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. PosMatic
    Mar 23, 2012
    6
    Let's start by saying that Mass Effect is an amazing franchise! A game that TRULY let you feel that you are a part of it. that you decide who and what you will be. And here it is, the so-called the "end" of it... I've finished every game in the series more then 5 times , making sure that every decision stands to my needs and was hoping that normally, the third part of this amazing gameLet's start by saying that Mass Effect is an amazing franchise! A game that TRULY let you feel that you are a part of it. that you decide who and what you will be. And here it is, the so-called the "end" of it... I've finished every game in the series more then 5 times , making sure that every decision stands to my needs and was hoping that normally, the third part of this amazing game will give me peace as a TRUE dedicated ME played, a closure no matter what will happen - And now, That i've finished the game, i feel nausea. i stared at the screen for 5 minutes, while the credits were rolling, and i kept asking myself "But why? why to end like that?" Well, just look at all this hatred for the third game... It is not just a coincidence that so many people hate it. And don't even look at the critics, i personally could smell the BS even before i bought the game. Beside the ending, the game offers a lot. The fighting in game are really fun, dodging attacks by jumping from side to side, forward and backwards, adjusting your weapon by adding 2 attachments to it that will have a certain effect. improving the weapon itself in a certain terminal in the ship. Character improvements that reminds me of ME 1. Cut scenes and plot development are REALLY good during the game. Lots of emotions that touched me. really. I find the side missions pretty fun, they are not that complicated - "Search this planet, look at this planet. check this planet", But still, i this that BioWare could do better. The weapons and the gear in game had lots of improvements! You have a lot of armors to chose so you can make adjustments just to fill your needs, and so do weapons. And all this REALLY fun, i am not going to "Kill" a game because its last 10 minutes BUT, you prepare ~30 hours, making the right adjustments, the right gear, decisions that you feel whole with them, and then, nothing. That is right, nothing. You need to understand that i am not some FanBoy that hate right away because a little thing in-game did not satisfy me, i try to be mature and make a sence out of things, but this is not case in the ending of Mass Effect 3. From one side, though, i can understand WHY to make this ending, But from other side, i feel nausea. Betrayed. Even though i understand and try to accept.… Expand
  2. SOAR21
    Mar 11, 2012
    6
    I've played this series since game 1, and I've read a lot of the negative reviews. While I was disappointed with this game, and while I did note many (most) of the mentioned issues with the game. Yes, Bioware should've foreseen the fallout of the DLC, and just released it as part of the game. Corporate world; welcome to it. It's not like this is uncommon these days in the industry (or anyI've played this series since game 1, and I've read a lot of the negative reviews. While I was disappointed with this game, and while I did note many (most) of the mentioned issues with the game. Yes, Bioware should've foreseen the fallout of the DLC, and just released it as part of the game. Corporate world; welcome to it. It's not like this is uncommon these days in the industry (or any industry). However, I think lamentations of the writing issues and gameplay have been blown out of proportion. When I finished the game I was quite disappointed since I don't think I've played a game with higher expectations. My main issues were the stub of a story they called the main plot. I did reach 25 hours or so of singleplayer gameplay, but a lot of it was chasing war assets in every cluster of the universe. Also, the half-hearted ending that made me feel like my 100 or so hours of ME gameplay were wasted. Multiplayer is not required for the best ending. I played 25 hours of singleplayer and got the best possible ending, though admittedly collecting war assets was quite tedious. They could've done more with the characters; I only lost Kaidan in ME1, yet, felt like all my efforts saving my team were useless since I saw some characters only a few times. The new party member they add is a complete joke, a dead-end of a character. However this game is not a 0 out of 10. Anyone who rated a 0 is someone who underwent the same feeling of disappointment I did then just lashed back. Story-wise, definitely the worst game of the series. Characters come and go in a blur; relationships consist of just a few conversations. Gameplay-wise, however, ME3 is much better in my opinion. Harder fights, more varied enemies, smarter enemies, more organic-feeling powers. More customization than ME2, thankfully, but also thankfully less than the smothering options in ME1. Environments were very varied, as were the situations. Multiplayer is just coop wave gameplay over and over again, but the combat is good enough that I'm finding myself playing a lot of multiplayer and still not getting bored, as are thousands of others. I don't expect to log that much more time on multiplayer, but it'll last me longer than such a simple system should, and that is because of the excellent combat. I am still a great fan of the series though this one dropped the ball a little. I'm considering another playthrough from the very start. All in all, a feasible buy, but hardly the game of the year.… Expand
  3. RobDYoung
    Mar 11, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The short version: As an action game, Mass Effect 3 is a fantastic success thanks to its improved combat system. As an RPG, it's less phenomenal, due to a pulled-by-teeth story, rampant sentimentalism, and limited options for character development. Even so, this game could have been fantastic all around if it weren't for an ending that undermined much of what the first two games accomplished.

    Combat: 8/10

    While the game could have used a bit more polish on controls, the new combat pacing, wide array of enemies, and the improved cover system are all phenomenal. Two complaints: 1) Spontaneous dialogue is often left incomplete because you run so quickly from Point A to Point B that the next dialogue interrupts the previous one. 2) We still have a global cooldown on abilities that makes combos or even training multiple abilities feel useless.

    Non-combat Systems: 6.5/10

    In an attempt to hybridize the weapon and armor system of the first and second games, ME 3 gave us the flaws of both worlds. While it was great having weapon statistics and upgrade options again, the methods for upgrading were too complex and tangled to be fun.

    The map system of ME2 is, more or less, back as expected. They eliminated the annoying probe/scan system, but didn't implement anything truly interesting in return. Still, it's a step up.

    Role-playing elements: 6/10

    As far as actually leveling up, improving abilities, and using them in combat, this game did a great job. Top marks overall â    … Expand
  4. MarqsS
    Mar 11, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I finished the game twice. First time with standard Bioware settings and it felt empty and lacking. It just wasn't 'it'. But when I loaded my save from Mass Effect 2 game changed a lot. There was more meaning to what I did, some random NPC-s were changed to my old squad mates and game became suddenly very, emotional and entertaining.

    It was very enjoyable experience until ending came... Then I just realised how would it feel to be punched in the... well, you know where by Mike Tyson... three times...

    Three nearly identical endings, every one of them equally terrible. There was no meaning to your choices, no consequences, nothing! And then lack of epilogue hit me in the face. Not even some text like in Dragon Age, just small pop-up "Yay! You have become a legend! Now go and buy our DLC-s!"... Worst ending I ever experienced in my 10 years of gaming... So to sum it up, 9/10 for the game, 1/10 for the ending... Just play the game, it;s great... but just before the end turn it off, you won't be heartbroken as I was...    … Expand
  5. Cottonswab
    Mar 11, 2012
    6
    Overall, not a bad game but that being said it's not a good game either. Game play is nearly identical to mass effect 2 which in and of itself is not bad as ME2 had great game play. Level design is more open than in ME2 where at times it felt like a series of narrow hallways. Where the game falls short is in the storyline especially the ending. There are numerous plot holes depending onOverall, not a bad game but that being said it's not a good game either. Game play is nearly identical to mass effect 2 which in and of itself is not bad as ME2 had great game play. Level design is more open than in ME2 where at times it felt like a series of narrow hallways. Where the game falls short is in the storyline especially the ending. There are numerous plot holes depending on the choices made in the earlier games. As for the endings, there are 3, but the choices made in game have no effect on which one you get, you simply choose one after the final mission. The end also has virtually no closure for your squad members or any of the other races involved in the war. Voice acting ranges from good to bad. A decent game but not what I've come to expect from the Mass Effect series.… Expand
  6. Sealance
    Mar 12, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As a sci-fi fan and lover of the Mass Effect series and universe I found myself just contemplating what to say about the game.

    I personally like the graphics and it feels much more detailed than the previous games. Animations didn't bother me much. There were however a few annoying bugs. The one that mainly pissed me off was the inability to import my custom face from ME1 and 2. There were also issues with squad members becoming stuck and "blocked".

    Combat is much more intense and although the multiplayer is kind of weak, it is something that I enjoy. I personally don't think it's worthy of being called co-op. Co-op for me is playing through a story campaign (such as Left 4 Dead, Dead Island and Aliens - Colonial Marines)

    *SPOILERS*

    The story in Mass Effect 3 is brutal and the Normandy retrofit gives it a dark and foreboding feeling. Since my custom face wouldn't import properly I tried to re-create it, but I ended up with someone looking like a cross between Dominic Purcell (from Prison Break) and Jason Statham. It is clear that the events of Arrival took a heavy emotional toll on Shepherd and the early parts of the game does leave emotional scars. For me, his haunted look shines through when looking at Tali's photo frame in the cabin. It was nice to see Tali's face but the manner of which they showed her face was very disappointing, and to top it off it was a photoshopped "free license" photo from the internet. I had a vague recollection of seeing it before, until someone posted an actual link.

    Looking at the story up until the ending, I think it is actually well-written and very tense. It is too bad that it has been streamlined. The dialogs and voice acting are very good and I like the character interactions. I laughed when Tali got drunk and complained about the "induction tube".. "Tali.. it's a straw!"

    Mass Effect 3 is a beautiful game, and I have very mixed feelings about the ending. I got the "best" ending where Shepherd apparantly survived.

    It's difficult to see how they would make a sequel when every relay gets destroyed.. How they would make an MMO out of this mess is beyond me, unless some clever writer comes up with something clever.

    Liara mentioned something about multiple effects in parallell universes (or something like that.. i don't remember exactly) so perhaps that is a faint clue of what's to come (if anything).

    Perhaps they could discover some abandoned Cerberus project relating to FTL travel without the need of relays, such as an obsolete cruiser with a prototype FTL drive that was inactive during the events that destroyed the relays.

    The "aftermath" storyline could be something relating to this and trying to rebuild and reconnect the galaxy again.

    Speculations.. thoughts.. hopes.

    For now, with the ending that ME3 got, I can't give it more than a 5-6 ish on the scale. It MAY deserve an alteration if Bioware does something about it. I understand why alot of people are unhappy with the game. It's like uncovering a Mona Lisa only to have someone spill a bucket of paint on it.    … Expand
  7. BuuGz
    Mar 12, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well let me start by saying the game feels rushed out in every aspect of the game.

    Now moving on with the story portion, there are so many things that just kick you out of the immersion, like for instance when you see legion in the battle for earth even tho he "died" back in the Quarian home world , then there is the Rachni queen lol she is so angry at the Reapers and tell you shes gonna beat em up or w/e and then you find out she just helps with the Device, etc... To be honest i think the director had to cut corners to put the game out faster, i mean it just feels so cramped, so much story for potentially 1 or 2 more ME games put into 1, I got to say though i enjoyed interaction among the characters and with Shepard.

    Now something about the combat well first off yes its buggy but nothing game breaking although i gotta say even since ME1 the squad commands and its AI are just plain bad yes in ME3 is better than ME1 but almost the same as in ME2, i really never liked controlling where to position the team members the only control i want is tell them what to focus and what power to use and when i tell them to use a Flipping shotgun i want them to go up close and make use of it cuz shotguns ain't snipers and vice verse and also there is so little combat for my liking i mean its supposed to be the huge frigging war and i barely see any of it, also fights with the reapers are a joke to say the least and i won't bother with that. So all in all the combat should have been present a but more considering the scale of the war, squad commands are painful and not needed.

    Some words about the graphics, Well let me start by saying that consoles have ruined PC gaming and i really would appreciate if developers would try and separate PC games and treat it a tad differently from their Console counterpart because i think PC gamers would be grateful because pc games have different requirements to be enjoyable. Anyway the graphics in the game are very good, animations are just ok one that i really hate is the running animation on Sheppard its just plain stupid and i hate it wish they did a better job on it but hell its nothing game breaking....
    About the sound, well can't say anything bad because since the first ME voice acting , sound effects and the music are just amazing, The only thing bad about the sound is in ME games in general is the balance between all those 3 things, i tried tinkering a bit with dialogue/sound effect/music but its always screwed up its either to laud or to low, in the Overlord mission in ME2 my ears bleed and i had to turn on the subs so i wouldn't be deaf for the rest of my life.
    Ok now let me finish by saying its not a bad game at all i really had fun with it but i got to say that I'm really disappointed how could BioWare screw up such a amazing Game, i don't know if EA pushed them so hard to finish this game that they did so much wrong that it made me sad, i really think ME3 should have been just the preparation faze and gathering allies and all that other cool stuff between the races and then on ME4 a full on plain combat 90% and story 10% for an epic end game and not some half ass ending that we got in ME3, i mean I cured the Krogan from the genophage and made them help the Turians, also brought peace between The Geth and Quarians after 3000 years of war between them and all i get is 3-5 min vid vid when they enter earth's orbit telling you who arrived rofl. And don't get me started on the ending god dammit 3 different choices that apparently only change the color of the beam. I really don't know if EA is to blame for this or what but screw you whoever did it for ruining a beautiful game that has an amazing universe, to bad it was in the hands of the wrong people it seems, I really admired you BioWare but not anymore.


    Off topic a bit, The thing i never understood why BioWare made me choose just 2 team members for each mission is beyond me. I'm pretty sure technology allows more than 10 characters onscreen, i kinda loved what they did in the ME2's final mission but still it makes no sense to make me find those ppl and doing so much so i can gain their trust and then when i go to a mission only 2 come with me the rest jerks off in the Normandy rofl. just saying
    So ye i could write the whole day about the game because it really pisses me off seeing such an amazing game being torn to peaces by EA.    … Expand
  8. OrangeJinjo
    Mar 12, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I think most of the reviews other people are giving this game are unfair.
    I don't think any game is fitting of a 0, and 10s are extremely difficult to achieve as well.

