Mass Effect 3

 Xbox 360
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3849 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,035 out of 3849
  2. Mixed: 461 out of 3849
  3. Negative: 1,353 out of 3849
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  1. Sayantsi
    Apr 21, 2012
    0
    A great game, but one with an ending that is so terrible it ruins not only the whole of ME3, but of ME1 and ME2 as well. It is unfathomable how a studio like BioWare would ever think that what it incuded as the conclusion to the series would be palatable to the fans of the series who invested hundreds of hours and untold thought into tough decisions along the way. If reviewer articlesA great game, but one with an ending that is so terrible it ruins not only the whole of ME3, but of ME1 and ME2 as well. It is unfathomable how a studio like BioWare would ever think that what it incuded as the conclusion to the series would be palatable to the fans of the series who invested hundreds of hours and untold thought into tough decisions along the way. If reviewer articles included their opinions of the game's ending, score would be a lot lower.… Expand
  2. TookYoCookies
    Apr 22, 2012
    0
    Terrible ending, devolution of game play, auto dialogue.. It's clear EA wanted this game made to cater to the most broad, widest, biggest, general audience possible and in doing so destroyed what made the game good to begin with. The unique setting,story, and character interaction blended with third person shooter action made Mass Effect 1 and 2, two of the greatest games of all time, andTerrible ending, devolution of game play, auto dialogue.. It's clear EA wanted this game made to cater to the most broad, widest, biggest, general audience possible and in doing so destroyed what made the game good to begin with. The unique setting,story, and character interaction blended with third person shooter action made Mass Effect 1 and 2, two of the greatest games of all time, and lead to Mass Effect 3 being one of the most anticipated games of all time. Despite the great critical and commercial success of the first two entries in the ME trilogy that most game developers could only dream of, EA and Bioware wanted to broaden the target audience to appeal to a much wider demographic, and in doing so, shot them selves, and the ME fiction in the foot; effectively killing what could very well have been the greatest trilogy of games the medium had ever seen. The uniqueness of the game, and cohesion of the story, were sacrificed for something that only die-hard, mountain dew chugging Michael Bay fans would be proud of.

