Mass Effect 3 PC
User Score
4.8 out of 10

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 4422 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,847 out of 4422
  2. Mixed: 379 out of 4422
  3. Negative: 2,196 out of 4422

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  1. kache
    Mar 22, 2012
    6
    Very nice game overall, but, as others have said, the ending is incomplete, and there are too many missing pieces that have been thought for DLC (see Javik). Enjoyable, from the beginning to the transport laser, but not even close to what it could have been, and what it should have been.
    So sad that EA ruins everything they put their hands on...
  2. Aemony
    Mar 11, 2012
    8
    Great journey, great story, amazing storytelling and satisfying narration. Too bad the disastrous, illogical, inconclusive, retarded and shameful ending(s) brought down not only the whole game but also your whole adventure through all three games. In the final minutes of the amazing story of Shepard, the critically acclaimed choices made through all games are forgotten in favor of an arbitrary choice between three generic and uninspiring endings.… Expand
  3. Orlandu84
    Dec 31, 2012
    7
    It wasn't bad, and it wasn't superb either. I cannot comment upon the original ending because I played it with the extended ending. Having said that my complaints with the game have to do more with character interactions, scope, and pacing than anything else. First, unlike Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 never made me care about the characters all that much. The magnitude of the Reaper War made characters and their own personal problems quite trivial. This point begs the question of scope. The game attempts to achieve an epic feel while maintaining familiar with the main characters. Unfortunately, it fails in this respect. Despite its giant space battles, the game never created an atmosphere that conveyed the gravity of the situation the characters found themselves. Then again, this could equally be my failing as much as it is the game's. For after two previous installments of Shepherd saving the cosmos, I am kind of used to the stakes being very high. Lastly, the pacing just felt off to me. The final battles did not seem to build all that much dramatic tension. Also, we learned too many important facts too quickly at the end for their significance to be comprehended. Having said that, the game is still good. The plot does make sense. The voice acting is really good. The action is engaging. I had fun. Unfortunately, it was not the masterpiece most of us were hoping it would be.… Expand
  4. bigsilverhotdog
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    I was there the day of the Mass Effect 1 release. I've since played it all the way through 7 times, 3 of them on the hardest difficulty. I love Mass Effect. Not because of the gameplay, because the world they created was believable and sucked you in. It made you care about the characters and their problems. Mass Effect 2 was a huge step backwards, but the story was still fairly solid, the characters were still excellent, and the world was still believable. Mass Effect 3 is a travesty. First off, I can't import my character's face, or recreate it because it's impossible with the new face generator. I spent 3 hours trying. So I have to play the final chapter as if my character had her face rearranged surgically after being disfigured, because she still has exactly the same voice. It's unpleasant to see someone else speaking in the voice of my beloved Alexey Shepherd and now I have to put up with it for the entire game. Second, the story in ME3 is a total joke. It's simply not believable. It's utterly full of every bad movie cliche in the book, and it repeats them constantly. You cannot play for even 5 minutes without wincing at the terrible dialog and plot developments. The characters that return from the previous games do not act like themselves at all, and in a few cases (Ashley, UGH) don't even LOOK like themselves. Ashley looked perfectly fine before, why motion cap some ugly reject of American Idol and put her in a video game? Oh, and the biggest middle finger from Bioware is making the only surviving member of the Prothean race, a race that is central to the plot and core story of all 3 games in the series AND is referenced in nearly every single mission in every single game, a paid launch DLC just says, "ohi, we're Bioware and we hate our fans. Give us your money and get lost." I hate Bioware for creating the unique IP that is Mass Effect and then systematically destroying it. I hate EA for helping. And I hate how gaming has gone from a labor a love, with gamers creating games they know other gamers will want to play, to executives and boards designing products by committee with a sole focus on how much money they can get from their potential customers. Bioware, EA, you've lost this customer for life.… Expand
  5. paketep
    Mar 14, 2012
    0
    Origin, content removed to make gamers pay even more from the game, multiplayer that affects your single player ending, absolutely **** ending. This game is the poster boy of how EA has sunk the mighty Bioware.

    Wait until you get a 90% discount if you want to finish the trilogy. Avoid like the plague otherwise.
  6. Gene
    Mar 8, 2012
    7
    I'll leave the moaning to others, here are the basics: Running, dodging, and hugging a wall are all handled by the spacebar, which means if you try running from an enemy close to a wall, you are just as likely to crouch behind it and have your face eaten, combat is way more twitchy and less tactical than either of the two previous games. Quick time events with no prompts, I went through half the game before realizing that those overlong death animations are actually quicktime events where I had to mash the F key. Story was very solid, I loved it up until the just before the end, and then was massively enraged. The writers spent way too much effort making s*** epic and mystical, and as a long time fan I felt robbed, although I don't think new players will feel effected. I just wanted an end to a war 5 years in the making and finding out what happened to all my friends, the loopy nonesense they gave for an ending just completely broke the flow of the entire series.… Expand
  7. Montanker
    Mar 10, 2012
    9
    Honestly, I really don't understand the overwhelming amount of negative fan reviews for this game. I can understand some of the problems people have, such as the ending and such, but that really shouldn't determine the score of the entire game. For me, the game was amazing. The characters were still enjoyable and deep, the missions were epic, the environments were gorgeous, and the multiplayer is repetitive but addicting. The PC version also performs very well, even on my somewhat dated laptop. If you have any investment or interest in the Mass Effect universe, this game is an absolute must-have.… Expand
  8. tommy22
    Mar 8, 2012
    6
    Reasons for a bad score (i would normally give this game an 8.5 but the ending really sucked and the only way for bioware to take notice is to take an extreme score). -movement on the battlefield, not as smooth as mass effect 2 -the find the resource being as boring as scanning planets -side missions have nothing to it -overall story on cerberus -some speech was very childish especially in the beginning (who wrote this script?); some was excellent tough
    -lipsinc off
    -very disappointing ending
    -ce dlc
    -no original missions (except for the one where you hack into the server mainframe)
    It is certainly not as bad as dragon age 2, but I am still disappointed; maybe I expected to much.    … Expand
  9. Goosebump
    Mar 17, 2012
    8
    Game is very enjoyable overall. The production quality is absolutely epic. Pros: Gorgeous graphics, great sound and voice acting, fun missions and well written for the most part. Cons: Some really annoying bugs like Shepard getting stuck in the **** talking to Joker and cover fire bugs getting stuck while trying to run a gauntlet take away from the fun a little. I was very disappointed with the ending - the whole game felt just awesome and the production quality of the ending was superb but the ending itself was such an enormous anti-climax. Maybe there'll be some reason to the choices made that are evident later in Mass Effect 4. Another amazing title overall from the Bioware stable.… Expand
  10. Chupwn
    Mar 16, 2012
    2
    I was expecting a game superior to Mass Effect 2. I really liked how doing the loyalty missions and side-quests impacted the final showdown. The ending unfortunately looked like it suffered from the developer running out of time/money/ideas. I'm noticing that every time you add a gimmick (aka multiplayer), you have to sacrifice something.
  11. Freeman
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    Mass effect 3 is the best game of this great trilogy. Greater, better, stronger. The story is very impresive. The battles are much more intense and interesting. the story is in the heart of the game, and the side RPG is finally back as it was expected. May be one of the GOTY.... !?
  12. bernlin2000
    Nov 12, 2012
    3
    A disappointing game that plays with the edges of the fundamentals of M1 and M2, but otherwise is non innovative. The major problem, though, is the plot, particularly the finale, which is very disappointing considering all the time and effort I (and many other players) put into the entire series. The ending is simplistic and the lead-up to it is long and tiring (the fight to the tower never seemed to end). If you've played the other two in the series, I don't think I'd recommend completing it...this is just too disappointing of an ending to recommend to anyone.… Expand
  13. Fr0s7y
    Mar 17, 2012
    0
    Would have been a solid 8 or 9 had the ending not succeeded in ruining the entire story that the trilogy had been building up to. Quite saddening to see the disappointments BioWare continues to churn out (Dragon Age 2, and now this), and I can't help but think EA is the culprit. I miss the days when BioWare actually meant quality roleplaying games.. Unfortunately, it seems those days are long over.… Expand
  14. K1ller
    Mar 15, 2012
    4
    Excellent game till the end. Oh boy how can someone screw the 5 years long series of 3 parts in a five minutes is beyond me. Well, RIP Bioware, I am finished with you.
  15. Tridus
    Mar 25, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is a glorious middle bookended by a lame opening and a weak ending plagued by plot holes. People who say there's nothing wrong with the ending must not have been paying attention, because there's continuity errors you can fly Sovereign through. How did EDI go from being *in my party* on Earth onto the Normandy in the middle of the last battle? How did the Normandy get into the Mass Relay network to be ahead of the blast, during the last battle when they had no idea what the Crucible would do? It makes no sense. The ending itself is basically the same no matter what you did in the rest of the game at all, provided the green millitary bar was filled up enough. It turns out there's a God AI that's really doing all this, but didn't think of how to fix it until you showed up and is willing to let you doom all organic life to extinction if you want to. Why would it let you do that when it's been protecting organics for so long with the Reapers (protecting by destroying, yay!)? Makes no sense. It's a real shame because there's great stuff elsewhere in the game. The missions around Rannoch are awesome and some of the best in the franchise. That makes it hard to rate this game. Do you ignore the problems with the ending like the critics mostly did? Do you rate it into the ground like most of the users are doing? I'm trying to balance it off because I had 33 hours of fun along with the bad at the end, so I'm docking 2 points for that and another one for the lame opening with a kid that was thrown in as a ham-fisted attempt to add impact.… Expand
  16. benjaminavatar
    Mar 13, 2012
    10
    Awesome game, awseome graphics awesome ending! Everyone who says otherwise are not gamers they are **** Bioware made an exelent ending to the trilogy!
  17. Massiv
    Mar 18, 2012
    0
    Worst ending in the videogame history for the best trilogy in the videogame history. The last 10 minutes of Mass Effect 3 ruins the whole trilogy. I don't even want to play with ME1 or ME2 because of the ending of ME3, this is why I give a 0/10. Without the ending the game would be 10/10 for me.
  18. yogibbear
    Jul 29, 2012
    10
    Oh my god. No spoilers here. If I explain why this game is PERFECT (even pre-EC) I will ruin the experience for you. Just believe me when I say the gameplay is somewhere between ME1 & ME2. The missions and excitement leading up the end for this trilogy are a lot of fun. The multiplayer works, you don't have to play it, but it is better than I expected. The singleplayer is 10/10 ignoring the MP. The ending made me cry and you got me Bioware, oh how you got me good! You actually made me stop hating you after DAII (oh I'll just pretend like that game doesn't exist). I finally bothered to play this game and I should have done sooner. Somehow avoided all spoilers and I am SO glad that I did. The reason why this game gets a 10/10 and not an 8 or 9 is because the ending is perfection. People complaining about it were not paying attention! Seriously, pure genious! Shutup and take my money!… Expand
  19. MikeMaximus
    Mar 11, 2012
    7
    Lets get the bad stuff out of the way first, and sadly it is mostly bad. Yes the game comes with day 1 dlc, but if you've bought a big release EA game in the last 3 or 4 years you should be used to this by now. It's not worth coming on here and giving a zero over no matter how much it sucks. The biggest fault of ME3 is that it feels even more linear in comparison to the previous games, you are funnelled along a set path of main quests with other systems only randomly appearing on your map once you reach a certain place in the story line. It's almost like a linear FPS trying to pretend that it's still an RPG. The side quests are also extremely lame fetch types that you generally come across while running by conversations in the citadel with the odd extra N7 mission during your journey. Mining has been replaced with another "scanning" mini-game to find extra resources for your war effort, it feels like a cheap waste of time, mostly because there isn't much to explore really and it could have been a lot more interesting. Thankfully the hacking and circuit mini-games from ME2 have been removed completely. The story & dialog is really hit and miss, mostly miss, your choices from the previous games don't seem to have any kind of large meaningful impact on the big picture, but I need to test this more with multiple playthroughs. The differences between your paragon and renegade choices seemed, odd to me in a lot of cases, almost like they were mixed up. It seems a lot less thought went into story, dialog and character development this time around, or it was rushed. Now the good things, the combat has been streamlined and in my opinion it's probably the best out of the series. It's a little faster, there are more powers and they are fun to use. The production values are extremely high, it looks good, sounds good and the voice actors all did an incredible job for the most part. It isn't much of a boost technically when compared to ME2, but it is still an improvement in most areas, my only issue is some of the animations, especially running, just looks wrong. Now oddly enough my personal saving grace for this game is what most think is blasphemy, the multiplayer. I find the multiplayer extremely well done over all, it's easy to hop into, it's fun and addicting and provides a good challenge. It also gives a little boost to your single player campaign but it ISN'T required to get the best ending as some idiots on here have been giving a 1 or 0 over.… Expand
  20. CazicLFD
    Mar 8, 2012
    3
    This game was a huge dissapointment for me. The soundtrack was terrible compared to what was in me1 and me2, the animations are awful, most of the writing is absolutely horrid. The way they handled the characters from me2(besides garrus and tali) in this game was also a big let down. What pissed me off the most about this game was the story however, more specifically the ending. I wont give away spoilers, if you enjoyed ME1 and ME2, stick with those, dont waste your time with ME3, because when you finish it you will be thoroughly dissapointed with the entire series because of the ending.… Expand
  21. Dean_Demon
    Mar 9, 2012
    10
    Have to say this is a nice and dark sequel to me2,lower system specs than before a big plus,superbly updated character graphics and all round graphics updates,new sfx as well as existing sfx from me2,wonderful voice acting as before,gaming area has been expanded somewhat so feels much larger and it shows,those complaining of not being able to import your old saves well i can tell you that they do work but it's your portrait that doesn't import so you have to re do that ingame but the other info from your me 1 and 2 remains intact. A lot of detail has been put into the design of the characters and put in some very strong emotional content for the story and makes for a very good story by doing this,can't believe the scores of 0 and 1 here and should be removed or even banned,this is a perfect ending to the series and what we all knew would happen as the reapers arrived,top class.… Expand
  22. canadianrugby
    May 21, 2012
    10
    I'll start with the bad. The game feels small. There is way less exploration of the galaxy to do compared to the first two games. Less side missions. Uhh... and that's about it.

