Spoiler alert. If you are easily "butt hurt" to find out key plot points please turn back now, and play the damn game rather than reading blogs about a game that you intend to play.
Intro: I have been a fan of the Mass Effect series since the original release back in Fall of 2007. Mass Effect 3 delivers the same pulse pounding action, and sci-fi orgry that nerds love and expect from the series. I completed my first run through a couple nights ago, and I must say I was not disappointed. There were a few issues with the story that had me a bit confused, but these complaints are minute compared to the overall enjoyment I experienced from start to finish.
Mass Effect 3 is the final (doubtful) installment of the Mass Effect series, and is centered around the Reapers invading all known civilizations to bring intelligent life in the universe to an end. Players play as Commander Shephard, a soldier in the Alliance military who has shown tremendous feats of bravery, and strength in the first 2 installments of the Mass Effect series. Shephard is needed again, and Mass Effect 3 starts on Earth where the invasion first starts.
After running around a lot with Captain Anderson, Shepard makes it back to the Normandy and starts his mission to unite every race against the Reapers. The decision to leave Earth is a tough one, but there is no hope unless everyone is united against the galactic threat of the Reapers.
Confusion:
Now that the introduction is out of the way I would like to talk about a few key items in the first moments of the game that gave me some concern. First of all, one of the characters that you keep throughout the entire game is a dude named James. James has an American accent, but in a failed attempt to create a mexicano feel, we are left with random Spanish words, and not much more of his background is released. My first question is who the fuck is this guy? He was not in the first 2 games, and now he is a primary character with no background, or formal introduction. I "no comprende."
The second item that gives me concern is the running animation. When Shepard runs it looks like his/her arms and legs are attempting to pull themselves away from the torso. At first I thought Shepard may have had a bad rash, but this rash persisted throughout the entire game. Maybe he caught something from Miranda in Mass Effect 2? Shepard's got the herp!
Some footage of the Earth invasion:
The typical Mass Effect story:
After Shepard leaves Earth to unite everyone in the fight against the reapers, players travel to different worlds, and assist where needed. Mass Effect 3 is pretty much a game of political "Let's Make a Deal." Everyone refuses to help until you help them with their needs. This is pretty much the entire middle of the game:
Go here..kill stuff...go there..kill more stuff....talk to a guy...kill stuff...have a weird fucking dream about a kid who dies at the beginning of the game..kill more shit....console crew members....watch old crew members sacrifice themselves...more shit to kill...pause for romance option...more killing....sex scene with crew member ..and then...the ending.
This redundancy is by no means a bad thing. Each world gives its own well thought out back story, and being reunited with characters from the previous games was awesome. However, watching some of your former crew sacrifice themselves for the "cause" was very touching. I'm not gonna lie..I almost poured some out for Mordin..that dude was boss.
I am not going to go into too much detail about the end of Mass Effect 3. This is not a review, but I did post some thoughts down below.
Inventory/Weaponry
The inventory system now involves upgrades that can be found, or purchased. These can range from damage increase mods, to mods that lower the overall weight of the weapon. Weight comes into play only slightly in the game. If what you carry is less than a certain amount your powers recharge quicker. I played a soldier, so I could pretty much walk through anything. There are no full time heavy weapons in Mass Effect 3. This is odd considering Mass Effect 2 had at least 7 heavy weapons that could be used every mission. However the guns you can use feel awesome, and the overall sound quality of the guns is fantastic. There are a couple of guns that have some massive recoil. There was a couple of times the screen was shaking so badly I thought I was going to fuck up all over my monitor, but I will say that the Geth pulse rifle is by far the most awesome weapon ever.
Now some items to bitch about:
I am going to join the rest of the fold when I admit I have no fucking idea what happened with the ending. I liked it, but I think a bit more explanation of the choices would have worked better. I also did not understand the personification of the boy from the first half hour of the game, and the same boy who I had to chase around in those random dream sequences.
I would have liked more missions to Earth. The whole message is to take back Earth, but players see it at the first of the game, and the very end. Having some missions in key tourist attractions would have been awesome. I will say that that seeing Big Ben in London was awesome.
Big Ben:
I thought the Prothean DLC was cool...kind of pointless, but cool nonetheless.
Aside from that Mass Effect 3 will be keeping me busy for a good while. Some of the stuff I mentioned does not take away from the game much, but had they included my complaints, well..I would not have had any :).
Here is an imgur photo album of some screen shots I took while playing. Enjoy!
