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. deaconbluezzz
    Mar 13, 2012
    0
    It was a fantastic ride right up until the last 15 or so minutes, when Bioware must have decided we had been given 2 happy ending in a row, so now we have to pay. It was kind of like having the best Christmas morning of your childhood ruined by the Manson Family busting down the door after the last present is opened, and then stabbing your mom and dad to death in front of your eyes withIt was a fantastic ride right up until the last 15 or so minutes, when Bioware must have decided we had been given 2 happy ending in a row, so now we have to pay. It was kind of like having the best Christmas morning of your childhood ruined by the Manson Family busting down the door after the last present is opened, and then stabbing your mom and dad to death in front of your eyes with the kitchen utensils. Given the horrible feeling this game left me with, I can not in good conscience give it anything like a high rating. Sorry.… Expand
  2. Hevilath
    Mar 27, 2012
    7
    Sound design: Musical score is excellent. In previous games music resembles space-opera in ME3 music has different tone, more depressing which perfectly matches Sheppard current mission - save sapient life in Milky Way galaxy from Reapers. Voice acting is superb and guns sounds heavy as it should be. Great achievement.
    Graphical presentation: I'm little disappointed. After replaying ME2    Sound design: Musical score is excellent. In previous games music resembles space-opera in ME3 music has different tone, more depressing which perfectly matches Sheppard current mission - save sapient life in Milky Way galaxy from Reapers. Voice acting is superb and guns sounds heavy as it should be. Great achievement.
    Graphical presentation: I'm little disappointed. After replaying ME2 and switching directly to ME3 you can see low resolution textures on character models, maybe it is subjective but still is hard to distinguish different items on casual outfits. Some armor models looks better then others. Lightening and reflection on armor are far worse then in previous title. Backgrounds on early stages of game looks like it made in first Xbox times, but it seems as story progresses you loose track and graphic start to look better. Like I said - completely subjective feeling.. In the begging of game on Earth, when you look down you can see strange 2D people running from the building which reminds me first games on PS1 and there are some glitches - Sheppard have some problem with eyes in early stages of game ;)
    Gameplay: Action oriented, fast and rewarding. Your squad mates are usually helpful, but sometimes when you order them to shoot at Banshee they charge right in front of her dying in result. On harder difficulty levels this can be irritating. N7 Cerberus missions are taking place on Multiplayer maps and are quite boring - same with multiple fetch quests. I miss hiding gun animation and roaming freely.
    Story: First act of game is quite boring, but as you play you get more and more immersed into universe. Characters from ME2 and quests feel a little forced and doesn't have depth - example: Zaed or Kasumi, but this is minor accusation
    Ending: It's true. Rage is acceptable. Full of plot holes and doesn't explain anything. If you take it directly the ending could be explained as: Reapers has won - either they destroy everything, or you inflict so massive damage to galaxy that you wiped out all species and solar systems with reapers. The only explanation is Indoctrination Theory. We all could be indoctrinated by Bioware - if it's true, and we will now in April then it's most incredible achievement in gaming history - but still making DLC for incomplete game is horrible act - even when it will be released free of charge.
    To sum up: AWSOME!    … Expand
  3. Regnagleppod
    Mar 9, 2012
    4
    Right before you finished the game, this would probably be your favorite game of all time, however, the ending killed it all, a worst possible ending a Mass Effect fans could expect.
