions, no doubt. Bioware managed to destroy an interesting and promising science fiction action-adventure game with RPG elements and that's not easy even if you work deliberately to do just that.… Expand
  49. Kuudou
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    The result here was massively predictable, given the controversy surrounding EA/Bioware's recent policies regarding their other games and their fanbase in general. All of which can be overlooked if ME3 turned out to be a decent game, which was not the case.

    The end of ME2 actually set up a great cliffhanger and promised great things to come, and ME3 drastically feel short. This is mainly    The result here was massively predictable, given the controversy surrounding EA/Bioware's recent policies regarding their other games and their fanbase in general. All of which can be overlooked if ME3 turned out to be a decent game, which was not the case.

    The end of ME2 actually set up a great cliffhanger and promised great things to come, and ME3 drastically feel short. This is mainly due to its focus on romancing options, having the personal trials of the crew overshadowing the main story, and an oversimplified explanation to tie up everything. Gameplay offers very little innovation from the last two games in the series, and the squad mechanics are downright retarded.    … Expand
  50. Pitt90
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I could've forgiven a lot about ME3 ... after all, I love the franchise. ME1 was amazing; ME2 I liked despite being railroaded into working for an organization I did my best to hinder at every turn during ME1, and having my Spectre status be meaningless; and despite ME3 having graphics that looked like they came from the 90s and introducing a completely unnecessary multiplayer aspect to a single-player RPG.

    I could've forgiven them for all that ... but then I played til the end. Bioware's lead writer Mac Walters said the last in the series would be about our choices having impact ... but it didn't. No matter how good we were; how hard we worked; what choices we made, the galaxy is boned and there's nothing we can do to have *any* semblance of a happy ending. Does it happen in real life? Sure ... but we play video games to escape the hopelessness of real life and to have a chance, just a chance, to make a better world. I expected sacrifices, I expected tough choices, I didn't expect a deus ex machina.    … Expand
  51. Vastgirth
    May 14, 2012
    2
    Most of the game was pretty good, certainly an improvement on the risable second game. The ending ruined it all. At best it was imcomplete, at worst a complete runiation of everything you had done in the game. A true shame such a great series ends on such a damp squib..
  52. stealthops77
    Mar 15, 2012
    2
    Originally while I was playing through the game, I thought, "this is so epic!" And that thought remained true until the last 15 minutes of the game... Those last 15 minutes pretty much just took a **** on your face and made you feel extremely dissatisfied. It takes away replay value for the entire series because you know that the outcome will be exactly the same, and that you will hateOriginally while I was playing through the game, I thought, "this is so epic!" And that thought remained true until the last 15 minutes of the game... Those last 15 minutes pretty much just took a **** on your face and made you feel extremely dissatisfied. It takes away replay value for the entire series because you know that the outcome will be exactly the same, and that you will hate it just as much as you did the first time you played through it.

    The multiplayer on the other hand is not that bad. But it does get boring after awhile since your pretty much going through the same enemies over and over again on five different maps. I know some people absolutely love it and some don't like it at all. So its all about your tastes.    … Expand
  53. JunglePredator
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    I've already scored this low on the gaming store's site I bought it from & will actually give point form why it gets low scores here.
    -EA conducting aggressive anti-consumer behaviour against users who display "discontent behaviour" in any official forum. Lowers enjoyment of playing game.
    -Significant day 1 DLC/add-on items that should be part of the game but EA is requiring cash for.    I've already scored this low on the gaming store's site I bought it from & will actually give point form why it gets low scores here.
    -EA conducting aggressive anti-consumer behaviour against users who display "discontent behaviour" in any official forum. Lowers enjoyment of playing game.
    -Significant day 1 DLC/add-on items that should be part of the game but EA is requiring cash for. (i.e. the Razer branded item's bonus guns)
    -"Professional" reviewers seem to have been paid off for positive reviews
    -Graphics toted as being "top notch". It's Unreal Engine... I haven't played a game using this engine that HASN'T looked good. ME3 is just average when placed beside many of its competitors
    -Over aggressive DRM (yes it effects the game score as it affects how often & where I can play the game)
    -Game is not a 10 out of 10 by a long shot so it should consider itself lucky to be getting the 2 I'm giving given the negatives.
    Disclosure: I have only played the demo; am still working on my Mass Effect 1 play through before proceeding to ME2 then ME3. Own most the content for all 3 (lacking Razor rifle for ME3 at this point)
    Example of Unreal Engine 3 games I've played for comparison: Alpha Protocol, Batman: Arkham City, Blacklight: Tango Down, BlackSite: Area 51, Borderlands, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. (Probably more too)    … Expand
  54. Metalsand
    Mar 17, 2012
    2
    When I first saw the user ratings, I thought maybe a group of players were just being overly dramatic. I was dead wrong.

    While Bioware did a decent job on story, most of it was just reusing previous material from the first and second games. Unfortunately, this is the only good thing I have to say about this game. Combat feels like if I played the COD4 campaign 4 times in a row. The    When I first saw the user ratings, I thought maybe a group of players were just being overly dramatic. I was dead wrong.

    While Bioware did a decent job on story, most of it was just reusing previous material from the first and second games. Unfortunately, this is the only good thing I have to say about this game. Combat feels like if I played the COD4 campaign 4 times in a row. The first and second times would be fun, but the third and fourth are just the same things over and over again, and it feels like with all game combat, depending on which part of the story you are on, they would use copy and paste more. The last battle was RIDICULOUS. It became a test to see how long I could hold down the left click button, with 30 enemies plus 5-10 mini-bosses coming all at once, and sooner or later, the sheer spam would always back me into a corner, where 5 of the minibosses would keep on using stun attacks to keep me from running or even firing back. The sheer length of the combat fights is terrible as well, it would be safe to estimate that over half of the fighting you will be doing in this game is just filler, especially the last mission. In only one small section of the last mission, I'd go up against waves that would take around 20-30 minutes to complete, with over 4 waves to complete. This is one SECTION which is 100% combat spam that takes more than 2 hours to complete. So you just shoot for 2 hours straight at the same enemies, using the same weapons and same tactics. I've watched chick flicks with women that not even including the benefits of the woman are MUCH more exciting than the combat in this game. It is a sad state of affairs when Bioware games turn into a giant grind instead of story, and the whole game feels like it was made by a 3rd rate developer that had no clue what they were doing and instead mashed everything together and called it a game. Bioware has been on the decline since ME2 and Dragon Age 2, but with the release of ME3, it is safe to say that they are a dead company now.    … Expand
  55. talonius
    Mar 12, 2012
    2
    The Good: * The game has the classic Mass Effect play style and combat.

    The Bad: * They shoe horned multiplayer in and created a reason to make it pertinent. * The equipment (and hair) of the player models is constantly poking through. * 90% of the conversations you have do not offer choices of replies - they don't even bring up the conversation wheel. * Day one DLC which requires one    The Good: * The game has the classic Mass Effect play style and combat.