    Now for the good. Everything has been improved: The combat, graphics, powers, weapons, cut scenes. The same great sometimes cheesy story comes to an epic end. Most of the negative ratings seem to be beca    use of the ending, but just because it doesn't end the way you wanted it to doesn't make it a bad ending. They're making this into a movie, and I can't wait.… Expand
  23. Kossak
    Mar 11, 2012
    0
    Bastards - taking content out of the game to sell it on Day 1 for even more money? If you don't respect your customers, customers won't respect you. FU!
  24. Mikimax
    Mar 14, 2012
    2
    Bioware continues to dumb down their games.
    This game is everything but an RPG. In order to make the game appealing for everybody they stripped everything from it, everything, creating a hollow shell of the first game (a Reaper Husk) I played it through only because of the story.
  25. Niroo
    Mar 15, 2012
    4
    Mass Effect 3 features a decent single player storyline that, despite the early introduction of a fanciful 'Secret Weapon of Awesomeness', is quite entertaining for about 20-25 hours. The gameplay works, even if it's rather repetitive and doesn't really expand on what ME2 had to offer. The much discossed ending of the trilogy is indeed a storytelling disaster, the only part of which that speaks in BioWare's favour being the fact that they had the audacity to make their deus ex machina an actual "god out of the machine". I wasn't too impressed by the multiplayer, which, with it's 11 waves of whack-a-mole, is only mildly more interesting than the bot-servers of earlier FPS games.… Expand
  26. gas
    Apr 19, 2012
    0
    Im very happy to see that Metacritic decided to delete my long and detailed negative review i wrote time ago about this game without even a message or something about it.
    Its the first time it happens to me and i am really curious to know the reason about it, besdie the suspect its just EA paying Metacritic to remove bad reviews (sorry EA you cant buy the entire internet).
    Thats btw should     be enough to boycott Metacritic too, but i prefer to write to let ppl know about this kind of abuse.
    My score for the game was 4, i update now with a zero cause this.    … Expand
  27. Nicoskov
    Aug 9, 2012
    9
    I think it's absorlutly unfair, to give Mass Effect 3 a score under seven, simply based on the ending. Mass Effect 3 is like the other games in the series, an amazing game! Everything that leads up to the ending, is superb, every mission is fantastik, the graphics is fantastik, the characters, the environments, just superb. The ending was patched up by the extendet cut DLC, but yes .. its still not as great as i would have liked, but its definitely acceptable now. The multiplayer is also pretty good. I personatlly play Mass Effect for the single-player, but the multiplayer is a nice feature when you have completed the game, and just need some more Mass Effect.
    All in all, Mass effect 3 is a great game, which is absorlutly worth buying.    … Expand
  28. Aepervius
    Mar 26, 2012
    7
    Mass effect is a great ending to the trilogy , albeit with a sever flaw. The graphic are great , but there is no way to change the setting, and console limitation are forcing some design decision. For one you can't change FoV, you can't change graphic setting much, and you are forced to watch the back of a shepard taking 1/5 of the screen the whole time (Typical console trick to avoid calculating world geometry in a part of the screen). Often I found myself unconsciously using the mouse wheel to zoom out or in to go into FP , and sadly this is not possible. Graphic option include anti aliasing, screen resolution, brightness, and shadow, that's it. Still the graphic are great, only it is a bit sad to be saddled with console limitation. Sound wise , It is relatively good. Music is good. Sound effect sound stock or did not leave me with a strong impression. Dialogs OTOH are good sounding, and the sound of the reaper still leaves me a chill in the back. Plot : I found the story fitting. The ending was OKish. On its own I found it OK, what I was sorely missing was to know what happens to the various folk/species taking part into the battle. I won't spoil it for you for the content of the ending, but I had been hoping for a little bit more, like the diagshow at the end of fallout saying you what happens afterward. It does not happen. Nonetheless the ending were satisfying enough for me, just lacking a tad bit. Big big big bad things : the screen at the end telling you to wait for DLC. They could have sparred that, or made it more discreet, as if the main menu "downloadable content checking" was not enough. That blue screen with DLC at the end was .... Over the top. Multiplayer is OK, consist in you and 4 trying to fight off waves, with XP reward and a store to buy items. but is problematic due to 2 things : they tied part of the game (effective military rating force) to the multiplayer. Now some people are playing it so finding coop player is easy. But what in 2 month ? What in 6 month ? If you find nobody you WILL be stuck at 50% rating, thus making it harder for you to get certain ending. This is definitively a BAD BAD BAD decision. Overall, I enjoyed Mass Effect 3 very much, but I think it has been clearly bracked by financial decision, and attempting to cash in, by having day 0 DLC (a clever marketing and salesman would have made it a week 1 or week 2 DLC) the shop/multiplayer influence on single player and the problem described as above, and the endings, which looks actually as if they had to make them on the quick due to financial reason. All in all, the lasting appeal of this game is IMHO lower than for ME1 and ME2 and the console influence has make it much more evident the lowering of the RPG element in favor of FPS element. I would still recommend it to anybody having played ME1 and 2 , but as a stand alone I cannot recommend it too much. Final verdict : 7. Would be a 8 if not for multiplayer undue influence on single player Military rating, and would be a 9 if only they had added , even a few still picture telling us what happens afterward as in fallout or other game did. This is after all the END of the trilogy.… Expand
  29. Ireland914
    Mar 15, 2012
    8
    Fantastic finale to a series I have enjoyed from beginning to end. A gripping story as usual and a satisfying ending to the trilogy. Some minor flaws that don't take away from a thoroughly enjoyable gaming experience.

    Excellent gunfights with a decent cover system. Interesting characters (new and returning) with unique and fascinating backgrounds and fates. Some choices you make actuall    y do seem to have significant consequences on the final outcome. Well-paced action with lots of side missions to keep you busy between completing primary objectives. Completing every aspect of the game can take upwards of 20 hours for full completion. Satisfying ending options that bring the Mass Effect trilogy to an epic conclusion.

    Some negatives include the fact that there is no significant improvement in visuals. Pretty environments and models more graphics options and higher-resolution textures in some areas would have been nice (eg. armor and player bodies in general). Some minor graphical glitches and missing textures but nothing too serious. Some side missions descriptions are a little unclear as to what your objective is and how to accomplish it. Also, some way to keep track of an inventory of items you've collected for side missions would have been nice.

