Back in February 2012, I was getting excited about the release of Mass Effect 3. While the original Mass Effect was underwhelming with a slight glimmer of promise Mass Effect 2 was amazing, the characters, story, and gameplay were all pretty solid. When I played Mass Effect 3 I could see great improvements in the visuals and overall gameplay, that being said there was something a little lacking, in particular, some of the story especially the ending(s). In fact, I felt strongly enough about that it is only recently that I decided to replay it, this time with all the downloadable content.
Many years ago I found that I really did not like prawns, I wanted to, but they always left me feeling underwhelmed, as time went by things changed and I tried them again and found I felt differently about them. The dish I like most is hot chili garlic prawns, with a helping of egg fried rice, or noodles. I am not sure if my palette became more refined, or I was simply more open to the experience. Playing Mass Effect 3 again I found myself asking, was this my hot chili garlic prawns that I love now, or the underwhelming taste I remember from years ago?
Story
Once again you take on the role of Commander Shepard, and again try to save the galaxy, this time though the stakes are higher than before. The Reapers have stopped being subtle, and are now out in force to destroy all life in the Galaxy, like a hardcore version of Thanos in Avengers Infinity War.
Shepard was with the Alliance in the first installment in the series, Cerberus in the second one, and now he is back with the Alliance. In the early part of the game you get the impression, there is slight distrust towards him, and that he is perhaps mistaken about the impending Reaper invasion. Fast forward a little and it's clear that Shepard is as honest, and trustworthy as always, and he was right about the Reapers, again. Time to feel smug, wait there is a war on, no time to be smug, save it for later.
The aim is to try and get as many races working together, gather a massive fleet and try to take a stand against the Reapers. There are interesting stories along the way, in particular, I really enjoyed the Geth storyline which helped give a very fresh perspective on them. The downloadable content (DLC) certainly added a lot to the overall story and for the most part was pretty enjoyable. The Citadel DLC focuses on an assassin trying to kill Shepard, but the main focus is about the crew of the Normandy hanging out, it was a lot of cheesy fun. The Leviathan DLC added so much to not only Mass Effect 3 but also the series as a whole, I genuinely can't say more than that without spoiling anything. The From The Ashes DLC saw an introduction of a new playable character, a Promethean, you get an insight into what happened last time the Reapers showed up 50,000 years ago. The Omega DLC was by far the dullest, Aria is not the most interesting character to start with, and it just didn't add anything to the game.
Overall I felt the story to be more solid than my original playthrough, this was for two key reasons, the downloadable contents and the extended ending. While the experience was better second time around I feel it would have been a more memorable game had they released the game with some of the downloadable content the first time around rather than trying to pry more money out of loyal fans.
Visuals
The series has come a long way since the original Mass Effect, the visuals are still looking good especially for a last generation console game. The HUD now looks and feels a lot crisper which helps for smoother gameplay. One of the most visually stunning parts of the game apart from the various planets are the Reapers themselves, giant robotic squid type beings, which I know doesn't sound impressive, but trust me they're impressive. The planet Benning had a very Judge Dredd feeling to them, orange skies, trash and beaten up buildings and containers everywhere. The planet Kallini was cool, snow-capped mountains, a monastery that was futuristic, but also looked old.
Overall the game is visually impressive and really helps in bringing the whole galaxy to life.
Music
The music has a very different feel from Mass Effect 2, which I suppose makes sense as the Mass Effect 3 is about all-out war. The sound runs between being Tron-esque and a Hollywood war movie, and in honesty, it works pretty well. Initially, I was disappointed that Jack Wall did come back to do the music, but the other composers returned along with a new one which worked just as well if not better. Sam Hulick, Christopher Lennertz, Cris Velasco and Sasha Dikiciyan return, along with newcomer Clint Mansell create the sound for Mass Effect 3. This group has collectively helped create some amazing and fun soundtracks including; Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Ghost in the Shell, Black Swan, The Fountain, Sausage Party, Agent Carter, Bloodborne, Prototype, Borderlands, Deus Ex Mankind Divided and Borderlands 2.
The soundtrack features over an hour of music, with some great tracks, including, 'Fate of The Galaxy', 'Mars', 'A Future For The Krogan', 'The Cerberus Plot', and 'Arlakh Company'
Overall a pretty solid soundtrack, that really helps create the feeling of war and all-out annihilation.
Gameplay
The gameplay is a lot stronger than it was in Mass Effect 2, no more getting stuck on walls or Shepard not crouching and then getting destroyed by the enemy, you can now roll too, which can be handy. The biotic abilities feel a little more refined, and the weapons as a whole seem more precise and powerful. There is now the option to add mods to weapons, which isn't a bad thing but I never felt like it made a huge difference. The most powerful weapon was the MII Suppressor, a full clip could drop many an enemy, in some ways it felt as good as when I used to dual wield enforcers in Unreal Tournament. The character classes fall into, Soldier, Infiltrator, Vanguard, Sentinel, Adept, Engineer, each offer their own benefits, but like with Mass Effect 2 you can add/swap some abilities if you needed.
The mini-game of mining planets from Mass Effect 2 is gone, now you can scan planets quickly for War Assets, although if you are not careful the Reapers will find you, and then it's game over. Hacking is also gone and replaced with by-pass which see Shepard hold his hand up for a few moments to unlock certain doors.
One thing that really bugged me, as it had in previous games was the mission completion list. In some cases you would be asked to carry out a mission, you might then go and get distracted with other ones but there is nothing to let you know you had completed that part of it. Then it would be mean you had to go to the area you may have got the required item from and see if it was still there or not.
The addition of Jarik, the new playable Promethean character, was good but not great as his abilities were not really any better than the other characters and in some ways felt weaker. The DLC added a lot to the gameplay (apart from Omega) which was great but once again made me feel it should have been available in the original release of Mass Effect 3.
Overall some great gameplay that has a lot of improvements of Mass Effect 2, in particular, the cover system and weapons.
Final Thoughts
After thirty plus hours, how did I feel? Pretty good actually, it was certainly a better experience than the first time around. The gameplay, visuals, and music were all pretty strong, the real game changer was the addition of the story. I have mentioned it already, but it does make me angry that the game was not released with downloadable content and extended ending, it would have made the overall experience a lot more solid, and perhaps it would not have received so many negative reactions from fans. If I take my experience as a whole this time, with all the bells and whistles attached I would have to give it 4 out of 5
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