    The Bad: * They shoe horned multiplayer in and created a reason to make it pertinent.
    * The equipment (and hair) of the player models is constantly poking through.
    * 90% of the conversations you have do not offer choices of replies - they don't even bring up the conversation wheel.
    * Day one DLC which requires one line of code change in order to make it appear and which should have been part of the overall game as it was the one thing that managed to add some depth.
    * Failure to take into account player choices (from ME1, ME2, or ME3) with the ending.
    * Endings which appear to provide a choice, but don't. (What color would you like your universe destroying beam to be in?)
    * No sex scenes, demonstrating EA's editorial control over Bioware productions despite Bioware's claims to the contrary.
    * None of the side quests you complete appears to have any impact other than increasing your forces' strength for the final battle. The narrative that one might expect from Mass Effect for the individual units brought into play is not there.

    As a single game, it's a shallow and fun romp until the very last portion of the game. When you and Anderson are side by side with each other, chatting, stop. Right there is the best ending you can hope for - do NOT continue. Walk away and imagine your ending. You will be happier.

    As a series finale this game does NOT suffice. I don't care what theory you take to - that they wanted to show predestination, that Shepard was indoctrinated, that they're holding the series open for DLC. None of that matters. What matters is that the ending to the game - and the series - brings no closure for the player. NONE.

    People are claiming that those of us who are complaining about the ending are overreacting. I don't think we can overreact. I have spent hundreds of hours of my life playing this game, I overrode my ban on EA games in order to purchase it, I hoped as a property of Bioware that they would treat the series finale properly. All of those hopes were dashed, destroyed, thrown down, stepped on, and ground into tiny pieces.

    Don't buy this game. It's not worth your money. When it's a $5.00 special, it might be worth it. If Bioware rewrites the ending, it might be worth it. Right now? I spent $80.00 on the collector's edition and I wish I could get a refund - of my money, and my play time.

    Between this and Dragon Age 2... well, I'm glad the indie games are ramping up because it's obvious I need to find my Western RPG fix somewhere else.    … Expand
  56. OrangeFish
    Apr 4, 2012
    2
    The first half of the game is quite enjoyable as you progress into the second half of the game it is clear that quite a few missions are missing. Developer interviews confirm this(from the Final Hours of ME3 iPad app).

    The most damning indictment about the quality of this title is saved for the ultimate conclusion of the game. The ending does not work, does not make sense, and feels    The first half of the game is quite enjoyable as you progress into the second half of the game it is clear that quite a few missions are missing. Developer interviews confirm this(from the Final Hours of ME3 iPad app).

    The most damning indictment about the quality of this title is saved for the ultimate conclusion of the game. The ending does not work, does not make sense, and feels like its tacked on from a different universe. It certainly does not feel like it belongs in Mass Effect`s universe.

    Another 6-9 months of development time likely could have fixed the problems, unfortunately that didn`t happen so I would suggest unless this is fixed sometime during 2012 I would recommend skipping this game.

    Perhaps the best thing you can do is to is play Mass Effect 1 and just pretend the whole thing ends right there.    … Expand
  57. Thederaci
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    This is coming from someone who liked the first Mass Effect and thougth that the second one was pretty good too: Dont buy this game. It's dumbed down piece of over marketed trash.
    It's painfully obvious that most of the money spent on this game went for marketing and buying good reviews. That does not make this a good game, not by a long shot.
    The voice acting is mediocre at best and the    This is coming from someone who liked the first Mass Effect and thougth that the second one was pretty good too: Dont buy this game. It's dumbed down piece of over marketed trash.
    It's painfully obvious that most of the money spent on this game went for marketing and buying good reviews. That does not make this a good game, not by a long shot.
    The voice acting is mediocre at best and the dialog itself is horrible.    … Expand
  58. OJFeynman
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    I bought this on release because I liked Mass Effect 2. The game is broken in that if you use custom keybindings, you are no longer able to scan planets for minerals/artifacts. This is a huge QA failure. I am unable to progress without a severe handicap. There are other serious problems with this game, too. The graphics have taken a step back from ME2 technically, though they have addedI bought this on release because I liked Mass Effect 2. The game is broken in that if you use custom keybindings, you are no longer able to scan planets for minerals/artifacts. This is a huge QA failure. I am unable to progress without a severe handicap. There are other serious problems with this game, too. The graphics have taken a step back from ME2 technically, though they have added improved graphical filters. The game world is static, full of people who don't react to your presence and objects that you can't manipulate. For example, you visit the Citadel, which is supposed to be a bustling population center, but you can only interact with three or four characters there--I mean the others don't look at you, tell you they took an arrow in the knee, or even move, aside from simple idle animations. Incidentally, this is the same level design from ME2, minus interacting with citizens, stores, lifts, etc. On the Normandy, there are lots of crew members, but they do not acknowledge you. It all feels lifeless. The Normandy is the same as the one in ME2, except you can't talk with crew members or interact with many objects on the ship. For example, the only toilet that flushes is the one in the Captain's room. The ship is just utterly dead, which is too bad because walking around the ship was my favorite part. The combat is pretty much the same. It's not very strong, but combat is the last reason anyone would buy a Mass Effect game. The story looks to be serviceable, albeit generic. The writers had elementary problems with exposition that was fairly amateurish, "As you know, Shepard..." Anyway, my main gripe is key bindings. I am not sure why companies refuse to pay attention to inputs. It is truly mystifying. Is is so unfair that I can't get my money back for this. It is broken and I feel cheated.… Expand
  59. moifoi
    Jun 3, 2012
    2
    Sigh, the ending was far to short and being paragon or renegade meant nothing in the end. The endings didn't reflect your play style. I didn't have any probs with the style of ending, the mist is one of the best ever and heaps of people vote it down furious over it but it still maintains a high ranking proof the movie was good.

    It's quite funny, bioware have made the following since EA    Sigh, the ending was far to short and being paragon or renegade meant nothing in the end. The endings didn't reflect your play style. I didn't have any probs with the style of ending, the mist is one of the best ever and heaps of people vote it down furious over it but it still maintains a high ranking proof the movie was good.

    It's quite funny, bioware have made the following since EA took over. mass effect 2 and 3 dumbed down, dragon age 2 the worst dumbed down rpg, SW the old republic complete junk. Oh well sell outs.    … Expand
  60. Alex_Whatever
    Mar 19, 2012
    2
    There is some merit to what Mass Effect 3 tries to do, but it ultimately fails at the hands of some over-zealous writer who ignores everything that happened during the previous 100 hrs. and shoehorns a new character into the ending that brings in a lot more questions and answers none. There is no pay off to this story, no culmination to your personal decisions, no outcome that make sense,There is some merit to what Mass Effect 3 tries to do, but it ultimately fails at the hands of some over-zealous writer who ignores everything that happened during the previous 100 hrs. and shoehorns a new character into the ending that brings in a lot more questions and answers none. There is no pay off to this story, no culmination to your personal decisions, no outcome that make sense, and you ultimately wonder if everything you did actually mattered then. The answer is that in the end, no, it doesn't matter.… Expand
  61. Riot
    Dec 13, 2012
    2
    Lowest critic score is 75 and it's coming from a bunch of **** in Romania. ARE YOU **** ME? 22 positives? For this piece of **** sequel? My grandma can write a better script than these clowns. And Clint Mansel? Probably there for the name, couldn't hear anything new, same recycled sounds and tracks. Graphics are better in no budget indie games and RPG is down the toilet.