    In their commercially driven motivation for Mass Effect 3, Bioware made the mistake of thinking that making the game more like the handful of other action-oriented shooters out there would make this game better; which was a tremendous mistake. the unique blend of story, characters, player driven narrative, impactful decisions made by the player, and solid TPS action is what made the game so popular. Attempting to make the game like every other TPS game out there, turned a master piece into just another bland, white/black, piece of gaming mediocrity. The most sad part of it all, is just the fact that had they stayed the course, the ME universe wouldve remained a cash-cow for years and years to come. EA has showed incompetence on a major level in the past 5 years of gaming, and their lack of foresight on this game alone goes above and beyond "dropping the ball". This kind of blunder in any other industry would see entire executive boards sacked, and call for serious coming-to-jesus meetings within the company to determine where they went wrong and how to make it right. Time to stop focusing on marketing, and start actually making good games. Just because the critics on game review sites THAT YOU FUND, think your game is perfect; doesnt mean anything.    … Expand
  3. burneyburnside
    Apr 28, 2012
    0
    sorry 99 percent great game but the ending doesn't just kill one game it kills 3. Also i wanted and rpg like it was intended to be not a fps , fps should have been secondary compared to the game.
  4. Shrykull
    May 13, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is what happens when a franchise that's going so well goes bad. I loved the first 2 games I really did. I'm not too sure how the managed to make it so bad, first off it's casualised so much that it doesn't seem necessary to even consider thinking tactically, the writing is so dumbed down it feels like a children's book and they constantly refer to the previous games instead of making something original. Your choices don't matter the only ones that do were the ones you made in the previous game. I'm not going to blame the ending for the score i'm giving but slapping the player in the face and introducing a new character at the last second to say "Hey, we built synthetics to kill you because if we didn't you'd build synthetics and they'd kill you" is stupid and to top it off he then says "So nothing you did matters what colour do you like more red, blue or green" They might as well have ripped off my under wear and laughed at me instead of giving me the game as i'm sure that it wouldn't be as bad as this monstrosity.… Expand
  5. Chapperz
    May 15, 2012
    0
    Pure garbage, i adored the first game hell i even liked the MAKO the idea of exploring foreign planets in a jumping buggy was an amazing prospect however im going off topic. The series started going downhill with the second game which did improve massively in terms of combat but failed so much on the story front and the grand finale was an utter disappointment full of plot holes crummyPure garbage, i adored the first game hell i even liked the MAKO the idea of exploring foreign planets in a jumping buggy was an amazing prospect however im going off topic. The series started going downhill with the second game which did improve massively in terms of combat but failed so much on the story front and the grand finale was an utter disappointment full of plot holes crummy voice acting and butch women bioware have gone along way downhill since the days of ME1 and the original Dragon age...rip… Expand
  6. menoi
    May 20, 2012
    0
    made just to get look at the corrupted critics just for the money made just to get look at the corrupted critics just for the money made just to get look at the corrupted critics just for the money made just to get look at the corrupted critics just for the money made just to get look at the corrupted critics just for the money
  7. SirMoonfox
    May 21, 2012
    0
    Too have spent hours playing across three game, just to be able choice the color of an explosion and weather or not Joker has his toy, is just wrong.
  8. Chronocross
    May 28, 2012
    0
    I'm a huge fan of the series. I loved this game about 75% of the way through then it completely fell short. It is sad that a good series can be taken and destroyed. Let this be a lesson to companies that changing your writing team for something is not a good thing.
  9. Duratan
    Jun 19, 2012
    0
    Mass effect is a game that tries to appease old fans and be a natural starting point for new fans sadly it fails at both new fans will feel overwhelmed by the situations while old fans will feel betrayed by the lack of differences in choices, i will elaborate on both but i would like this time to say the there will be spoilers

    spoiler alert new fans wont understand the gravity of the    Mass effect is a game that tries to appease old fans and be a natural starting point for new fans sadly it fails at both new fans will feel overwhelmed by the situations while old fans will feel betrayed by the lack of differences in choices, i will elaborate on both but i would like this time to say the there will be spoilers

    spoiler alert

    new fans wont understand the gravity of the geth quarian conflict and wont feel the much passion when the shepard (the protagonist) talks about the sacrifice of a squad-mate that occurred in the first game, its also a bit overwhelming to be dumped in to this world with a lack of understanding of the different races

    older fans will play a much more dumbed down version of the game, as the organization that you may have helped in previous game will be your enemy no matter what you did before, the game is also much more linear then previous games, and your a pigeon-holed in the the ending no matter what happens

    if your new to the series, you will still be taken on an emotional roller coaster that you may enjoy and this game should be rated a 6/10

    however if your a new fan the ending (at least for me) actually makes the two previous games worse meaning that this game should be given a negative score, as i am a fan of the previous games i will give it the lowest possible score of "0", as im not allowed to give the game a negative 20 for ruining the other two 10/10 games in the series    … Expand
  10. Vehement
    Jun 24, 2012
    0
    Hate ME3 with a passion. I swallowed ME2 because the non-existing storyline was compensated by great characters (Mordin, Garrus, Thane, Samara, Illusive Man). All the major characters in ME2 are irrelevant to ME3, because all but one becomes brief, un-join-able NPCs and their deaths are inconsequential to the story. While Tali returns as playable, her role is moot in the storyline.Hate ME3 with a passion. I swallowed ME2 because the non-existing storyline was compensated by great characters (Mordin, Garrus, Thane, Samara, Illusive Man). All the major characters in ME2 are irrelevant to ME3, because all but one becomes brief, un-join-able NPCs and their deaths are inconsequential to the story. While Tali returns as playable, her role is moot in the storyline. What is worst is that all the new team members are bland.