  4. MrGrimbo
    Mar 8, 2012
    4
    For the finale of a game series that has been sold as an evolving story where the player's decisions guide the flow, Mass Effect 3 fails to deliver. Any major decisions from the first 2 games (saving or killing the council, what to do with the rachni queen, whether to save or destroy Maelon's genophage research) all ultimately end up being represented as numbers on a chart and nothingFor the finale of a game series that has been sold as an evolving story where the player's decisions guide the flow, Mass Effect 3 fails to deliver. Any major decisions from the first 2 games (saving or killing the council, what to do with the rachni queen, whether to save or destroy Maelon's genophage research) all ultimately end up being represented as numbers on a chart and nothing more. Some dialouge may change and some cutscenes may have different faces in them due to these decisions, but ultimately the game moves forward in the same direction no matter what decisions you made. That is ultimately why this game is and always will be a dissapointment to me. Credit to Bioware for starting one of the most ambitious gaming projects ever. It's unfortunate that they seem to have lost ambition halfway through.… Expand
  5. DuncanIdahoTPF
    Mar 9, 2012
    3
    Seeing the HUMONGOUS disparity between what users are rating this game and what critics rate the game CLEARLY exposes the fraud of some game review sites via bribes. I have seen the instances of these bribes for high profile games increase severely over the past few years. I basically agree with Sheprdlovr's review, this game is very poorly put together overall. The graphics look terribleSeeing the HUMONGOUS disparity between what users are rating this game and what critics rate the game CLEARLY exposes the fraud of some game review sites via bribes. I have seen the instances of these bribes for high profile games increase severely over the past few years. I basically agree with Sheprdlovr's review, this game is very poorly put together overall. The graphics look terrible compared to any decent titles in the past few years. I feel robbed of my 60 bucks for this game, with the Star War's mmo being even worse.… Expand
  6. SGRevan
    Apr 8, 2012
    9
    The Mass Effect trilogy receives it's latest and last chapter. After starting up the game I immediately noticed big differences. You have 'less say' in the dialogue options. Comparing it to Mass Effect 1 it's a huge leap backwards. Why would you take away something that made the first one so great?! Don't get me wrong, you still have times where you have to choose between outcome A or B,The Mass Effect trilogy receives it's latest and last chapter. After starting up the game I immediately noticed big differences. You have 'less say' in the dialogue options. Comparing it to Mass Effect 1 it's a huge leap backwards. Why would you take away something that made the first one so great?! Don't get me wrong, you still have times where you have to choose between outcome A or B, and believe me when I say that those choices are immensely difficult, that because you realy care about the characters and story... also Mass Effect 3 hugely improved on the combat system, it's near perfect. You realy enjoy using the weapons and powers to take town hordes of enemies... this all on a great galactic scale while explosion and reaper invasion-sounds hurl around you. Epic, I'd say. The Multiplayer has this great combat aswel, minus the epicness that you get in the single-player ofc. ... After having several friends telling me the ending is completely out of place... I finally got to the end. I have to say, it's not THAT bad... It's still epic and the climax is there! ... but I do have to agree, it gives no closure on Shepard or everyone else around him/her. Mass Effect 3 is a great game, you notice the hard labor that Bioware made for making this title, and the Original Score + the graphical design and presentation makes this one hell of a trip into the sci-fi universe of Mass Effect. So all in all, I know the ending could've been much better, but since EA announced they will give us more closure in the near future, I believe it will make this game jump that one step higher on my personal scoreboard.… Expand
  7. mjthadw
    Nov 18, 2012
    10
    Mass Effect 3 is the second greatest game of all time, second only to Mass Effect 2 which is the greatest game of all time. There is nothing wrong with the original ending of this game, it fits perfectly with everything and the extended cut just made the ending 10X better than what it already is. The entire journey of Mass Effect has been the best gaming experience i've ever had and i'veMass Effect 3 is the second greatest game of all time, second only to Mass Effect 2 which is the greatest game of all time. There is nothing wrong with the original ending of this game, it fits perfectly with everything and the extended cut just made the ending 10X better than what it already is. The entire journey of Mass Effect has been the best gaming experience i've ever had and i've played about every console game out there. This game is the conclusion of your own commander shepard the way you chose to take him/her through this amazing well crafted story is met with praise and respect from your companions or the death and extinction of entire alien species. The voice acting is perfect while the soundtrack never fails to bring out your emotions. Plus Bioware releasing free multiplayer DLC with more to come just makes this experience worth every penny. I would give this game a 20 out of 10 but thats off the scale and thats all you need to know.… Expand