    **** YOU    Lowest critic score is 75 and it's coming from a bunch of **** in Romania. ARE YOU **** ME? 22 positives? For this piece of **** sequel? My grandma can write a better script than these clowns. And Clint Mansel? Probably there for the name, couldn't hear anything new, same recycled sounds and tracks. Graphics are better in no budget indie games and RPG is down the toilet.

    **** YOU BIOWARE **** YOU EA **** YOU ORIGIN

    AND MOST IMPORTANT **** YOU STUPID PEOPLE WHO PAY FOR DAY 1 DLC    … Expand
  62. sethman75
    Mar 24, 2012
    2
    Terrible end to what should have been the best franchise in the past 10 years and it has nothing to do with the ending. Below are my reasons why it is such a poor game.

    - Single player RPG game forcing players into a multiplayer GoW style game. The worst thing about BW being taken over by EA is that EA are forcing multiplayer into every game which takes away vital resources from the SP    Terrible end to what should have been the best franchise in the past 10 years and it has nothing to do with the ending. Below are my reasons why it is such a poor game.

    - Single player RPG game forcing players into a multiplayer GoW style game. The worst thing about BW being taken over by EA is that EA are forcing multiplayer into every game which takes away vital resources from the SP portion of the experience which in ME was it's heart and soul.
    - Terrible 5 year old graphics, with little customisation and horrible anti-aliasing/textures
    - Story was laughable, such a shame they killed off some of the most interesting chars in gaming
    - Day 1 DLC which takes players for fools and also takes away one of the best lore/chars in the game
    - Clunky and very stiff animations which look like they are 6 months of polish away from finished.
    - Side quests are frustrating as they tell you a random planet you have to find but what they don't tell is that the cluster doesn't even show up on your map until a later pre-requisite has been done. Bad design.
    - VERY poor quest tracking and info updates. You get so many quests to do at once but if you finish the goal, you have to remember where you got it from and who gave it to you. This is not 1993 BW?!?
    - Ridiculous mechanic with scanning the solar systems and reaper awareness which discourages players from exploring which was one of ME best qualities in the last 2 games.
    - Forced gayness. I'm all for choice in game but to have so many gay chars throwing in your face about this or that becomes tiresome VERY quickly and makes you start to think that BW had an agenda.
    - FOV for the combat is far too close. ME has never been a GoW/COD clone. It has always been more tactical which goes against the decision to be so close as you never feel in control of the situation.
    - Small thing but the needed the option to remove your helmet. Some of the best helmet's look horrible and you can't take them off as you need the stats. Destroys immersion and connection with the player.
    - I am disturbed on how critically acclaimed this game is by the so called experts. It really goes to show how little their opinion really means and what an ass-kissing industry video games really is.    … Expand
  63. WynnTTr
    Mar 11, 2012
    2
    Disappointing gameplay, atrocious ending. Day 1 DLC, Origin. I don't need to go on.
    What a let down. Won't be buying EA again - torrents here I come.
  64. mr_cupcake
    Apr 9, 2012
    2
    This game showed great promise for being GOTY 2012 but based on the fact that the whole ME series so closely copied other sci-fis the whole prothean device idea was figured out by me and my brother before the game was released. Despite this let down the game had some great features throughout which were suddenly pushed to one side by that horrific ending. Considering the how game was basedThis game showed great promise for being GOTY 2012 but based on the fact that the whole ME series so closely copied other sci-fis the whole prothean device idea was figured out by me and my brother before the game was released. Despite this let down the game had some great features throughout which were suddenly pushed to one side by that horrific ending. Considering the how game was based on the choices you make through out these had no effect on the three ghastly choices at the end which all end the game in exactly the same terrible way… Expand
  65. Poebeer
    Mar 31, 2012
    2
    NO SPOILERS:
    THE GOOD: - lots of weapons, powers and customisation. Interesting dialogues and story. Good voice acting.
    THE BAD: - Journal doesn't update/ keeps track. - It became more like watching a movie. - The camera didn't go to "talk mode" like it did in ME1 and2. - There isn't mutch to explore in the cidadel, - plot holes, Some stuff in the ending is not believable. - bugged    NO SPOILERS:
    THE GOOD: - lots of weapons, powers and customisation. Interesting dialogues and story. Good voice acting.