    Overall, I was very happy with this game and how it brought the Mass Effect trilogy to a close. The story is just as good as it was in the first two games, the graphics are pretty good, and there aren't any game-breaking flaws. It really gives you the sense that the fate of every sentent being in the galaxy is resting on your decisions. I recommend this game especially to someone who has played the previous installments.    … Expand
  30. CaptainChaos
    Apr 27, 2012
    9
    This game was excellent. Amazing art work, fun game play, excellent save points. Good story for the most part, sometimes really excellent depending on choices. Yah the ending was a tad confusing at best, but it's no excuse to rate the game that poorly otherwise. I could have done with less exposition; sometimes I felt like I was watching TV at times rather than playing the game, but otherwise everything you could have wanted in a ME game. And the multiplayer gimmick was annoying but unnecessary - I achieved full War Assets even with only a 50% War Readiness rating. Overall, I would say ME2 was my favorite, but this was a worthy successor.… Expand
  31. Scritty
    Mar 17, 2012
    0
    Every iteration of Mass Effect BIoware seem to actively looking to "simplfy gameplay". From the herady heights of Baldurs Gate 14 years ago - to this generic simpletons game "Gears of War Lite". In another 20 years Bioware will be releasing a stunning graphical representation of Pong - and still having the nerve to call it an RPG. There is so little to Mass Effect 3 - gameplay wise I would rather spend my time on one of those free Java game sites. Rubbish - and made all the worse by the fact it bears the name of the once mighty Bioware - Along with the generic and shallow "Star Wars t OR" this game goes straight to the back of my games cupboard, to be tossed out when the day comes that I don't wince at the waste of £35… Expand
  32. Lycanthrope
    Mar 15, 2012
    6
    I have never been so disappointed in a game as I have been in Mass Effect 3. The story, for the most part, is well-constructed and engaging--essentially the kind of stuff you'd expect from BioWare.

    But the ending? It's the epitome of a deus ex machina plot mechanic. It is random, incomplete, invalidates your choices throughout the entire series by throwing three incoherent and indetermina    te "choices" at you and then nothing.

    Everything you've done, everything you've looked forward to turned completely meaningless. The questions that need to be asked: Was this deliberately done by BioWare with the intention of selling post-launch "proper ending" DLC to us? In which case, it is a sorely underhanded sales tactic. Was this unintentional and the result of rushing to complete a game that they slapped an ending to it and hoped nobody would notice? In which case, shoddy development shows the true state of what BioWare has become.

    Either way, the disappointment remains. The damage is done and for me, someone who used to laud the ground BioWare walked on, I will always be cautious of any and every BioWare game from now on. Clearly underhanded sales tactics is the norm these days.    … Expand
  33. Stardog
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    The Field of View makes the game unplayable. We need a simple FoV setting in the options somewhere. It would take less than an hour for one programmer to implement.
  34. defive
    Mar 14, 2012
    5
    A decent game let down by one of the worst game endings I've ever seen. The ending is incoherent, inconsistent, and incomprehensible nonsense that really wrecks any sense of accomplishment.

    Other than that the game is okay, but my least favorite of the three. Plus there's the issue of the cheeky paid for Day One DLC.
  35. TomSEA
    Oct 31, 2012
    9
    It's six months after release and I finally played and finished the game with the extended DLC endings.

    Guess I'm going to be in the minority who believe it was an excellent gaming experience. The cinematics, story (touching bases or bringing back old primary characters into the story), music and combat fights were epic and top-notch. I had all the DLC content that ended up being abou    t 35 hours of game play which I felt gave me good value for my purchase.

    As far as the endings, I thought they were fine. I'm not sure what else you could have done with the story. I'm glad that Bioware didn't go with the cop-out "it was all just a dream" ending - could have been easy for them and they probably wouldn't have received a fraction of the grief. I went and looked at the original endings on YouTube and think that people who gave the game a "zero" or "one" score have some serious problems separating gaming life from real life. It simply wasn't that bad. And even if it had been the worst ending in gaming history (go look at the ending of Far Cry 2 if you want to see that), the rest of the game should have warranted at least a 6-7 score from reviewers. At least those who give honest reviews instead of trying to be spiteful.

    But I do give props to Bioware for listening to the complaints and coming up with some additional ending media. They didn't have to do that, but they did.

    I only have two real complaints - 1) the "duck and cover" command (spacebar) was problematic. Often I would use that command, end up behind a barrier and I couldn't move away from it - or at least without some difficulty. A bad guy would flank me and blast away and there was nothing I could do. And 2) the log-in sequence to the EA/Origin was atrocious. Nearly a 5 minute boot-time for everything to be up and running and synched. Ridiculous...

    In a nutshell, the whole series is a one of the best gaming experiences a gaming enthusiast can play and ME3 was the crown jewel of the 3. Put aside what you've heard from naysayers and if you haven't played the game, give it a shot - and start from the beginning. You won't be disappointed.    … Expand
  36. Fatteh
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    Mass Effect 3 ... I'm left with the same feeling as I was with DA2. How could they take such an excellent franchise and butcher it so. Disfigured and lolling in any sensory depth of story telling. Bioware have really sold out to they're paymasters on this one for what seems nothing more than a quick cash in on what would of wrapped all those hours ... no days; of choices, heart ache on Tali or Liara, keeping Wrex in check all to culminate into .. this ... "This" ... monstrosity, Thank you Bioware, for the years of great games, characters and story telling, You are sorely missed;.… Expand
  37. Berzerker556
    Mar 16, 2012
    8
    Too much EA not enough Bioware.

    The previous game (ME1&2) decisions have very little quantifiable effect, seems like rather than implementing all of the carry over they just fake it by having some scripted vocal moments acknowledged the decision, but to add no over all game effect. The combat and character building further builds on ME2 and is slightly improved. The weapons selection felt     about right, and the class system feels about the same as ME2, maybe more refined and defined. The story starts strong and seems to hold up until you realize that you spend more of the game dealing with Cerberus and building the army than actually fighting the reapers. The army build felt generic and ineffectual on the very short battle for against the reapers. The fight for earth was also extremely short and disappointing. I was also let down by the ending but I won't spoil it.

    Overall, it doesn't seem like they made the game they set out to. The decision and force/team building mechanics felt partially implemented, or implemented to give the illusion of choice/consequence. The game is suppose to be about the battle for earth, but there really is no battle, there is a war, but the player doesn't get to enjoy much of it. The ultimate resolution also felt very generic, a little to "chosen one" for my taste. It is a decent game for $60 and the DLC does add to the experience but overall it was a slight letdown having played ME2 for the first time a few days before ME3 launched and immediately transitioning to ME3.    … Expand
  38. SpaceyCasey
    Oct 13, 2012
    6
    I played the demo and I'm very disappointed. I would play this game if one of the following were not true: (1) Same graphics; What was very advanced in 2007 (ME1) par in 2010 (ME2) is now simply sub-par in 2012. (2) I like to sit back with a logi/xbox360 style controller. A keyboard, while very good, can limit you in certain situations. While many games released in the past 2 years have instant support for controllers, this game has none. (3) Same engine. ME2 was a great game but I struggled to finish due to the robotic engine. The great story, art, music and characters kept me playing through the bland game. Adding a halo-blade animation to your punch and changing health to blocks instead of bars doesn't change the gameplay. My skills were 90% exactly the same as the last game! (4) horrid user score; from what people are saying, this is a big ME2 expansion, not a $60 new game. Oh Bioware, how far you have fallen.… Expand
  39. Gr33nF00t
    May 24, 2012
    8
    I will begin with this: Mass Effect 3 had so much potential. All throughout the game, there are moments of beauty and brilliance, such as the "Leaving Earth" sequence. I heard how this game was terrible; a huge let down; a major blow to video games as a narrative medium. And for 96% of the game I thought to myself "What are these people talking about?" I really liked it; I felt like I was steam-rolling towards the proper conclusion of my Shep.

    Then the ending happened. It was like watching the U.S. theatrical cut of Blade Runner. Roy gives the "Tears in rain" speech, releases the dove, and dies; and right when you are reaching cerebral climax, Deckard's clumsy voice-over enters your ear-holes to completely ruin your moment like a drunken man-child. ME3's ending by and large completely ignores all the choices you made throughout the previous games. On top of that, all the endings are the EXACT SAME. Sure, there are some very minor differences, but there is no meaningful variation among endings. There is no closure, no denouement.

    I could go on, but I will instead end with this: Were it not for the terribly handled ending this game would be a 10 in my book.    … Expand
  40. trunk_slamchest
    Mar 6, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. im about 6 hours in...and im gonna flat out say ME 3 has jumped the shark.

    i had just finished playing through ME1 + ME 2 to get hyped for ME 3...and it just feels

    ....like its made for guidos....i legitimately feel dumber for playing Mass Effect 3. the first thing i said when i got on the Normandy was..."what the **** is Ronnie from the Jersey Shore doing on my ****ing ship?"...then i realized it was James, the new guy...frohawk and all...the first hour alone is 95% cutscenes with 100 BAYSPLOSIONS that you have no interaction with.

    the dialogue and voice acting is horribly done....everything feels force and emotionless. every piece of dialogue is centered around THE REAPERS and THE PROTHEAN DEVICE, which aria magically has the only access to..BUT NO ONE KNOWS HOW IT WORKS. garrus is as souless as a polititian. the council dilibrates and discusses things like theyre a group of high school girls. its so ****ing bad its hard to play.

    the interaction with the game feels like its designed for 10 year olds. scanning consists of pinging for THE REAPERS. there is no planet scannign or resource finding...theres WAR ASSETS...loot finding consists of open your eyes and look for the green reticule.

    the illusive man randomly shows up on mars...goes haha im backstabbing you...and dissappears...WITH NO EXPLANATION. you magically get spectre status which grants you a **** ton of cash...THERES NO DEPTH TO THIS GAME. i played as an adept through ME 1 and ME 2 which was ****ing fun...but the gameplay for adept in ME3 is use power + m1 + wait for cooldown + power + m1 + wait for cooldown...while the game throws hoards of enemies at you. its not fun.

    the worst part is...shepard has been pussified beyond belief...i regrettably saved ashley (who went from unattractive in ME1 + ME2 to super hot in ME3 btw) and the first 3 hours of the game surrounds this bull**** love triangle between ashley and aria...and out of no where...this guidette shows up to replace kelly on the normandy and starts getting jealous of EDI because its giving Shepard orders. theres one really obvious boob shot that was the most obvious ploy for guidos to get hooked on the game, it was pathetic. THE SOB STORY WITH THE LITTLE BOY AND THE DREAM SEQUENCES MADE ME FEEL EXTREMELY HOMOSEXUAL AND FEMININE. I DID NOT EVEN HAVE A CHOICE TO SAVE HIM OR NOT. I HAD TO FEEL BAD.

    i know im just ranting...but im gonna keep trying to push through the game til it gets better...but the more i play the more i feel like im getting dick punched in the jaw.    … Expand
  41. Jaga
    Mar 10, 2012
    5
    Currently I'm about halfway through the game, and while the story is good (better than ME1/ME2), the gameplay is merely adequate.