    The Collector story from ME2 is pointless other than vaguely explaining indoctrination and introducing the Illusive Man, who goes from a major protagonist to antagonist in ME2 to a side character in ME3. He even went from a racist to a racist who turn himself to another race. Ironic?

    Bioware ripped out the great character developments in ME3 and left us with a bad story. "Hey guys! I found something that looks like a blueprint to something. It might be a weapon but we don't know. This blueprint is from a race that was wiped out by the very entities threatening us, so we should gamble and put the entire galaxy's resource into building it!." WORST PREMISE EVER! The details of the device should have been placed before the making than after the making of the device!!!

    What the hell was Shepard doing for the past 6months or a year between ME2 and ME3? I can keep going like the story of IT, But all the other bullcrap can be viewed in bioware's social forum. Bioware you disappoint me. Time for me to go back to Bethesda.    … Expand
  11. cyclekarl
    Jun 28, 2012
    0
    I really love the original game,but magazines and online gaming sites were saying things like" no one like the exploration,no one likes the Mako,no one likes the huge Citadel and elevator" rides,what they should have said is none of the newcomers to mass effect the gears of war and Halo fans like these things,I love them although some needed tweaking,then when ME 2 came along Bioware choseI really love the original game,but magazines and online gaming sites were saying things like" no one like the exploration,no one likes the Mako,no one likes the huge Citadel and elevator" rides,what they should have said is none of the newcomers to mass effect the gears of war and Halo fans like these things,I love them although some needed tweaking,then when ME 2 came along Bioware chose to appease these gamers by streamlining this game by getting rid of the ground vehicle,making the area's much smaller,simplifying everything and changing the combat,which I was more than happy with before,but they kept a good if flawed story,likable characters and mostly good dialogue options(although sadly had some auto dialogue) then comes 3 with Multi-player even less exploration,now you no longer visit the planet in side quests now you fire a probe to the surface and bizarrely you've just rescued a load of people,less dialogue option loads of auto dialogue plot holes galore and a crappy ending which they just put a sticking plaster over,so for me this game rates very poor the worst by far out of the 3 there are many more issues I have with it and I certainly won't be wasting my time playing it again unlike the original and to some aspects ME 2 which I have played 20 odd times each,this game is a very poor attempt by a once great company made to appeal to the mass market and not it's original once loyal fans,for me this franchise is finished,but one day I hope all 3 games are re made as they were meant to be and I don't give a stuff what the Halo or COD fans think.… Expand
  12. YHWH
    Aug 26, 2012
    0
    Space gay waifu simulator 2012 edition.
  13. Hugh5031
    Jul 23, 2012
    0
    Mass Effect 3 is a great game, that I believe is wrongfully hated on. The reason for this is simple, it changed genres. While the first game was a fully-fledged RPG, the combat mechanics in the first game were sloppy, and in the next game gameplay was vastly improved, but RPG elements were toned down. This left hardcore RPG fans unhappy, This third game definitely has the best gameplay inMass Effect 3 is a great game, that I believe is wrongfully hated on. The reason for this is simple, it changed genres. While the first game was a fully-fledged RPG, the combat mechanics in the first game were sloppy, and in the next game gameplay was vastly improved, but RPG elements were toned down. This left hardcore RPG fans unhappy, This third game definitely has the best gameplay in the series, for the overpowered particle rifle to the addictive Scorpion, but less RPG elements than ever before. Don't let this fool you though, the story is as good as ever, with some truly awesome moments and payoffs, a surprisingly good multiplayer, and plenty of visits from old characters. I would highly recommend playing the series the whole way through, but don't expect the RPG experience in each game, but come in expecting in this third game an awesome action game with RPG elements. Also, the ending wasn't one i particularly liked, but didn't detract as much from the game as the vocal minority say, especially with the extended cut endings. Free DLC in this game is awesome, considering it is an EA game. Overall, I'd rate this game a clean 9.5 and definitely recommend the series to anyone looking for an awesome story that they'll remember for years to come.… Expand
  14. norborb
    Aug 16, 2012
    0
    A watered down experience with many cut corners, Mass Effect 3 needed to be something better. A rushed production, on disc DLC, and strong handed DRM are not acceptable. The Mass Effect trilogy could have really been more than this.
  15. ferarco1
    Aug 24, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mass Effect 3: Mass Disappointment
    The game controls and AI are average but this series was living on the story so what have they done...ruined that too, bioware lied time and time again, insted of supporting the fans they spit in face of anyone who gave a damm for the series, the ending does not reflect any choices you have made, if anyone played ME1 and ME2 with imported characters in the end of ME3 it doesnt count for nothing, the choices you made are irrelevant because in the end you have to choose from 4possible outcomes and guess what you die in all of them and you stay witlh more doubts because so much is left unsplained.