    I am just as angry about the ending as a lot of people are, but if you think about it, it was an extremely well crafted game up until that point. Tuchanka and Thessia were both amazing moments in the game. (Not to say the rest of the game wasn't good)
    I'm not going to rate 3 based on the entire trilogy, but they did an amazing job of making me feel attached emotionally to the characters.
    It's easy to give a game a poor rating based on the ending, because it's the most fresh memory in your mind. But in all truth, the game deserves so much more than that.
    However, the ending of a trilogy (ESPECIALLY one of my favourite games) should have went out with a bang, not with a whimper.    … Expand
  9. Soonerfan2006
    Mar 12, 2012
    6
    I know many people are upset with the ending of this game, it's no secret. Even I was disappointed in the way everything played out. However, as a fan of the Mass Effect series since Mass Effect 1, I can't be over-critical of just the ending. I also need to give credit to the fact that Mass Effect 3 was a great game for 99% of the content. It had a very full continuation to the story ofI know many people are upset with the ending of this game, it's no secret. Even I was disappointed in the way everything played out. However, as a fan of the Mass Effect series since Mass Effect 1, I can't be over-critical of just the ending. I also need to give credit to the fact that Mass Effect 3 was a great game for 99% of the content. It had a very full continuation to the story of Shepard and there were seamless improvements to many of the features that I dreaded in ME/ME2. On top of the fantastic story that was presented there was also the Multiplayer function that was added. While it may only appeal to some people, it has been very well received overall. It's very addicting, and it can really be a great time sink for you and your friends. It promotes teamwork and punishes those who do not communicate. I hope to see some DLC in the future for the MP feature at some point, it has a near limitless expansion area. Back to the single player campaign, I can't rate this game lower than a 6 in good conscience just based on the ending, I won't lie, it's very upsetting and with that said 4 points off a perfect 10, which could have easily been achieved without that hole-filled ending, is quite a hit to the score without getting too over emotional. While I hope that Bioware will at least make a statement to appease us, I feel that the damage has already been done, damage which cannot be undone with simple means. A patch/DLC to add an alternate ending is possible, but the question will always remain as to why it was even needed in the first place. Bioware has talented writers and I praise them on creating the Mass Effect universe, but I wonder how they honestly thought this would play out in the end. In closing, Mass Effect 3 was a fantastic game, filled with combat and rich story-telling. It's sure to satisfy you right up until the end, where it drops the ball. Be warned if you decide to continue your Shepard's story as you may be left feeling ill.… Expand
  10. gigaidioticus
    Mar 12, 2012
    6
    In the interest of obviously keeping this spoiler free - I'll just say that the game was good up until the last bit. I enjoyed the new'ish combat and being able to upgrade weapons and powers almost entirely as how I saw fit. The graphics were good (on console) and the new team member(s) were, for the most part, well fleshed out. The story was - almost - phenomenal, although I didIn the interest of obviously keeping this spoiler free - I'll just say that the game was good up until the last bit. I enjoyed the new'ish combat and being able to upgrade weapons and powers almost entirely as how I saw fit. The graphics were good (on console) and the new team member(s) were, for the most part, well fleshed out. The story was - almost - phenomenal, although I did encounter a few glitches that made some side missions unplayable (which will likely be fixed in a patch, hopefully). Anyway - I gave it a 6/10, which could have easily been a 9/10 had the last portion not left me so unfulfilled.… Expand
  11. fitscotgaymer
    Mar 13, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game... It is easiily a solid 8.5/9 for me as it goes, at least up until you hit the last 20 to 30 minutes of the game and it quite literally all falls apart.
    The game itself:- The combat mechanics are a lot more shootery than I am used to but still fun and enjoyable, and they feel like a natural evolution. The dialogue and interactions with NPCs is deep, rewarding, and emotive IMO (I totally fell in love with Kaidan all over again, and the game made me really miss Ashley too). And the locations like the Citadel feel bigger, more live a the massive places they are supposed to be. The graphics are decently done (though not fantastic). And the quests and storyline while on the short side is solidly done.
    And then we hit that ending. An ending so horrific that I couldn't face doing another playthru (importing my other 5 Shepards into the game. An ending filled with plot holes so big you could fly a house through them. I was critical of Dragon Age 2's ending, but at least it was coherent and made sense even if it wasn't great; this ending is just an incoherent nonsensical mess. The ending quite literally ruined the game for me, ruined the trilogy for me. It's that bad.
    It's that bad that it doesn't just ruin the game or the trilogy, but it literally destroys the whole franchise's future. It literally ends all galactic civilization with no clear reason for it. It felt like Bioware was taking out their anger about the game/script being leaked on the fanbase, and giving us a giant F'U with this ending.
    I don't mind at all that Shepard had to die, to be honest I kind of expected that he wouldn't make it out of the trilogy alive. But to destroy all galactic civilization too? And as a consequence the whole franchise? It boggles my mind.
    I can't in good concience give this game any more than what I gave DA2 (a 7 btw), just because of this appalling ending.    … Expand
  12. Hurzt
    Mar 25, 2012
    6
    Looking back, I enjoyed playing Mass Effect 2 the most; to me the story, gameplay and atmosphere rocked big time, giving me a cineastic experience and a feeling of immersion only few games have given me so far. Although ME2 was mostly linear, the sheer variety of satisfying setpieces and well-done scripts/dialogues made "collecting" character for character (your team/allies) and theLooking back, I enjoyed playing Mass Effect 2 the most; to me the story, gameplay and atmosphere rocked big time, giving me a cineastic experience and a feeling of immersion only few games have given me so far. Although ME2 was mostly linear, the sheer variety of satisfying setpieces and well-done scripts/dialogues made "collecting" character for character (your team/allies) and the over-arcing story much fun. I went to every location and even scanned most of the planets for resources, although it was quite tedious. After a few hours in Mass Effect 3 and some satisfying hours in the multiplayer mode (never played 'Gears') I began to realize there was "something missing". And then I started to feel like "please let me just get through this and don't annoy me too much". Kudos to Bioware for creating a great SF-lore/galaxy with many great characters, but in ME3, the whole recipe felt sooo "been there, done that". I went to earth (in order to finish the game) as soon as I could. There were some great moments and some sparks flying on the way to the ending, too, but most of them had to do with already well established characters. "On the way to the ending" kind of expresses it, too. It should feel like "the end is closing in, but I don't want it to end!". All in all, I enjoyed this game but can only repeat there's "something missing". It could have been so much more... Oh, and all the military stuff with Hackett, war map, soldier talk etc.? Boooooooring -.- Of course it's also difficult so begin a story with an invasion which seems to erase a whole planet's population within hours, just to then start flying through a whole galaxy for weeks(?) in order to be able to "fight back"...… Expand
  13. Woleslagle
    Mar 14, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What should I say about Mass Effect 3? Well, the game itself is fantastic. The art, characters, and everything about the game is great in that aspect. However, if you are a huge fan of the series, this game is going to really let you down. The first thing that really made me mad about this game was the fact that they redid the ship...it didn't need to be done. The Normandy from Mass Effect 2 was nearly perfect, maybe if they would have added a few things to it, it would have been better. They took things away including great party members. Granted, I understand the point of this game is around Shepard dealing with the Reaper threat, but come on Bioware, great characters could have played bigger roles in this game. Curing the Genophage was awesome, creating an alliance with the galaxy was awesome, and have another great romance was awesome. But, where Bioware really completely fails to deliver is the ending. No matter what choices you make throughout the game the ending just completely sucks to be quite frank. It is horrible. Your character dies. I mean, sure the Reapers either die or become allies, but come on. If Bioware wants to make this up to fans and keep customers in the future, they should have changed the ending or at least had one where your character lives and you see him live and the Galaxy remains united. That would have been a "happily ever after" ending, and I certainly feel like that would have appeased a lot more people than Bioware's self-sacrificial ending.… Expand
  14. Bacong
    Mar 15, 2012
    6
    Honestly it's a good game but I'm giving it a 6 because:

    1. Screw EA.
    2. WTF @ the textures? EA is the most "evil" company in gaming today and the things they do is changing gaming for the worse.
  15. bronzerev
    Mar 17, 2012
    6
    On the whole, this is a fantastic game with a clear improvement in combat mechanics, conversation structure and graphics. Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) and Sam Hulick (Mass Effect 1 & 2, Red Orchestra 2) provide a powerful and emotive soundtrack; however Jack Wallâ
  16. XnoX
    Mar 20, 2012
    6
    Even more dumbed down and railroaded than ME2, complete with stripped content.

    Sorry, Shepard, but the real ending is in another citadel.

    Oh, and buy moar DLC!
  17. Kenathon
    Mar 21, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is good, don't get me wrong. Compared to its predecessors ME3 has an improved and enjoyable interface, the shooting fells good, the story is amazing and the dramatic moments in the game are touching. Everything is well done, except the endings. I will try not to spoil too much, but let's say that every ending is basic the same thing, just in different colors. It's like Bioware didn't give a damn about the ending, not a damn about how much you work to gather an army to get better chances of survival! No matter what you do, the endings are the same!
    *SPOILER* : In every ending, the Mass Relays are destroyed and your Shepard dies(except for one ending which you can get after you play the game again with an ME3 import, also known as the plus mode for the game, or so it is called by the people I know). Some people think that Shepard should have lived, I would have been happy to but I was already prepared to suffer the pain caused by his death, so that wasn't a problem for me and it shouldn't be a problem for anyone else. Shepard is sacrificing himself for the sake of the galaxy, that isn't something wrong to do. The problem is this:

    Every ending is refusing to answer the questions everyone is having:

    1. What happened to my companions?
    2. What happened to the galaxy?
    3. What happened with the armies stuck on Earth?
    4. Did the destruction of the Mass Relays killed everyone on the planets near them like it did with the batarians?
    6. How did that old man in the end knew what I did in the citadel?

    And many more questions. So after what I said here, I have to ask you:
    Why would Bioware do something like this to the game and series everyone loves? Why did Bioware worked so much on the story if the current endings apparently do not need one? Is it because they want to launch a Mass Effect 4? Is it because they want to launch a DLC to clarify everything? Is it because they don't care anymore? No matter the answer, the game in its current state does not deserve to be bought because it is going to be a huge disappointment to everyone who looked for the end of the story and answers. If you just want a good 3rd. person shooter then it will satisfy your expectations.

    I really hope Bioware fixes the endings.    … Expand
  18. wombatman10
    Mar 23, 2012
    6
    Good combat and fresh characters are sadly ruined by the lack of meaning for long term fans. Major decisions from the first two games are made so meaningless they are expressed with single dialogues and some (rachni and Councillor) are completely ignored and explained with an unsatisfactory explanation. Possibly a good standalone game but fans of the Mass Effect series can only be leftGood combat and fresh characters are sadly ruined by the lack of meaning for long term fans. Major decisions from the first two games are made so meaningless they are expressed with single dialogues and some (rachni and Councillor) are completely ignored and explained with an unsatisfactory explanation. Possibly a good standalone game but fans of the Mass Effect series can only be left feeling disappointed and wanting more.… Expand
  19. mmadbzfan
    Mar 25, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First of all I like this games single player and love the multiplayer and glad they added it. Making Shepard die is bs and day one dlc just makes me rage. If there was a good ending and no dlc this game is a 10 but EA's greed has made it to a 6.… Expand
  20. wigglybacon
    Apr 4, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gameplay - The Good: The combat is much faster paced, being able to use any weapon but balanced by the weight factor is a nice improvement, being able to dive/roll is a nice improvement. The enemy variety, particularly the Cerberus troops with their deployable turrets and shield generators, as well as high priority targets and dangerous melee opponents forces much more tactical and engaging combat. The mounted turret combat and the mech you can pilot are nice breaks from the cover shooter gameplay. Powers are also a bit more responsive and easy to use. The Bad: still the annoying problem of 1 button does about 6 different things. and now roll is added to the list making it even more annoying when your Shepard doesn't do what you want because everything is the same button. The quest log is an absolute disaster, every single stage of every quest is static text for that quest. there is no way to tell if you have an item for a fetch quest or not. you may end up flying around systems dodging reapers looking for something only to realize you already have it, and then you have to go and find the person that needs it, and the quest tracking is sketchy at best, and non-existent most of the rest of the time. There are also about half the squad members as the previous game. Squad AI is still pretty dumb. Also. the multiplayer is required to get the best ending for singleplayer... this is absolute garbage, I don't intend to ever play multiplayer and trying to force me to play it so you can try to milk more cash with the "buy the mystery box" thing? seriously? f*** you. disconnect singlplayer and multiplayer and I would have no problems with it, despite the obvious money grab. Graphics, atmosphere and technical - The Good: Facial Textures are improved, and the game runs a lot cooler on my system, so an optimization improvement only a couple crashes in around 45 hours. the music may be composed by someone else but its still very good and captures moods well. The voice acting is top notch as always, and the characters are as good as ever. The Bad: some blocky shadows and some really low res textures every now and then particularly distant textures with a bit of texture pop-in but nothing terrible. The Story- The Good: 98% of the game is just as brilliant as the other 2 games in the series, you can see all the effects of your choices from the previous 2 games, characters may help you out if you saved them in a previous game ect... the war assets system is quite good as it gives an additional bonus to just fetching something, it adds the number, and a little flavor text making it feel like everything you do is helping the war effort. and the entire tone and pace of the game are very desperate, as it should be for a war against super machines of doom. The Bad: THE ENDING... omfg the ending is appalling. suffice it to say, all the negativity about the ending is well founded. full of plot holes, ignores all choices made and comes down to choose a color, but it doesn't even matter they're all the same. Other than the ending, the rest of the game is brilliant and well made. Another complaint I have is the complete removal of the neutral option from the conversation wheel, its only paragon or renegade now and there seem to be fewer conversation choices during cut scenes overall. kind of annoying but not game breaking, and it doesn't take much away from the story. Also, why is Shepard being so bothered by some little kid's death after all the s*** hes seen? Also, Tali's Face... wtf is that Bioware? couldn't be bothered to make a 3d model? Now you may be wondering, why the 6/10? 5 reasons. 1. the ending is a steaming sack of s*** -1 2. After the crap ending there is a screen telling me to buy DLC... rubs salt in a fresh wound -.5 3. forcing multiplayer that effects singleplayer -1 4. Have to deal with that pile of crap called origin to play it. -.5 5. Day one DLC on the Disc, just to be greedy and milk consumers with corrupt business practices. -1 The only serious issues with the game itself is the ending and the forced multiplayer. But I can't stand by and deal with such horrid business practices, part of the product being reviewed is the purchasing options and service, and these should be included in the rating ihmo. I blame EA for these failings of service, Bioware made a great sequel to a great series (minus the ending) and EA mired the whole thing with their greedy corruption. EA, gtfo, and bioware, fix the damn ending, and disconnect multiplayer and singleplayer please… Expand
  21. heinz
    Apr 4, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game was good up until Priority:Earth. Felt very rushed then.
    Engaging combat.
    Well written and acted story arcs.
    Citadel as a hub was well done.
    Bottle shooting with Garrus was incredible.
    Emotionally engaging.

    Cerberus missions felt repetitive.
    Character interaction was sub par to ME2 and ME1;
    Tali's face reveal was very poorly handled,
    Romancing Liara felt forced and is also bugged.
    Fetch quests and war asset gathering was a chore.
    Gaping plot holes and no closure.
    Shortest game of the trilogy.

    Conclusion:
    Scrapping elements which made both previous game truly great in favor of targeting a broader audience wasted the potential of being a worthy ending to a great trilogy.
    The gaping plot holes, nonsensical ending and butchered role playing system transformed a once great action-RPG into a mere TPS with remnants of its former franchise.

    Rating: 6/10    … Expand
  22. survivor_686
    Apr 12, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Warning Spoilers ahead:

    I must admit I eagerly awaited Mass Effect 3. I was eager to see how all my decision from the previous game carried across. Needless to say I left Mass Effect 3 with some very mixed feelings. However one thing I can say is that 95% of the game is amazing. The story is tight, the characters feel alive, the environment has come to life and the weapons feel unique and powerful. That is to say however until the last 15 minutes of the game.

    At the ending the player is treated to what happens to be a complete mistake. The ending breaks all the rules of narrative coherence, contradicts several plot points, introduces alien concepts and characters and creates several plot holes. Regardless of how you played your Shepard, all are treated to the same lackluster, half-baked, ending. Were this any other company it would be understandable. This being Bioware; an entity that has prided on its writing skills, this is shocking. Its as if someone decided to add random, metaphysical concepts in order to generate pointless speculation. This is NOT how one ends a story. Perhaps the best simile for Mass Effect 3 is that of a five star, three course meal. The appetizers whetted your palate, the main courses were splendid and then it was time for dessert. Unfortunately it would seem that someone dropped the dessert, scraped it back up and then threw some crap on top of it. Sure you'll remember the other four amazing courses, but its the crappy dessert that will stay with you. I would consign this game to the rental or discount bin.    … Expand
  23. Iger
    Apr 20, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a fair game. I loved ME1, was not disappointed by ME2 and, generally, considered myself quite a fan of the series. The gameplay basically stays the same as in ME2, with the main exception being planet scanning, which was drastically improved. Still, the main cons go like this: - Some central plot point choices are illogical and, actually, hard to believe.
    - Animations are average - the cutscenes have huge pauses in the dialogues which is quite strange for a game so heavily reliant on these
    - Quest journal is technically inadequate. Although the side quests are not central to the game you have no idea what state of the quest are you in.
    - Some storylines are uninvolving and feel like these were only implemented to formally check off some loose ends.
    - Multiplayer necessary for the "better" endings. (I wonder if my memory fails me - I was sure I read somewhere, that it won't...)