  8. SpaceCoyote
    Apr 3, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So much of a game, so much to say, but I think I'll start before it even released. The Cerberus Daily News feed was supposed to have new articles immediately prior to the release of the game. Instead, it got a couple tweets of news, for fewer days than was originally promised. This would have been massively disappointing, were it not for the Emily Wong tweets. For those who weren't following, twitter became a live news source for the initial invasion taking place in Southern California. The story IT told was really cool and helped set the tone for the game itself. As for the game, the single-player portion may not have explored as many of the characters as I'd have hoped, but it DOES give the humor and OH *#^@ moments that I've enjoyed since the beginning in 2007. Finally however, there are plot inconsistencies that creep in to break some of the fiction. Things like Shepard restraining a Justicar and not being killed for it, or the Batarians learning FTL travel...from ruins on a planet in a different star system that required them to know FTL travel to get to in the first place. These are relatively minor but still, that sucks. They are the small blemishes that slightly mar the campaign as you attempt to save the galaxy. Then comes the part where you save the galaxy. At the end of ME1 and ME2, I had a sense of excitement for what the future held in the ME Universe, and how I could save it. There are NO endings that allow you to do that. With the destruction of the mass relays, (which for some reason doesn't necessarily destroy the systems they reside in) there is NO hope that the galactic community can continue to exist as it had because they are isolated in their own systems. I have no problem with Shepard being killed in the process, soldiers give their lives for lesser causes, but no matter what I do, the Citadel and the relays are destroyed, fundamentally altering how societies can interact. Garrus can't return to Omega to clean house after the war and Tali can't go back to her home world cuz they're both stuck on Earth. Or at least they should have been since they were in my squad and NOT on the Normandy which, oh yeah I forgot, had retreated to either FTL or a relay jump for some reason and ALL of my squad was there and not with me somehow. The last 20 minutes of the game, however you decide to end it, are disappointing. No matter what you do, you can't save the Citadel, you can't preserve the galactic community, and you're crew ends up in the exact same forest (though to Joker's credit, he was able to crash the SR2 delicately enough so as to NOT disturb any of the trees). Other decisions that don't matter but probably should have... ME1: Save the council or let them die. Anderson or Udina Save the Rachni or don't ME2: Blow up the Collector base or give it to Cerberus 3 of those decisions come in the final 10 min of each game, they are all among the most influential decisions Shepard ever makes...but the councilors all speak to you in the same manner. Udina will always be the human councilor, Anderson will always be an Admiral, the rachni will either be the ones you saved or some others will fill in the blank, and Cerberus will gain technology for the base or from salvage. DISAPPOINTING! Multiplayer was ok, tho I never got excited for the combat or gameplay of Mass Effect. In the campaign, I happily set it to story mode and blaze thru enemies so that I can get to the conversations quicker. But about the conversations and multiplayer...I felt as though there were fewer lines of dialogue in ME3 compared to ME2. I understand there is only so much room on 2 discs for content, but how much more fulfilling could the campaign have been if the multiplayer portion wasn't included? Could there have been more dialogue from characters left off the Normandy? Could my choices have made more of an impact? Could Tali have had an actual face instead of a stock internet photo? I may be wrong about the amount of dialogue created, but I'm not mistaken in my disappointment with many of the features I had hoped for. Overall a 7. I almost cried in my 1st playthrough when I thought I could save the Geth and the Quarians and ended up driving my good friend to her death. I've had to collect my jaw from the floor many times, and the humor of Joker, EDI, Wiks, and Mordin are amazing. But despite putting over 120 hours into a single character, no matter what I did or chose was enough to save the galaxy.… Expand
  9. carnage4u
    Mar 21, 2012
    0
    A fun game with a bad ending is a bad game. I would say the same for TV show of Movie. If the last act is very poorly done. I would give low marks.. The fact the quality drops so suddenly, so late in the game is more shocking than anything else.