    But Bioware seeing this as lauched a DLC ( because everyone in EA belives that everybody who bought de game has the console conected to the internet... ) and guess what insted of making something usefull like adressing what the comunity has said, no...its the same thing but now adicional slides of information without changing nothing...the gamers for whom you made a DLC did not wanted a narration, just a decent closure, and for the users who said they liked the game as it was, the delivering of the DLC proves that bioware realized the crap they did...but even knowing they still insisted on it...

    this is the ultimate insult to anyone who played since the first game and invested hours and hours in it, and for those who play mass effect 3 for the first time without de previous game its mediocre because this series lived on the story and not in the controls, people can say the motion capture is this and sound is that, anyone in this time and after all these years in corrent generation of consoles expects no less...what is to be expected is a good game and a good history from a company that brougt us games like KOTOR almost a decade ago and now fails to provide...a game to avoid    … Expand
  16. arnror
    Apr 10, 2013
    0
    Oh my dear gaming-god(Tex Murphy)!!
    It's like Elvis would announce his greatest show ever, and then came out on stage naked, fat, drunk, balled, and then urinated on the first row people, slung feces on the rest, gave his finger to all, and then shot all the old people.
    Where did all the talent go, that I trusted with my hopes and dreams for Shepard and his friends. I mean how is this    Oh my dear gaming-god(Tex Murphy)!!
    It's like Elvis would announce his greatest show ever, and then came out on stage naked, fat, drunk, balled, and then urinated on the first row people, slung feces on the rest, gave his finger to all, and then shot all the old people.
    Where did all the talent go, that I trusted with my hopes and dreams for Shepard and his friends.
    I mean how is this possible;
    To write arguably the best story in gaming history(ME1), come up with two of the best bad guys in space(Saren and Sovereign)
    Then go on to make ME2 witch fixed all the problems from the previous game, only lacking bad guys with character.
    And then this.....
    Did they have a stroke, are they smoking crack, did someone replace their head with G.W.B's?

    Now it's all ruined. I cant even replay the first two. Shepard is dead to me now. Why you say??
    BECAUSE YOU'VE KILLED HIM STUPID    … Expand
  17. souljah77
    Dec 2, 2012
    0
    I loved ME1 and ME2. The story was superb and the gaming experience was fantastic. However, I recently purchased ME3 and after several days of trying to get the disc to work, I've given up and returned it. My low review is not related to the ME3 content or the ending, I never got that far. I spent hours scouring the forums and web for fixes, but ME3 was simply unplayable on my XBOX 360I loved ME1 and ME2. The story was superb and the gaming experience was fantastic. However, I recently purchased ME3 and after several days of trying to get the disc to work, I've given up and returned it. My low review is not related to the ME3 content or the ending, I never got that far. I spent hours scouring the forums and web for fixes, but ME3 was simply unplayable on my XBOX 360 even after the Oct patch. I encountered multiple locking and freezing issues on the first night. Then, I was able to get it to work past the intro but the following day, none of my saved games would load.… Expand
  18. Exur
    Dec 8, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. All the choices you made in previous games, all the heartbreaking decisions, the entire Mass Effect lore got flushed down the drain with this disaster piece. Nothing you did in the trilogy mattered because in the end, it was all a story. Nothing really happened. Bioware not only betrayed their loyal fanbase, they spit in their face.… Expand
  19. JoeLouis3849
    Jan 2, 2013
    0
    This game is everything Mass Effect wasn't. No exploration, now you slowly scan a planet and hope the game will allow you to land on the thing. Combat difficulty is no longer determined by player skill, but enemies who have infinite ammo, immunity to player attacks and can kill the player in 3 hits regardless of level. The storyline seems contrived... The whole game seems to be aboutThis game is everything Mass Effect wasn't. No exploration, now you slowly scan a planet and hope the game will allow you to land on the thing. Combat difficulty is no longer determined by player skill, but enemies who have infinite ammo, immunity to player attacks and can kill the player in 3 hits regardless of level. The storyline seems contrived... The whole game seems to be about collecting resources and trying to bed down one of your teammates. Virgins will get a kick out of that. FPS fans will enjoy the fact that there are little to no RPG elements that require them to use more than .006% of their brains to play this game. RPG fans will dislike this game's lackluster character development system. Me? I hate this game.