    Still, the gameplay is quite adequate (if not new). The setting quite often drives you forward and the involving pieces of the scenario are scattered here and there. And the best part (for me) of the series - the characters are, for the most part, still very good. Unfortunately, the whole experience is kinda let down by the ending. After reading a lot of opinions and hearing Bioware's promises on "improving the experience" in a free DLC I must say, that although the steps promised is the only acceptable course of action these are still not enough to bind me back to the series. Someone compared the current state of affairs with pulling off a plaster - this describes my feelings quite well.    … Expand
  24. ultramontane
    Nov 19, 2013
    6
    I had to do it. I had to give in. I had too much invested in this game for the ending NOT to affect my score.

    The story, game play, voice acting, all of it is 10/10. The build up from the first in the series, a solid follow-up with number 2 and it's chance to hit a home run, bases loaded with the 3rd installment; it was all there. Hell, I even went full nerd and read the books. I just    I had to do it. I had to give in. I had too much invested in this game for the ending NOT to affect my score.

    The story, game play, voice acting, all of it is 10/10. The build up from the first in the series, a solid follow-up with number 2 and it's chance to hit a home run, bases loaded with the 3rd installment; it was all there. Hell, I even went full nerd and read the books. I just couldn't do it.

    I won't spoil the end, but it might as well been a "Thanks for playing!" message.

    For those who have played the first 2, just play this one and get it over with.    … Expand
  25. vhati
    Apr 26, 2012
    6
    Mass Effect 3 is an average game.

    Is it fun, yeah, in the same way that most other games where the story doesn't matter is fun. That is where ME3 fails. The story. Guess what every choice you made in mass effect #1 #2 and #3 don't matter. You get the same ending as everyone else. With no closure. Let it be perfectly clear, your choices mean absolutely nothing. If someone died in a    Mass Effect 3 is an average game.

    Is it fun, yeah, in the same way that most other games where the story doesn't matter is fun. That is where ME3 fails. The story. Guess what every choice you made in mass effect #1 #2 and #3 don't matter. You get the same ending as everyone else. With no closure.

    Let it be perfectly clear, your choices mean absolutely nothing. If someone died in a previous game, someone who is basically that person only a stunt double shows up and says basically the same thing and does the same thing.

    Does having geth as allies matter over krogen? No it doesnt. You dont ever fight beside your allies, the they only show up in a single cutscene. How many endings are there? Just 1 regardless of what people tell you, all 3 endings are 99% the same, as regardless of the choices you make, the exact same things happen. The game plays just like all other bioware games, where they are a series of short stories tied to a larger story, but the short stories have no effect on any other the other stories in the book, or the larger story of the book.

    Do i recommend the game. For a budget purchase, yeah, you will get some fun out of it. If you can put aside the weak story and terrible ending. The game lacks that something that shows up when a developer really cares about their product. Take the witcher 2 for example. The witcher 2 is a better game in every area when compared to ME3. Bioware should be ashamed, their game comes off soulless when compared to TW2.    … Expand
  26. Burnsidhe
    May 7, 2012
    6
    Decent game play, carrying forward the tradition of ME 2. Adding options for powers, weapons, a good step in the direction of RPGs. However, only one hub location hurts, as does the feeling of a small universe. It's understandable in terms of the story, and I don't miss endless exploration, but having more places to stop and look around would be nice. The characterization is excellent,Decent game play, carrying forward the tradition of ME 2. Adding options for powers, weapons, a good step in the direction of RPGs. However, only one hub location hurts, as does the feeling of a small universe. It's understandable in terms of the story, and I don't miss endless exploration, but having more places to stop and look around would be nice. The characterization is excellent, except for things like pandering to IGN in the form of Jessica Chobot being included in the game. Characters do react well, and appropriately to their established personalities. Shepard even shows signs of the strain of forming alliances between groups that don't want to work together. The downside is that some Renegade choices are more "puppy-kicking evil" than ruthless pragmatism. However, choices ultimately don't matter. Everything boils down to a single number. The ending is horrible, not coherent with the story of the trilogy to this point, and actually invalidates previous game plots entirely. It puts the player into an emotionally numb free fall after some very powerful scenes. The final splash-screen message that ends with "Purchase future DLC!" is exceptionally insulting. Rumor has it that Casey Hudson and Mac Walters wrote the endings in isolation, and that the rest of the writing team was not allowed to review and critique it. If this is true, they should be ashamed and apologize for failing to understand basic storytelling. I'm giving it a 6. The game play was good without being frenetic or relying on enemies dancing around like crickets on a hot steel plate for difficulty. The story, up until a certain point at the end, was exceptionally good. But the ending (singular, there's just one that's been palette swapped) is depressing and inconclusive; the story stops but it doesn't *end*.… Expand
  27. ivanovich101
    May 9, 2012
    6
    For me the game was mostly a disappointment. My decisions mattered, but not necessarily in the way I thought they would. They affect how the game plays and not the ending. Which I am generally okay with this. The ending was actually really good, I wish they had personalized it about your crew and the people you had met. However, that isn't necessary just would have been nice.

    What    For me the game was mostly a disappointment. My decisions mattered, but not necessarily in the way I thought they would. They affect how the game plays and not the ending. Which I am generally okay with this. The ending was actually really good, I wish they had personalized it about your crew and the people you had met. However, that isn't necessary just would have been nice.

    What bothered me was that the series has gone from an RPG based on FPS elements to an FPS with a little bit of RPG elements thrown in. If this game hadn't been mass effect 3 I wouldn't have even thought of buying it.    … Expand
  28. gotaman
    May 9, 2012
    6
    don't buy this if you are a fan of the series. I waited off buying it, and finally gave in. I felt cheated that is all i can say. After Dragons age 2 and this I will not buy another Bioware game again.
  29. Gothic90
    Aug 24, 2013
    6
    Due to length constraint, I'll just talk about a few non-ending problems I have with ME3. I still don't think EC writes a good ending, because Bioware tries to use the ending purely to make a point about human vs machines, rather than make an ending to a story.

    Problems are here. 1) Horrible controls. 5 conflicting functions bound to the same space bar. Especially frustrating in    Due to length constraint, I'll just talk about a few non-ending problems I have with ME3. I still don't think EC writes a good ending, because Bioware tries to use the ending purely to make a point about human vs machines, rather than make an ending to a story.

    Problems are here.

    1) Horrible controls. 5 conflicting functions bound to the same space bar. Especially frustrating in multiplayer.
    2) A large number of boring fetch quests as side quests, with unhelpful quest entries that have no progress indications.
    3) The so called return of RPG elements. Turns out to be looking for upgrades scattered everywhere. I am okay with both ME1's loot and ME2's lack of RPG elements, but this is garbage.
    4) Stereotypes, stereotypes everywhere. Suddenly there are stereotypical stereotypical weak and annoying Asian, and a football jock and etc. To appeal to the masses? Seriously?
    5) A lot of miscellaneous things that I would find quite repulsive. Like they purposely put them there just to disgust people.

    Other than that ME3 is fine. Parts of the story are still good. Some characters are still good, but not as much fun as the other two games in the series.    … Expand
  30. WaterWoman
    May 18, 2012
    6
    This game was, well, whatever. I didn't play 1 or 2, so I didn't care if the ending was "bad". It was more like watching a movie than playing a game, but some of the guns were OK. I thought this game would be great, but the more I played the less I cared. I did like the female voices, and never understood the war map. Never cared either.
  31. wolfmantto
    May 19, 2012
    6
    I've read all the reviews here and I must say, I'm agreeing with the guys in the middle. Mass Effect 1 was a strong opener. Yea the movements of the NPC's became old rather quick, the dialog was good, not amazing but good. Some conversations were very well done, such as the one with Sovereign. A very expansive world was offered to the people as well. You would drop on planets and moons,I've read all the reviews here and I must say, I'm agreeing with the guys in the middle. Mass Effect 1 was a strong opener. Yea the movements of the NPC's became old rather quick, the dialog was good, not amazing but good. Some conversations were very well done, such as the one with Sovereign. A very expansive world was offered to the people as well. You would drop on planets and moons, ride around in your little mako tank, and even get to jump off a cliff once in a while. Not to mention all the stunning ruins they implemented. The combat system was lack-luster, however. The new system in Mass Effect 2 was (in my opinion) that games single redeeming quality. Now Mass Effect 2 was honestly the weakest installment of the series. The expansive universe you were able to explore in its predecessor was completely cut out. You also lose the ability to really customize... anything. Your weapons are all cookie cutter, and ammunition is now an ability instead of a mod to your weapon. Though the designers had succeeded in expanding the dialog, they were unable to capture the sense of camaraderie you had in the ME1. I will, however, note that his game included peril at the end. If you hadn't interacted with your companions throughout the game, they die during the final mission. Now onto our current topic, Mass Effect 3. ME3 was most certainly the cleanest of the games in graphics no argument there. Yet somehow Bio Ware managed to ruin the entire story for its players. None of the major (and I stress major, minor decisions influence the game only slightly) decisions you made in the past two installments really matter unfortunately. Udina still ends up being the councilor, Cerberus is still a thorn in your side, and saving the council in the first game has 0 impact whatsoever. Its sad honestly. This release was truly disappointing. The new battle system in ME2 was shifted to play more like the Gears of War franchise. It was a clumsy adaptation. Secondly, the downgrading of the grenades for the solider. The old grenades would glide on the air in the direction you tossed them. Perfectly futuristic. The new grenades work the same as... well... short range Halo grenades. You will also notice some rather frustratingly lazy decisions throughout the game. In my mind, the most noticeable one is when your on Thesea.

    The mission where you are sent to the Asari home world to retrieve a prothean artifact is what I'm mentioning here. You might recognize that little green V.I. when you are working that mission. To my surprise, they didn't go out of their way to make something prothean in nature. Instead, they used the same model as the combat drone and Liara's little helper drone. Its truly sad to see a fantastic game degenerate into something so... mediocre. Though Lets not forget the Pro's of ME3. We do have a multiplayer mode now, allowing the game to have real value to a larger audience. Not to cut my little Pro section short but, I believe it may have had a negative effect on the game as a whole unfortunately. Next, we can customize our guns again. Though ammunition is still class specific in story mode, and temporary in multiplayer, the guns we use are not from a cookie cutter. I miss my plunonium rounds... Next we get our old crew back, mostly. I wasn't largely into the new crew other than Thane and Jack, the only interesting members of the new crew in my opinion. Next, we have a larger citadel. Though not as wondrous as that beautiful place we had all the way back in ME1, its not the joke you were handed in ME2. Finally, we get to play with a real prothean, and learn about their past if nothing else. (It is DLC). Overall, this game deserves a solid 6/10. You improved from the filler that was ME2, but failed to meet the Majesty of ME1. I've played the entire series, and I must say, for the first time with the newer games I've played, ME3 fails to live up to the very first game in the series.    … Expand
  32. CrashOverride
    May 20, 2012
    6
    It's an OK game on its own, but easily the worst of all three games. The models look terrible and the animations are clumsy (why do they keep rolling their eyes all the way up?). It just feels cheap compared to ME1 and ME2.

    And yes, the ending. The ending is something else. And by something else I mean horrible.
  33. Enerla
    Jun 8, 2012
    6
    There is nothing wrong with creative freedom, as long as you don't get "creative" when you describe a product. After all false statements in advertisements used to deceive the customers and generate more sales isn't considered artistic integrity, it is called fraud. Bioware spent months to explain that in Mass Effect 3 our choices will shape the world, and as they don't plan to continueThere is nothing wrong with creative freedom, as long as you don't get "creative" when you describe a product. After all false statements in advertisements used to deceive the customers and generate more sales isn't considered artistic integrity, it is called fraud. Bioware spent months to explain that in Mass Effect 3 our choices will shape the world, and as they don't plan to continue the story, we can get very different endings. The world can be very very different based on our choices. In the end, our choices didn't matter.

    Lack of choice and strange ending alone wouldn't be a problem. After all we know stories of games can't be perfect and the last 3 minutes aren't that important. We are free to imagine any different ending as the story won't continue. Who cares? And the game was fun until that point. The problem is: The game was a let down, because Bioware lied to us, deceived us. And after a huge let down, players can be disappointed and it can turn the gameplay experience sour and can remove any replay value. This feeling isn't here for 5 minutes at end, it is here the whole time we try to replay the game, would try our luck in multiplayer, etc. As long as EA doesn't understand that we buy games because we want to have fun, and being angry at a publisher and feeling anger whenever you see an EA game can ruin the fun. If you ignore what Bioware has promised, buy the game now, it won't be a disappointment. But otherwise even good graphics, entertianing gameplay, etc. wouldn't redeem the issue about ending and forced multiplayer farming. So the game doesn't deserve a "Better than mixed" rating. Because even if I would love graphics, character customization, gameplay, story, etc. the let down at the end can sour it all.    … Expand
  34. wildmandan
    May 29, 2012
    6
    If you've enjoyed this series the last 5 minutes of this game may infuriate you. As a capstone to a great franchise this game fails to deliver in the most important area: The end. This is the game that is supposed to bring the Mass Effect story to a close and leave us wanting more. It fails abysmally to deliver on this account.

    The rest of the game however is epic, enjoyable and a    If you've enjoyed this series the last 5 minutes of this game may infuriate you. As a capstone to a great franchise this game fails to deliver in the most important area: The end. This is the game that is supposed to bring the Mass Effect story to a close and leave us wanting more. It fails abysmally to deliver on this account.

    The rest of the game however is epic, enjoyable and a testament to what made this series so great, which further compounds the failure of the final chapter. Somehow in the entire series the worst writing has come at the end. Breaking basic tenets of storytelling in the last act is a sure way of losing the admiration of your fans.    … Expand
  35. Ghoster
    Aug 20, 2012
    6
    I give this game 6 only because ME2 had 10. It's not a bad game. It's pretty nice game. But TBH it's at least half worse than ME2 so cannot give more points.