    I would not recommend this game to anyone.
  10. ArchLich
    Mar 11, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A good game until you reach the end. The ending is so poorly written that I can not conceive it was written by experienced professionals. The ending ruins the whole series.

    The game has multiple good elements but seems to fall short in other areas. Some of the minor issues include: The fact that the choices of sacrificing people to save others is trivialized by the poor presentation and that every second conversation from Shepard sounds like a poorly veiled come on to other characters.

    An especially low note in the game is Kai Leng. Kai Leng is a horrible stereotyped Mary Sue which nearly ruined the game. His boss battles are lame and should never have been included. The game designers failed to follow a basic game design rule: If you don't want a PC killing a NPC then don't have them fight. Simple, no? They follow this with the Illusive Man (uses holographs instead of being there in person) but they fail with Kai Leng. Just when you thought that cliched character was the worst part the game in roles the game's ending. It involves a ghost child AI which is the citadel but was never foreshadowed. (Nor does it make sense as there would be no need for Mass Effect 1 or 2 if this was true. After all an AI secretly existing in the Citadel could easily notify the Reapers without the need of outside Reaper prompting). Besides this obvious flaw the game then presents 3 possible endings: 1) Mass murder of all synthetic life 2) Take control of the Reapers
    3) A childishly simplistic option of merging synthetic and organic life without wiping all current beings. How this is possible is never explained nor does it make any sense in the end.
    Also the Mass Relays are destroyed in every ending and the Normandy crashes in every ending. This is disheartening but also means that you have destroyed the main means of intergalactic transportation and destroyed every spaceship in the galaxy. Hurray? So in closing all the endings means you have saved galactic civilization by destroying all galactic civilization. WTF? This game if viewed individually would be a 6 or 7 out of ten. When viewed in light of what it does to the series a 4 is generous.    … Expand
  11. Tyrannis1964
    Mar 13, 2012
    5
    I loved every mass effect game up to this one I enjoyed this ones gameplay and combat but the story writing and endings hurt. such a great series has ended in literal sadness for a series I really and truly loved.
  12. VCCN
    Mar 15, 2012
    0
    After 7 playthrough of ME and 6 of ME 2 a nearly 400 hours and bunch of buck i spend on this franchise iË
  13. JBurnes3
    Mar 16, 2012
    6
    In a sense this game is like you're on a roller-coaster and at the end your feet catch a wire somewhere and get cut off. It was fun right there till the end, and now you're just like f*** that s***. Other than the ending my biggest complaint about this game is that they totally screwed up the "Mission Journal" (those of you that have played know what I'm talking about), however that canIn a sense this game is like you're on a roller-coaster and at the end your feet catch a wire somewhere and get cut off. It was fun right there till the end, and now you're just like f*** that s***. Other than the ending my biggest complaint about this game is that they totally screwed up the "Mission Journal" (those of you that have played know what I'm talking about), however that can be overlooked. Other than that the only thing left to complain about is how much less dialog choices there are compared to previous games, but I can overlook that too given how good the game is other than the ending(of course). There's more things I could complain about, but after that it's just more being nit-picky than anything else.

    Also contrary to popular opinion the day-one DLC is not actually crucial to the game, it certainly adds to the experience, but it needs to be criticized for being overpriced more than anything else.