    That's right, I used the exact same review from Mass Effect 2. Why? Because if Bioware can't be bothered to improve the game in any way, then I can't be dithered to waste time pretending that I care enough about this abortion to write an all new review.    … Expand
  20. Settlestone
    Mar 22, 2013
    0
    To start off, I've yet to reach the ending of mass effect 3. I assume I'm getting close, 24 hours in or so. I had an idea a month or so ago to play all three in a row, because I forgot what happened in the first two games. So I replayed through the first, loved it, damn fine game. Replayed the second, also sweet, got a bit bored of the planet scanning after awhile, but besides thatTo start off, I've yet to reach the ending of mass effect 3. I assume I'm getting close, 24 hours in or so. I had an idea a month or so ago to play all three in a row, because I forgot what happened in the first two games. So I replayed through the first, loved it, damn fine game. Replayed the second, also sweet, got a bit bored of the planet scanning after awhile, but besides that highly enjoyed it. And then I started 3. I don't honestly understand how this game got such a high review. The entire system was dumbed down, all mini games removed, almost all exploration removed, no characters to gather, silly dream sequence scenes that always end exactly the same. Canned dialogue, removal of REAL side quests and a new, insanely annoying combat system where every single npc strafes at Mach speed. There's so much wrong with this it's hard for me to find anything fun, new or cool. I have no desire to finish the game, Ashley looks like a man, all of my companions are boring, oh, the one binary puzzle level was sort of neat albeit a tad frustrating. As I said I played each concurrently, the second I finished the first I started the second, same with second to third. My score relies on the fact to me, from my perspective, that this was and is a piss poor representation to an up to this point, awesome franchise, I think it's ea.. Btw, once bio signed with them most of their games just haven't been the same.… Expand
  21. houyi111
    Apr 30, 2013
    0
    The game has been out for over a year, long enough for me to recover and think how do I rate this game. To be honest, I want to give this game a 10 before the ending, i still remembered how exciting when playing the last mission on earth and how emotional I got towards the final push. Then the original ending, which is total crap and I want to give the game a -10 after finished the gameThe game has been out for over a year, long enough for me to recover and think how do I rate this game. To be honest, I want to give this game a 10 before the ending, i still remembered how exciting when playing the last mission on earth and how emotional I got towards the final push. Then the original ending, which is total crap and I want to give the game a -10 after finished the game the first time, it deserved a negative score. the ending made me depressed and lost interesting in playing games for months, the reaction and PR bxx**** from bioware towards ending and fans was just disgusting and made me sick. For me, the ending was just rushed, no excuse, no deep meaning behind it. if a video game can give me so much negative feelings, i can only rate it with negative score, in this case, a zero.… Expand
  22. DeeS
    Mar 26, 2013
    0
    My God, this game is so bad. I mean, WTF, is this even real??? Graphics suxxxx monkey balls, no killstreaks, no quick scopez, joke man. This game is garbage PS I didn't play it.
  23. doggystyle123
    Jul 24, 2013
    0
    game never buy it is very gay hfejrbv,mjwnvkci8nrwnjekyvtc hunjekmvfygbnhujkml,fvgybjunh'lvfyghuioklhuyijoklp6rftghuyijko6tyhu7koipl;[6tgy789ui0o-pf6gtyhujiokplhuyijokl
  24. throwaway15
    Jul 26, 2013
    0