    Worst thing about it is that they spoiled all good things they improoved from ME1 to ME2. Starting with map system, shooting, character improvements, ... It's really pitty ME ended with game like that. Could be awesome!
  36. lordythegreat
    Jun 23, 2012
    6
    The main problem with mass effect three compared to the last two is that all these decisions, all those player deaths, all those events and consequences that you have caused to happen in the lead up to this game, most of them seem to have very little final impact on the finale (which was rubbish btw). some plot lines just plain dont make sense (The reapers, a killing race of machines, wereThe main problem with mass effect three compared to the last two is that all these decisions, all those player deaths, all those events and consequences that you have caused to happen in the lead up to this game, most of them seem to have very little final impact on the finale (which was rubbish btw). some plot lines just plain dont make sense (The reapers, a killing race of machines, were sent to destroy us because in the future we would create a race of machines that would end mankind. um wtf?!?!) the build up to the last few battles was nigh on brilliant, all the characthers you fall in love (or hate) with have their fitting stories and some fitting conclusions, but then the final battles and final outcome takes all of those stories, completely discards and disregards them and gives you a supposedly "artistic" end sequence. again i call bs, its a cop out, its like the script writers went on strike for the last month of development so they called in a college psych student to finish it off. I wasnt angry the night i finished it, but sleeping on it i woke up really p-off.

    the combat is improved from number two, and the multiplayer is a nice touch if lacking any real depth, i would say it feels like an experiment rather than a key part of the game. You will find yourself in some explosive chaotic moments that hold you on the edge of your seat, which is great, but the final pay off is just a big nothing, could be the worst ending to a game since metal gear solid 2. In conclusion, its a great end to the series BUT it sacrifices great rpg elements for third person shooting elements that gears of war did better. To add insult to injury bioware is now making dlc to change the ending. So... is that an admittance of failure on your part Bioware? cheers bro    … Expand
  37. gambit1892
    Jul 9, 2012
    6
    I' ve played all 3 mass effect games, I believe the first one had the best scenario, the second was also interesting and improved as far as game play is concerned. The third installment left me with mixed emotions, I enjoyed the gameplay which is much more realistic and fun, you have more freedom on the battlefield and a larger variety of moves and enemies. The quest system where youI' ve played all 3 mass effect games, I believe the first one had the best scenario, the second was also interesting and improved as far as game play is concerned. The third installment left me with mixed emotions, I enjoyed the gameplay which is much more realistic and fun, you have more freedom on the battlefield and a larger variety of moves and enemies. The quest system where you search for Assets on planets is similar to the one M.E. 2 had, I think it is a quite boring, I would prefer to search for Assets with the Mako like in M.E. 1., but I guess that is subjective because others believe you could easily get lost with the Mako in M.E.1 resulting in frustration. Anyway, the weakest element in M.E. 3 is, in my opinion, its scenario and particularly the ending. I do not wish to write in detail about it, somethings are better left for others to judge on their own. However I must point out that it seemed sloppy and hasty, almost like fast food, quickly rushed off the grill and on a plate. I played the normal edition and the extended cut, which was slightly improved but still it just went from hot-dog to burger. I strongly believe EA rushed Bio-ware to launch the game in order to start generating income and unfortunately the end depicted that. I remember some years ago I played and finished Star Wars:Knights of the old Republic, also by Bioware, a great game by my standards mainly for the scenario. But.... KOTOR2 was a different story... published by Lucas Arts and developed by Obsidian because Bioware refused to succumb to the pressure of an early release, anyway that's not the point, the important thing is that when I finished KOTOR2 I realized I didn't understand anything, not just the ending..... So I' ve seen worse cases than M.E. 3, but unfortunately I've also seen better work from Bioware. If only they delayed one more month the game release, M.E. 3 would have had a different, more solid ending I believe, besides, it took them one month to release the extended cut dlc, and it probably cost them more, perhaps not financially, but ethicly and in terms of brand name, I don't think many people will pre order Bioware games from now on.......when glass breaks, it can't be glued, same goes for trust.… Expand
  38. athleos
    Jul 12, 2012
    6
    I purchased ME1&ME2; but, while I like the game play of ME3 I am protesting it, by not buying it. They got rid of the original story writer, they crapped on the graphics, ruined the game ending and put homosexuals on my ship. Gamers are not defined by gay ideologies or self-righteous straights, for crying out! we are just gamers. Fun games should not be used as devise where staff writersI purchased ME1&ME2; but, while I like the game play of ME3 I am protesting it, by not buying it. They got rid of the original story writer, they crapped on the graphics, ruined the game ending and put homosexuals on my ship. Gamers are not defined by gay ideologies or self-righteous straights, for crying out! we are just gamers. Fun games should not be used as devise where staff writers bow to the political right or left. So, with these three negatives I will not buy this game. If the graphics and the game ending were really amazing, I would still not buy it - unless - the ME3 configuration utility allowed me to decide/change the gay/straight themes for my personal game preferences. It is when game developers force you to play their way instead of allowing the gamer to make their own personal choice, then I say **** you Bioware and EA, I will start downloading free games from torrent sites from now on, until you stop nailing gamers up the ass with your nickel and dime DLC and politicking ideology crap. Please stop doing this to gamers.… Expand
  39. Bryjoered
    Jan 31, 2013
    6
    God this game just isn't very good at all and seeing it in the top 10 for 2012 kind of sickens me. Yes, the combat is equally as fun, maybe a little more fun that its predecessors, but the skill system is this stripped down 3rd person shooter now. Also, the great storylines and side missions that were the absolute best part about the first two games are pretty absent from this one. TheGod this game just isn't very good at all and seeing it in the top 10 for 2012 kind of sickens me. Yes, the combat is equally as fun, maybe a little more fun that its predecessors, but the skill system is this stripped down 3rd person shooter now. Also, the great storylines and side missions that were the absolute best part about the first two games are pretty absent from this one. The side missions are so dull and I just rush through them not caring at all about my dialogue choices, and the main story is pretty sub-par as well. Let's all face it, Bioware has sold their souls to make some cheap bucks. It started with the horrendous Dragon Age 2 and now this. Don't even get me started on DA2 and how much of a fail that was considering how phenomenal the first entry was.… Expand
  40. Isaac_adhd
    Jul 28, 2012
    6
    besides the much complained about ending ME3 lacks a lot of good rpg gameplay that ME2 did have. In ME3 there are too many cutscenjes although the graphics are awesome. Another miss is that you cannot see if you have completed your quest correctly. This is only possible when you search for the person who gave you the quest.That and many more little off things make this a pale releasebesides the much complained about ending ME3 lacks a lot of good rpg gameplay that ME2 did have. In ME3 there are too many cutscenjes although the graphics are awesome. Another miss is that you cannot see if you have completed your quest correctly. This is only possible when you search for the person who gave you the quest.That and many more little off things make this a pale release when compared to it's predecessor who was already receievd as an alltime classic but maybe part 3 stole that status from it again...… Expand
  41. Ageoffan
    Jul 31, 2012
    6
    Ending killed it, completely, 1000% nuked it to jesus's 8th coming, killed it. The good: Combat, i actually enjoyed the combat alot, the cover system is well done and you had to use it for some quests which is great. Melee, who doesn't love a sexy holographic fistweapon to pwn your foe? Customizing my guns, sure it feels like it is taken from BF3,but it still made me able to design myEnding killed it, completely, 1000% nuked it to jesus's 8th coming, killed it. The good: Combat, i actually enjoyed the combat alot, the cover system is well done and you had to use it for some quests which is great. Melee, who doesn't love a sexy holographic fistweapon to pwn your foe? Customizing my guns, sure it feels like it is taken from BF3,but it still made me able to design my weapon to my playstyle (one of the guns you get at the end, one that has a large clip, if not for the recoil reducing addon would be left in my closest). The Bad: Ending, horse is beaten enough, but the ending just sucked. Great, 3 different colors, and for some reason all the relays are blown up although only one of the options was supposed to destroy em (i believe). And your crew on earth magically appeared on the ship, and for some reason Joker wasn't on planet earth, wtf? Story, i honestly felt 0 connection. ME1 I wanted to kill sarin, I was sad that i had to let my crew mate die back there (i forgot his name). ME2, Collectors must die! killed by crew, blew up my old ship, destroyed my relatinonship with Ashley. Must die! Harbinger was a pain as well, i really wanted to stick it to him. And the ending was influenced by how well you maintained realtionships with your crew. Mass Effect 3 had none of that. your standing with the crew doesn't matter, **** got removed, who comes with you on the final mission is also pointless. All your decisions are meaningless in the end. So, would i recommend it? Yeah sure, if you want to play the game and just kill some time, but other than that, i would not. Worst 60 dollars i have ever spent.… Expand
  42. MispeledStalion
    Oct 16, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mass Effect has been, and will always be, about the characters and the writing. I've never been wowed by either the gameplay or the overarching Reaper threat plot of the series, but ME and ME2 remain two of my favorites because of the characters. I just wanted to stay in the game universe forever to build relationships with the crew of the Normandy and go to new exciting planets to meet more characters and be involved in their struggles. Each character is well-written, has clear motivations, evolves over time, and is complex and conflicted. Add the fact that Shepard is involved in major decisions affecting them at every term, and I found myself really invested in almost everyone I came across in Mass Effect. Garius, EDI, and Tali's wise-ass comments, Ashley, James and Thanes stories, learning Mordin, Wrex and Liara's life philosophies... That's what I loved about Mass Effect. I wanted to stop the Reapers because I wanted them to live and it would have upset me if I let them down.

    ME3, for the most part, carries on this Mass Effect tradition. I found myself really invested in the game and its characters yet again, and seeing them all before the final assault was a really touching moment. But then BioWare stabbed me in the back. A series modeled around relationship and character building and good writing suddenly takes a total U-turn and the last 15 minutes is one of the sloppiest, most poorly written and contrived endings I've ever seen. Shepard saying goodbye to his crew that's a fitting ending. Shepard accepting death as the Reapers destroy Earth with his friends at his side that's a fitting ending. What actually happened was nonsense and felt like I was playing a different game.

    That's why the game gets a 6: because the same thing that made me look past all the things I hate about Mass Effect the crap level design, the boring gameplay, the usually boring side quests, etc ends up being the games demise. A must play if you loved ME and ME2, but stop playing after you say goodbye to the crew of the Normandy for the last time and you'll enjoy the experience much more.    … Expand
  43. Toffenuff
    Jun 19, 2013
    6
    I cannot, in good conscience, give this game any lower than a 6 because up until the ending the game was superb and truly enjoyable for me. It's epic to gather the fleets of the universe together and to warp into battle like they do in the ending portion of the game. It builds upon the (in my opinion) great and enjoyable gameplay of ME2, and as usual the graphics are beautiful. SplendidI cannot, in good conscience, give this game any lower than a 6 because up until the ending the game was superb and truly enjoyable for me. It's epic to gather the fleets of the universe together and to warp into battle like they do in the ending portion of the game. It builds upon the (in my opinion) great and enjoyable gameplay of ME2, and as usual the graphics are beautiful. Splendid voice acting bring each character to life and the relationships and character development are all there.

    One of the best things about the ME series and Bioware is their whole, "what you did in the previous game impacts this game" and while there's still a cop out in some aspects that some of the things you did only are acknowledged or shown in a minor way, I think that's still impressive enough that it makes you feel you have truly impacted this universe beyond simply completing the missions. You've made choices, and those choices have had consequences.

    One thing I wish they had added was the ability to control real control of the Normandy and have some space maneuvering (as in simulation, not the Galaxy Map) and more importantly, space battles!

    Amazing game, but horrendous ending that was only partial fixed by the DLC. Would've given this game a 9 were it not for the ending. After dozens of hours of gameplay through various replays of each game to test different combinations of choices... how could you end the game like that? It was just... devastatingly disappointing.    … Expand
  44. McCrichierich
    Jan 2, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really enjoyed Mass Effect 3 when it wasn't forcing me to watch an unskippable cut-scene that went on for 50,000 years! I wouldn't mind a few unskippable cut-scenes that are short and don't contain dialogue that is so melodramatic and cheesy that I actually had to turn the game off once or twice. I felt the game tried too hard to be like a film and tried really hard to make me care about the characters, something which they had achieved moderately in the previous 2, but fell so far short this time because of atrocious writing. I found it really difficult to become attached to Shephard at all because he had as much personality as a piece of plain paper with the word "nice" on it. Or he was Satan incarnate whom Cerberus for some reason decided to install a naughty or nice detection chip in his face. (A clear theft from Fable. Although it's acceptable in Fable because it's more cartoony and like a fairytale where witches have hooked noses and good guys are disturbingly aryan.) They also copped out of it as well by putting a heal all scars option in med-bay. Why bother having it in if you can just erase it in a heart beat? Either do it or don't. It just seemed a bit flaky for a game based so tightly on the consequences of actions to literally have an opt out button. I did really like the way the previous choices affected the game. I also liked how they tried to tie up the loose ends with the characters from ME2. Although, it seemed to me that by the end of the game someone points out "Jesus we forgot Jack! Quickly someone put her in!" So their solution was to just have her leap at Shephard and die within 10 seconds and a quick remark from Shephard and team mate to let you know that it really was her. The encounter was actually so brief and dissatisfying that I genuinely thought that it wasn't her and I was about to find out that the Illusive Man had caught her and found a way to make clones of her to fight for him. Then I would have to fight through waves of Jack look-a-likes and find her trapped in a machine being cloned and in need of rescue. Then once rescued she joins the cause or has to sacrifice herself to destroy the station like Mordin and Miranda or something. But no she just leaped at you and died. I thought that the fighting gameplay was very good and got my adrenaline going. Although the going into cover and sprinting was often irritating. I would press A to go into cover nothing would happen so I press it again and he pops into cover then out again so he got shot in the face a lot. I did think that the powers were too strong. You can decimate huge hordes of enemies quite easily without going into cover. All you need to do is use adrenaline rush with 1 power enabled and have EDI and Liara with you to use incinerate and singularity. The galaxy map was well done and I liked the idea of the reapers detecting your scanner if you entered reaper occupied space. The first time I heard the loud buzz indicating their presence I was genuinely intimidated and rushed like hell to get out of there. But after finding out that I could outrun them for ages and that the only consequence of being caught was an "oh no you got caught! Now start again from 20 seconds earlier." There was no real threat and I wound up feeling that their presence was more of a minor inconvenience than a real hazard to be avoided. Now to get to my biggest complaint about the game. It all starts with one little boy who from the second I saw him playing outside I started a stop watch in my head for when he was going to die. It was shamelessly and clumsily trying to make me feel for this boy. I felt nothing but contempt for that flimsy attempt to make me feel emotionally invested. Then they expanded this dung heap of an idea into an agonisingly bad dream sequence which you can't skip and, as far as I can tell, has no relevance to anything whatsoever. It doesn't advance the plot. It didn't make me care about the boy. It didn't make me think Shephard was deep or more relatable. It was irritating, it slowed the game down and I couldn't help shouting at the screen "Hurry up you pretentious idiots!" Overall, I think I would give the game a 2/10 for dialogue. 7 or 8/10 for the story (good idea let down by enamel peelingly bad dialogue) 8 or 9/10 for combat. Martin Sheen as ever gave a 10/10 performance and expertly depicted a man trying to make the right decisions but losing sight of what is right because of his penchant for solitude. Usually I wouldn't score a game for its dialogue because people don't really play games for it. However, since I felt ME3 was trying so hard to be a film it seemed right to include the dialogue in an overall score. This score would be much higher if the game wasn't trying to be a game/film with appalling dialogue.… Expand
  45. Jaz
    Feb 24, 2013
    6
    The third part of the ME trilogy had to compete with two masterpieces. It failed. Combat is ok, but combat was never its strong point. The trend to remove RPG components like ME2 did, continues. For example in order to get side quests you don't even talk to NPCs anymore, you simply overhear conversations. But ME2 had a saving grace, its story was still very strong. ME3 doesn't have thatThe third part of the ME trilogy had to compete with two masterpieces. It failed. Combat is ok, but combat was never its strong point. The trend to remove RPG components like ME2 did, continues. For example in order to get side quests you don't even talk to NPCs anymore, you simply overhear conversations. But ME2 had a saving grace, its story was still very strong. ME3 doesn't have that and its not just the ending. Main story is predictable and boring. Last but not least, your companions are simply not interesting this time. Their stories too. An average game, nothing to really set it apart from other shooters.… Expand
  46. Alsvha
    Mar 7, 2013
    6
    It could have been so good, but it fell short.

    Mass Effect 3 is a decent game, scared by some bad design decisions and an awful, inconsistent ending. The combat in the game is more fluent than the predecessors, the graphics is generally crisp despite Shepard still feel sluggish when running around and navigating the (static) world. The writing is decent in this game, however it does    It could have been so good, but it fell short.

    Mass Effect 3 is a decent game, scared by some bad design decisions and an awful, inconsistent ending.
    The combat in the game is more fluent than the predecessors, the graphics is generally crisp despite Shepard still feel sluggish when running around and navigating the (static) world. The writing is decent in this game, however it does occasionally feel very 'soap'-television. Some of the characters are also very under represented in this game (especially characters like Jack, Miranda and so on). Even Ashley feels tacked on.
    Bioware's attempt at trying to set a dark atmosphere of doom and despair falls short in the game and it feels like many of the games 'sad' moments are so obvious that it's like trying to force an emotion more than build an emotion. Save perhaps for 'Mordin Solus' which is as brilliant a character in this as 'he' was in ME2.

    Weapon modifications are back (yah). Although you quickly learn to just pick the best weapon and use. The most redeeming part of ME3 is the music. Brilliant music. I can even listen to that while not playing the game that's how good some of the pieces are. However the quest system in this game is bad, very bad. Basically you have some main quests which drive the story forth. These are mostly gotten via the main characters. Then there's some side quests which is gotten via the mail terminal. Not much different than ME2.
    However then there's quests gotten from listening in on random people which pops up and requires you to 'scan' planets, and then pick up the item via the scan.
    However the journal system and lack of inventory works very much against this type of quests. The 'escape reapers' type-mini game or what it is, is just awful. And I don't know what they thought of bringing that into the game.

