Mass Effect 3 PC
User Score
4.7 out of 10

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 4366 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,811 out of 4366
  2. Mixed: 368 out of 4366
  3. Negative: 2,187 out of 4366

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  1. saywhatIfeel
    Mar 10, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Do not play this game if you've not played the other 2. The PR BS stating that ME3 was fine to start on was said to ship a few more units and is an insult.

    I've never been one to post reviews before, but the conclusion of what had become one of my favorite new IPs ever has completely ruined my opinion and feelings about this franchise.

    From a technical standpoint, I enjoyed ME3. While retaining much of the same mechanics and gameplay style of the previous two games, there was not much adjustment needed coming to it. There are some stunning graphical moments and all in all despite a few minor bugs/glitches, nothing took me out of the atmosphere. The game's music should be lauded and is absolutely perfect. Along with Jesper Kyd's Assassin's Creed soundtracks, Mass Effect 3 has easily my favorite music in any game this generation.

    What annoys me most is what is annoying other fans of this series, the ending. Never in my wildest dreams did I think BioWare would take this way out. My guess is that EA forced this ending onto the franchise in an effort to leave the door open for continuation. I'd be fine with that if they had allowed the player to tie up Shepherd's story in a meaningful way. They don't. No matter what ending you are faced with, there's nothing uplifting or positive. It's just....gray. The only way they can really go with this story now is prequels considering the outcome of ME3. I don't care about the past other than how it effects the now. I cared about Shepherd and his friends.

    This is extremely unfair to the players that have been with this series since day one. I've never been much of an RPG fan. This game changed that for me. I took the choices I had to make in this series seriously, as I believed the developers when they said that every choice the player made has an effect on the ultimate conclusion. The ending shatters this notion completely as no matter how you play your Shepherd, whether a pious 100% Paragon good guy, or a 100% Renegade butthole, the same endings occur. There is no meaningful epilogue explaining what happens to the galaxy or the multitude of races you encounter. Just a few random screens and the Normandy door about to open on some tropical looking place. And then an old guy...and a kid.

    From a personal standpoint, from the moment of the first dream sequence where you're chasing a child you witness the death of early in the game, I knew that something was afoot. In any form of story, any time a child is put in this sort of role, it is a cop-out tool to garner emotion. This is fine, but its an easy way when the story is already in place to generate that emotion. If your Shepherd is a 100% renegade, why the heck would he even care about a kid? From my perspective, nothing can be done to save this franchise now. Shepherd's story and the 2 prior games were ruined by this terrible conclusion. I will not purchase any DLC nor will I revisit this franchise again. It received a 4 based on technical merit alone. Not since Darth Vader screamed, "Noooooooooooooo" at the end of Episode 3 have I felt this let down by a story and this trumps the Star Wars prequels for hokey. What's sad about this is that Mass Effect 3 is a good game. It plays well. It had the suspense needed to portray such a massive undertaking. The game does tie up many of the secondary plot points in the game and you have to make some hard decisions that supposedly influence the conclusion. The conclusion is an absolute cop-out and no matter how your Shepherd has progressed is very similar across the board.. We played these games to see what would happen to our character that the developers allowed us to develop and in the end we're force-fed (I blame EA almost entirely for this conclusion) a non-sensical conclusion. Multiplayer was needlessly tacked on and making it a mechanic in the single player story was a huge slap in the face. I play sports games or shooters multi, not RPGs. One of the positive aspects of the negatives of this game is how it shines a light on video game "journalism". The fact is the majority of reaction to this game's ending has been almost universally panned by players. Yet, it's received universal acclaim from the so-called "experts".    … Expand
  2. goblue22
    Mar 10, 2012
    0
    This game is absolutely AMAZING right up until the final 15 minutes or so. The end of the game is really a slap in the face to anyone who has stayed with the series from the beginning.

    I am not saying this because I did not get the end that I wanted. I would have been perfectly fine with an ending in which everyone died - because at the very least that would have been a clear and well def    ined end. This series has always been defined and advertised as character driven. The player is encouraged to get invested in and attached to the characters in the Mass Effect universe. And yet the way this game ends is simply unacceptable. The ending gives very little understanding of exactly what happened, and the player is given very little to go on in terms of the fates of the characters.