    THE BAD: - Journal doesn't update/ keeps track.
    - It became more like watching a movie. - The camera didn't go to "talk mode" like it did in ME1 and2. - There isn't mutch to explore in the cidadel,
    - plot holes, Some stuff in the ending is not believable.
    - bugged quests
    - Contrast between very good and very bad/ uninished graphics is very very noticable in some missions. - Doesn't feel like an RPG at all.    … Expand
  66. Thyriel
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    Jesus, this game is such a total letdown. Glad me and my friends bought only one copy to try it out. The graphics is dated and badly made. Low res textures. Bad animations. Music - I guess it depends on your style, but for me it was below average. The gameplay was retarded at best. Press space to do this, press space to do that. God I have more then one button on my keyboard for christsJesus, this game is such a total letdown. Glad me and my friends bought only one copy to try it out. The graphics is dated and badly made. Low res textures. Bad animations. Music - I guess it depends on your style, but for me it was below average. The gameplay was retarded at best. Press space to do this, press space to do that. God I have more then one button on my keyboard for christs sake. You can only do things in specific moments and then you have to press space, so no reason to press space otherwise. It is more of an interactive movie then a game. Story - Jeebez how retarded incapable and completely fantasy-retarded do you have to be to write this drivel. Every self respecting author would jump off the bridge before he would write something like this. Generally, the only thing you see is that if you pay the official reviewers, they will give you a high score. That is it. I am so so extremely sorry this game I awaited with such high expectations underperformed in every possible way. Please save yourselves the trouble and do not buy it. There are better games, Deus Ex for one or even the previous MEs.… Expand
  67. zimm
    Apr 1, 2012
    2
    I shall be succinct: Mass Effect 3 fails to do what was asked of it by the "hardcore" (old school RPG) fans. Bioware did not bring back any type of inventory, the Itemization is still too small and understanding of the mechanics does little to help one play better or lay out skills better. Even more disturbing is the horrendous way Bioware has concluded this game. I will not give anyI shall be succinct: Mass Effect 3 fails to do what was asked of it by the "hardcore" (old school RPG) fans. Bioware did not bring back any type of inventory, the Itemization is still too small and understanding of the mechanics does little to help one play better or lay out skills better. Even more disturbing is the horrendous way Bioware has concluded this game. I will not give any specifics but suffice to say the ending offers no real choice or closure. If given the opportunity, I would return my copy.… Expand
  68. JohnMaynardK
    Mar 9, 2012
    2
    Well basically, I play Mass Effect games for the exceptionally deep dating and relationship mechanics. Well, OK, they're not perhaps as deep as in some other games, but there are few other mainstream games that give me quite such a wide choice of subsurfaced polygonal ass to seduce, and do so within the context of a 60 hour campaign. Some people call me a "neckbeard" or even moreWell basically, I play Mass Effect games for the exceptionally deep dating and relationship mechanics. Well, OK, they're not perhaps as deep as in some other games, but there are few other mainstream games that give me quite such a wide choice of subsurfaced polygonal ass to seduce, and do so within the context of a 60 hour campaign. Some people call me a "neckbeard" or even more insultingly and prejudicially, a "faggot" (verbatim quote), but I don't care. I have a perfectly healthy sex life, I just find games that can deal with seduction and relationships so much more mature than other games. Anyway, this is basically where ME3 falls down so hard. In the first installment of this franchise, there were only two female companions to choose from: Liara and Ashley. Now, two might be a small number for a romantic partner selection, but don't mistake ME1 for being a dumbed-down game: the two women were completely different. Ashley was a sexy space-marine (beautifully subverting genre stereotypes), and Liara was a sensitive and kind Asari. Both girls were kick-ass, and the decisions one made about about who to sleep with could be really difficult. This was further complicated by the choice of having to sacrifice either Ashley (potential waifu) or Kaidan (absolute bro). This is why I love this series: deep choices. Now, Mass Effect 2 actually extended this further: there were now not only a vastly greater selection of team-members to romance, but they now also had their own loyalty missions, conflicting with the other members of the cast in a beautiful panoply of enmeshed storylines. Want to romance character A? Well, get ready to piss off B and C in the process! In seducing Miranda, I found the game to be incredibly immersive (I felt just like I was seducing a real girl!), and I was truly brought into the game. This, kids, is good game design. Sadly, ME3 has none of this. It portrays its female, romanceable characters in a frankly sexist and stereotyped way. The whole game blatantly views these females as nothing more than sex objects, and it really shows. Just look at the Ashley redesign! Frankly, I no longer find her attractive, with her Barbie hair and boobtastic outfit. Disgusting. Worse, when I tried to bring this up on the Bioware forums, I was told to stop criticising Bioware and given a cautionary infraction. If you value the depth of romantic interaction usually found in Bioware games, steer well clear of this stinker. I give it a 2/10. Wouldn't bang.… Expand
  69. jollysteve
    Mar 12, 2012
    2
    This one is really annoying! There is too much video and too little game in it. The battles are very irritating, especially the grenades and the cover system sucks.
  70. DigitalVeil
    Mar 30, 2012
    2
    This game is a major disappointment. Incredibly repetitive combat and missions. Go from point A to point B, taking wave after wave of enemies on. Missions do not stray from this formula. Dialogue is simplified with less options and less renegade/paragon actions. Game is also more linear with less side missions and exploration. Also has one of the worst quest tracking systems I have everThis game is a major disappointment. Incredibly repetitive combat and missions. Go from point A to point B, taking wave after wave of enemies on. Missions do not stray from this formula. Dialogue is simplified with less options and less renegade/paragon actions. Game is also more linear with less side missions and exploration. Also has one of the worst quest tracking systems I have ever experienced in any game. Dialogue and combat animations are horrible as well. Multi-player is awful, just a horde mode tacked on to the game. Gets tiresome after a couple matches. Entire game feels like it was rushed and the ending is absolutely trash. Such a shame what has happened to Bioware. Will be the last dime I spend on their games, as they've fallen victim to the almighty EA… Expand
  71. Duncaaaaaan
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    Oh how the mighty have fallen. If you're one of the following, or a combination of all three: a newcomer to the series; someone who doesn't like roleplaying games; someone who prefers shooters like Gears of War or CoD; Go give this game a 9.5/10, it was made specifically for you. If you're someone who was a fan of the ME1 franchise since the first one, enjoyed the fantastic and wittyOh how the mighty have fallen. If you're one of the following, or a combination of all three: a newcomer to the series; someone who doesn't like roleplaying games; someone who prefers shooters like Gears of War or CoD; Go give this game a 9.5/10, it was made specifically for you. If you're someone who was a fan of the ME1 franchise since the first one, enjoyed the fantastic and witty writing, the dialogue choices and essentially what was a perfect hybrid of shooter and RPG mechanics, rate this game somewhere in the 1-3/10 region. There is also a huge lack of polish, animations are absolutely terrible and glitchy. voice acting is unbelievably bad, the lead writer, Mac Walters, is f*cking crap at his job and should be sacked. Graphics are very low quality. Skyboxes are a joke to look at, just a muddy pixelated mess Iooks more at home in the original Half-Life1, low res textures are buried under excessive amounts of shadow and poor contrast settings that can't be changed, space bar does EVERYTHING. Choices in the past game mean almost nothing, which is contrary to what was advertised. And now, the autodialog. Shepard just talks for ages on end, with absolutely no input from the player. This isn't YOUR Shep you play, it is something else. Shep often says dickish things I didn't want him to, so and there's only 2 choices of dialog now, not 3-4 from the previous games. One good and one bad. It's like we're being treated as retards, it's insulting. I give it a 2/10, and that's generous.… Expand
  72. VanFanel1980mx
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    There was been a lot of negative reaction about the three gameplay modes implemented in this installment, while I find the RPG mode just as the usual Mass Effect while the Action mode is more straightforward and just goes for a predetermined outcome most of the time, but Story Mode is not even what we expected, for one it is not even as Hepler's critics thought, you have to actually fightThere was been a lot of negative reaction about the three gameplay modes implemented in this installment, while I find the RPG mode just as the usual Mass Effect while the Action mode is more straightforward and just goes for a predetermined outcome most of the time, but Story Mode is not even what we expected, for one it is not even as Hepler's critics thought, you have to actually fight your way through the game BUT the difficulty is dumbed down to the point of having no inmersion or sense of urgency, if you want to see how the story goes you are better off watching someone else play it on You Tube, otherwise you will be bothered by gameplay a lot.

    The Story is what you could expect and let's leave it at that, the ending was too predictable and as always you can expect another sequel, the "diversity" stuff has been criticized but that's for whoever wants to play it that way, nothing breath taking, more akin to a typical fanfiction.

    For an action game it is an OK game, for an RPG is below average.    … Expand
  73. DoubleCore
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    The game is very disappointing. They removed the planet and resources exploration, almost no dynamic dialogs (most of the game if cut scene dialogue), removed completely the RPG from the game..
    A bad way to end a trilogy. Mass Effect 2 was the best in the series because it mixed RPG and action TPS but now with Mass Effect 3, it remains only Action TPS and that's sucks!!
  74. tatchely87
    Apr 11, 2012
    2
    Wow, Bioware turned my favorite RPG series of all time down to a Gears-of-War-type sci-fi shooter. I'll admit, the combat is 100% better. But Bioware has changed the formula from what made us all love the first two Mass Effect games. The conversations with NPCs were the best part of the first two games -- now they aren't much more than cutscenes. In Mass Effect 3, instead of feelingWow, Bioware turned my favorite RPG series of all time down to a Gears-of-War-type sci-fi shooter. I'll admit, the combat is 100% better. But Bioware has changed the formula from what made us all love the first two Mass Effect games. The conversations with NPCs were the best part of the first two games -- now they aren't much more than cutscenes. In Mass Effect 3, instead of feeling like you are actually conversing with NPCs, you merely watch Shepard talking to them. Its so frustrating to see "my" Shepard get turned into a cookie-cutter gaming action hero. You get a couple of options every now and then, which I'm not sure even cause differences in the dialog. Contrast this to the first two games, where Shepard didn't say anything without you telling him what to say, and those conversation choices made it feel like you were actually making a difference. Bioware tries really hard to make every cutscene (of which there are way too many) super epic and emotional. It turns out most are just really corny. Its a lot like Gears of War, which I enjoyed. But I'm not looking for Gears of War here, I'm looking for Mass Effect!