    And of course, the over shadowing ending, which invalidates and contradict much of the storyline from ME1 and ME2 (really obvious if playing all 3 in sequence). Makes most all of your choices throughout the previous game irrelevant. It did feel like leaving the game without an actual conclusion. The extended cut ending did not make matters much better, except as an insult to the fan groups which were disappointed.

    The DLCs for the game are decent, but no where near the quality of Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2. Omega is very combat orientated, which is okay in itself, but it's not really Mass Effect.
    Leviathan felt tacked on and much more like an attempt to build an in-game foundation for the ending more than anything. Citadel fun, but eventually irrelevant as it feels strange to put that into the middle of an all out war for the survival of the universe as 'we' know it. But well it's a farewell and a last money grab by Bioware.

    Mass Effect 3 is a decent game. It's not an action-roleplaying as ME1 was. It's a better shooter than ME2, but it's properly too much shooter for many RPG fans, and not enough for the shooter fans. Bioware tried to grab both, but for what it could have been it falls tragically short of the target. Potential but lack of implementation.
    Bioware basically dropped the ball. It's worth a playthrough from the bargain bin, but knowing what I know now, I would not have bought it at release.    … Expand
  47. nkaduthod
    Apr 5, 2013
    6
    As a beloved fan of the Mass Effect series, I was without a doubt quite disappointed with this game. While the game play is good and offers a more fluid experience, I fell that they dumbed the combat down to much. They also took away most of the RPG aspect of the game I loved. The story I felt was really lacking compared to ME1 & ME2. The new characters like Diane and James were veryAs a beloved fan of the Mass Effect series, I was without a doubt quite disappointed with this game. While the game play is good and offers a more fluid experience, I fell that they dumbed the combat down to much. They also took away most of the RPG aspect of the game I loved. The story I felt was really lacking compared to ME1 & ME2. The new characters like Diane and James were very uninteresting and the graphics and animations have barely been touched since ME2. My decisions imported from the first two games didn't really impact the story and I feel like BioWare and EA were turning this game into a clone of Gears of War except in space. And what the is up with Day 1 DLC From Ashes? For a very important character relevant to the entire series and basically what it is based on? EA is obviously trying to pressure BioWare into making a more "mass-appealing game". No!

    Also, the quest system is complete and utter And what happened to my narrative structure. I sometime barely see the wheel in conversations anymore! Also, the score of this game was lackluster.

    Some good about the game. I thought most of the main missions were fine ad well-crafted although they ended anti-climatically and the weaponry was good. The main teammates and old puns and people from the old games appear and make the game more enjoyable. Combat is great. Checkpoints are forgiving. Powers are good. Multiplayer is fun.

    And then, theirs the end. The ending of the game was so outrageous, disgusting, unethical, the biggest hypocritical scene made by BioWare that it made me mad. Even with Extended Cut DLC, it was terrible. I could have picked a better ending from my mother****ing ass.

    All in all, Mass Effect 3 was hyped up to be an excellent, but failed to deliver on so many levels. However, I still enjoyed the game for what it was. But seriously, DLC in this game is pretty OK, but they make it so short for 15.00 im spending for it    … Expand
  48. AJCk19
    May 6, 2023
    6
    For something that was supposed to be far more advance than the 1st two games. It retro acted a lot of the story and didn't live up to a lot of marketing promises. However, the team did try to fix some of their mistakes through dlc.

    Gameplay was great, but the long term investment into the story didn't pay off. So a 5 star out of 10 (half for half) seems fair to me. Although, devs did    For something that was supposed to be far more advance than the 1st two games. It retro acted a lot of the story and didn't live up to a lot of marketing promises. However, the team did try to fix some of their mistakes through dlc.

    Gameplay was great, but the long term investment into the story didn't pay off. So a 5 star out of 10 (half for half) seems fair to me. Although, devs did try to come back and fix the story. I'll give it +1.5 more star on top of that. Metacritic doesn't allow half points, so a 6 it is.    … Expand
  49. T3chstepper
    Nov 12, 2015
    6
    Well, I'm sorry, but this is disgrace to franchise. So, let's be reasonable and mark pluses and minuses of this game
    Pluses:
    - The Soundtrack. Marvelous - Graphics. It's ok, but who care about graphics anyway? - Feeling of Galaxy united. Game has some closure Minuses: - Plot holes, plot holes everywhere (Fixed with EC DLC) - Combat and Role-Play systems sucks. It's action-RPG, not    Well, I'm sorry, but this is disgrace to franchise. So, let's be reasonable and mark pluses and minuses of this game
    Pluses:
    - The Soundtrack. Marvelous
    - Graphics. It's ok, but who care about graphics anyway?
    - Feeling of Galaxy united. Game has some closure

    Minuses:
    - Plot holes, plot holes everywhere (Fixed with EC DLC)
    - Combat and Role-Play systems sucks. It's action-RPG, not Call of Duty. The best of all 3 games this system was in original Mass Effect.
    - Galactic map. Fly to the system, collect artifact and then escape the Reapers - it's so redundant.
    - And of course, that ending. Now, in the end of year 2015, when Mass Effect Andromeda teaser revealed, I never re-completed Mass Effect 3 after Extension Cut DLC release. For me, franchise is ruined with that ending    … Expand
  50. Aetohatir
    Jul 24, 2013
    6
    First off I'd like to tell you from where I come
    I finished all the games mutiple times and I read the three first books.
    I know all about the indoctrination theory and any other fan fiction ending. I gave the other two games both a perfect rating although they had big flaws because I am very keen to the mass effect universe. I must agree to the general opinion ME3 is BY FAR the worst    First off I'd like to tell you from where I come
    I finished all the games mutiple times and I read the three first books.
    I know all about the indoctrination theory and any other fan fiction ending.
    I gave the other two games both a perfect rating although they had big flaws because I am very keen to the mass effect universe.
    I must agree to the general opinion ME3 is BY FAR the worst of all Mass effect games though it has its strengths and this game definatly is not a 4.8
    Yes the Ending is bad and I dont understand why they even wanted to change it.
    If people want to spoil them selves they shouldnt have read the leak originated on neoGAF.
    Anyway It was nice to dive back in to the ME universe once more even though the story line of the game wasnt all that good
    even though you were able to port your old ME2 save into ME3 this didnt matter at all.
    Bioware just went with it that the player played all the ME2 DLC which is not always the case.
    the war rating had NO influence at all and yes the endings.. well you know the backslash
    The game had its good parts though too.
    The Soundtrack again was alsolutely superb following the more orchestral style of ME2.
    Visuals also were better than the other two games, and well the gameplay went a long way butis now actually playable as a cover based shooter. Or at least to big titles like Gears of War not an absolute catastrophy anymore.
    I absolutely recoment the first two mass effect games and if you enjoyed those you will at least want to play the third one.
    And this what it comes down to: This is not the grand finale we hoped for but it still is the finale and even though I cannot understand Bioware not just putting the Indoctrination theory slyly into the game via free DLC and makeing the recond straight once again we are stuck with what we have.

    The Multiplayer is fun to a certain extend, I played it about 20 hours but the micro transactions bug me still had a lot of fun with a friend in that mode.

    This is not a trrible game. And its not a bad game its just mediocre.
    the fault of the game failing so badly in compairsm with the first two you might push to EA, or to Bioware itself
    it still is worth while, but I wouldnt spend anythjing above 25€ on it.
    6/10    … Expand
  51. Nimbus1701
    Oct 5, 2013
    6
    Bioware promised too much with Mass Effect 3, and delivered an average shooter that was on-par with DeadSpace3. This is not an atrocious game. It's just average.
    Mass Effect 3's biggest problem is Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. If this were a standalone production with a modular story I can imagine people would be more understanding. It had a lot to live up to but Bioware knew it didn't    Bioware promised too much with Mass Effect 3, and delivered an average shooter that was on-par with DeadSpace3. This is not an atrocious game. It's just average.
    Mass Effect 3's biggest problem is Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. If this were a standalone production with a modular story I can imagine people would be more understanding. It had a lot to live up to but Bioware knew it didn't need to create a brilliant game to get the sales.
    In contrast to Mass Effect 2's cinematic rendered custscenes, ME3 only offers in-game cutscenes. The most notable problem in the character models are the eyes most human characters have a lifeless stare and feel like animated mannqueins. Environment and alien characters are however, very good.
    Combat is a tad nauseating at the start. It plays like DeadSpace, and differently to the previous two games. Many will feel that they're missing 40% of their screen to the large OTS-Character model.
    Ironically, one of the most contrversial features of the game, the "optional" multiplayer component, turns out to be better than expected. It may be annoying at the start, but you find yourself enjoying it more than the campaign storyline.
    I won't need to discuss the "endings" and the "choice" personally I found these issues to be secondary and would have been forgivable if I wasn't playing a rendition of Deadspace.
    It's difficult to understand why so many reviewers have marked this up in the 80s. It's definitely a reasonable shooter but not one for the books.    … Expand
  52. lutteres
    Sep 6, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mass effect 3 is the conclusion of one of my favorite Sci fi RPG Franchises of all time, followed by Knights of the old republic, also from Bioware.
    Although I still enjoyed this game, I can't stop the felling that I've been cleverly tricked by Bioware.
    Mass effect 3 is not the RPG they promised us!
    Why you ask?
    Because every choice you make in Mass effect 1 and 2 has only cosmetic effects in this game, some choices will have no effect, others will only have marginal consequences. For example it wont matter if you choose to destroy the human Ripper at the end of mass effect 2 or not, it wont affect anything in mass effect 3 except for a different dialog iteration with you squad mates at some point of the game. That's it!
    Did you choose Anderson to be the Human representative in Mass effect 1?
    He steps down in Mass effect 3 in favor of Udina.
    Did most of your squad died in mass effect 2?
    Well! A few of them are replaced by weaker surrogates voiced by the same voice actors! Consequences to the story? Except for different dialog iterations and a different slide show at the end, almost Zero!
    And the extended cut ending? Although it corrects some of the bad stuff in the original, it's still a convoluted Deus Ex (the first game) copy paste ending with a bitter sweat twist that makes no sense.
    Just one example: why would any one, build a device to kill the Rippers, and then, give the user 3 ways to finish them of? And by the way, one of those options is only conveniently available to some one who's part synthetic and part organic like Sheppard.
    And the reasoning behind those choice are not just stupid, they go against everything you fought for.
    And there is still the matter of the Day one DLC cutted from the main game, and all the lies Bioware sold to us before the game came out.
    So is this game bad? Not at all! It does have, like its predecessor (mass effect 2), a few gameplay issues from being a console port, plus outdated graphics. But besides that, unless you're very pickie, the game runs smooth, the challenge factor is a step up from the previous games of the series, the story itself is very immersive and you'll even meet all of your previous squad mates from Mass effect 1 and 2 or at least their surrogates, lol!
    So why all the bad reviews from the fans?
    I think thats because the fans created unreasonable expectations from all the hype built around the game. And in the end they didn't delivered what they promised.

    Conclusion:
    I rate this game 9 out of 10 minus 1 for the ending and minus 2 for the lies and corporate practices from Bioware.

    P.S: And if Bioware turns Mass effect “4” in to a MMO I will never buy their games again! :-D    … Expand
  53. Panhell31
    Oct 17, 2013
    6
    I like very much the single player version,the story is very good for me,very good graphics,a lot of characters but i have problem with the multiplayer game!I never understand what i must do there!
  54. eastpasta
    Jan 28, 2014
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gameplay - Great
    Characters - Great
    Pretty much a good Mass Effect game until you reach the ending, which is largely BSed and the same.

    Also, the Extended Edition ending may possibly be even worse than the originals.    … Expand
  55. Truth_
    Nov 5, 2014
    6
    I finally got around to playing Mass Effect 3. When all is said in done, I found it to be a fairly solid game. It's combat was not great, but not awful, either. Similarly, the story was excellent at times, and weak at others. Acquiring a crew, learning the lore of new and old, exploring the galaxy, and upgrading you and your teammates was a fulfilling experience, however, little wasI finally got around to playing Mass Effect 3. When all is said in done, I found it to be a fairly solid game. It's combat was not great, but not awful, either. Similarly, the story was excellent at times, and weak at others. Acquiring a crew, learning the lore of new and old, exploring the galaxy, and upgrading you and your teammates was a fulfilling experience, however, little was improved from Mass Effect 2 to 3.

    Combat was simple with predictable and unintelligent AI (for the most part). Your companions are not particularly useful and can be /very/ powerful if used well and used often. I played on Hard and it was quite easy, like most shooters. Luckily it wasn't too tedious, however. There are enough breaks inbetween combat, exploration, and dialogue which kept a good pace and felt organic.

    I thought the story was quite good, and I loved so many of the lines and conversations in the game. A+. Obviously there were some cheesy and not so good ones, but all in all I enjoyed it very much. However, I felt some of the dialogue choices were a bit wonky, some didn't make sense, some gave poor options, and some had silly responses that either Shepherd or the other person didn't make sense to me. In combat, some characters seemed to have a lot more unique/useful/interesting things to say than others, which I largely based my party picks off of (EDI, Garrus, and Liara always have interesting or useful comments or observations).

    Finally, I'm not a huge fan of being forced to pick one reputation type and sticking with it. I feel unless you do 90%+ in one or the other, you miss out on the best dialogue choices, dialogue results, and other things. Mixing and matching your choices, even if you feel they're the best ones logically or in your own role-play playthrough, give you a worse result and worse game.

    Note: I cannot comment on Day 1 DLC (which is these days quite common) since I only just got it. I also can't comment on the old ending, as I've only experienced the new one. Lastly, I cannot comment on the multiplayer as I have not played it (but I've heard good things).

    On the whole I was satisfied with the game, but happy I did not buy it on release.    … Expand
  56. FatherKarras
    Mar 11, 2014
    6
    Certainly a mixed bag, Mass Effect 3 is a game which is disappointing in a multitude of aspects, ranging from the bland action orientated combat, massive plot holes and poorly written characters and quite possibly one of the worst endings I have ever experienced in gaming.
    After a tense and emotional introduction, the game quickly goes down hill. Shepard, a character whom you define, is    Certainly a mixed bag, Mass Effect 3 is a game which is disappointing in a multitude of aspects, ranging from the bland action orientated combat, massive plot holes and poorly written characters and quite possibly one of the worst endings I have ever experienced in gaming.
    After a tense and emotional introduction, the game quickly goes down hill. Shepard, a character whom you define, is whisked away on an epic space adventure to save the universe after the Reapers finally made it to the galaxy. Somehow, this entire time no one had listened to Shepard, even though there has been excellent reasons to, now everyone is boned.

    After a game of boring combat (having chose my Infiltrator class who has been leveled up since the first game, I could one shot almost anytime of enemy in the game with a rifle), characters making stupid decisions and a forced character by the name of Kei-Lang, you finally reach the end...
    And oh boy... Did it suck.

    Terrible ending aside, the game had some genuine sad moments, such as the deaths of some of my favorite characters... But overall, a weak passage and pals in comparison to the amazing previous installments.

    Positives:
    Fun multiplayer.
    Multiple/difficult choices.
    Genuine sad moments.
    Great soundtrack.
    Ends multiple story lines and you get to say your final goodbyes.

    Negatives:
    Boring combat.
    Plotholes... Plotholes EVERYWHERE.
    Poorly written side characters.
    Vague motives.
    Horrible quest tracker.
    And that ending.... THAT ENDING.

    Overall: 6    … Expand
  57. EremitaJ
    Jul 26, 2014
    6
    What they did to you, poor baby? Excluding the ending and the orientation on more action, the dificulty level reduction for casual players to get it... and it's an average rpg-shooter hybrid sorta thing. It shouldn't have a Mass Effect seal on it but we can't argue Bioware didn't try. It's not it's best, but you can have fun with the game. If you crush your expectatives from a good ME game.
  58. gebagia
    Oct 20, 2014
    6
    When i firstly played this title i was completely disapointed. i was coming from the extremely good environment of ME2 to the poor and unstable environment of ME3. The transition was very hard. As the time was passing by i started getting used of it and in the last 3 months i started enjoying it.