    I have never been one to write reviews or have strong opinions on games. I am not even one who typically gets attached to series the way I got attached to Mass Effect. But the way the end of the game seems like Bioware came up with it in maybe 10 minutes is, in my opinion, a betrayal of the fans.    … Expand
  3. Cottonswab
    Mar 11, 2012
    6
    Overall, not a bad game but that being said it's not a good game either. Game play is nearly identical to mass effect 2 which in and of itself is not bad as ME2 had great game play. Level design is more open than in ME2 where at times it felt like a series of narrow hallways. Where the game falls short is in the storyline especially the ending. There are numerous plot holes depending on the choices made in the earlier games. As for the endings, there are 3, but the choices made in game have no effect on which one you get, you simply choose one after the final mission. The end also has virtually no closure for your squad members or any of the other races involved in the war. Voice acting ranges from good to bad. A decent game but not what I've come to expect from the Mass Effect series.… Expand
  4. sniperking
    Mar 12, 2012
    3
    ME1 set the grand standard for the whole series. The best of the trilogy and I started playing ME2 first. ME2 had some problems but was still a great game. Tied in well with 1. To show that I am not trolling Bioware by writing this, I want to highly endorse playing ME1 and 2, they are why this series has such a passionate fanbase and are achievements in gaming in themselves. BUT BELIEVE THE OTHER GAMERS WHEN THEY SAY THAT ME3 IS BAD, IT IS FULL OF PROBLEMS.
    To break it down here why you should not support the direction Bioware took with ME3.

    1. Three bad endings. Let's get one thing straight, fans love this game for its story, characters and world. Its combat was good but not its true selling point. So for Bioware to give us endings which provide no closure and instead tons of plot holes is a big disappointment. Not to mention that if you were involved with the game's 'lore', the ending would make absolutely no sense.

    I personally found the dialogue in this instalment particular dry, even boring. Not a good thing in a game where you spend a lot of time talking to NPCs.

    2. The renegade/paragon system seemed more superficial in this instalment. Do not believe that you control the way the story develops by your so called choices. In the end you have 3 set endings and it seems like your choices are illusory at best.

    After a while I either forgot or didn't care about being renegade/paragon because the game seemed absent of truly reflecting the moral decisions I made. I couldn't change a major part of the story from my decisions, I couldn't stop a crew mate I liked from dying, then what was the point of the decision system?

    They could have stepped it up on how your decisions impacted your universe but they didnâ    … Expand
  5. laughing_man
    Mar 13, 2012
    1
    Being the best gaming series I have played it is a sad day when you reach the finishing line and it is as horrible as it is. I love the Mass Effect games, heart and soul and I've played them through countless times. This rating is purely to voice my utter dissatisfaction with how the game ends.
    I'm not one of those that want a good happy ending and it is not because of some gay sexscene (s    eriously, do journalists actually believe the crap they are putting out??). It is simply because the current ending (NOT endingS, mind you) makes absolutely no sense. Why is there no difference between the endings? WHY doesn't my choices make any difference what so ever. In a stroke of sheer genious BW implements transfer of savegames which all amounts to a **** nothing come the absurd end.
    I never write reviews but I love this game to damn much to not make my voice heard.    … Expand
  6. tortellini
    Mar 13, 2012
    1
    Gameplay is ok and fun, even if nothing really changed since 2. There are 3 groups of enemies which is all you ever fight, and they get repetitive fast.The biggest issue is that the resolution of the story is the worst let-down. For people who liked the Mass Effect series as an PRG, or simply for its story, this is such a let-down that it spoils the entire series. The ending is poorly implemented - plot holes, people appear in places they aren't, one person suddenly has powers that make no sense and are never explained - but the most frustrating thing is that for a series defined by making choices, there is essentially only one ending, meaning the choices made along several games are in the end almost completely irrelevant. That has spoiled the whole thing for me, and I haven't touched the game since. I would not recommend the game due to the dissapointing conclusion.… Expand
  7. Kaorimoch
    Mar 13, 2012
    1
    I consider myself a Mass Effect Fan having played Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 multiple times and enjoying the experience, but Mass Effect 3 irked me in many ways.
    1. Origin Exclusive - To play this game, you are forced to sign up and play through the developer's portal. Since I have membership to 7 other gaming websites, signing up to an 8th makes it difficult to keep track of where     all my games are registered to.
    2. Multiplayer - In the game to get the best ending, you have to completely exhaust all single player missions and do some multiplayer. Some people like myself think multiplayer and RPGs don't mix.
    3. The ending is completely at odds with how the entire saga played out. It has very little choice, plays like some existentialistic dream at odds with reality and gives no satisfying conclusion. It seems devoted to making some writer at Bioware smile in joy with the emotions they have inspired with the ending - the emotions of anger and disappointment it brings out in the player. I've never seen such an abrupt and jarring ending since KOTOR2. It has been universally slammed by fans whilst critics and Bioware opine that the fans have to eat it.
    However, the game was great with simple missions that don't take too long to complete, plot twists, great graphics and challenging combat. The romances, storylines and respect to the choices players have made in the past (except for the ending), make it a great tale. Great opening, great middle, complete let down at the end.
    All in all, the game seems devoted to forcefeeding its fans instead of allowing them to take their final journey with Shepard to its ultimate conclusion. For an RPG, this is an unforgivable sin.    … Expand
  8. ziuty17
    Mar 13, 2012
    0
    I don't think that the ending of game is everything, but that one pissed me off. Game was nice, also big plus for dialogs. Most of characters was uniqe and outstanding. If BioWare create new ending, with pleasure i will play once more. But for now my rating is 1.
  9. dirtyferret
    Mar 13, 2012
    5
    good combat, better then ME1
    excellent voice acting
    story is mediocre (better then 1 not as good as 2) poorly optimized for the PC. plays like a direct console port taking little advantage of a PC keyboard
    day one DLC brings nothing to the story previous decisions (from 1 and 2) have little impact in 3
    ending writing is not though out well, poorly written and feels rushed
  10. JosieRevisited
    Mar 13, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I haven't played through to the very end yet, but I'm close. Like heading after the reapers close... And I'm not sure I want to see what happens.