    It makes me really sad that somehow, Bioware just isn't the studio they used to be. I feel like they are trying to just appease 8 year olds that just want to play to blow things up.

    I makes me more sad that I can't REALLY continue the amazing experience that was Mass Effect 2. Its their same Dragon Age II mistake, all over again.    … Expand
  75. john-117
    Apr 8, 2012
    2
    Bad graphics for the PC, maybe worse than ME2, but that didn't bother me. You all know what's really wrong... the ending. Great game until the end, but then, like a friend of mine said, WTF?
    Seriously, fix the ending Bioware or else you are never, ever going to get a dime from me again.
  76. shinran
    Nov 12, 2012
    2
    Felt really unfair that I don't get all dialog/story options because I didn't import a character from ME2. This is a very poor game design because I actually played both ME and ME2, but I didn't keep the game saves. Without the saves, ME3 makes many assumptions that didn't match with my personal experience from previous games. It gives me limited dialog choices and event outcomes. IFelt really unfair that I don't get all dialog/story options because I didn't import a character from ME2. This is a very poor game design because I actually played both ME and ME2, but I didn't keep the game saves. Without the saves, ME3 makes many assumptions that didn't match with my personal experience from previous games. It gives me limited dialog choices and event outcomes. I had to act out of characters in several occasions. It's one thing to enhance experience using previous game saves, but to require it to unlock main event outcomes is a very very very poor game design. Could just prompt for more background info if the player didn't have a game save.… Expand
  77. JonathanM
    Apr 5, 2012
    2
    Why, oh why did this game get good reviews? It's very poorly done compared to the first two (I was a big fan of the first one, and the second one was okay.) This newest addition to the mass effect series is beyond flaws with not-so-flowing storyline, poor animation, and poorly optimized for the pc. To make matters worse, the storyline is full of holes as well, with parts becomingWhy, oh why did this game get good reviews? It's very poorly done compared to the first two (I was a big fan of the first one, and the second one was okay.) This newest addition to the mass effect series is beyond flaws with not-so-flowing storyline, poor animation, and poorly optimized for the pc. To make matters worse, the storyline is full of holes as well, with parts becoming inconsistent or unnecessary. I am a fan of Bioware, but this is by far the worst game I've ever seen them put out. Nice job, guys, you wasted my money. I truly say do not bother with this one, it will only ruin the series for you. Go play the first one.… Expand
  78. Wilko
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    Bioware should stop making "games" since they obviously can't be bothered anymore and just stick to their true calling, romance visual novels. Dumbed down gameplay concepts, day one DLC and a plot that's complete garbage, which consists of zero meaningful choice options and a general direction that's put to shame by 10 year old fan-fiction writers. Not to mention the animation is terrible,Bioware should stop making "games" since they obviously can't be bothered anymore and just stick to their true calling, romance visual novels. Dumbed down gameplay concepts, day one DLC and a plot that's complete garbage, which consists of zero meaningful choice options and a general direction that's put to shame by 10 year old fan-fiction writers. Not to mention the animation is terrible, the music instantly forgettable and voice acting fairly lackluster. Given the choice, it wouldn't surprise me if people didn't even bother pirating this game, it's that bad.… Expand
  79. crnppscls
    Apr 15, 2012
    2
    Annoying. Bought this off the back of a lot of favourable reviews. Are there any actual reviewers who arent in bed with ea ? The graphics are fine but the writing and some of the gameplay are truly awful. Worst game in the series but on the upside i learned something
  80. mcdonis
    Mar 19, 2012
    2
    I have about 300 hours playing Mass Effect before I ever picked up ME3 for play. Frankly I love the series and even though Bioware has made some questionable decidions (Terminator Human from ME2) I still found a lot of fun in each of the two previous installments. With ME3 I found that indeed a lot of the key mechanics have been improved, while most of the RPG elements were stripped outI have about 300 hours playing Mass Effect before I ever picked up ME3 for play. Frankly I love the series and even though Bioware has made some questionable decidions (Terminator Human from ME2) I still found a lot of fun in each of the two previous installments. With ME3 I found that indeed a lot of the key mechanics have been improved, while most of the RPG elements were stripped out in ME2 they did manage to improve on the weapon element enough that I found it pleasing. The minigames from 2 are gone, as is planet scanning which is a good thing. I do miss something like the MAKO which added a needed element (Exploration) to the game. I think ME lacks this enough that its telling. The best way to describe this game is that the combat elements from 2 are streamlined and made into a game with limited dialog. I find in retrospect that the main strength of this series was always in the conciquences for your actions. In ME3 however I believe Bioware made a bad decision to bypass all of this with replacements that bypass any conciquences. I believe this is for the crowd who are new to the series but its telling and takes something away from the fanbase. Having said that its still enought to make a good game worthy of a score of 6 or higher, that is until you reach the climax of the game. Up until this point this series has been known for provding an experience based game that is defined more on the users choices rather than an A, B, or C path. It appears for the ending Bioware was unable to build an ending that followed the main game logic so they inserted a bland choose your path 1, 2, 3 to quickly end the series. To the uninformed this would not seem at first glance to be such a bad thing. However the thing that seperates ME from say Call of Duty in space is that who you TALK to and what you SAY to them really matters. When you decide to do X it affects Y. This was thrownout and a terribly written ending was inserted, to make matters worse the possible endings are drawn down into 3 main choices (15 sub choices) that are really just 3 endings. All of them slightly different and frankly bad. Very little is understandable, and nothing is really resolved. There are glaring plot holes in all of the endings, some so bad you see dead characters alive and well. For a series where the choice is the main attraction, to decide in the last few minutes to go out in left field is beyond me. Had the game been just average before the ending the score would be a deserved zero but since I was able to get 10-20 fun hours I have to up it a little. But the fact they ruined a series this badly is simply amazing....… Expand
  81. LukeDukem
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    This is very sad :-(
    Better go with The Witcher 2 or Deus Ex: HR, Skyrim or FNV Ultimate - not with this s**t!
    I'm very dissapointed :-/
    I hate you EA/BW!!!

