Mass Effect 3

It's the end of Shepard's story. What does that mean to you? For me, it means the end of one of the best video game and science fiction franchises ever. The final scenes take a decidedly classic sci-fi turn that surely won't make everyone happy, but that was never a real option. Instead it maintains BioWare's unique vision and approach toward game development. Regardless of the rest of it, that makes Mass Effect 3 a rousing success.

By making every one of us the captain in our own saga, BioWare has retired the one-size-fits all of Kirk and Luke in favor of something much more flexible. Mass Effect 3 is what it feels like to be your own biggest fan.

With Mass Effect, Bioware created something really unique. A fascinating universe, that not only rivals Star Wars and Star Trek, but – at least for me – exceeds those. Mass Effect 3 is the crowning achievement for this trilogy. A true masterpiece.

As bleak as this story is, it's offset by war sequences so large in scale and beautifully animated that you cannot help but look upon them in awe.

So much more than a game. It blends genres and transcends the video game medium to offer up an experience unparalleled in this industry. This game will easily be a front-runner for Game of the Year and is in my mind a serious contender for being the best game of this generation. It may not have a multiplayer mode that can stand up to the likes of Halo and Call of Duty, but it does offer the best single-player experience that $60 can buy.

Not a lot of games – almost no games, in fact – manage to establish the kind of white-hot emotional connection between player, cast and setting that Mass Effect 3 somehow conjures. That's the reason this story of Earth, the galaxy and Shepard's last stand is so harrowing, and why people will be talking about it for years to come.

Fans of the series couldn't have hoped for a better conclusion. Mass Effect 3 gets closer to perfection than any other game released during this generation, so if you consider yourself a true gamer, you really can't miss it.

The RGP elements have been toned down considerably in favour of more action. For some this will sound like a bad thing, but trust us when we say that Bioware has thought this through. With the Reapers invading, it would be kind off silly to go on a shopping spree on the citadel. [April 2012, p.60]

We've got a few minor complaints, but overall Bioware ends its epic space trilogy in style. Thank you, Commander Sheppard for making an incredible amount of our days in the last few years.

BioWare has again done a top-notch job at bringing to life an intricate, futuristic sci-fi playground.

One of the most emotional and engaging games that I have ever played.

Mass Effect 3 combines the good old gameplay elements from the previous installments with some new fresh features like the multiplayer mode. The game is purely stunning and offers captivating gameplay, freedom, an oppressive atmosphere and enough content for 40+ hours. It's a masterpiece of galactic proportions.

An absolutely amazing game, one that successfully puts a bow on the Mass Effect trilogy while still leaving us hungry for even more. It looks and plays great, but Mass Effect 3's true strength lies in its ability to tell a deeply-woven story.

An emotional and fitting end to the sci-fi epic, with improved tactical combat, a huge galaxy to explore, and choices that will test your morals to the limit. [Apr 2012, p.84]

Shepard's story ends with a journey that's exhilarating and dramatic, with fantastic moments that beg to be replayed so you can see what other outcomes are available. [Issue#216, p.68]

A gorgeous, endlessly appealing blend of engaging gameplay and fantastic storytelling. Role-playing aficionados will adore the emphasis on the captivating narrative, the familiar characters keep you interested, the combat areas are larger and battles are more dynamic overall, and the freedom of choice cements the entire masterful experience.

I was hooked from the beginning. The extras and refinement brought into this game have only made it better, and BioWare has made the latest installment in the Mass Effect series nearly perfect.

What separates the truly stupendous from the merely amazing is that often elusive je ne sais quoi. Mass Effect 3 burns brightly. But that extra spark would have transformed it from a shining star, into a blazing supernova.

If ever a game was more about the journey than the destination, it's Mass Effect 3. And what a journey it is. [May 2012, p.71]

Its intricate story-telling and choice systems are something that'll come to define the series as one of the greatest stories ever told in video games, while its mix of gunplay and RPG elements are delivered in perfect measures.

Whilst there's some issues with writing, some of the mechanics and various other glitches, the epic scale and relatively strong narrative push these aside, giving Mass Effect 3 its rightful place amongst the great, sci-fi epics of our time and acting as a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

Last episode of a trilogy in which we admire the writing, art direction and themes, Mass Effect 3 is the grand finale that we all wanted to play. There may be some technical issues, the action phases could be more convincing, but still, Mass Effect 3 promises a great, emotional and epic galactic adventure. Already one of the best games of 2012.

The finale to this epic trilogy manages to meet most of the expectations set forth by the playerbase. It has a bit of a slow start, but once it gets going it is as epic as its predecessors.

Mass Effect 3 offers the best of the series: a very well-narrated and mature story, elaborated major and minor missions, entertaining combat. It seals off the trilogy that has no equal among video games.

A remarkably satisfying conclusion to a beloved trilogy, and a poignant and memorable role-playing action game in its own right.

Mass Effect 3 is not a bad game, but it doesn't feel like Bioware learned much from Mass Effect 2. If you enjoyed the previous game, there's plenty to like here, and the bad parts are easy enough to ignore. However, the problems make Mass Effect 3 a game for fans only.

It's a third and final chapter, then, with all that implies. It's off-putting to new players, too busy tying up loose ends to dangle any threads of its own, and fails to stand up as its own game in the same manner as its predecessors. But it's also a spectacular, powerfully imagined and dramatically involving final act to one of gaming's richest sci-fi sagas.

Even though it has some interesting ideas, it's hard to get excited about yet another take on wave-based survival, especially one that uses the occasionally-clumsy Mass Effect combat as its base. Once you start thinking about how most of the campaign's side content either uses these same multiplayer levels or has you performing extremely basic retrieval tasks, it's easy to start feeling slightly indignant about the whole thing...But only slightly. At the end of the day, Mass Effect 3 is a game for people who liked Mass Effect 2 so much that they absolutely need to see how it all ends. Despite claims to the contrary from the game's publisher, I really don't think newcomers will get much out of it at all.