    I had high hopes for this game. They confirmed we were getting Liara back, our old friends would be making appearances, and everything would get some closure. Instead, we got a sort of mish-mash of short stories with the occasional ParaRene choice to make us feel like we had an impact. Right. I regret going strictly Paragon now because in the end, it didn't make a difference.

    There are no side quests (every quest ties into the main quest whether it is priority or not. Given the circumstances I understand, but they could have done soooo much more with an apocalyptic epic like this *could* have been). I was expecting Fallout 3NV levels of exploration on some of the planets, you know, saving refugees, rescuing civilians, taking down the occasional reaper... The closest thing we got was hopping from Cerberus base to Cerberus base, watching a thresher maw eat a machine, and try to slowly roll out of the way of a laser.

    But, there is no exploration. At all. None. I scanned every planet in every cluster and they even dumbed that down to an obscene amount.

    Stories that we BEGGED them to continue (or start) they barely even acknowledged (Samara anyone? Joker? Other past romances that stop in their tracks? Inequality between Manshep's level of choices and Femshep's? They can give him two homosexual options but unless you saved Kaidan, Femshep gets no heterosexual ones? It doesn't make sense.)

    Overall, I see why they delayed the release. This could not have competed with Skyrim for GoTY. It's too short a game, even on 'normal' mode, and I found myself looking at the quest log at one point and realizing that I finished twenty or so of them just from my lackluster one probe sweep per planet and asteroids-style Reaper avoidance. Truly epic entertainment....

    Honestly, it's a decent game as far as your "rally your allies and fight the evil overlord" sort of piece goes, but it's not what I was expecting from the Mass Effect finale. This is something I would have expected over on FanFiction.net.

    And that's my only consolation - we writers will be able to weave our own tales now that it's over. Shame they didn't give us much to work with.

    I'm looking forward to the next BioWare title, but I don't think that ME3 is going to get the amount replays that the first two did.    … Expand
  11. Gonzi
    Jun 27, 2012
    10
    I loved almost everything about Mass Effect 2 and yet Mass Effect 3 delivers even better game. Action parts are perfect, flanking works flawlessly and I really like different types of enemies. I like the plotline and while I must say, that potential from previous saves is rather underused, it still feels like "mine" universe and whole story of all three games works with it rather nicely.
    PS: DON'T PLAY IT WITHOUT EXTENDED ENDING DLC… Expand
  12. jimlock
    Mar 13, 2012
    1
    Truly... TRULY disappointing. Unfortunately, Bioware's downfall since DA2 is being grandiosely confirmed with ME3.
    The ending is so badly written and laughs at all players who were living in the illusion of "Choice-Matters".
    Not only choice does not matter, but the single... yes SINGLE ending for all Shepherds out there, is shallow, two dimensional and simplistic (yes... not simple).
    I wou    ld love to see an ending rewritten, even though the chances for that to happen are very close to 0.… Expand
  13. gimmeabreak
    Mar 13, 2012
    2
    The music is very good, but a mixed bag due to the number of different writers. The sound effects are very good but the sound engine doesn't give realistic sound. Going from one room to another (through an opening, not a door) often results in the sound abruptly changing -- no mix of the sounds from the two rooms. The graphics are good to excellent. Animation generally is very buggy. Going from cinematic to live action can be laughable. So can going from one cinematic to another. Often the characters will jump into new body positions. The story this time sucks IMO. They put this out way before it was ready!… Expand
  14. Gyrolin
    Mar 15, 2012
    3
    I bought the game. The gameplay was fun. The ending was horrible. The decision resolution was atrocious. The co-op multiplayer is redundant. The day 1 DLC felt like exploitation.