    ME1>ME2>ME3 :-(
  82. MrMephisto616
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    Ah, Mass Effect. A series that has drummed up just as much(if not more) controversy than the company that makes this. Now, don't think I'm going to rant about how Bioware is supposedly killing the video game industry(however they do certainly seem to be trying). We all know about their past masterpieces. We also all know about dreaded day 1 DLC, and are acting like it's the first time itAh, Mass Effect. A series that has drummed up just as much(if not more) controversy than the company that makes this. Now, don't think I'm going to rant about how Bioware is supposedly killing the video game industry(however they do certainly seem to be trying). We all know about their past masterpieces. We also all know about dreaded day 1 DLC, and are acting like it's the first time it has happened. I will just take a few sentences to sum up a review for this game, in contrast to the past Mass Effect games of course. As it were, the story was really the only thing this franchise had going for it, from a role playing perspective. To get the action part of the game out of the way now, it's still fine, if not slightly dumbed down. However, this game still feels like an interactive Gears of War from a role playing perspective. Yes you can choose your outcome(except you know, when it comes to the end of the game). Dialog choice are still more the same, Paragon choice, Renegade choice, Neutral choice, and hear more. Now I understand this was prevalent in the past installations but it feels even more watered down in this game. Now for the story. There's not much to say here other than I found it extremely disappointing, anti-climatic and all around dull-witted. You'll have to decide for yourself if you really want to try it to see how the story runs, but keep in mind basically none of the writers for the past games are contributing to this one. Overall, just a poor ending to what could have been an above average series. As well what could be the final nail in Bioware's coffin. And for all the people baying to pirate this game to "stick it to Bioware", if you really want to hit them where it hurts, don't pirate it. Don't buy it, don't even mention it. The only way to show a supplier you want them to change their product, or even get rid of it, is to no longer demand it. Showing them that you're willing to commit a crime to obtain it doesn't help your case.… Expand
  83. skillface
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 10 reasons why Mass Effect 3 doesn't even deserve a serious review: 1. Bioware kills Emily Wong over Twitter 2. 7 variations of the same basic ending (90% of all endings involve Shepard's death) 3. The entire trilogy was a story told by a grandpa to his grandson at some point in the distant future 4. Shepard somehow gets PTSD over that one random kid that dies at the start of the game. Final Reaper also decides to take the form of the dead kid for some reason 5. Reapers decide to kill everyone that can make AI because AI MAY decide to kill everyone (The hell BioWare?) 6. Prothean crewmember is DLC (Disc Locked Content), also Jamaican for some reason. 7. All decisions from the previous games are turned into power bar, some are even totally retconned 8. The Citadel is used as religious symbolism, it's actually called Crucible and Shepard must sacrifice himself 9. Tali is a space elf 10. BIG McLARGEHUGE There's many more but I think I got the point across. Still can't believe there's so many people already giving perfect 10/10 reviews. And yet reviews like mine will get deleted. DINGU DONGU BANNU END OF RINE Be excretion to each other.

    Oh by the way: http://imgur.com/Nz54M    … Expand
  84. fastblood
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    In all honesty, 2/10 is being generous. Bioware has consistently proven that they are one of the worst video game companies. The fact that they rely so heavily on downloadable content, and squander their funds on shooting copies of the game into space instead of actually putting effort into it will forever astound and confuse me. The first Mass Effect was a decent game, and I would give itIn all honesty, 2/10 is being generous. Bioware has consistently proven that they are one of the worst video game companies. The fact that they rely so heavily on downloadable content, and squander their funds on shooting copies of the game into space instead of actually putting effort into it will forever astound and confuse me. The first Mass Effect was a decent game, and I would give it an easy 8/10. However, over the second and third installments, more and more content was taken away and casualized. On top of this, great chunks of the game were cut out to later be sold for more profit in DLC. This portrays Bioware as the money-grubbing gamer-hating company that they really are. They capitalize on the popularity of a product, and cast aside the devoted fanbase in order to garner more sales from less involved gamers who buy annual releases of Call of Duty. It's a sickening fact, but it's true.

    The writing is also piss poor, and almost insulting to those who enjoy quality storytelling in their video games, or any other medium in general. Gameplay has further been dumbed down to include a one hit kill melee button, and squad members have lost all of their interesting angles by becoming strange amalgamations of jersey shore contestants and jocks, or characterized versions of their former selves.

    I urge you to stay away from this game, or at least buy it used so Bioware does not get any of your money. Gamers who buy these releases should be ashamed of themselves for hurting the industry further by giving Bioware the ability to make more low quality games for ridiculous amounts of money.    … Expand
  85. GRORIOUSMODDU
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    Just when you thought Bioware couldnt outdo DA2, voila here you have ME3. This game takes no account of what you do throughout the game, giving you the illusion of choice. The endings are a cliche attempt to be dark and edgy, but leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. The characters are dull and there are glaring plotholes, retcons and glitches that will compound your sorrow along withJust when you thought Bioware couldnt outdo DA2, voila here you have ME3. This game takes no account of what you do throughout the game, giving you the illusion of choice. The endings are a cliche attempt to be dark and edgy, but leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. The characters are dull and there are glaring plotholes, retcons and glitches that will compound your sorrow along with the horrible endings.… Expand
  86. Atraiyu47
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    The plot holes become impossible to ignore. The motivation and origin of the reapers is nearly incoherent. After all of the choices you've made in the series, only the one you make at the very end has real lasting consequences. The game boasts 3 endings, which are really just the same ending with different window dressing. This game has managed to taint the entire series for me.The plot holes become impossible to ignore. The motivation and origin of the reapers is nearly incoherent. After all of the choices you've made in the series, only the one you make at the very end has real lasting consequences. The game boasts 3 endings, which are really just the same ending with different window dressing. This game has managed to taint the entire series for me. After Dragon Age II and now this, I think Bioware has lost the magic.… Expand
  87. blargheth
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    Lots of issues come to mind when playing through this. All your previous choices in games don't have the great effect they were hyped up to in previous installments, and boil down to a mere email or extra line of dialogue. The game-play continues to be a dumbed down action shooter experience, with mediocre mechanics at that, a mech and turret section simply do not belong in what was onceLots of issues come to mind when playing through this. All your previous choices in games don't have the great effect they were hyped up to in previous installments, and boil down to a mere email or extra line of dialogue. The game-play continues to be a dumbed down action shooter experience, with mediocre mechanics at that, a mech and turret section simply do not belong in what was once a great rpg with shooting elements. The customization still pales in comparison to ME1, and features continued to be removed. The textures fall flat on models, while some of the backdrops do make for good eye candy, the god awful animations will distract you too much from them.
    As for the story, which was supposed to be the great draw of mass effect, it is a poor excuse of a conclusion, with numerous retcons and plot holes, and endings ripped straight out of other series and the book of cliches. But hey, they might offer a better ending, if you're willing to pay another 15$ for dlc!
    Even more on the dlc practice is this day 1 dlc and other consumer milking practices. While minor cosmetic and item additions aren't that terrible, the having a prothean squadmate for a dlc pack on day 1 is inexcusable. It was content cut specifically to be sold as DLC, while ea/bioware may say it was created after the main game was completed, that is a flat out marketing lie, as the lines for this character and other assets was seen in many of the previous leaks while still in development.