    It feels very dumbed down given that there is even less customization than in prior games in the series. There is no real inventory to speak of, and when you find an upgrade for a weapon (as an example), you can immediately equip that upgrade to as many squad     member's weapons as you desire. Powers are per-character, with little sharing possible via a new system. I'm not at all impressed with upgrades on skills/powers, as each feels like an almost miniscule change to effectiveness in combat.

    The primary reason I'm rating ME3 as a 5, is due to the unbelievable distaste it has left in my mouth having gay talk, scenes, and innuendo shoved down my throat at every turn. My assistant on the Normandy is a gay female. My dropship mechanic is a gay male. Liara is blatantly bi-sexual, and several other Asari in the story are either bi, or outright gay. There are people sitting in the local hospital talking about being gay, people in the commons talking about turning gay.. etc etc etc. It feels in fact, like there is more gay love and sex abounding in the Mass Effect 3 world than there are straight relationships.

    To reflect on this: I am not homophobic - I can accept that people have relationships of their choosing. But when the NORM is 10:1 (or more) in favor of straight-to-gay in reality, and you have more gay than straight in the game world, it tends to wear on you quickly. It leaves an undeniable taste of "eww" in your mouth, due to the staggering amount of it.

    All in all, a decent game - full of plenty of Mass Effect as we've known it. But a bit too much of "hay there!".. makes you wonder if the team writing/producing it was 80%+ gay. That part of it will not - never will, appeal to the mainstream audience. And is largely why ME3 is being blasted on Metacritic, among other sites on the web.

    It is one thing when it happens in moderation, and isn't blatantly flaunted in public. But ME3 really does shove it down your throat again and again, and for most straight people that does produce a substantial amount of discomfort and distaste. It isn't that it is happening, it is that MOST ME3 characters turn out to be gay.

    My recommendation for the game: either buy and play it knowing what is coming at you, or wait for the bargain bin price and see how much you can stomach before putting it down. It is not one of Bioware's masterpieces, and goes far beyond "touching on taboo issues" than it should.    … Expand
  42. paul_endymion
    Apr 17, 2012
    10
    So many haters or sad people...Don't listen to them...The game is fantastic. ME3 takes into account all of the choices you've made in ME1 & ME2, ALL of them !...The feeling of immersion is deep, the future of the galaxy is about about to fall into darkness !.
    The ending is what an ending should exactly be to a Sci-Fi epic story like this one !
    Enjoy the game !
  43. agotmanov
    Apr 30, 2012
    3
    I have but one issue with this game - the writing. I mean really, how hard can it be? ME2 was no freaking masterpiece, but the story was compelling enough to make action meaningful, and occasional stupidities were just something to laugh about and forget. In short, it was fun. I think in general RPG fans (including me) have relatively low standards when it comes to writing, and it's ok. It should be just solid enough so that it doesn't spoil the game.

    Somehow (miraculously) ME3 fails to deliver. Writing-wise it's a non-stop *facepalm*. How hard is it to come up with a response that wouldn't sound dumb or out of place? After first 30min I started to suspect that somewhere between the end of ME2 and the beginning of ME3 commander Sheppard got a lobotomy. Or maybe he is a husk? Or secretly mind-controlled by Cerberus and they *make him* say all these things? That would be a cool plot. I'd play that game. Apparently, ME3 is a different one, and it stinks. Bioware, what the hell!?    … Expand
  44. HomeCritic
    Dec 30, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mass Effect 3 has probably the most convoluted, lore destructive, narrative disaster of story telling I've seen in recent years. Despite few good episodes involving geth and the krogan it really isn't anything good. Introduction was confusing and not following the lore and events after the Arrival DLC, it's not the best decision if Bioware wanted to market this more towards the masses. Secondly, what was the point of ME2 if only in ME3 we are introduced with probably the most narrative breaking Deus Ex Machina device I have ever seen - the Crucible. No one knows what it does or what its for, except the hope, that this big clunk of metal can defeat antagonists - the Reapers. Shouldn't the trilogy had gone like this:
    ME1 - introducing the threat
    ME2 - learning how to stop a threat
    ME3 - stopping the threat Again, ME2 serves no purpose.
    Cerberus and their motives are as confusing as the whole TIM indoctrination by the reapers. What was the point of reapers letting to play with their mind game toys if they later on they destroyed the whole facility?
    The whole lore is utterly destroyed. Alliance are idiots, Cerberus are idiots, Reapers are idiots and Shepard is an idiot. ME1 epic was changed into ME2 space opera.
    And now the ending... Ugh.. Do I even have to start? It was the worst thing I've ever seen in story telling. The Extended Cut DLC, believe it or not, made it even worse. The ending single hand destroyed the ME1 lore, let me question Alliance strategies how to take down Reapers, and finally made antagonists into complete an utter morons. Not only the main theme was destroyed, but the fact that reapers wants to save us from ourselves by committing mass genocide of entire galaxy is the most logic breaking nonsense I've ever heard. I see what writers tried to do here, showing as much ideas and philosophies in to the main narrative, but they just didn't work, because of poor writing. So what we got is a third person RPG shooter with refined shooter elements, but extremely poor execution of RPG elements. The Quest system is probably the second worst thing in the game, it is completely broken, so is the customization. Multiplayer inclusion wasn't necessary at all.
    Overall its a convoluted package of nonsense. 2/10    … Expand
  45. Sirkiko
    Mar 13, 2012
    0
    One of the worst endings I've ever seen. To think that a masterpiece like the first Mass Effect has become this pile of excrement, it's heartbreaking.
  46. intruder313
    Jul 13, 2012
    8
    Bought it cheap but still did not touch the game until the Extended Cut appeared so my review is only of that version - I don't even know what was added to be honest.

    It takes a while to get going but I was rewarded with an occasionally epic midgame and a reasonable ending to the whole saga. The combat scenes are far, far too easy though so I recommend pumping it above normal difficulty    . It's also about the quietest game I've ever played so I had to drive my volume settings to about double what I normally use.

    Also I got the distinct impression that most of my travels were completely pointless since you fairly quickly reach the "Minimum" Force level to complete the game - I doubt greater values matter.

    The galactic readiness map is of course entirely meaningless in the Single Player game but that's not something I recall being made aware of. Just ignore it.    … Expand
  47. Vasot
    Mar 6, 2012
    7
    The game is not as bad as some people say but it is not that great either. I have to agree with some people that the gameplay is more of a brainless shooter. Even if you choose to play this as an RPG experience from the game settings the game feels like mostly Gears of Wars than a Action-RPG like it was with its prequels. Most battles are easy and game A.I is a bit stupid too....As aboyt the story of the game well it is Ok but some dialogues feel like a chore oi be honest there is nothing really that memorable from the game story perspective and you will probably feel disappointed from the game ending. Anyway it is not a bad game but not that great either in my opinion i was expecting something more epic and smart… Expand
  48. GenuineOpinion
    Mar 24, 2012
    10
    Definitely not worth anything below a 6, those people are exaggerating out of rage for the ending, which is very much like Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Game play is sturdy, and in fact improved on everything from the first two games. It was fun.
  49. antiver
    Mar 9, 2012
    0
    Awful. EA makes me feel like a criminal. Origin is a PoS. DLC is an obnoxious cash grab. Immersion is ruined by broken game mechanics.

    Looking forward to the remake/redux in 15-20 years.
  50. Brumbek
    Dec 28, 2012
    5
    What an annoying game to review...the gameplay is solid. The combat is fairly fun and some of the side quest stories are really great. Plus reuniting with old friends is VERY fun. You do feel like you are making a difference as you play to save the galaxy. This game easily packs 50 hours of content. ********** But then there's the ending. No spoilers here, but it is COMPLETELY MORONIC. It pulls a Deus Ex Machina and violates its own lore. If you hated the Matrix 2 & 3's lunatic (Architect) storytelling, you will utterly despise ME3's storytelling. ********** So yeah...the game is great until the end...and the ending is so bad, so utterly insulting to all intelligent beings that I cannot, CANNOT recommend ME3. Like Jar Jar Binks, we wish it never happened.… Expand
  51. HarveyD
    Mar 19, 2012
    10
    Game was quite good actually. I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay, they story and the ending. Everyone is just sad that a great series is finally over, so they are giving bad reviews. It's a grief cycle, and they'll eventually get through it. If anyone can tell me an ending they thought was super great and better than the rest of the movie/story/game, I'll give 'em a medal. The journey there, not the destination, was what was important, and it was a journey for the ages.… Expand
  52. jadelith
    Mar 11, 2012
    3
    99% of the game is very well done and quite fun. Before the ending I was thoroughly enjoying myself (which is why it gets a 3 and not a 0) I even liked the multiplayer.

    Until the ending hit. I don't want to spoil anything, but no matter what you do in the 3 games, you lose, and the ending simply leaves you hanging. and that's absolutely unacceptable.

    Do yourself a favor, and don't play t    his game - especially if you've played the first 2 games. It will ruin the series for you… Expand
  53. Humprt
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    So naive, so boring, and with such bad graphics and funny animation... I really don´t understand the critics at all. Are you guys crazy? Have you actually played the game? Or at least tried?
  54. moseao
    Mar 10, 2012
    5
    As a shooter, ME3 is passable. Not amazing, but passable. The trouble is we were all told that role playing aspects would be put back in from what ME2 turned out to be. They weren't. Not really. You get binary choices that have very little bearing on anything. You won't get a different game by making different choices. You won't even get a noticeably different combat playstyle by making different choices. Basically what happened is Bioware dumbed down the amazing Mass Effect 1 into very little more than a pure shooter. Then they figured if they just throw a couple of dialogue trees and weapon mods back in, then they can appease fans of the original. As is, there's maybe enough here to warrant a playthrough, but you shouldn't feel like you're missing much by waiting to get it used.… Expand
  55. hugamuga
    Mar 8, 2012
    8
    Just finished it, and it took me according to the game 19:10 which is roughly the same amount of time it took in the previous 2 games. While the game is great, and I really like the new combat system, it tends to get repetitive towards the end. Enemies are pretty limited in variety and missions all seem to have similar objectives. Its still worth playing although I would avoid paying full price off Origin (in Australia) as it's a lot cheaper to just get it in store.