    In summarization: the game is almost a masterpiece up until the surprise Cleveland Steamer you get at the end.    … Expand
  14. Gashmania
    Mar 16, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am a massive ME fan I loved the first two games and played them countless times and put so many hours into these games and I was obviously excited when ME3 was announced thinking of what to expect from one if not the best sci fi games of all time. Then I played me3...I am not even going to speak about the ending as I think everybody has that covered. But this review is about everything else that I was annoyed with. In ME3 it felt rushed not like the other Mass Effect games because they were so well thought out and you could lose yourself in the great adventures that Shepard and the crew got into. Picking the way conversations flowed and picking to be a bad a$$ or a good guy in certain situations. It felt like Bioware got bored or ran out of ideas for ME3 and just pushed you all the way to the end with no real structure to the game. There wasnâ… Expand
  15. Slumbering
    Mar 17, 2012
    0
    The game would have been better if I waited until it was $10 because DLC is getting expensive. They made a pretty interesting platform for a game, but EA/Bioware have only a good concept of a game. After playing the 3rd of this trilogy I understand the concept. The problem without good closure for a concept is that unlike a book or movie I would not pay for an incomplete cinematicThe game would have been better if I waited until it was $10 because DLC is getting expensive. They made a pretty interesting platform for a game, but EA/Bioware have only a good concept of a game. After playing the 3rd of this trilogy I understand the concept. The problem without good closure for a concept is that unlike a book or movie I would not pay for an incomplete cinematic ending in an interactive game. The plot holes are not what a player should use to write his/her ending. As a dedicated fan I trusted the vision of the writers so much that I completed the first 2 games numerous times. Honestly they should have been shorter. How many times was I lead to believe my choices would matter? Before ME3 there was a lot of buzz from Bioware that I should believe my choices would matter. The choices, replays, times I wanted to engage myself with fictional moral choices were numerous, and it was that much time my life and money was wasted on these hacks.… Expand
  16. nightshade211
    Mar 17, 2012
    0
    The most important parts of a story are the beginning and the end. The end fails so completely that it can't be reasonably scored as an enjoyable game at all until it's fixed.

    And give us Tali's face in the game, not in a damn picture. How lazy can you get? I can photoshop Tali from a stock picture from the internet myself. Years and years of game development and that's your answer to a    The most important parts of a story are the beginning and the end. The end fails so completely that it can't be reasonably scored as an enjoyable game at all until it's fixed.

    And give us Tali's face in the game, not in a damn picture. How lazy can you get? I can photoshop Tali from a stock picture from the internet myself. Years and years of game development and that's your answer to a huge reveal like Tali's face?    … Expand
  17. Zulim83
    Mar 18, 2012
    0
    Great story, excellent gameplay... WORST ENDING EVER. This feel like a slap to the face to every Bioware fan that invested time in this game. The ending could be described as follow: PAY FOR THE NEXT DLC TO KNOW THE REAL ENDING! Absolutely and terribly disappointing.
  18. billyzero
    Mar 19, 2012
    1
    The last 15 minutes destroys the game and the entire franchise. The end contradicts the entire series and makes any future DLC irrelevant. It's far better to just pretend the mass effect series ended at ME 2.
  19. beans29
    Mar 19, 2012
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It is with a heavy heart I feel obliged to negatively review mass effect 3, I loved the series and ME3 does everything right up until the final ten minutes. The conclusion they have provided for this loved trilogy is nonsensical, leaves glaring plot holes and hammers home the fact that nothing you have done in the last one hundred and thirty odd hours of gaming makes any difference or impact to the ending, which is ridiculous in a game where the nature of choice and consequence is a key theme.

    The developers made several promises in the run up to the release, mostly revolving around how your choices would impact the ending and it wouldn't be just a "press a, b or c" ending omatic, which is precisley what it turned out to be.

    It is sad that the ending ruins any inclination to replay the series, if they were to change the ending into something more linked to the themes and offering a bit more choice I would be happy changing this 1 score to a 10, as up until the final 10 minutes, the game is an awesome, emotional rollercoaster, but the current ending is so bad it completely destroys it.