    Really i enjoyed the battles but i really hated the cut scenes, although i love the story    When i firstly played this title i was completely disapointed. i was coming from the extremely good environment of ME2 to the poor and unstable environment of ME3. The transition was very hard. As the time was passing by i started getting used of it and in the last 3 months i started enjoying it.

    Really i enjoyed the battles but i really hated the cut scenes, although i love the story of mass effect the cut scenes was so poor.

    Finally the game is not so well made like its predecessors, i hope ME4 to be a better game cause i want to return to this franchise.    … Expand
  59. GamesBeatAll
    Mar 26, 2017
    6
    Okay yeah, character customisation is utter pants, some of the animations are bad, like the NCP drinking from a bottle he stuck in his eye, and another one who appears to have some horrendous body wide tic. But I can live with that.
    But the two things that disappoint me are the plot - or lack of it, and the dumbing down. Don't bother bringing your brain to this ME party - you won't be    Okay yeah, character customisation is utter pants, some of the animations are bad, like the NCP drinking from a bottle he stuck in his eye, and another one who appears to have some horrendous body wide tic. But I can live with that.
    But the two things that disappoint me are the plot - or lack of it, and the dumbing down. Don't bother bringing your brain to this ME party - you won't be needing it.
    All the basic good stuff from ME is there, and some improvements. And yeah, I probably will play it to the bitter end, but no, I won't be pre-ordering ME 5 if there is one.
    The dialogues, OMG, who wrote this snooze fest? And padded out with soooo many repetitive and pointless conversations.
    And the basic premise, finding new homes - there is no urgency, nor strong motivation of 'all of mankind will die if you don't sort this Ryder'. It's more like an adventure holiday where you repeat the same adventures, just in a different location.
    Also, I don't feel my answers and decisions really make any difference, where are the massive moral dilemmas? Where are the REAL character choices?
    The technical issues are, well technical issues. What I'm finding hard to forgive is the lack of heart, the heart of the ME franchise, an immersive story with well designed characters.    … Expand
  60. moonlight_shado
    Apr 25, 2016
    6
    Way better than ME2 imo. It has some strong points and weak points but the biggest let down is the well known crappy ending, where all your choices didn't count which makes it one of the most unsatisfying endings in video games history. Plus the plot holes and things that are not right with the game codex.
  61. Enriqcloudjol
    May 21, 2015
    6
    Estubo OK.
    Realmente la jugabilidad es genial y sus cinemáticas tambien, pero, no encontré tan enganchante el juego a final de cuentas y el final, es algo decepcionante e incluso creo que es el mismo que he visto en el 2.
  62. ApolloDown
    Jul 13, 2015
    6
    There is no way to review this game fairly. So much is so good about it, and so much is so terrible about it. I will do a pros and cons list as I think that's the only way to really get an idea for what you are getting into. Before I do, let me state for the record that Mass Effect 2 was and still is my favorite game of all time. Let me also give you some advice - if you are playingThere is no way to review this game fairly. So much is so good about it, and so much is so terrible about it. I will do a pros and cons list as I think that's the only way to really get an idea for what you are getting into. Before I do, let me state for the record that Mass Effect 2 was and still is my favorite game of all time. Let me also give you some advice - if you are playing this for the first time, use the MEHEM mod. It is the only way to salvage the ending. Either that or let Marauder Shields cut you down and never watch the actual ending. You'll know when it happens.

    PROS
    Excellent art
    Excellent combat
    Excellent dialogue
    Excellent DLC
    Great moments in the story. Legion on Rannoch always makes me tear up. Same with Mordin on Tuchanka.
    Great dialogue. Drunk Tali FTW.
    Marauder Shields.

    CONS
    The ending. The extended cut does nothing to address the problems. Anybody who thinks it does is simply not paying attention.
    Cut corners(femshep running out of combat animations are a good example)
    Kai Leng. Why am I afraid of a dude with a sword when I literally have a computer sword on my arm and/or space magic and guns?
    Horrible dialogue. See Kai Leng. See also James Vega. See also Miranda. See also Jacob. Again.
    Blatant cash grab(you win! Buy DLC!)
    Star Baby.
    The Illusive Man going from excellent bad guy with believable motivations to total moron absentee landlord.
    Streamlined combat. I miss the Blue Suns. I miss getting hit with biotics.
    Kai Leng again.
    Lack of character differentiation in cut scenes(I'm a biotic, why am I always(or ever) pulling a pistol? And why is my pistol always the crappy one I NEVER use?)
    Bullet sponges are not a good gameplay mechanic. Ever. Banshees could have been so much scarier. They ultimately just bore and/or infuriate me.
    The ending(guys, the ending is AWFUL. There is a reason for the terrible reviews)
    Lack of choice(5 or 6 real choices, everything else just goes the same)
    Lack of consequences(see also lack of choices)
    Female characters that look like they were based off a 13 year old's fantasies(See EDI cameltoe, See also Liara boobs, see also Ashley default outfit)
    Killing characters that I worked to keep alive HARD in ME2 offscreen is a sin(sorry Kelly)
    Planet scanning is not a side quest.
    No variety in hub worlds, just the citadel. I want my Illium back.
    Kai Leng again(Bioware, I get that you wanted a cool villain. But the douche to scary ratio is too high, partly because he's not scary(see swords don't scare my space gun wielding badass) and partly because he is full douche)
    Star Baby again.
    Dat ending.

    Do I play Mass Effect 3 multiple times? Yes. Do I always feel cheated each time? Yes. But I always end up playing it again. Bioware and EA, somehow you have found a way to give me disappointment on demand. I pre ordered this game, and this game has guaranteed I will never pre order a game again. Continue doing business this way and you will not stay in business. This game has very much earned its user score.

    On a side note, you can very clearly see what is wrong with game journalism today by comparing the user score to the curated score. This game made me stop looking at journalist reviews, period. You have proven that you cannot be trusted to be honest.    … Expand
  63. Wiebe
    Feb 27, 2020
    6
    The end of BioWare as we knew it, it was going downhill for some time, but boy. The gameplay is still good, characters interesting, but the simple build op your forces thing that they also tried with DA:I is just a lazy way of content creation by making a lot of content that is repetitive and meaningless, and yes the ending is just terrible, sloppy and unimaginative.
  64. agurczuk
    Apr 21, 2017
    6
    In short if you've played previous part you'll know exactly what's coming your way. If you have not than there's no real reason to pick it up before playing the previous ones.

    This is the final chapter in the Sheppard trilogy. The reapers arrive just as you've warned everybody. And yet everyone is surprised. And it's up to you again to save the galaxy. This game definitely feels more    In short if you've played previous part you'll know exactly what's coming your way. If you have not than there's no real reason to pick it up before playing the previous ones.

    This is the final chapter in the Sheppard trilogy. The reapers arrive just as you've warned everybody. And yet everyone is surprised. And it's up to you again to save the galaxy.

    This game definitely feels more linear than the previous. With the reaper imminent danger most of the stories are for you to gather allies for the war. There are just a few missions you could skip but why would you really. The core mechanics are pretty much the same. You fly around the galaxy, land on planets and do missions. The missions consist of you fighting through the ranks of enemies completing different objectives in order to gain allies. Nothing really changed from the previous parts. The combat is very much cover bases - occasional grenades will make you change specific cover but that's about it. The special powers as well as your team mates feel like they're just there but not a real game changer. I think I just got bored with it.

    Outside of that you'll get a scanner - not really sure if it was available previously - that you can scan your vicinity in order to find artefacts and stuff. But that can alert the reapers so you'll need to evacuate soon or they'll catch you. Pretty annoying mechanic - luckily one that you don't and probably will not use during the game.

    The one other change is that you're presented with a war room where you can observe the allied power you have recruited. However this part confused me and apart from looking at single bar - indicating probably when you get enough allies for final mission - it's pretty much useless as well.

    Visually it might be a bit better than previous instalments however the animations are quite wonky, especially the running animation - this was even more visible since last game before this I played was Metal Gear Solid V which had superb animations.

    The ending - the most commonly criticized part - is not as bad as I've anticipated, but not good as well. It's just meh.

    Overall there were cool moments but the game didn't capture me. I'm glad I've played it but I don't expect ever coming back to it.    … Expand
  65. relampago
    Aug 30, 2020
    6
    O jogo no geral é bom mas com um final completamente estragado pelos escritores passa ao lado de ser excelente
  66. Rev-nok
    May 12, 2017
    6
    Jumping right into here!

    Story --------- The story in Mass Effect 3 is the ending of a trilogy, and by so there’s a lot lost for those that haven’t played the previous games and I would recommend anyone coming to play the series not to start with the third as it looses a lot of its depth and meaning. However for those that don’t have a save and yet have played the other games, well    Jumping right into here!

    Story
    ---------
    The story in Mass Effect 3 is the ending of a trilogy, and by so there’s a lot lost for those that haven’t played the previous games and I would recommend anyone coming to play the series not to start with the third as it looses a lot of its depth and meaning. However for those that don’t have a save and yet have played the other games, well that’s up to you. I played my first playthrough with a save and liked it, I did it this time without and preferred it over the other.

    Having played this game twice over, I found myself liking the second time more. Which I give it a lot of credit for. From what I’ve read is that people dislike the shadow sequences of the story, in which I have to disagree. It doesn’t just give a great ending to a trilogy it also shows a side of game you don’t often see, the deep artistic side of storytelling. However, taking the opinions of others into account, I can see where they might be coming from. As the same with watching a movie, you expect a certain type of movie from certain series.

    The lack of choices in the other as well, good and true. Having only around three large choices, in all of it. One of which turns into three branches. With an over collection of points that don’t actually give you anything at all in the end. Which is regretfully bad.

    Considering all the points at hand and a strong personal opinion for the artistic I’d give the story a strong 8.

    Graphics & Animations
    ----------
    Alright, frankly this can always be a bit difficult to come back to. Having played ME:A and games like Witcher 3 and coming back to criticize it can be next to impossible. So instead I am rating the graphics not on how they are but how they aged.

    The aging of the graphics is done well, there isn’t a point where you feel that this or that is bad. Apart from perhaps some shadow quality, which I ain’t too picky about as well as some outfitting on the stale side characters.

    The graphics especially the cinematics in the game are astounding and live well up its time, so if you're concerned about graphics holding up, having played to many older games and just haven’t been able to finish them. Perhaps titles such as Deus Ex 1, then you have nothing to fear from ME:3 at this point in time 2017.

    However the animations in this game are sadly enough.. Stiff, really stiff. You feel like everything is moving a bit too slowly, running and dodging. I don’t personally have any experience with soldier gear or battle suits but wow if I were getting shot at by a giant metal monster from the sky wanting to end all life so to speak, I’d be running twice as fast and throwing myself into cover and not taking a whole five seconds trying to get over a box which is barely knee high.

    4/10

    Gameplay
    ----------
    Well, what can I say about the gameplay.

    While there is some position commanding in this game, it frankly falls quite short as the AI aren’t good at all. I felt more than not being the only person on my team that could actually do something, and the AI’s were there to soak up some bullets while I do everything.
    However that might be a little unfair as the game does give you, companion skills which can also be leveled up and combo used with your own and such can be extremely vital to use in the right time.
    But all in all, its pretty much luck that it falls into as you move from enemy to enemy, your companions suppose to be protecting your back but for some reason let that one enemy get behind you and kill you with two shots.

    Companions are strong in this game, though I feel them being slightly more on their own mindset throughout this entire game, however, I have to approve of this. Though it might feel like your second priority it makes a lot of sense that you are at this time and point, while their homeworlds get decimated or their families are lost to them. A certain depth to them, which I personally wanted to see more of and acted out a bit more. Though I can’t imagine many people, would’ve liked that.

    4/10. Thankfully they did better.

    Music & Sound
    ---------------
    The music in this game is absolutely brilliant, one of the best track lists I’ve heard. Memorable to the day you finish your first playthrough, tingling nostalgic feeling when you come to it. This team has to commanded, with fitting tracks to fitting cinematics bringing a new level of depth and emotions to the scene.

    The voice acting in the game is superb, especially from Joker which handles going from joking, to sad to even angry in a truthful way while many of the others do just as well.
    Giving an applause to all of them.

    9/10

    Trying to judge this game has been difficult to eye opening and I hope it leaves something to be speculated for the future generations to come. I'd play it again, with a different class.. In the future.

    6,25 good enough    … Expand
  67. GarethB
    Oct 21, 2018
    6
    I was on board with all that was happening until the ending... what a flat non experience. The mechanics of the game work well and you really feel the oppressive nature of the invasion, but it ends up feeling really hollow...
  68. JaydenPickens
    May 16, 2019
    6
    This game makes me sad. EA and Bioware f**ked it up. While most of the game is fun and I do love it, love all the characters, missions are nice, gameplay is garbage (but that's to be expected), there's just one thing, that makes me sick... it's the endings. I played the game with all the dlcs, so I didn't knew what was in the vanilla version of the game, but now I know. They've cut tooThis game makes me sad. EA and Bioware f**ked it up. While most of the game is fun and I do love it, love all the characters, missions are nice, gameplay is garbage (but that's to be expected), there's just one thing, that makes me sick... it's the endings. I played the game with all the dlcs, so I didn't knew what was in the vanilla version of the game, but now I know. They've cut too much stuff. Also the endings are awful... all of them. The Indoctrination Theory kinda saves it, but still it's not what I'd expect. Admit it, these guys didn't know what they were doing. EA should have given them at least a year more to finish this game... or even two or three years to actually write some decent endings. I'm disappointed in this game, because I'm dissapointed in its story... I only played for the story and got this. Still, I liked most of the game... just hate the endings. Also let's celebrate the death of Marauder Shields with a minute of silence as he was the only one who tried to save us from these horrid endings... Pickens out.… Expand
  69. Vanco
    Jun 4, 2019
    6
    Unfortunately choices made in the previous games have little impact on the ending, Improved combat system compared to ME 2.
  70. Hyperfailure
    Nov 27, 2022
    6
    (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
    ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)

    ┻━┻ ︵ ＼( °□° )／ ︵ ┻━┻

    ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ)

    (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻

    ┬──┬ ¯_(ツ)

    ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻

    ┻━┻ ︵ ¯(ツ)/¯ ︵ ┻━┻

    (╯°Д°）╯︵ /(.□ . )

    ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ ︵ ┻━┻
  71. Naked_Snakee
    Apr 7, 2023
    6
    Just text (crutch) to save the game to the list. Such things. Maybe I'll do a review later.
  72. Opex28
    Mar 29, 2023
    6
    Первый умный был детина, средний был тоже умный, третий вовсе был дурак (отсылка на русские народные сказки)
    Не поймите меня неправильно. 3 часть отнюдь не плохая, а очень добротная игра. Не имей эта игра в названии приставку Mass Effect, то и оценка была бы выше. Но первые 2 части задали поистине космическую планку, достигнуть которую не могут спустя даже 10 лет.
    Ну и конечно "светофор"    Первый умный был детина, средний был тоже умный, третий вовсе был дурак (отсылка на русские народные сказки)
    Не поймите меня неправильно. 3 часть отнюдь не плохая, а очень добротная игра. Не имей эта игра в названии приставку Mass Effect, то и оценка была бы выше. Но первые 2 части задали поистине космическую планку, достигнуть которую не могут спустя даже 10 лет.
    Ну и конечно "светофор" в конце. Не такого фанаты ожидали... Да и объяснение мотивации Жнецов это просто детский лепет. Мы [Спойлер] вас, что бы вы не [Спойлер] сами себя..
    К сожалению с этой части наша любимая игра начала угасать как Солнце Хестрома (кто знает, какая концовка была по Дрю Карпишину поймет о чем я)    … Expand
  73. defive
    Mar 14, 2012
    5
    A decent game let down by one of the worst game endings I've ever seen. The ending is incoherent, inconsistent, and incomprehensible nonsense that really wrecks any sense of accomplishment.