    All in all is shows the continue decline of bioware as they continue to destroy their own franchises.    … Expand
  88. Beatz
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    I hated to see so many negative reviews, but now that im about 10 hours in I just cringe on the fact that i must support these low scores. This game has lost its way. ME 1 and 2 were In depth. ME3 is boring, characters are dull and dialogue is horrible. options of choosing what you say is only 2 choices. either paragon or renegade. nothing in between. there is no feeling of getting to knowI hated to see so many negative reviews, but now that im about 10 hours in I just cringe on the fact that i must support these low scores. This game has lost its way. ME 1 and 2 were In depth. ME3 is boring, characters are dull and dialogue is horrible. options of choosing what you say is only 2 choices. either paragon or renegade. nothing in between. there is no feeling of getting to know other characters or feeling a connection with absolutely anything. might as well play gears of war! The Genre RPG should be RIpped out of ME3. Bioware! You disappointed me this round!… Expand
  89. v-The_Vidya
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    Absolutely horrible, the first Mass Effect was good, I actually enjoyed it. The second one was a sinking ship. Now look what we have. Some space dating sim with shooting abilities. Is this the future of modern RPG's? (it's a rhetorical question, don't answer that). It's linear and the conversations are dull and boring . Can you imagine this game had a multimillion dollar budget? Look whatAbsolutely horrible, the first Mass Effect was good, I actually enjoyed it. The second one was a sinking ship. Now look what we have. Some space dating sim with shooting abilities. Is this the future of modern RPG's? (it's a rhetorical question, don't answer that). It's linear and the conversations are dull and boring . Can you imagine this game had a multimillion dollar budget? Look what they made. It's a disgrace and it makes me sad. And what about the first day DLC? What is this **** If you pay 60 dollars for a game you pay for a complete version of the game! I don't want to pay for a 56kb file to enable content in a game. At least the graphics are nice… Expand
  90. Egidijus
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. You can see two sides to this game. First, its a sequel to the Mass effect series, in witch if youre a fan played Mass effect 1 and 2. The second, that this game is trying to be marketed to a wider player market. while that is not the main concern here, it did lead to some design views,
    There is a lot of things to say about this game, some are good, most are bad. Fistly the thing that will put off fans of the series is the side quest structure, its seems that most of them you get from lisening to conversations, with no animated conversations scenes with the player. This makes the side quest just a fetch chores, without giving any emotional meaning to the player. Then theres the "support" task, witch is basicly suport one of the two views of the arguing characters. This is again done without a scene with coversation, you just come over, press space and then give a one liner, witch covinces them. It is impersonal, it doenst give any emotional tension or even feeling like a real choise. What I liked is the reapearance of the older side quest characters of the series. While they feel a bit overused. Almost in every side quest dialogue sene you can meet them, sometimes it works, sometimes its more like: oh its me, you helped me with that thing remember?. This is sometimes more like an anoyance, and i woudnt have mind if there where other new characters.
    The more well crafted characters are worth the time. Some again strike a more personal note, others are just there, and you dont much care for them. A little thing that bugged me was the dialogues of the main characters and squad mates, theyre timing seemed to be off. I really cant explained it but it felt like the actors wherent the with one another or didint get the sense of the scene or the suspence wich woud have created emotional, scared, angry reactions. The pauses between dialoged semed to long, as if it wanted to give dramatic tension, but only felt like the voiceover actors forgot the line. The fell of the citadel and the spaceship (Noramdy) are off. I did like the progresion of Citadel spaces. as the war progresed, they got damaged and more full of refuges and so on. The think that felt off is the design of the areas. They are quite small, combine that with the broken sidequest and you have an area that you go not to explore or get the feel of the game world, but get it get out, nothing more there. The Normandy itself was made in a line of checks. Finish a mission, get a dialogue witch a holovid character, leave to teh war room, go true a conference table witch was used only once, get true a chech of security withc was pointles, and let the personal assisance tell there more mesages. I this you feel boxed in as if these things had to be done that the player woudn miss anything (the expliration hating player forced walk ? ). While the ship is stocked with a new crew theres nothing much to do with these generic npcs. The dialogue isnt rememberable and i didnt care much for them, they are just there. Combat: the shooting mechanics are similar to the Mass effect 2 game. While in the last game the combat was overal a pleasant experience, here we have a cover porblem, enemys feeling very generic after a while, no heavy weapons. The fought enemies also left much to be desired, we get cerberus units (heavys, engineers, a few snipers, ninjas with swords) , and reaper indoctrinated species (human-melee, turian- ranged, canibal-heavy? then assary biotic power user and another heavy charger). We do get to fight some geth in the quarian missions. The main storyline: Mixed feelings about it too. the sotryline seems a lot more linear. You cant really choose what to do first. You go to mars, the turians, then the krogans. This felt a break from the past game freedom experiences, witch to me meant a lot. Parts of it was great, the quarian missions, getting the artifact from the assari home world. Coincidently these too missions are put on the table at the same time, and you coud choose witch to do first witch was a nice free feel to the exploration and getting support. So mostly youll spend youre time helping races, for theyre support in the war and this works for the story. It all goes to hell in the ending. It woud take a seperate article if we where to discus whats wrong with it. A few quick points: The plan doesnt make sense, you dont get any feeling that youre in a larger battle, the radio conversations that the other units have are emotionless, doenst contribute at all. the whole battle culmination is you with 2 other squad memebers just surviving an atack then launching misisles, after that a desperate run to the citadel by the tranportation beam (dont ask). the whole last part is emty of any feeling or emotion, and the bets parts are shown in cinamit moevies, witch you dont feel a part off. Characters ending. Last question: is it worth youre money? 50 euros? NO. You will play it if youre a fan, but it is not worth it...    … Expand
  91. Naith
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Contains spoilers. Don't open if you want to buy the game. I'm sorry, but I'll be adding to really bad score part of players. To start, I have to say that I'm a 22 year old man and played ME 1,2 and 3 with Female Shepard. This review is written after 5 hours of gametime. Even when the demo was released, I looked at it and said, hey, this is just way too easy. Another thing that pissed me off was when even though I was playing as an infiltrator, I didn't get my sniper rifle!! Why?! It's demoverzion! Yesterday, after I finished ME2 after 14 straight hours of playing - for the knitpickers, the game was nearly over, I was just finishing side missions, the first thing that pissed me off was that ME3 couldn't import my beautiful FemShep face! That was just the beginning. Why, why in the seven hells is she whining about Kaidan? Yep, I dated him in ME1, but than I spent 2 years dead, he behaved like an idiot and the character shouldn't give a damn about him. But no, even though I romanced Garrus - hell yeah, I', the pioneer of the interracial sex - he doesn't give a flying **** that he sees me. And this only goes on an on. They took a lot of time to finish this game, and indeed, they screwed the game and the players both kingly and thoroughly. The Mass effect trilogy for me is ME 1+DLC/ ME2/ME2 DLC. Then Shepard with her crew went to the Reaper' part of the universe and kicked the **** out of Reapers. Too bad than someone didn't do a decent game about it - It would have been amazing.… Expand
  92. maiv
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    Bioware dropped the ball on this one. The execution of the story is pretty terrible. I stood by them when they strip down the gameplay from ME1 to ME2 but now they've stripped down even the story and dialogue that it's actually quite disappointing.
  93. Dokhera
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    1 - Orgin is ....
    2 - The end ... what ?