    I was mildly disappointed in the lack of squad mates, for most of the game i was limited to 5, and while this will vary with some players it did seems a bit of a small selection to choose from. I won't say anything about the story apart from that I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first installment, but it is still at the typical Bioware standard. While I haven't bought the DLC I really do not see it as being a major problem it really just like any other paid DLC in the mass effect series, while it adds new information and interesting things about the mass effect universe. It is in no way required to enjoy the story and you will not notice its missing presence.

    Overall a decent ending to a great series, well worth your time and money, but by no means perfect.    … Expand
  56. Maximo
    Mar 30, 2012
    4
    Somehow, everything good about Mass Effect left with the writer that was responsible for the opening part of the trilogy. I cant think of any positive thing about ME3, none, only the terrible things remain. Suddenly, I realized how poor of a sci-fi ME is, things that didnt matter suddenly became game-breaking for me. For example, the animations, the "every species speaks english", the sci-fi clichés, the bisexuality, etc. All in all, the story is just plain boring, not to mention it has many plot holes. Dialogues were terrible and the ending was a colosal dissapointment, something for people to gloat about for decades to come.… Expand
  57. noobcannon
    Mar 9, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. i've had some time to reflect and punch a few holes in the wall to get my frustration out and i think i'm ready to put into words how i feel 24 hours after the "good" ending in mass effect 3

    to start, my RI was Tali. once i killed the reaper on ranoch i opted to upload the reaper code to the geth via legion. despite tali not wanting me to, i felt this was the best course of action for her, her people, the galaxy, and even the geth. i was able to talk the fleet out of counter attacking the geth while the code was being uploaded and tali still loves me. whew. this got me thinking however, what if my paragon was too low and the quarians did attack the geth. what would happen? i pulled up youtube to find out.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvATTDgDIqU

    this was the most moving and emotional punch in the gut i've ever seen in a video game. assuming this had happened in my playthrough, i'd have been devastated. moments earlier tali told me she loved me and i have just wiped out her entire people. heartbroken, she jumps over the edge. thought i was going to cry.

    where the hell was this level of emotion and effort in the ****ing end game bioware? as far as voice acting/ performance go, the quarians being wiped out and tali dying was so difficult to watch, yet so well done, i was completely blown away. that level of devastation and pain should've been put into the endgame and i don't know if i can ever forgive bioware for it. they took maybe the greatest game ever made, at least for me, and complelty half assed the last 5 minutes.

    now, i'll be clear, i wanted a happy ending, but if that's not how it was going to be then fine. i'll get over it. but to do it the way that they did, i, just, uuuuughhh. ......    … Expand
  58. fachriunited
    Mar 14, 2012
    2
    i would give it a 9 but after experiencing the last 2 hours of the game, this game is just big dissapointment, the ending just ver bad, worse than skyrim, and war asset dont do anything except the ending, not even affect the final battle just ending, very bad bioware very bad
  59. vincesz
    Oct 10, 2012
    6
    Not a terrible game like people make it out to be (after hating the ending) but it's not as good as the last two either. For me ME2 reflects the pinnacle of the series and this was definitely the nadir. The main issue with this game is that it's been 5 years since ME1 came out and 2 since ME2, but there's been virtually no innovation since then. ME2 didn't have too much innovation either but it streamlined everything down and expanded on ME's strengths with a better class system and weapon's system etc. This game feels more like an expansion of ME2 rather than a full fledged stand alone title, sadly. There's also a very distinct 'cookie-cutter' feel here that makes it seem like you've played this game before beneath a different coat of paint. It doesn't really feel like a lot of love was thrown into the project, just following a formula and spitting out the results. It feels very artificial and contrived and there's very little in the way of surprises. It makes the whole thing feel a bit tired and boring. As negative as this all sounds it's still a decent game; you can't really suck when you copy ME2. Not as thrilling or as suspenseful and addicting as its predecessors.… Expand
  60. makdrumz
    Mar 21, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I over-enjoyed the game. My mistake is that I gave this game an early 10... That is until the moment the harbinger laser hit the party. Honestly i am holding myself a lot not to go berserk and start swearing. So i will keep it...civilized. It not about Shepard's bad fate. I kinda liked it that he died to save the galaxy at any case. What i don't like at all is the whole "Lost" concept. The last 15 minutes of the game IS NOT mass effect. It is a combination of poetry, lucid dreaming, huge (black hole size) plot holes and the message you get after the credits " Congratulations, Shepard destroyed the Reapers and saved the galaxy. You may now continue to play DLC and **** and then you can play just before the attack on Cerberus Base. This proves that there is no "indoctrination" concept and that the end is as it is. I am extremely frustrated with Bioware. You destroyed the trilogy by creating 15 minutes of a total confusion. Maybe the reapers indoctrinated the Bioware staff so they couldn't finish the game. Not to comment the day one DLC: From Ashes. Aye...From Asses that is... Since its coming from EA its definitely " FROM ASSES". Fix it now. Not asking, not petitioning, but...DEMANDING.… Expand
  61. Ansatsu83
    Mar 9, 2012
    2
    My review is based on the game as a whole. It is poorly planned, buggy, storyline left many unanswered gaps. The multiplayer is mediocre at best, the whole game is an extreme disappointment to the franchise. Bioware should have stopped focusing on that failure of a game known as "The Old Republic" and planned this one and given it their soul.

    The storyline just did not seem intriging, the     multiplayer has bugs where you can lose unlocked characters and equipment that you buy, sometimes for real money. A lot of players have lost a lot and are pretty angry at bioware.

    I encountered a bug when importing a character from me1, to 2, to 3. I romanced liara in 1, but it said I romanced ashley, which is false. I have never romanced Ashley in any of my play throughs. I loaded the same me2 file into me2 and played the storyline, it was definitely Liara as well.

    On top of this the game has horrible controls. I have no idea which moron decided to put the action button the same as the roll and take cover button but all I tend to do is barrel roll all over the place or stick into cover I don't want to while I try to activate a door or revive a team mate who was in cover.

    I recently lost every bit of gear I had unlocked on multiplayer, a level 4 pistol, a quarian engineer, a salarian engineer, multiple level 3 sniper rifles and assault rifles with multiple level 2 mods, a turian character, an asari vanguard, etc. I am done with mass effect 3 and I highly recommend every gamer stay away from this.

    The only reasons I am giving this a two out of ten, the graphics are still not bad, the worlds seem well constructed despite the controls being terrible. And you get to see Tali's face for once.

    I am sorry Bioware, you have failed us a second time in a couple of months, you have lost your edge just like Bill Roper and his constant failure of game development after Diablo 2. Some advise to bioware, leave your industry...    … Expand
  62. maik_kel
    Mar 23, 2012
    10
    Why does everyone hate the Ending so much? To me it felt just right! I don't care if they're not that different from each other. For me it really is the journey there that counts. And what a journey that was. This is clearly the best game series i've ever played. Nothing else got me so emotionally connected to the story and characters. I don't easily give 10s, but this one deserves it in my opinion. Its one of the rare cases where the game got better with each iteration (after Dragon Age 2 I didn't have much hope left for ME3, but was proven wrong)… Expand
  63. HerHavuzun
    May 2, 2012
    9
    Everything in this game is excellent (even multiplayer). But the ending. Yes, the ending. No, I'm not angry about Bioware. Frankly the ending is just too sad for a story with a western cultural background and be more fitting to a chinese movie. It could be even possible, that they liked it there but certainly me not.
  64. tekshow
    Apr 19, 2012
    8
    Thanks Bioware for a fantastic epic. This game is slightly impaired by lofty expectations and warm fuzzy feelings provided by the first two games. As the trilogy moved on it had become more and more streamlined from a gameplay perspective. RPG elements have been whittled down to a small skill tree that quickly maxes out in nearly every area. Is this a problem? Not really, unless you want to play the same games over again. I feel like Mass Effect 2 was the culmination for the series in terms of gameplay, space travel, rpg elements, and fleshed out mechanics that drove the experience like bypassing doors and farming planet minerals mini games. The latter of which might not seem like a big deal but when it's absent it's very noticeable. What mass effect 3 has going for it is a breakneck pace of reaper fighting badassery. It all happens so fast you won't even notice clipping through a 25-30 hour game. Deep relationships are found, love lost, and many companions bear great sacrifice. It's some f the finest story telling in the medium. The ending needs a little work, but the core game is breathless from start to final assault. Want more, the combat is finely fine tuned and it's Sci-Fi gears of war approach is very fitting. As a person who doesn't regularly play shooters and enjoys RPGs more, ME3 delivers a tremendous variety in play style over its predecessors. Not the least of which is thrilling drop in multiplayer that actually effects the man game! Co-op multiple player makes a four man group of strangers band together to fight common enemies. It's a kick seeing all the species and character types in action with all their respective tactics.


    It's a great game, a cap off to the series,they only real negative is that like most trilogies the second title remains the best In the bunch.    … Expand
  65. Rycr
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    I love this game. So much. This game is the pinnacle of everything BioWare has learned about storytelling throughout the Mass Effect series. While the first game was heavy on plot-driven storytelling and the second was heavy on the character development, Mass Effect 3 has both in spades. The cutscenes vary between epic and heartwrenching, the dialogue is great, and the voice acting has improved. The fate of all life in the entire galaxy rests on Shepard's shoulders, as it has since Mass Effect 1, but for the first time in the series, it's easy to get a sense of just how heavy that burden is.… Expand
  66. ravenblade
    Mar 30, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I enjoyed the main game for what it is. They addressed many major criticisms encountered over the last years. Combat is significantly more entertaining and challenging. The pace is higher, there is less chore. Great characters and side stories, even though side missions could have been a bit more varying in nature. Graphically it's a bit outdated and more adequate for consoles - wouldn't have minded a higher texture resolution. On audio side it is much better as well, I wasn't a particular fan of meowing cars in the citadel of ME2, it is pleasing and well done.
    However what the game made up in consistency over the years has been almost entirely undone in the final moments of the game. I am usually not the guy who demands absolutely perfect canon lore but Bioware left me stumbled here. It is as if they mixed up the game they made the ending for and once you are kicked back to the Shepard on the Normandy you are left asking yourself whether you should ever bother to play this game again in the same manner you did with ME2. If you liked the main game and are capable of enduring approx. 15-20 minutes of pure non-sequitur in the hope that Bioware themselves realize what they have done then you should do so, otherwise it's worth playing one time at least for the sake of it.    … Expand
  67. DeathSpank
    Aug 19, 2012
    10
    The perfect closure to one of the best game trilogies ever. I guess I was lucky enough to complete the game after the extended edition came out. But regardless, I don't see why multiple users would trash the game simply because of the ending.
  68. R6ex
    Aug 9, 2012
    0
    Worst Ending Ever!