    Follow the Retake mass effect 3 campaign, raise some money for a great charity and maybe convince Bioware to fix what could have been a great game and an amazing send off to the series.    … Expand
  20. Bomberman
    Mar 19, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Don't get me wrong, the Mass effect experience is awesome in more ways then one. Telling us our choices would have an impact on the ending and that we would get 15 - 17 different endings is PURE BLISS!!!. Getting to the end of the game and finding out that not only is there only three very veery similar endings, but they completely butchered the lore of mass effect and managed to piss off this fan with the last 10 minutes of the ending. No longer will I be purchasing DLC, games nor any mass effect memorbilia that i was planning on getting until this situation is fixed and hopefully soon. Bioware, you have let me down completely.… Expand
  21. AzianJoeNad
    Mar 19, 2012
    10
    Mass Effect 3 took me through the most emotionally packed ride in my life. From the opening on Earth to the very end, it held my attention and awarded me with some the best scenes I have ever experienced. The game-play felt much tighter than Mass Effect 2 and supremely better than Mass Effect 1. It feels like Bioware took the best aspects of both games to produce one super poweredMass Effect 3 took me through the most emotionally packed ride in my life. From the opening on Earth to the very end, it held my attention and awarded me with some the best scenes I have ever experienced. The game-play felt much tighter than Mass Effect 2 and supremely better than Mass Effect 1. It feels like Bioware took the best aspects of both games to produce one super powered behemoth. Plus, the added a multiplayer which is oddly addictive and fun (especially with the inclusion of other species to choose from). The only real gripe I have for the game is the one new character who feels too much like The Situation. Otherwise the games greatest achievement is the vast amounts of great characters. For those who gripe about the last 6minutes, I will quote a wise song, "At the end of it all, gamers play what we play, not for game over, but what we take away". Trust me, you will take away a lot.… Expand
  22. Kinoru07
    Mar 19, 2012
    8
    The game mechanics have been improved from ME2 with improved AI on higher difficulty and the inclusion of better melee attack capabilities. Quest/sub-quest UI is one of the issues a player will contend with. As well as some cover issues.
    The game's story telling is very well executed until the last few minutes because it reduces the whole series re-playability. There are still some bugs    The game mechanics have been improved from ME2 with improved AI on higher difficulty and the inclusion of better melee attack capabilities. Quest/sub-quest UI is one of the issues a player will contend with. As well as some cover issues.
    The game's story telling is very well executed until the last few minutes because it reduces the whole series re-playability. There are still some bugs that Bioware will have to deal with across all platforms to make the game more enjoyable. Multi-player is fairly decent but needs some more development into it to make it worth playing on its own.    … Expand
  23. myaimistrue
    Mar 20, 2012
    4
    Up until the ending, this game is an 8.5, due to a myriad a minor issues like too much auto-dialogue, a worthless journal, some gameplay issues and a weak intro. It's ruined by the ending, which really is as bad as you've heard. It's 5 minutes pretentious, non-nonsensical garbage masquerading as avant-garde, postmodernist Cosmicism that negates all the decisions you've made, forcesUp until the ending, this game is an 8.5, due to a myriad a minor issues like too much auto-dialogue, a worthless journal, some gameplay issues and a weak intro. It's ruined by the ending, which really is as bad as you've heard. It's 5 minutes pretentious, non-nonsensical garbage masquerading as avant-garde, postmodernist Cosmicism that negates all the decisions you've made, forces Shepard to speak and act out of character to enact one of several virtually identical and equally ridiculous endings. It offers no explanation, no closure, no sense of accomplishment, no epilogue and makes absolutely no sense. All it does is leave the player feeling betrayed and robbed.
    I can't believe this ending was created by the brilliant writers of the first two games. Oh wait, that's because it's not: those writers write for The Old Republic now. It's not enough that you're expected to pay for day one DLC, if you want decent writing you have to pay a monthly fee for their MMO. I blame EA.    … Expand
  24. ughbjsadj
    Mar 21, 2012
    0
    Simply not worth 60 euros. I would have expected this kind of experience from some smaller and less established publisher - not Bioware. The game was in overall balless and shallow. I didn't mind the ending (although it sucked) but the fact that there were so few really good scenes in this play.