    Casey Hudson ruined Mass Effect. The ending is terrible, but the combat mechanics are simply awful. Tapping a button to get into and out of cover is buggy and more often than not doesn't do what you need it to. The third person camera does a terrible job of maintaining a clear view and often clips into the wall. Mass effect 3 is a perfect example of how EA ruins games. It is no wonder theCasey Hudson ruined Mass Effect. The ending is terrible, but the combat mechanics are simply awful. Tapping a button to get into and out of cover is buggy and more often than not doesn't do what you need it to. The third person camera does a terrible job of maintaining a clear view and often clips into the wall. Mass effect 3 is a perfect example of how EA ruins games. It is no wonder the founders of BioWare quit during the resulting Mass Effect 3 outrage from the players. It is silly really a game marketed as allowing you to tell your own story was ruined because an egotistical (seriously, go look at his web page), childish Casey Hudson wanted to end the story his way denying players what they loved about the game. Like a petulant child, Casey Hudson locked out the other writers to make his own ending and as an EA employee put it, "it shows". Couldn't agree more. Way to alienate a core fan base, tarnish what was a successful IP, and further prove to players why EA cannot be trusted. Even the extended DLC content doesn't fix the plot holes in the ending. It is simply a few more lame slides, that don't really improve anything.… Expand
  25. MarsCorialanus
    Oct 27, 2017
    0
    For me this game was a major betrayal. I loved Mass effect 1, even its issues had a certain charm to them. Mass effect 2 was more polished and created a much larger universe to be in. Both had amazing characters, cool ideas, and had me thinking ME would be the next Star Trek type of scifi. The world felt like somewhere you could really hang out. And it had challenging ideas about humanityFor me this game was a major betrayal. I loved Mass effect 1, even its issues had a certain charm to them. Mass effect 2 was more polished and created a much larger universe to be in. Both had amazing characters, cool ideas, and had me thinking ME would be the next Star Trek type of scifi. The world felt like somewhere you could really hang out. And it had challenging ideas about humanity and diversity and extremism.
    Mass Effect 3 was awful... it was dumbed down, the story felt U.S Ra Ra, and overall it spat in the face of its previous fans by giving them a really terrible pay off. What should have been an epic climax was instead a wet fart. Its not just the ending that sucked by the way, the whole campaign was poorly constructed. It felt like a whole other series. It was more like Gears of War than the Mass Effect RPG I had come to love. I like to pretend that there never was a third game so that it doesn't taint the other two.    … Expand
  26. Capulingo
    Apr 3, 2020
    0
    absolutely **** game had to reload hours of progress for a mission I don't want to
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2012
1
#1 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2012
14
#14 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
93

Universal acclaim - based on 74 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 74 out of 74
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 74
  3. Negative: 0 out of 74
  1. Gamer.nl
    May 12, 2012
    95
    Mass Effect 3 is an emotional rollercoaster ride with lots of tension and moving moments. The threat of the Reapers make every decision a hard one and your relationship with other characters will be tested. This, in combination with tight gameplay, makes this the complete experience.
    Read full review
  2. Polygon
    Apr 26, 2012
    100
    As a bombastic action-RPG with no previous context, Mass Effect 3 is a dark, engaging game with great combat, a well-written story, and all the epic space-opera you could want. But for those who have played through Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, it's something much more.
    Read full review
  3. GameFocus
    Apr 18, 2012
    96
    The storytelling itself, the more refined combat, the voicework, the visuals, et all, stand as a fine example of some of the best this industry has to offer, and with my minor complaints aside, there's no doubt that Mass Effect 3 will be deservedly at the top of everyone's list come this year's award season.
    Read full review
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