    Seriously Bioware. You had no other idea ? The development of SWTOR monopolize all your dev teams ? Very good SF series with bad ending.
  94. RyuseiDate
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    Let's divide this in 2 categories Gameplay and Story

    Gameplay: I find myself in an amazingly dumbed down game. Mass Effect 1 was a great piece of Action Role Playing game, developing your own Sheppard was basicly the purpose of the game and your decitions would mean everything at any point of the game... ME2 ... dumbed things down but we still retained that feeling of control over the    Let's divide this in 2 categories Gameplay and Story

    Gameplay: I find myself in an amazingly dumbed down game. Mass Effect 1 was a great piece of Action Role Playing game, developing your own Sheppard was basicly the purpose of the game and your decitions would mean everything at any point of the game... ME2 ... dumbed things down but we still retained that feeling of control over the situations... ME3 simply disposed of this. Absurdly limited options at all times, guided responses and quite a lacking 'Action' feeling with dificult to track camera angles and constant shaking (that tries to emulate some sort of movie but instead just blocks your actions) tend to present themselves as a turnoff. The game is not Graphically impressive as it has shown, expressions are lacking and the overall presentation seems that relies too heavy on some sort of grain filter that bothers the eye.

    the multiplayer is clunky and proof that trying to convert your Action RPG into a TPS RPG is not a good idea.

    Story: After all this is an RPG, but let's leave aside that mostof your options don't matter, if the story is good one can forgive that... but we meet a pale shadow of what Sheppard was, that barelly keeps track of his recent disgraces only to form an alliance that may go nowhere (and that at the end serves little purpose) the crew of the Normandy presents itself as a cardboard version of their ME1 and 2 selves and the new characters are equally plain. I decided to see how the multiple companion options were but when I noticed that most of the effects meant "Sheppard gets laid, forgets the issue and then continues his quest" with no repercutions whatsoever simply... well, it shows how "important" relationships are in this game...

    The endings are dissapointing and likelly copied from other sources, predictable options that serve no other pupose than forcing the player to play a few more times a few scenes... A Mediocre ending for a series that started greatly as a way to show hard science fiction... dumbed down into a mediocre soap opera about a crew that wishes to get laid during an open war.    … Expand
  95. tsargon420
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    It has good elements, and the gameplay itself is generally fun, but the awful characters, writing, plot, the fact that its about 15 hours long and features 4 companions while claiming to be a rpg along with the whole dlc catastrophe drags this guy down to a 2.
  96. Molotova
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    ----The bad:
    1/ The decisions from ME1 and ME2 have very little impact on ME3. Most are decisions are hacked away to funnel one down the story path. 2/ Romance is forced upon the player. In ME1 and 2, I always picked up "lets focus on the mission, no time for that kindof stuff with whole galaxy at stakes" option. Garrus who was the companion I had with me the most in ME2, except for when I    ----The bad:
    1/ The decisions from ME1 and ME2 have very little impact on ME3. Most are decisions are hacked away to funnel one down the story path. 2/ Romance is forced upon the player. In ME1 and 2, I always picked up "lets focus on the mission, no time for that kindof stuff with whole galaxy at stakes" option. Garrus who was the companion I had with me the most in ME2, except for when I gave him the lead of the fire squad and the like in the suicide mission. All of a sudden he jumps out of the closet and wants a homosexual relationship !? That is insulting even to homosexuals... makes no sense, breaks the immersion.
    3/ The ending is bad. Seemed to be stolen from Deus Ex, except in Deus Ex they made sense.
    4/ The Game of Thronesque knack for killing off characters/companions the reader/player has grown attached to advance the story and for some canned emotional factor. Except for a novel when it happens the story advances and it is nice. In a RPG the player just feels helpless, conned and like it is a means to shove another cut scene down the throat.
    ----- The good: The multiplayer part. It is a nice addition to the game, although unnecessary if the single player game had any appeal or replayability ---- The ugly: Day 1 DLC. I am less bothered about it than most, for me it just translates into a quite expensive full game. Still it is a blatantly ugly move by BW/EA, and their cover up PR BS is just as ugly.    … Expand
  97. AshenPhoenix
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bioware has now proven that they are entirely incapable of delivering sequels nowadays. After the catastrophe that was DA2, which left me with a great feeling of dissapointment, I was vary, but since I thought the ME series had other developers than DA2, I still thought I didn't need to worry. But it seems everyone at Bioware has read the same game developer book, "How to ruin promising IPs". I truly loved DA:O and ME1, I liked ME2 although I was worried of the direction. But this game and DA2 is pure crap.

    Worst of all is Biowares inability to deliver satisfying endings although that is far from all there is. I thought DA2's ending was the worst, but ME3's "Different Colors" endings are a slap in the face of ALL humanity. Take those two games and add in SW:TOR and you can see how badly Bioware manages these days, and the only reason they are still succesfull is because of past glories. To Bioware: Anyone can see that you don't want anything to do with the RPG community anymore so stop trying, leave RPG out of your game making PR and just go make braindead shooters and try to compete with MW and BF series.    … Expand
  98. Metaldaze
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    Not just a terrible way to end the franchise, peoples choices seem to actively be shamed or spit on. Certain LI's are barely in the game and you are pidgeon-holed into how the game will end. The beginning was amazing, especially as a hardcore ME1 & ME2 fan but at the end of the game you end up with a sour taste in your mouth as if you've been sucker punched in the face and made to thinkNot just a terrible way to end the franchise, peoples choices seem to actively be shamed or spit on. Certain LI's are barely in the game and you are pidgeon-holed into how the game will end. The beginning was amazing, especially as a hardcore ME1 & ME2 fan but at the end of the game you end up with a sour taste in your mouth as if you've been sucker punched in the face and made to think you wasted your time.… Expand
  99. Lifewhacker
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    After putting in nearly 100+ hours in the first two Mass Effect games and loving every second of it, Mass Effect 3 left me more than disappointed. The story feels really dumbed down, filled with plot holes and for lack of words, just really bad. There have been tons of technical glitches so far, including issues installing with Origin. (LOTS of texture pop-in, etc on a GTX 260- more thanAfter putting in nearly 100+ hours in the first two Mass Effect games and loving every second of it, Mass Effect 3 left me more than disappointed. The story feels really dumbed down, filled with plot holes and for lack of words, just really bad. There have been tons of technical glitches so far, including issues installing with Origin. (LOTS of texture pop-in, etc on a GTX 260- more than enough to run the game) Bioware has been on a decline lately, and Mass Effect 3 officially lost them an otherwise loyal fan.… Expand
  100. kishe
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    Dumped down gameplay, dumped down story and dumped down everything. The bioware we used to know and love is dead, replaced by this EA/Bioware abomination that is only interested in profit.
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Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best PC Game of 2012
2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
5
#5 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. CPUGamer
    Apr 11, 2012
    90
    BioWare captures the scale of the conflict well, but always focuses on the people involved in it. It's pretty amazing just how badly EA disregarded the heart of the game – the characters and the world – when they began their marking blitzkrieg, but don't worry, it's oh so definitely there – Day 1 DLC, controversial endings, and questionable use of resources be damned. This is a fine, lovingly crafted game with a clear vision despite the realities of corporations and damning business practices.
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  2. PC PowerPlay
    Apr 5, 2012
    80
    A game that's more shooter than role-playing, and a conclusion that's more spectacular than dramatic. [Apr 2012, p.47]
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  3. Absolute Games
    Mar 31, 2012
    85
    Finishing a trilogy is always difficult. Tying off dozens of story threads which had been woven by players into many different tapestries is a daunting task. Mass Effect 3 is the first game that succeeded at this colossal undertaking.
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