Mass Effect 3: From Ashes

From Ashes offers interesting new lore for the fans, but little anything else. The only new mission is very short shooter, which hardly justifies the price. The new squadmate does have a lot of things to say during the gameplay, if you carry him with you to every mission. Still, From ashes is only worth getting if you really want to see everything Mass Effect universe has to offer. [Apr 2012]

The mission to defreeze Javik is short, and you can beat it easily within about half an hour. If you're looking for a chunk of content as substantial as Mass Effect 2's Lair of the Shadow Broker you'll probably come away disappointed, and Javik doesn't really dramatically affect anything about the Mass Effect 3 campaign.

From Ashes plunks a relatively mundane mission but sweetens the deal with a provocative, highly interesting additional party member. Given the gravity of said party member, how this wasn't a part of Mass Effect 3 is mind blowing. Is From Ashes exploitive? Probably, but Mass Effect 3 as a whole stands to benefit from his presence and I regret completing the game without him.

If you're just buying this DLC just for the mission because you remember how awesome Mass Effect 2′s Lair of the Shadow Broker was, you're going to be disappointed. But, if you're buying it to preserve a kickass piece of Mass Effect lore, or to help augment your second, third, and fourth playthroughs, you will enjoy From Ashes.

As Mass Effect DLC goes, From Ashes isn't as spectacular or impactful as ME2's Lair of the Shadow Broker; it's more a carbon copy of Kasumi - Stolen Memory, the companion DLC for ME2's thief character, Kasumi Goto.

Mass Effect 3: From Ashes is a missed chance from BioWare to create a DLC woth buying despite its cost. A mission way too short and poorly structured don't justify the price of what could have been a more complex and intricated piece of story and lore.

This is a great story and new character, but he should have just been included in the game in the first place, not a $10 Day 1 add-on.

One of the more reprehensible examples of withheld content in recent months, although you aren't really missing much from the mission or character.