    Other than that the game is okay, but my least favorite of the three. Plus there's the issue of the cheeky paid for Day One DLC.
  74. Jaga
    Mar 10, 2012
    5
    Currently I'm about halfway through the game, and while the story is good (better than ME1/ME2), the gameplay is merely adequate.

    It feels very dumbed down given that there is even less customization than in prior games in the series. There is no real inventory to speak of, and when you find an upgrade for a weapon (as an example), you can immediately equip that upgrade to as many squad    Currently I'm about halfway through the game, and while the story is good (better than ME1/ME2), the gameplay is merely adequate.

    It feels very dumbed down given that there is even less customization than in prior games in the series. There is no real inventory to speak of, and when you find an upgrade for a weapon (as an example), you can immediately equip that upgrade to as many squad member's weapons as you desire. Powers are per-character, with little sharing possible via a new system. I'm not at all impressed with upgrades on skills/powers, as each feels like an almost miniscule change to effectiveness in combat.

    The primary reason I'm rating ME3 as a 5, is due to the unbelievable distaste it has left in my mouth having gay talk, scenes, and innuendo shoved down my throat at every turn. My assistant on the Normandy is a gay female. My dropship mechanic is a gay male. Liara is blatantly bi-sexual, and several other Asari in the story are either bi, or outright gay. There are people sitting in the local hospital talking about being gay, people in the commons talking about turning gay.. etc etc etc. It feels in fact, like there is more gay love and sex abounding in the Mass Effect 3 world than there are straight relationships.

    To reflect on this: I am not homophobic - I can accept that people have relationships of their choosing. But when the NORM is 10:1 (or more) in favor of straight-to-gay in reality, and you have more gay than straight in the game world, it tends to wear on you quickly. It leaves an undeniable taste of "eww" in your mouth, due to the staggering amount of it.

    All in all, a decent game - full of plenty of Mass Effect as we've known it. But a bit too much of "hay there!".. makes you wonder if the team writing/producing it was 80%+ gay. That part of it will not - never will, appeal to the mainstream audience. And is largely why ME3 is being blasted on Metacritic, among other sites on the web.

    It is one thing when it happens in moderation, and isn't blatantly flaunted in public. But ME3 really does shove it down your throat again and again, and for most straight people that does produce a substantial amount of discomfort and distaste. It isn't that it is happening, it is that MOST ME3 characters turn out to be gay.

    My recommendation for the game: either buy and play it knowing what is coming at you, or wait for the bargain bin price and see how much you can stomach before putting it down. It is not one of Bioware's masterpieces, and goes far beyond "touching on taboo issues" than it should.    … Expand
  75. Brumbek
    Dec 28, 2012
    5
    What an annoying game to review...the gameplay is solid. The combat is fairly fun and some of the side quest stories are really great. Plus reuniting with old friends is VERY fun. You do feel like you are making a difference as you play to save the galaxy. This game easily packs 50 hours of content. ********** But then there's the ending. No spoilers here, but it is COMPLETELY MORONIC. ItWhat an annoying game to review...the gameplay is solid. The combat is fairly fun and some of the side quest stories are really great. Plus reuniting with old friends is VERY fun. You do feel like you are making a difference as you play to save the galaxy. This game easily packs 50 hours of content. ********** But then there's the ending. No spoilers here, but it is COMPLETELY MORONIC. It pulls a Deus Ex Machina and violates its own lore. If you hated the Matrix 2 & 3's lunatic (Architect) storytelling, you will utterly despise ME3's storytelling. ********** So yeah...the game is great until the end...and the ending is so bad, so utterly insulting to all intelligent beings that I cannot, CANNOT recommend ME3. Like Jar Jar Binks, we wish it never happened.… Expand
  76. moseao
    Mar 10, 2012
    5
    As a shooter, ME3 is passable. Not amazing, but passable. The trouble is we were all told that role playing aspects would be put back in from what ME2 turned out to be. They weren't. Not really. You get binary choices that have very little bearing on anything. You won't get a different game by making different choices. You won't even get a noticeably different combat playstyle by makingAs a shooter, ME3 is passable. Not amazing, but passable. The trouble is we were all told that role playing aspects would be put back in from what ME2 turned out to be. They weren't. Not really. You get binary choices that have very little bearing on anything. You won't get a different game by making different choices. You won't even get a noticeably different combat playstyle by making different choices. Basically what happened is Bioware dumbed down the amazing Mass Effect 1 into very little more than a pure shooter. Then they figured if they just throw a couple of dialogue trees and weapon mods back in, then they can appease fans of the original. As is, there's maybe enough here to warrant a playthrough, but you shouldn't feel like you're missing much by waiting to get it used.… Expand
  77. makdrumz
    Mar 21, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I over-enjoyed the game. My mistake is that I gave this game an early 10... That is until the moment the harbinger laser hit the party. Honestly i am holding myself a lot not to go berserk and start swearing. So i will keep it...civilized. It not about Shepard's bad fate. I kinda liked it that he died to save the galaxy at any case. What i don't like at all is the whole "Lost" concept. The last 15 minutes of the game IS NOT mass effect. It is a combination of poetry, lucid dreaming, huge (black hole size) plot holes and the message you get after the credits " Congratulations, Shepard destroyed the Reapers and saved the galaxy. You may now continue to play DLC and **** and then you can play just before the attack on Cerberus Base. This proves that there is no "indoctrination" concept and that the end is as it is. I am extremely frustrated with Bioware. You destroyed the trilogy by creating 15 minutes of a total confusion. Maybe the reapers indoctrinated the Bioware staff so they couldn't finish the game. Not to comment the day one DLC: From Ashes. Aye...From Asses that is... Since its coming from EA its definitely " FROM ASSES". Fix it now. Not asking, not petitioning, but...DEMANDING.… Expand
  78. Grungi
    Mar 11, 2012
    5
    I have to give the game a 5; I can't think of any other score that would accurately portray the mix of positive and negative impressions I have of the game. From a production perspective, it's an absolute masterpiece from start to (almost) finish. I would even go so far as to say that it's the most technically perfect game that I've ever had the pleasure to play. Were I scoring on thatI have to give the game a 5; I can't think of any other score that would accurately portray the mix of positive and negative impressions I have of the game. From a production perspective, it's an absolute masterpiece from start to (almost) finish. I would even go so far as to say that it's the most technically perfect game that I've ever had the pleasure to play. Were I scoring on that basis, I would give it a 10/10 without hesitation.

    But (some of) the writing .. the DLC .. the singleplayer/multiplayer fiasco .. I don't want to give any spoilers out here, and I'm sure anyone who has beaten the game is well aware of what I speak .. Bioware has effectively killed the franchise for a lot of people. At the time of writing, the official forums are aflame with the vitriol that only hardcore fanatics can muster.

    There's no denying that Biowares reputation has taken a serious hit in the last few days, and in my opinion .. it's self-inflicted and rather well deserved.    … Expand
  79. Dethstar
    Mar 26, 2012
    5
    More of the same nonsense. I never was a fan of the series finding the camera angles and character control system very annoying. It is pretty I will give it that but there its another one for the big fans of the ME series. Nothing to recommend it to someone who never thought it was anything but a good game if forced to play console games for a week. Did not meet my expectations.
  80. Nenvolk
    Dec 9, 2014
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a tough one. I really enjoyed the first 2 Mass Effect games, and most of it is really great: I like the normal missions, who are like ME 1 and 2, and I even enjoy the multiplayer part alot.

    BUT the ending is horrible! Not just gameplay-wise, which suxx so hard. You need to watch a movie while it plays out, because it's like 40 minuttes of cutscenes you can't skip, and choices without any real effect. And then there are the ending itself: Possibly the worst ideas I have seen in a game. My guess is the developing team was out sick or maybe they just hate everyone playing their games, but it's a serious torture to get through that hour or so it takes to get to the ending. I hope they all got fired, and that people spit on them whenever they meet them...

    So, if you're considering buying the game, my advice is this: Stop when you get to the last missions (back on earth), and write some solution yourself. It can only be better, even if it means the Reapers win!!    … Expand
  81. hellogoodbye
    Mar 6, 2012
    5
    I thought I was lucky at the time to secure an early copy for myself and my partner. By the time I was 10 hours in, I was left wondering what happened to this series. Where did it all go so wrong? It's as if Michael Bay created this game in just how lame the story ended. Didn't help that there were 2 stars from Jersey Shore in it either.

    Audio and music were pretty good for the most    I thought I was lucky at the time to secure an early copy for myself and my partner. By the time I was 10 hours in, I was left wondering what happened to this series. Where did it all go so wrong? It's as if Michael Bay created this game in just how lame the story ended. Didn't help that there were 2 stars from Jersey Shore in it either.

    Audio and music were pretty good for the most part, but there was nothing as cool as M2 playing at the end of ME1. I'd recommend people just youtube the ending and save themselves the agony. I'd also suggest you start praying that if they start a Mass Effect MMO (the universe is really quite good for this) that they hand it to a different company as TOR got boring fast.    … Expand
  82. Jimbobbrown
    Aug 21, 2012
    5
    First off the multiplayer is fun, totally enjoyed my time on that even if it is rather limited. Secondly, I have to put the boot in over the single-player part. Its a shame cause its obvious so many people have put such hard work into it. The graphics, programming and overall story arc are fine but let down so fundamentally by the dialogue writers. Half the time I wasn't sure what the hellFirst off the multiplayer is fun, totally enjoyed my time on that even if it is rather limited. Secondly, I have to put the boot in over the single-player part. Its a shame cause its obvious so many people have put such hard work into it. The graphics, programming and overall story arc are fine but let down so fundamentally by the dialogue writers. Half the time I wasn't sure what the hell was supposed to be going on, or why x character had just been bumped off in seemingly quick and nonsensical fashion - I began to find it all rather funny waiting to see who'd get the chop next and how cheap and quickly it could be done. The ending isn't the problem really the whole single player game is poorly designed - the lack of choice, the overly long cut-scenes which the player has no input into, the lack of interesting side missions... fixing the endings won't help this game it needs to be re-booted (we get so many film re-boots, why not game ones?) preferably bring back Drew Karpyshyn too. I loved the first two games but felt compelled to finish this one only cause I had payed money for it, the single player game is that inconsistent and low quality. I rate the game as a five only for the multiplayer content and the hard work put into it by the development team (aside from the writers who seemingly didn't feel they had to trouble themselves too much). I don't blame EA for this, not too fond of origin but at least I got some money's worth out of the multiplay. This mess is totally on Bioware and the first game of theirs i've played were the story was the worst thing about it (aside from DA2 which I missed as it looked so pathetic).… Expand
  83. SteamConvert
    Mar 6, 2012
    5
    It's definitely worth playing, but I really wish I hadn't paid full price. I'll keep things short. Multiplayer is ok and kind of necessary given the shortness of the main campaign. They doubled down on the circus soldier rolley-slidey cover based combat and the weapons don't always feel satisfying when they hit. I'll keep it spoiler free, but let my 5/10 stand for my opinion of theIt's definitely worth playing, but I really wish I hadn't paid full price. I'll keep things short. Multiplayer is ok and kind of necessary given the shortness of the main campaign. They doubled down on the circus soldier rolley-slidey cover based combat and the weapons don't always feel satisfying when they hit. I'll keep it spoiler free, but let my 5/10 stand for my opinion of the story. Ultimately it's a Bioware game and a good one at that. I'll still replay ME 1-3 now and then in the future, but I'm no longer interested in seeing where the ME universe is going from here having played this one.… Expand
  84. panzer
    Mar 19, 2012
    5
    Mass Effect 3 was advertised, and promised in press releases and interviews, that the decisions we made throughout the series would create a unique ending for every player, that the amount of possible endings would be countless.

    Instead we got 1 ending for everyone to experience. The same ending for everyone. Before the ending the game is 9/10, with the current ending they basically    Mass Effect 3 was advertised, and promised in press releases and interviews, that the decisions we made throughout the series would create a unique ending for every player, that the amount of possible endings would be countless.

    Instead we got 1 ending for everyone to experience. The same ending for everyone.

    Before the ending the game is 9/10, with the current ending they basically stole my $80.    … Expand
  85. Tata
    Mar 14, 2012
    5
    Updated Review: I saw the warnings here about the ending, so I thought I should be prepared for a really bad ending, but you can't prepare for this. It was much worse than I thought It would be. And people said that Witcher 2 had a bad ending (which I couldn't understand because I thought It was great). Well, atleast other parts of the game were from good to mediocre. The new charactersUpdated Review: I saw the warnings here about the ending, so I thought I should be prepared for a really bad ending, but you can't prepare for this. It was much worse than I thought It would be. And people said that Witcher 2 had a bad ending (which I couldn't understand because I thought It was great). Well, atleast other parts of the game were from good to mediocre. The new characters are pretty good, with few exception. I was actually surprised that James is an actually great character, because I expected him to be flat. The combat is more like Witcher 2 with the rolling and finishing moves (which is a good thing!), if only it's a bit too easy on Insanity, but It's still affected by the bugs from Mass Effect 2 like ling of sight shooting, getting stuck or character not doing what you want (do 100 things with one button is not a good idea). The romance, well.. My romance option was Liara, and the first half of her romance was disastrous, but the second was very good. Note that I'm not homophobic or anything, but there is no way to detest or condemn a character that is gay, lesbian or not. Again, I don't have anything against homosexuality, but there is no choice given to you about this, unlike in Dragon Age where you could decide how you approach something like this, and here's another problem. Lack of choice. The paragon and renegade meter is finally mixed, but only like 1% of the dialogues have a middle option, making that pointless. The interrupts were most of the times, good. The cutscenes: A lot of them are good, but then, a lot of them is unnecessary, especially at the beginning of the game. There's also a lot of time where you can't interrupt the dialogue or the cutscene, hindering the replay value. There are also serious problems with smoke effects, as It can make even the best computers lag like hell. The character animations are probably the worst I've ever seen. There is a part where you have the option to hug a friend, but because of bad animation, you end up hugging the air. Really? The graphics are mostly good, but the background is a train-wreck. If you pay attention to the background, you can see a lot of low-res textures, or even immobile people, even if they are about to step, making them look like statues.
    While I had high expectation with this game, It's far from that, but still, It's much better than Dragon Age 2. My advice: Prepare for the worst ending you can possibly imagine (or you wouldn't dare to even imagine).    … Expand
  86. 2484Stryker
    Mar 14, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. For those who invested the time & effort into playing the entire series, this latest and final installment will be fun to play right up to, but not including, the ending. By itself, ME3 is a very good game, with awesome combat mechanics and weapon/character customization. It has some very emotional moments that really draws you into the world of Mass Effect. However, the ending (singular form intended) completely negates all your choices and your actions from all three games, and forces you to accept a singular notion from your arch-nemesis - that synthetics will always destroy organics. You're given a limited number of nonsensical choices that no Shepard would ever agree to, but the game forces your character to choose from them, and he does so without question (very out of character). In the end, all of us may have taken a different route on our Mass Effect journey, but the destination is invariably the same - and that would have been OK had the destination been choice-driven. Given all that, I still enjoyed playing the game, although I now have zero inclination to experience the trilogy again. If you loved the series, then I would still suggest that you play this game (ignore the review bombers). Just hit ctrl-alt-del when you get to the ending.