    No Gamepad support!

    Minimal RPG elements!

    Low quality rendered cutscenes! Where are those photo-realistic CGIs???

    EA Origin!


    Enough said.

    Terribly disappointed.
  69. Grungi
    Mar 11, 2012
    5
    I have to give the game a 5; I can't think of any other score that would accurately portray the mix of positive and negative impressions I have of the game. From a production perspective, it's an absolute masterpiece from start to (almost) finish. I would even go so far as to say that it's the most technically perfect game that I've ever had the pleasure to play. Were I scoring on that basis, I would give it a 10/10 without hesitation.

    But (some of) the writing .. the DLC .. the singleplayer/multiplayer fiasco .. I don't want to give any spoilers out here, and I'm sure anyone who has beaten the game is well aware of what I speak .. Bioware has effectively killed the franchise for a lot of people. At the time of writing, the official forums are aflame with the vitriol that only hardcore fanatics can muster.

    There's no denying that Biowares reputation has taken a serious hit in the last few days, and in my opinion .. it's self-inflicted and rather well deserved.    … Expand
  70. Goden
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    They intentionally cut STORY-HEAVY content from the game in order to sell it on the side as DLC. Inexcusable business practices. I cannot give this game more than (1) for that reason. Abusing and manipulating your trusting fanbase for extra money is NOT acceptable.
  71. anubite
    Mar 8, 2012
    3
    Mass Effect 3 is a bitter disappointment. I will do my best to briefly explain its flaws without spoiling anything.

    1. Very little care was paid to the story. There are many nagging plot holes that will distract you throughout the game. Glaring logical flaws that have existed since Mass Effect 2 and even Mass Effect 1. More importantly, characters behave very erratically in this game, sel    dom true to their original characterization in the previous games. BioWare took the easy way out in most cases, killing off characters at obvious moment. The plot is predictable (I found myself calling out what would happen hours before it did) and the characters and concepts new to Mass Effect 3 are either ridiculous (Kai Leng, the future space ninja) to just shallow (James Vega, token mexican-american space marine). The endings, suffice to say, will leave you in shock with how lazy they were crafted.

    BioWare did impress me with how it handled some of its lesser side characters though, I did not expect so many of them to return as cameos and not simply emails saying, "Hi, remember me?"

    2. None of your choices impact much in ME3. If you played the previous games, you'll find ME3 a little easier to play with some difficult decisions removed (such as choosing one character or another to live), but overall very little changes depending upon your choices in the previous two games. Almost nothing changes based on your choices in ME3, which is a bit surprising. Not even your paragon/renegade status really seems to influence anything.

    This is really wrenching. Major decisions like letting the Rachni living in the first game or not, have no bearing on the game's events in any meaningful manner. But also, deciding who you ally or help or not in ME3 really has no effect on the game's ending... or really much of anything.

    3. This game is ugly. BioWare really outsourced its artwork this time. Facial animations and modeling are inferior to ME2. Many big game reveals (a picture of Tali's face) are stock photo touchups (and by that, I mean literally importing a stock photo into photoshop and putting a lens flare over it). Level design is not as creative as in the original ME. There are occasionally some good in-game environments (such as a certain vegetated piece of Tuchanka) but they are few and far between. In order save memory consumption, BW even had to remove the ability to holster your weapon in combat areas. This broke immersion for me, with my character always hunched over looking down the barrel of their gun.

    Whoever designed Diana Allers' "dress" should be shot.

    4. The voice acting in this game is tolerable, though there are some spotty moments (Wrex stands out at times).

    5. The dialogue wheel is horribly dumbed down in this game - I was shocked. Immensely. There is always a "top" or "bottom" choice to pick (two choices) and every once in a while you'll get an 'investigate' option with 3-5 choices there, but less than 10% of the time do you ever get a "middle" option to pursue in dialogue. You're either paragon or renegade in this game, you can't walk the line through any situation. You're either on their side, or you're not.

    6. The gunplay is a little improved. Some of the new abilities are interesting. However, level design has not been improved from ME2/Me1, I'd say it's gotten worse actually. A lot of corridors, people constantly shouting at you to keep moving -- you can't even stop to look around and enjoy the scenery you like, or even plan an approach to your enemy. Corridors and guns are pretty much all you can expect in this game.

    I did enjoy the aspect of building up an army to fight the reapers though, and for a moment (towards the beginning of the game), I felt a little desperate as to whether I would be able to reach maximum army strength. I thought that the more time I dawdled on side missions, the less chance I would have at beating the game. But I shouldn't have been so silly - of course not. Why challenge the player?

    7. The multiplayer is trashy and I don't understand why they wasted development time on it -- besides marketing purposes anyway.

    8. The different difficulty selections are nice, but narrative is immersion breaking and insanity is pretty much 'dumb' in some instances of the game, where enemies zerg you.

    9. The AI is atrocious. Many encounters in the game are made easy when enemies funnel in through drop points or doorways - you can't just stun them all with a Biotic spell. AI tend to just get behind something and shoot from it.

    10. Not a single boss fight was designed well. They feel really tacked on and lame.    … Expand
  72. Rastrelly
    May 31, 2012
    0
    Disappointing and internal law breaking product, that lowers the plank raised by previous games. Uninteresting and not original waste of time and money.
  73. Jinchuuriki
    Mar 13, 2012
    6
    The game is very good even if most of the dialog choice options are cut off. Missions are exciting and I really loved the game.... until last 10 minutes of the game. What a disastrous ending for an epic game! It's full of plotholes and inconsistencies. I can't believe the end of it!
  74. brown47million
    Mar 9, 2012
    9
    I really think the vast plethora of negative reviews of this game comes from some deep-seated bias, anger that Bioware did not topple WoW in the MMO dept., or maybe some dissatisfaction that the "finale" of this series didn't blow their minds to the unrealistic degree they expected. So here's a nice passionless review. This game is a clear upgrade to ME2, gameplay-wise, graphics-wise and even immersion-wise. You'll notice that negative reviews don't have specific game design elements they have problems with (just sweeping grievances, like "Dev. time wasted on multiplayer"). This is because every game element that was added or removed was done so with painstaking care. Personally, I believe Bioware's core competency is their ability to immerse the player in a story/universe. This is done exceptionally well in this game-- emotions run high. I was genuinely distraught when the little boy is take out in the beginning which set me on a fiery revenge path on the reapers. That being said, Bioware works their butts off to make a fun single-player gameplay experience and it pays off. While I would never compare actual gameplay steez to a Developer like Blizzard, Valve and Stunlock Studios--companies of which gameplay is most important-- I have to say Bioware has created a uniquely engaging combat system. Of the "open-world" complaints, I do not quite understand. There are clearly more options at any given time in this game then in any of the previous Mass Effects. At any time there are approximately 4-6 planets (each with 1-3 missions) that I can go to; some of these are central to the story line and many are "side-line." Personally, I don't really care about this element of gameplay (I'm in the, GTA-->overrated boat--not that I haven't dumped days into each since GTA2), I plan on playing all of the content so being able to "choose" the order really doesn't seem important to me. Overall, this game is a 9.4 in my book. The long developed "KOTOR" style of RPG is my current favorite in the single-player category. A worthy distraction from real gaming (SC2 break!) for a few weeks :D.… Expand
  75. babymaru
    Mar 10, 2012
    1
    BW should really stop faking their quality with marketing. This is a bad game.
    They lost their writing. Since they are not good at gameplay or graphics, game is horrible.
    Ending is worst ending I have ever seen. It was very piontless. Mass Effect is not about synthetics vs. organics like Matrix.
    It's about struggle of galactic society and beauty of the people or their action within it.
    Onl    y good thing I saw was naked Liara. That was truly beautiful. Other than that, this game was completely waste of money and time.
    BW is dead. I will never buy game from this company.
    0/0    … Expand
  76. Wessen
    Dec 29, 2012
    9
    Come one people! i don't normally write reviews, but i felt compelled to, because the game was really enjoyable, no idea why so many are complaining about the ending, it wasn't that bad, i enjoyed the game and found myself captivated throughout my playtime, there's no reason to trash the game if the story line didn't meet your expectations, its a phenomenal experience. i had very little performance issues, and i highly recommend this if you enjoyed the other two titles, don't let the user reviewed put you off trying this out, for once the game critics got it right.… Expand
  77. CsendesMark
    Mar 9, 2012
    2
    This is *Gears of War* not Mass Effect, only an action game
    bad story, big gaps
    They went too much to the bad direction :(
    This game isn't give too much to the Mass Effect universe... only that silly ending.
  78. Templar19
    Mar 22, 2012
    8
    Overall this was an amazing and emotional game. It is a lot different from 1 and 2, the graphics are beautiful and the game play and combat are more fun, however it seems really dumbed down compared to the other games, more like a gears of war style adventure game. Had there been more rpg elements, better quests, and a better ending i would give it a 10/10, the ending did ruin the entire series for me though...… Expand
  79. MrRiggs
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Only Mass Effect fanboys will like this pew pew pew laser toy gun game. This game was overrated form the start. Good graphics is the only thing it has going for it, its a typical RPG generic shooter that brings nothing far out to the table, only get this if you like average games form a once good franchise.
  80. roboticsun
    Jul 4, 2012
    8
    Mass Effect 3 is a well made experience to say the least. The overall combat action is very fast and fluid though there are quite a few animation glitches here and there but aren't serious enough to ruin things. The six basic classes are played differently, so the combat itself had replay values. The enemy AI are improved a bit but still feels weak most time. The pause function really ruined this game imo which made this single player game rather easy. The story is epic in scope compare to the previous two entries but some new plots are not well explained. I wont put spoilers here, but the game indeed will confuse you if you ever played the first two mass effect games. the newly released extended cut added more explanations, though I do not feel it helped much.The playable characters are significantly reduced compare to mass effect 2 which leads to a shorter story line. the playable contents in single player part are noticeably less than those in mass effect 2. you should be able to finish most single player contents in 30~35 hours. However, the game did add a quite fun multilayer portion to compensate the shorter single player game. there are lots of unlockables in multilayer, so it should keep you busy for one or two months. despite the flaws, I still would say mass effect 3 is a very solid game combining fun combat, epic storyline and interactive cinema. It's still a memorable adventure and a must play for people who loved storytelling in video games.… Expand
  81. PapaShroom
    Mar 20, 2012
    10
    An absolutely amazing finish to one of the greatest sci-fi trilogy's ever. The game brings all of what makes Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 great and rolls it up into one epic game. For all of you who dont understand the ending you really should open your eyes a bit more. This game was incredible this entire series was amazing and will be lauded for years to come.
  82. skulls
    Mar 12, 2012
    2
    There are so many things wrong with this game let me summarize them in a neat little list:

    1. The ending, despite assurances from bioware that "It's not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C." that is exactly what the ending is, pick A, B, or C and in all three endings you destroy all the mass r    elays, everybody dies, and nothing you do has mattered. Source: http://www.oxm.co.uk/37677/mass-effect-3-citadel-is-bigger-than-ever-endings-will-be-more-sophisticated/

    2. Nothing you did in the past two games matters. If you picked Anderson to be Councillor it doesn't matter they changed it, if you killed the Rachni queen it doesn't matter there's another one just for the hell of it, if you helped Cerberus at the end of Mass Effect 2 it doesn't matter you still have to fight them. Nothing you have done matters more than a few lines to admit that they know you wanted things to be different and they couldn't care less because this is their story not yours.

    3. The gameplay is nothing special. Point your gun at people and shoot then take cover while your health comes back. This has been done before and better. The role playing aspect of the game is laughably simple. There is no merging of the story and the gameplay. The story is told in cutscenes where you can choose what shepard says but as I said before it seems no matter what you say the same things are going to happen.

    4. Day one on disc DLC. They changed a single line of code to lock out paying customers from the prothean companion which was meant to be included in the game. There is no excuse for this blatantly greedy money grab that insults all of their fans.

    5. Multiplayer effects singleplayer. Games today all want to tack on some multiplayer component in order to boost sales or something stupid like that. But the multiplayer effects how well your forces do in the end and if you want the 'best' end which is still the same ending with a different color laser beam you have to play the multiplayer which has huge amounts of DLC if you want to win. Oh and if you join the wrong server you'll get banned from both multiplayer and single player though no fault of your own.

    Aside from the story, gameplay, animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDpQn5EOre8, bioware and EA have responded to fan criticism with nothing but snide remarks and apathy banning anybody who insults their precious masterpiece. This company thinks they're above their fans. Do not buy Mass Effect 3, do not get Origin, this is the final nail in the coffin of Bioware.    … Expand
  83. schweinhundert
    Mar 26, 2012
    0
    Well, I enjoyed the first two games, dunno why this one felt so cheesy and horrible right off the bat to me. Veryconsoley feeling.
    I always found the series a little cheesy, stiff, and b-movie grade, but this one, I couldn't even stomach for more than an hour.
    So there's my uninformative text to allow me to give it a lousy score of one.
    :)
  84. Vicissitude
    Apr 11, 2012
    7
    I think a lot of the user reviews here are unfair. Yes, the game has some surprisingly nasty technical issues. For one mission, Garrus disappeared for about 20-30 minutes. Sadly, he was integral to the mission, so characters kept turning to talk to him, but there was nobody there. Much of the time I couldn't hear what he was supposed to be saying. Also, there are tracking issues during conversations. They tried to make the characters turn to face the current speaker, but this mostly just confuses them when there's more than one speaker. The most hilarious was when Liara's helper bot flew by during a conversation, and Shepard flipped out. He started thrashing about with his eyes rolled back in his head. Reminded me of the Exorcist.

    I'm not convinced the ending was bad, but I don't think it was very explicit about how your choices impacted the ending. Looking around online I found the ending thresholds, so it turns out it does matter what you do. It's just hard to directly see the impacts. The different endings are apparently pretty similar.

    The technical issues are my main gripe. I would say I still liked this better than the first Mass Effect but less than the second. I did not find it as disappointing as Dragon Age 2. I feel like people are comparing Mass Effect 3 to some ideal of what they hoped the game would be instead of comparing the game to its peers. Comparing the game to its peers shows that it some things well. It's a beautiful game graphically, and I enjoyed the cameos from throughout the series and seeing how choices I made came back to affect the third game.    … Expand
  85. Gunmars
    Mar 12, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mass Effect 3 is not what it could have been. In all reality I was disappointed at some aspects of the game but overall the game is far from being horrible. Lack luster story and failure to really give a connection to previous companions was a major downfall for me. The story isn't as epic as expected for the finale, some lines seem very forced and non committed and the chat wheel got stripped down where you have two dialog choices that are basically nice and mean response. The paragon and renegade choices that you get at key points follow the same style, paragon is super nice and renegade is a worse version of the normal conversation choice. Overall the chat system and voice acting is simply adequate.

    Graphics are a slight improvement with an emphasis on slight with problems with many facial animations, especially a problem with eyes rolling back into characters head all the time. Combat is a exact clone of Mass Effect 2 with some minor change ups such as a few turret sequences and Shepard solo missions. As for squad mates this was the glaring problem in my opinion, going from 12 choices (with DLC) in Mass Effect 2 back down to 6 (7 with DLC). I get this is supposed to have a vague focus on the "human story" and having a new human companion is nice but the lack of "new" unique squad mates is somewhat disappointing. Human James Vega, Robotic EDI and DLC Prothean Javik are the new comers with Garrus, Tali , Liara and Kaiden/Ashley are the returning squad mates. EDI nor Javik made me say to myself "I can't go without these people" I ended up connecting with James Vega but ran with my standard Garrus/Liara squad a majority of the game. Maybe it's me just going with the known hand or maybe the new squad mates aren't that interesting. Multiplayer for me was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. For those that don't know the multiplayer rip off "horde mode" effects your story modes "Galactic Readiness". Basically it is a great incentive to get people into the online aspect of the game by basically making it so your chances are slow bad without a high galactic readiness that you need to do at least some of it to achieve the best possible endings for the Mass Effect 3 story. Now for combat, it is basically a 4 player horde mode with some random objectives thrown in so you simply can't fortify a spot and sit there. Your main goal is to survive 11 waves of every increasing enemies, not just their numbers but strengths, each map has 3 possible enemy factions you can choose or be completely random. Reapers, Geth and Cereberus are your teams adversaries. You start out as a basic human that can be any of the games classses and as you beat waves and eventually all 11 waves you get credits and experience. Experience will let you unlock skills just like in story mode and credits can be used to buy varying equipment chests. The basic chest has common but useful items such as medi gel to heal and ammo enhancements. The mid range chest costs more but contains at least 1 uncommon item which varies from weapons to new races to play in multiplayer, along with common items like the first chest. Finally the top end chest is very expensive and requires multiple map completions to be able to afford but it guarantees a uncommon item with the decent chance of another uncommon with some common items. This mode also has a difficulty modifier, you can choose between bronze, silver and gold difficulty. The only difference is the very increased difficulty between them and the exp and credit rewards are substantially better. A side note about galactic readiness is that it will decay about 3% a day so it will need to do some multiplayer if you wish to have 100% readiness for future story play through if you wish.

    Overall Mass Effect 3 is solid, it isn't the epic ending we expected from BioWare. The story we expected to be amazing came off as somewhat dull and predictable at points. The graphics had a slight improvement with unexpectedly odd facial animations but the cinematics and sound track are amazing. Your new squad mates aren't very interesting but the return of old friends that make it acceptable with enough variation. The endings aren't what I expected but the piano soundtrack during the ending mission and cinematic gave me the feeling of suspenseful hope followed by what felt as a shallow victory. The big surprise for me with Mass Effect 3 was the multiplayer, while I doubt it has the staying power needed to be super active for more then a few months, possible DLC can give a fun and usually rewarding multiplayer experience more life then it should.    … Expand
  86. alien5
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    The series has fallen downhill since the first. Everything has been continuously simplified, and the writing has fallen out of the realm of anything that could be considered acceptable. It's lazy, and one a person who has someone managed to enjoy the same game that Bioware has been recycling for the better part of the last decade will be able to enjoy this.
  87. Dethstar
    Mar 26, 2012
    5
    More of the same nonsense. I never was a fan of the series finding the camera angles and character control system very annoying. It is pretty I will give it that but there its another one for the big fans of the ME series. Nothing to recommend it to someone who never thought it was anything but a good game if forced to play console games for a week. Did not meet my expectations.
  88. makemenuconfig
    Mar 22, 2012
    0
    OK, I really loved ME1 and 2. I anxiously waited for the 3rd game and see how is it going to end, what is going to happen to the characters and the galaxy. Up until the last 5 minutes of the game, it was completely blown!

    But, suddenly, the game took a U turn and started going downhill fast.It betrayed not only me for insulting my intelligence, but it insulted the game itself. It ended wi    thout explaining anything or giving any kind of closure. And on top of it, it doesn't make any sense, not even for fiction standards.