  25. johnbeaman
    Mar 20, 2012
    10
    I think Hee-Haw said it best, "Gloom, despair and agony on me." Mass Effect 3 doesn't offer much in the way of happiness, and I walked away from this game feeling sick to my stomach. The Mass Effect trilogy took me on an incredible journey, and left me reeling in pain. In case you missed it, these are all good things.
  26. rappstar
    Mar 21, 2012
    1
    In a vacuum, this game doesn't suck. Objectively, it was the weakest of the 3 and that is why it deserves the low rating. Therefore in context, this was just not a good game. Likely you already know the ending was so bad that it overshadowed so much of the rest of it. In an RPG, the story is kind of important to the overall enjoyment of the game. Part of the problem is that the storyIn a vacuum, this game doesn't suck. Objectively, it was the weakest of the 3 and that is why it deserves the low rating. Therefore in context, this was just not a good game. Likely you already know the ending was so bad that it overshadowed so much of the rest of it. In an RPG, the story is kind of important to the overall enjoyment of the game. Part of the problem is that the story was so weighed down from the previous 2 games that it collapsed under the weight. Nothing was new. It was boring and predictable in quite a few places. Somehow planet scanning even got worse! Also, there were major flaws that mechanically drug it down also. I don't recall a single mini-game. It was just walking around pressing "A" button. Without giving anything away, the mechanic in the downtime makes Sheperd an eavesdropping weirdo. He just walked around like a creepy guardian angel. The multiplayer is surprisingly fun and the combat is better in someways, but on the whole, its just not as good as its predecessors. That is what I think bothers so many people. I pre-ordered the CE from amazon. Currently, I am torn about sending it back and just forgetting the whole thing ever happened. Swing and a miss.… Expand
  27. soiledmattress
    Mar 21, 2012
    0
    There was something disturbingly familiar about the ending before me. the three choices was all deus ex machina

    "you're the reaper, shepard"

    the truth split my skull open, a glaring green light
    washing the lies away.
    all of my past was just pointless choices, words hanging
    with no meaning.

    i was the reaper

    funny as hell, it was the most horrible ending i could think of.
  28. Ppontes64
    Mar 24, 2012
    0
    This game does not belong on the shelves of public video game stores. It might as well be half a disk, since the disk itself you'd be getting would have essentially the same amount of content and care put into it. For all I know, the game may be fantastic. It might. However, I'll never know as long as it's incomplete.
  29. gordofredito
    Mar 26, 2012
    10
    People seem to be mad because the ending isn't "what they expected" and while BioWare could've done a better ending, instead of everyone getting the same 3 possible endings, you can't deny the game itself is beautiful and perfectly crafted, the gameplay is flawless and the multiplayer was a surprisingly pleasant addition.
    The story is perfectly made, however, BioWare was unable to put all    People seem to be mad because the ending isn't "what they expected" and while BioWare could've done a better ending, instead of everyone getting the same 3 possible endings, you can't deny the game itself is beautiful and perfectly crafted, the gameplay is flawless and the multiplayer was a surprisingly pleasant addition.
    The story is perfectly made, however, BioWare was unable to put all the pieces back together in the ending, which is slightly disappointing.
    But people are being way too harsh with the game, a bad ending doesn't make a good game the worst game ever. People are overreacting.