    In summary, the game's ending is a disappointing end to a very good game; the game itself is a disappointing end to an epic series. RIP Mass Effect.    … Expand
  87. Mrsoandso
    Mar 9, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mass effect 3 was fine through the whole game as game play went but the ending was awful to say the least, i was a big fan of the other mass effects this one was ruined by the poor ending being too abstract and poorly executed. the game play was overall fun but the ending...… Expand
  88. Baenlynn
    May 8, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Having loved Mass Effect from the first instalment so many years ago, the denouement to this story feels as though I've just watched someone give the performance of a lifetime on stage and at their second curtain call, fall over into the orchestra pit and impale themselves on the entire woodwind section. The story in ME3 is book-ended by bad writing and shot through with wonderful, funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking moments, but it seems that Bioware got the ratio of good bits to bad bits the wrong way 'round. Part of this is the scope of what they have tried to do. For one: keeping the gameplay balanced in a computer RPG when your choices should in theory remove certain elements from the game (e.g. the Rachni queen) is difficult. Secondly: RPGs are meant to have a MASSIVE scope for player choice, and providing all of that for a computer game on less than 10 DVDs--in an era where everyone expects full audio for every line of dialogue--is going to be close to impossible. Let's not forget the game already had oodles of content for characters who could have died as far back as ME1: Ashley/Kaidan, Wrex, Everyone from ME2, and so it goes... Now that's a lot of data right there. Consider that the Kasumi and Zaeed DLCs for ME2 were over a gig a piece then probably a third of the data in the game itself was stuff some play throughs would never see.

    Could Bioware have done better? Hell yes! Were they fighting uphill against technology in terms of what they were promising to deliver? Yes again.

    This is one of the biggest problems with ME3's writing and it is that at present you cannot deliver a truly varied and unique experience in a Role-Playing game on a PC. You have two choices in that regard. You can make a story-driven game that will sacrifice openness and variability to a degree (like Mass Effect) Or you can create a gigantic sandbox which the player can explore but not really touch (like Skyrim). Trying to deliver something that retains game balance, has fully voiced dialogue and actually registers all your past actions in a meaningful way is impossible without some form of procedural generation. They definitely could have done the writing better of course, which by means of segue brings me to...

    The ending, which just REEKS of the 11th hour rush. The Citadel and Crucible are just two pieces of a giant MacGuffin designed to give organics a way to end the cycle of harvesting. Something started by some inscrutable AI who lives in the citadel? REALLY Bioware? There's a reason MacGuffin is seen as a pejorative term nowadays. Much of the game is like that apart from those wonderful shining moments, good and bad... Mordin's death, Femshep's date with Garrus, watching Joker and EDI talk, Legion's goodbye, Miranda confronting her father... Shades of brilliance from ME2, but it's almost as though the writers had something better to do and handed it off to the work experience kid. Hat's off to him for trying, but he's gonna need more training.    … Expand
  89. makseffect
    Mar 21, 2012
    5
    the game Mass Effect is excellent, but Mass Effect is a complete disappointment (((In the pursuit of a new audience Bioware f*** up a second time and this time of thing will not spoil. As a fan of the first part I do not believe them anymore. Let them do simulations gay. It's what they are now able to
  90. spinx
    Mar 19, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The user score tells it all... The gameplay of the third installment was underwhelming... The series has evolved to a mediocre cover shooter with almost no decent RPG options and even killing its wonderfull Dialogue option from the previous games... Also the ending... We fight 3 games long, get emotionaly envolved with characters, make hard choices... AND at the end, we don't get to see what these choices have done? How is the universe now? How is sheppard honored? we see nothing of this...

    Bioware should look at The Witcher 2 and really study why it is better in all fronts... it's a shame that this series has ended so underwhelming...

    Sure, its very epic and you get goosebumps from time to times... But there was so much more potential...    … Expand
  91. daveyy12
    Mar 17, 2012
    5
    I agree with several of the other reviewers...This game is a let down, compared with ME2. The plot was weake and there were less challenges/puzzles. I played the "traditional" game and found two major irritations: (1) cut scenes were way too long and there was no way to pause the game (2) weapons available for players' use were positively wimpy. The game is ok, but didn't live up to the hype.
  92. CLUTCH
    Nov 21, 2012
    5
    In some respects I enjoyed this game. In others, I absolutely loathed it. I'll start with what I enjoyed. I enjoyed the multiplayer...Weirdly, I enjoyed it more than the game. It's quite addictive...and then I enjoyed...Damn...Catching up with characters from the series I guess...That's about it.

    The SP campaign felt like a real chore to me. The textures were pathetic in places. Pretty    In some respects I enjoyed this game. In others, I absolutely loathed it. I'll start with what I enjoyed. I enjoyed the multiplayer...Weirdly, I enjoyed it more than the game. It's quite addictive...and then I enjoyed...Damn...Catching up with characters from the series I guess...That's about it.

    The SP campaign felt like a real chore to me. The textures were pathetic in places. Pretty much no graphical options on the PC. The animations are laughable sometimes. Lots of clipping. There are a ton of bugs and glitches that I encountered and a few random freezes/crashes. The cover system is a completely broken mess. The writing was half-assed. Getting through the game to see the conclusion was a massive chore and not really fun at all. Regardless of any of your choices, there are only 3 endings with very slight variations. None of them are satifiying, and if you want to see a different one from the one you chose the first time, you have to sit through about half an hour of unskippable cutscenes and painfully...Really painfully slow 'gameplay'. I am not kidding, I actually put a weight on my keyboard, on the 'w' , went and made a cup of coffee and came back and I had only just arrived at where I needed to get to...Really, REALLY poor design, story and gameplay decisions...It just feels incredibly unpolished and unrefined, and generally a step back from the 2nd game. My guess is that they had nearly everyone in Bioware working on their Star Wars title and ME3 was pretty much thrown together.    … Expand
  93. TheBank
    Apr 16, 2012
    5
    Graphics: 8.5/10
    There's nothing that new to see here. The graphics are top notch, but the engine is the same that made the rest of the series. Gameplay: 8/10
    If you enjoyed the other mass effect titles then this won't disappoint. The scan for minerals system is gone, which in my opinion is nice. Story: 7/10 Mass Effect 3 tries to take on completing a very diverse story, and does a pretty    Graphics: 8.5/10
    There's nothing that new to see here. The graphics are top notch, but the engine is the same that made the rest of the series. Gameplay: 8/10
    If you enjoyed the other mass effect titles then this won't disappoint. The scan for minerals system is gone, which in my opinion is nice. Story: 7/10
    Mass Effect 3 tries to take on completing a very diverse story, and does a pretty good job of it. Sound: 8/10
    Many of the same interludes from the previous games are recycled throughout (galaxy map, etc). The main score is very good though.

    Overall: 7/10
    Mass Effect 3 straight out of the box (not the collectors edition) is purposefully incomplete with the hope of making money off DLC. Day zero DLC, along with certain areas in the game that seem lacking will make you appreciate how complete other games by bioware are. This game is worth buying in my opinion, but it might be a better idea to hold out until the all inclusive edition comes out. This games got a lot of minor bugs to be worked out as well (no crashes, just little things like missing dialogue and graphic glitches.) All in all a little bit of a disappointment, but it will probably wind up being amazing when it is actually sold in its entirety (instead of its purposefully amputated form).    … Expand
  94. exliontamer
    Mar 24, 2012
    5
    Setting aside the ending (which has been covered to death), there are too many flaws in this game to give it anything higher than a 6. The journal, for example, which defaults to the middle or bottom every time you open it, rather than the latest quest you've received; the dozens of "find my long lost doohicky on some random planet" quests which amount to simply scanning a planet toSetting aside the ending (which has been covered to death), there are too many flaws in this game to give it anything higher than a 6. The journal, for example, which defaults to the middle or bottom every time you open it, rather than the latest quest you've received; the dozens of "find my long lost doohicky on some random planet" quests which amount to simply scanning a planet to resolve; and ultimately the fact that most of your efforts to save the galaxy boil down to adding 50 points to some vague number which you're trying to get as high as possible before the final battle. And this arbitrary number results in minor little changes to the cutscene you watch at the end -- and none of it really matters. It feels incredibly empty -- wow, sure glad I saved that guy back in ME1 so I could end up with a higher Military Readiness number at the end of ME3 so I could... um what exactly did it change? Oh yeah, Big Ben didn't get vaporized in the cutscene at the end! Yay! That and the fact that every decision you made didn't really matter: let the big bug queen live in ME1? Great! She's back and happy to help you! Killed her? Great! A cyborg version of her is back and happy to help you (or not... but does it really matter?).

    None of this would matter all that much if Bioware promoted ME3 as Gears of War in Space, but they piled on the hype about every one of your decisions meaning something BIG, about all your questions being answered in the end, etc.    … Expand
  95. 123456
    Mar 14, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. With regard to the ending, I completely agree Ross Lincoln on Gamefronts article called Mass Effect 3 Ending-Hatred: 5 Reasons The Fans Are Right. It is a fantastic article and the only negative comment from an established media site I have yet seen.

    The many hours prior to the final one are really very enjoyable. I was close to completing everything in the game on the first play through that was available, barring a few non-combat side quests.

    The combat remains the same as ME2 but sped up a great deal. The cover system remains quite clunky where you sometimes get in cover, sometimes just do a diving roll against a wall and stand up again but it is not that bigger deal. You will probably only die by going too far ahead too quickly and getting flanked, where due to the very rigid but effective combat system you are reliant on enemies being in only one direction.

    The acting, story and missions are everything you would expect from the series, which to me means a high standard. Legion and Thaneâ    … Expand
  96. Sk3z
    Mar 10, 2012
    5
    i feel sad about all this. The game is crap, and i feel fooled by the developers which ruined the story and the ending i was hoping, but mostly i'm almost angry for all those big whoop reviews by the critics. This game is just half the value of mass effect 2, maybe less. Mass Effect 2 was actually a massive game, this one is just crap. It's like they made a parody out of it. Hey, it's noti feel sad about all this. The game is crap, and i feel fooled by the developers which ruined the story and the ending i was hoping, but mostly i'm almost angry for all those big whoop reviews by the critics. This game is just half the value of mass effect 2, maybe less. Mass Effect 2 was actually a massive game, this one is just crap. It's like they made a parody out of it. Hey, it's not a completely bad game, it's still playable, but to me it's just mediocre in everything it tries to achieve: it's a bad fps, it's not an action game and it's not even remotely a decent rpg (every skill choice is irrilevant, the game is too easy, period). In fact Mass Effect 2 was better in everything except for the shooter part, which i repeat is still not worth the money in mass effect 3. Dumbest story ever, completely uninteresting characters, no choices to make, bad outdated graphics.... This game values 5. Everyone is giving less, my guess, because the irritating aspects mentioned above: undeserved good reviews by the critics, betrayed trust by the developers (i f*****g kept mass effect 2 installed just to import the character, only to realize how worthless this was). This is an absolute let down, just an unnecessary game, which probably will get too much attention for it's value.… Expand
  97. Gamtu
    Aug 20, 2012
    5
    The length of the game is acceptable. The graphics quality is poor. Including aliasing and lack of realism and no way for high end pc's to significantly adjust for it (likely because of monetary greed with no other focus in mind). The game play quality has been reduced from previous releases (likely because of monetary greed with no other focus in mind). For instance planet scanningThe length of the game is acceptable. The graphics quality is poor. Including aliasing and lack of realism and no way for high end pc's to significantly adjust for it (likely because of monetary greed with no other focus in mind). The game play quality has been reduced from previous releases (likely because of monetary greed with no other focus in mind). For instance planet scanning has been all but removed. When you find a planet that can be scanned any items from the planet are recovered with probes only. You never actually fight for the scanned items you simply live or die. Living through it is quite easy to do. A lot of adventure was removed from the game because of this. I thought it felt like an easter egg hunt in a big hotel, all the rooms are identical and so are the eggs. The eggs are just hidden in different places in each room. This game is not an RPG it is an action game with a sprinkle of role play. I thought the ending fit in well with the rest of the game. I didn't like the ending or dislike it. I'm glad I didn't pay release day price for this game. These days those of us PC gamers really have to be cautious of paying release day price. I've found that the pain of disappointment is significantly reduced by waiting for price drops. Still I probably should've waited a bit longer.… Expand
  98. thenthomwaslike
    May 2, 2012
    5
    i would have given it a 10 if i could bind my key for sprinting, taking cover, exiting cover, rolling, entering dialogue, interacting with objects, climbing up ledges, jumping off of ledges/ ladders and whatever the hell else the spacebar did in this game to separate keys. we have 128 keys, allow us to use them to avoid this ridiculously clumsy control scheme. I would have given it a 9 ifi would have given it a 10 if i could bind my key for sprinting, taking cover, exiting cover, rolling, entering dialogue, interacting with objects, climbing up ledges, jumping off of ledges/ ladders and whatever the hell else the spacebar did in this game to separate keys. we have 128 keys, allow us to use them to avoid this ridiculously clumsy control scheme. I would have given it a 9 if their were any graphical options besides the resolution and anti-aliasing.

    i would have given it an 8 if day one dlc was not inside of the files and COMPLETELY necessary to the story.

    I would have given it a 7 if online multiplayer was optional to having a good story in the single player ( after finishing ALL of the fetch quests in the entire game i still had only 3200 "war assets" and thus was damned into receiving...

    the WORST ending of any trilogy i've ever seen/read/played. (this now drops the score TWO MORE points because it is a carnal sin in my book to destroy a story with a bad ending.) It's so illogical, anti-lore oriented, and obviously rushed. We are now at a score of 5. Since Bioware is responding to the outcry about how disappointed people were by the game by releasing free dlc to add clarity to the ending, this review will absolutely be subject to change.    … Expand
  99. butternut86
    Mar 22, 2012
    5
    Bioware should be ashamed of themselves. This ending was inexcusable. The Deus ex machina explanation for the Reapers and how the Catalyst justified their desruction as a way to save organic's from their own tendencies of destroying themselves was nothing short of ridiculous. Its circular writing, logic and reasoning wrapped into one.

    Let me be clear. 99% of this game is an absolute    Bioware should be ashamed of themselves. This ending was inexcusable. The Deus ex machina explanation for the Reapers and how the Catalyst justified their desruction as a way to save organic's from their own tendencies of destroying themselves was nothing short of ridiculous. Its circular writing, logic and reasoning wrapped into one.

    Let me be clear. 99% of this game is an absolute masterpiece. But the end was so god awful that it actually undermined the brilliance of the entire series. Two things pissed me off in Mass Effect 3, the non-existant closure of the ending, and non-reveal of Tali's face (there was a photo.. but come on) .

    Both are inexcusable, and the ending is pathetic. Personally, Bioware, and its Reaper puppeteer should give its consumers FREE ENDING DLC to try and redeem themselves. I already paid around $200 for all three Mass Effect games including numerous dlc packages. Bioware and EA owe their consumers a decent ending with some closure to the characters, planets and races I've come into contact these past 5 years. Bioware should ashamed. TO SHAME!!!!    … Expand
  100. Zpiff
    Mar 18, 2012
    5
    I absolutely loved the game, felt emotionally attached to all my characters and couldn't wait to see how my favorite gaming series of the last decade would be concluded... Now I wish I had stopped ten minutes before I did.

    The ending has completely ruined the experience for me, not only for ME3, but also the first two games. It's impossibly difficult to invest in a game you know will    I absolutely loved the game, felt emotionally attached to all my characters and couldn't wait to see how my favorite gaming series of the last decade would be concluded... Now I wish I had stopped ten minutes before I did.

    The ending has completely ruined the experience for me, not only for ME3, but also the first two games. It's impossibly difficult to invest in a game you know will leave you an empty and broken husk at the end.

    As someone so bluntly put it in a forum post: It's like eating a magnificent three-course dinner, only to be served fecal matter for dessert, forcing your body to expunge it all at a lethal velocity. No matter how good the rest of the meal tasted, you'll leave on an empty stomach and with a terrible taste in your mouth. I wish this wasn't true. I really do.    … Expand
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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]
    Read full review
  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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