    The reason I am giving a score of 0 is the ending. If I were to score the game prior to seeing the ending I would have given it a 8 or 9.    … Expand
  89. GeorgeA
    Jul 19, 2012
    2
    Forget the terrible, plot hole-ridden abomination Bioware calls an "ending". This game has far worse problems than that. An incredibly lazy deus ex machina plot involving super-mega-awesome reaper destruction device known as " The Crucible" to some of the most ridiculous scenes in the history of video gaming(Tali's possible death sequence, for example). The writing is atrocious and seems to be done by a seven-year-old fan-fiction writer. The "neutral" dialog response is now completely removed, so most of the time you have two illusionary choices in dialogs, which don't affect anything at all. That is,if dialog wheel even appears, as it has been mostly replaced by auto-dialog. The world of Mass Effect has shrunk from the quite large Citadel areas and dozen of huge,explorable (though empty) planets in Mass Effect to six crammed locations at the citadel with bland grey architecture and bleak Normandy in the third game. Not even four relatively small, but at least completely different hubs like in Mass Effect 2 .But the final nail in the coffin are "quests".The way it works is already anecdotal-you wonder around the Citadel, "overhear" two people talking about some stupid item, your journal will update, you go to that area, scan the planet via boring planet scanner, "retrieve" that item and give it back to those idiots at Citadel. That's it. No dialog wheel, not even a cutscene, nothing at all. There are other kind of RARE side-missions, where you go to a boxed area and kill everything on your way to... retrieve data or item. There is not a single side-mission, which even remotely looks like an RPG quest should, let alone being interesting. The combat is the same as the second game, a boring cover-based Gears of War like shooter with million enemies per level to kill. Weapon mods are almost completely useless, armor sets are literally copy/pasted from Mass Effect 2 DLC. Hell, most of the time you can't even talk to your teammates on Normandy. The only reason I don't give it a zero, is because some really good moments here and there. In all, a disaster of epic proportions, no doubt. Bioware managed to destroy an interesting and promising science fiction action-adventure game with RPG elements and that's not easy even if you work deliberately to do just that.… Expand
  90. megakoresh
    Mar 11, 2012
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I would agree with most people here. 99% of the game deserve 10/10. If I could be reasonable and objective I would, but this game means too much for me so I can't. It has really ruined the entire trilogy with the ending. Until the very end I was sure I would want to play the whole trilogy several times over, once I finish. But after I did, I know. I do not want to be playing this game anymore. For what? If nothing of what we did throughout all 3 games matters and we get this over-the-top mystically philosophical crap in the end anyway, then what's the point?… Expand
  91. Atech66
    Mar 11, 2012
    0
    Thank God.. this is why i use Meta for everything... no BS no paid off journalism just the freakin truth. We have been getting screwed this whole year .. Bethesda kicked my teeth in with Rag(e) and B(usted)rink and now EA screws the biggest pooch of all.. way to F go you money hungry half azzed dumb sh*ts. greed has taken over the entire damn industry without Indie games i almost didnt have a gaming year.. EA you suck.. if Diablo 3 is screwed up ( nothing to do with EA) Im giving up.… Expand
  92. Morring
    Apr 4, 2012
    0
    The whole game, except the last five minutes, is above average. It has some GREAT moments and some considerable shortcomings, The technical department is poor, the few improvements over the previous game are balanced by many flaws, which become obstacles during gameplay. Action could be a lot of fun, too bad you only have one button to crouch, run, and jump over obstacles. Most of the times you'll die it's going to be because of this. Some good moments about the plot, but some errors and contradictions are very easy to notice. The soundtrack, that's probably the only thing that really went right. Given all this facts I'd give it a 7/10 BUT: the ending. The plot becomes meaningless, all your choices: discarded. The explanations are incredibly dumb at best, and even if you assume it was all just a dream, or an indoctrination induced vision, it keep not making sense. Even if it did, you still don't see what happens to the galaxy you learned to love in the course of three games. What you get is the same cutscene, with an explosion of a different color based on a choice you make in the last 30 seconds of gameplay. This is no hyperbole, it's actually what you get. The whole plot is based on something the devs explicitly said they would'n do: add a "kill reapers" button. They aren't even above adding the cliche child dying seeking some easy drama, and getting shepard out of character a bit more. I'd make it 4/10 then, even with no reasonable plot it's still a nice action game with some control issues and a few good moments with your old companions, right? No, because a game is not just the final product. Everything reeks of the scent of some money-craving horrible beast. You get day one DLC that is already on disk. That character was intended to be meaningful to the plot, and you can see why: it's a prothean. But they just accepted to sacrifice some of the plot meaningfulness so that it could be an optional you could sell. As you finish the game, a message appears: you are reset before you start the last mission, and you're invited to buy some DLCs to further shepard's adventures. This behaviour is unacceptable. Remember when DLCs were stuff they made months AFTER the game was released, and you got to play THE WHOLE GAME simply by paying its price? Maybe it's me, maybe I should't have standards. But I do, and so do many people. That's why after a second playtrough I'm modifying my review and giving this a zero. That's why this game has such a low score. I understand you may really want to play this, but DO NOT BUY. These people can only understand money.… Expand
  93. pyromaniac4002
    Jul 22, 2012
    0
    They ruined the whole goddamn series.

    How many countless hours it took playing through ME 1 and 2 probably 4 or 5 times each, and after playing ME 3 to the end I haven't touched any of them in months.
  94. ittarter
    Mar 8, 2012
    8
    I've only been playing for five hours and I'm hooked. SP is fantastic -- the plot, dialogue, visual effects, leveling, fighting -- and MP looks promising too. All the meaningless 0 scores this game suffers on Metacritic -- just ignore them. I played around 200 hours between ME and ME2, I've played KOTOR, I've played DAO and DA2, I'm a lover of the FPS of Crysis and the legendary RPG series, Diablo 2. This game easily trumps them all. Especially if you're a lover of the lore because you've played through the earlier games in the series. Don't cheat yourself. Buy the first one and play it through, then the second, then the third. They're all excellent and I can't think of a more compelling universe ever made -- Star Wars only gets props because it was first (and Middle Earth too, of course). And ME3 will still be around 100 hours of gameplay afterward when you've properly prepared yourself for it, to enjoy it for all it's worth.… Expand
  95. Kyrgsh
    Jul 17, 2012
    4
    Possibly the most disappointing release I've ever played. I will, in all honesty, never forgive the developer for taking narrative control away from a character I'd spent _years_ with and forcing her to engage in the least satisfying ending- and least in-character actions- imaginable. I haven't even logged into multiplayer in months. Regardless of how many new "cool" weapons and commendation packs they throw at me, the game is dead to me. I paid for it and have no interest in ever going back. And all those "critics" who gave the game a 10/10...I doubt I'll be trusting your opinions from here on out.… Expand
  96. Gallant000
    Mar 10, 2012
    9
    Look.. it's a fun game. Loved ME1, Loved ME2.. ME3 is pretty good. There is no doubt in my mind that I will replay the whole series over again, and I'm satisfied with what was offered for part 3.

    The problem perhaps is people have spent the last 5 years expecting something "SO GREAT" that no matter what product was released, there is going to be some room for disappointment. In any cas    e, you have a very solid, playable game - that improves on the shortcomings of the two previous games. Is it perfect? I played through the games, I read the books, and I even read some of the comics. In my opinion, this ties things up nicely.

    Absolutely not. Find me a game that is.

    Have I had a lot of fun playing it? Yes.

    Was it worth my money? Yes.

    Will I be purchasing DLC? Absolutely.    … Expand
  97. thesisko
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    Another turd by the BioWare sequel-machine. If you're looking for a B-movie plot combined with a weak and repetitive on-rails shooter this will suit you. But if you're a fan of BioWare's earlier work, such as Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age: Origins you're better off forgetting this development house existed and look towards more serious RPG developers like Larian Studios or Piranha Bytes. Also keep an eye out for Brian Fargo's upcoming "Wasteland 2".… Expand
  98. crescent
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    After Dragon Age 2, I didn't believe that bioware will have what it takes to throw out another bad game. What has gone wrong with this once top-notch developer? Are they all short sighted with only cash in mind, or have they fired all those who actually cared about making a good game with pressure from EA to crank out more dough. What happens in the end, non of us would know. One thing we are sure though is that Bioware is no longer the esteemed developer it once was, its reputation going down the drain in a year, with ME3 being the final nail to the coffin. Disappointed.… Expand
  99. Magnus
    Mar 7, 2012
    6
    I'm speechless. Why ? I did something stupid, played the first game imported my character in to the second game,imported to ME3.
    Why the rant? When did the gaming industry decided that a person able to enjoy a adult movie is unable to comprehend Schindler's List?
    It didn't start well , the intro mission is railroaded, Shepard is a lost minion , irritating for every player that shaped     his character thru countless hours of the two previous games, pondering the outcomes of hers/his decisions. I seriously have no idea why I did what I did in the previous games.
    It's a clone of so many movie/game decisions where the Hero does the ultimate spoiler thing, and everyone is aware that the morally grey , isn't really grey it's just trying to create the illusion by pressing on the tear duct by removing the few things a RPG player cares about-the characters and interactions with them , one by one .

    The game has one of the worst endings in history, all of them and the idea that the player is not worthy to get some closure is strange, feel's like subconsciousness marketing for DLC.
    The characters from the previous game suffer at times cringe worthy writing , and lack of screen time.
    Simply there isn't enough time for anything, and the dialogues took a major hit, feels completely rushed. New players probably will not care, the game doesn't even introduce them in a proper manner, they can run and gun without consequences and even enjoy the game.
    MP is very well done,interesting and addictive , so nothing to criticize except the Origin client.
    Rated DA2 with a 1 rating this game with a 6 to reflect the technical superiority, but only the technical , the disappointment is identical like DAO vs DA2 despite never seeing the ME games as RPG's , and wondering why the "Jack of all trades, master of none" figure somehow became the most defining aspect of Bioware's recent titles.    … Expand
  100. TwsitedComplex
    Mar 7, 2012
    3
    Very sad for a once great company.
    Bad dialog
    Using sprites for background characters
    Can't import faces from ME1
    The ending is literally copy/paste from Deus Ex
    Tali's face is a bad photoshop from a models website
    The vast majority of the time there are only 2 dialog options
    The list goes on

    It really is quite pathetic
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. CPUGamer
    Apr 11, 2012
    90
    BioWare captures the scale of the conflict well, but always focuses on the people involved in it. It's pretty amazing just how badly EA disregarded the heart of the game – the characters and the world – when they began their marking blitzkrieg, but don't worry, it's oh so definitely there – Day 1 DLC, controversial endings, and questionable use of resources be damned. This is a fine, lovingly crafted game with a clear vision despite the realities of corporations and damning business practices.
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  2. PC PowerPlay
    Apr 5, 2012
    80
    A game that's more shooter than role-playing, and a conclusion that's more spectacular than dramatic. [Apr 2012, p.47]
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  3. Absolute Games
    Mar 31, 2012
    85
    Finishing a trilogy is always difficult. Tying off dozens of story threads which had been woven by players into many different tapestries is a daunting task. Mass Effect 3 is the first game that succeeded at this colossal undertaking.
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