    And while it is obvious that EA took out the Prothean and made it DLC to make money, I actually found myself preferring Javik over all the in-game characters, a bit overpriced.    … Expand
  30. lets_play
    Mar 27, 2012
    10
    I purposely stayed from reading any reviews, listening to any gaming podcasts, going on any gaming websites, basically tuned myself completely out from all media involved in gaming form the first day ME3 came out on March 6th, until the day I finished on march 13th. My initial feeling of the game I just played and finished, was simply WOW! And there were plenty of those moments throughoutI purposely stayed from reading any reviews, listening to any gaming podcasts, going on any gaming websites, basically tuned myself completely out from all media involved in gaming form the first day ME3 came out on March 6th, until the day I finished on march 13th. My initial feeling of the game I just played and finished, was simply WOW! And there were plenty of those moments throughout as well. This is on a short list of games that put me on such a ride, emotionally. There is so much heart in this game, the character development is off the charts. The story was grim and the desperation was evident. As the story went on I really began to get a sense of how this would end up. Little did I know that, the result of my initial playthrough would result in one of the worst, of the possible endings, and I still accepted it, and liked it. Shepherd and these other noble heroes sacrificing themselves for the future, is nothing short of spot on. Almost immediately after finishing the game, I went to Metacritic because I wanted to see other people's reactions to the game, and what the "pros" in the industry had to say as well. Then I saw it and I was beside myself!!!! Terrible user scores and as I dug deeper into the why, I was appalled! I thought maybe, I had searched the wrong game as all I saw was a cry baby effect! Look the ending may have left something to be desired, but I will ALWAYS side with the right of the creative forces behind the art, to do what they want with THEIR art, and not with those that stomp their feet and hold their breath like loud obnoxious spoiled children. IMO, this is the epitome of all that is wrong with our society and unfortunately is becoming more and more prevalent in it. This sense of entitlement, and utter outrage when things don't go as we see that they should. Everyone has the right to make their voices heard, and they should, but there is a proper way to do it. And I really thought this community of gamers, was above the idiotic 99% mentality, when it comes to making our voices heard. Everyone of those that, IMO, went too far......hey go out and make your own game. You can make it ANY way YOU want! Just like those at Bioware can make their game anyway THEY want. Have we all really forgotten to put ourselves in other peoples shoes, for even a second and rationalize things, in the hopes of making sense of something we don't agree with? Or are we barreling down a moral slope where we just stomp our fists in anger and he who yells the loudest wins? Also, really!?!?! Zero scores form users??? Wow, I mean c'mon, even if the assertion that the ending was horrible, the other 30+ hours were amazing, or at least somewhere in the middle.
    Lastly, I just have to say that I've seen all the arguments why the ending was "horrible" and have to say I can only give credence to one and that is that it was too ambiguous. There wasn't the necessary closure and I'll get to that in a second. Thinking back on things that happened in the first two games, things the story told us, the ending makes PERFECT sense, and is one of the most well put together stories ever (in any medium). They were telling us all along how it was going to play out and it did. The clues were there all along, we just had to pay attention to them and be able to bring the memories of them back when we needed them, maybe that's why it was so confusing because it didn't (outright) spell everything out for us, but kept the heart of the game in tact right up to the final decision, in that it was always about making the best decision based on the knowledge we had about the situation and living with the consequences, or just making the decision based on what we just "wanted to do", point is it was up to the player, the information was put in front of us and it was up to us to decide 1) how to play the game, 2) how much to prepare for the final battle and 3) the final decision (along with the romances, relationship stuff as well.) But to all those that said it made no sense, it did (at least to me) and I'm good with that! I really feel sorry for you all that it upset you so much but that's life (it is) and should be dealt with accordingly. I know this series (which I hold as one of the greatest ever) took a LOT of all of us, time wise, emotionally, economically........but at the end of the day it's still just a game and Bioware doesn't OWE us anything. They, like us, can CHOOSE, to make the game how they feel it best, and we can choose to support their future projects how we feel is most appropriate. But yeah, I would have liked to see more of what happened to all those characters I came to love so much, but that's not 100% necessary either. We'll either find out (one way or the other) or I have a very good imagination and am able to think it through logically enough that I'd bet I'd be pretty close to being right! Thanks Bioware, for a GREAT game and series. It really was a wonderful ride!    … Expand
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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.
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  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.
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  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.
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