    EA has ruined both Mythic and Bioware. I am severely disappoint.
  15. angelkurisu
    Mar 15, 2012
    0
    An embarassment. Do not release an unfinished game, pure and simple. Extremely buggy multiplayer, and an incomplete story. The inevitable $10 DLC that will conclude the game's story is nothing short of a scam.
  16. frozen82
    Mar 16, 2012
    0
    This is not a game it's a hoax.And I mean it in the most blunt and direct way.It doesn't matter whether the game is good or bad,it's completely irrelevant.The game is purposely DESIGNED to be flawed in the end.The head writer and game director should be charged of felony because this is criminal punishment thing.Really.They sell a product as it is funcional when a matter of fact is that it is not and can only be used ONCE.They are lying to the consumers.And I must repeat that this is not some vague"artistic"take on the game quality,it really isn't .You can see that the game is purposely made the way it is by the fact that ONLY last 5 min. of it are made in a way that completely makes pointless all you ever done in the game and previously 2 games.No wrighter can do this on accident.Its impossible.This is just a crook covering his tracks.BECAUSE if RPG at the very end has completely opened resolution witch is denied of all internal,external or any kind of logic patterns,the only purpose of that kind of consolation of story narrative is to PURPOSELY DESTROY everything that has build up to it.And when someone is selling you this its time to call the cops.DO not buy this game,DO not watch this game,report it.I'm absolutely disgusted calling myself a writer knowing that out there is someone called Mac Walters who DELIBERATELY denied RPG of its replayability,making people on forums such as BWN docile and depressive only so that EA can shorten lifespan of game to a cach-go for multiplayer and further consummation(which is not cheap) of more of the same broken one-time to use pile of crap.… Expand
  17. ivan_ru
    Mar 17, 2012
    3
    Mass effect 3 has become more shooter than RPG, all of these settings are more similar to weapons purchase in a counter-streak, and the skills needed for the opponents of deportation from the walls. The ending is absolutely stupid. Diagnosis: a shooter that is worse than counter-strike, with dialogue from the mass effect 1-2, and very stupid ending.
  18. bronzerev
    Mar 17, 2012
    6
    On the whole, this is a fantastic game with a clear improvement in combat mechanics, conversation structure and graphics. Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) and Sam Hulick (Mass Effect 1 & 2, Red Orchestra 2) provide a powerful and emotive soundtrack; however Jack Wallâ
  19. zennyrpg
    Mar 17, 2012
    4
    The game was 10/10 until the end. The game itself had some flaws, particularly the new characters were not as fleshed out/ interesting as they could have been. But it also had some of the most satisfying, unbelievable triumphs I've ever witnessed. The Rannoch mission and its multiple conclusions convinced me that "this is the greatest game I've ever seen." Sadly, the ending killed it- but its still "bearable" as long as you can accept that you get the same crappy ending regardless of your choices in the previous or current games. Hopefully DLC will include more options/ more epicness for the ending.… Expand
  20. silvs
    Mar 18, 2012
    3
    An amazing series, and for the most part a great game. But the ending is so unbelievably poor that it ruins the ENTIRE SERIES. It's like the rest of the game they spent years working on, and the ending they put together in 5 minutes. Seriously, it will destroy your appreciation for the franchise.
  21. CainOfCimmeria
    Mar 18, 2012
    0
    Mass Effect 3 continues the engaging and wonderful traditions of the first two games in the series... right up until the finale. Without including any spoilers, I wish I could say that I just didn't like the end, or that the I didn't agree with the way BioWare chose to finish their masterpiece. Instead, the ending trivializes everything that made this series wonderful and nullifies any replayability. Mass Effect 3... none of your decisions matter. Skip this one if you loved the first two.… Expand
  22. MauraderShields
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    The Good-
    -ME 3 i found to be a decent combination of the first 2 with adding back in slightly more rpg aspects from the first game such as more weapons and armor and the tighter gameplay of the second.

    The Bad-
    -Certain aspects of the game felt like several steps backwards, such as the animations which is absolutely atrocious, to removing the gun holstering so you can't view your surroun    dings even if no enemies are around.
    -If you have kept your saves from the first and second ME, like i have, and looking forward to to see how your choices will effect the end of the trilogy, don't bother. The end of ME 3 will hit you like a powerful kick to the nards when you realize you that your choices did not matter and the trilogy is ended with more questions then answers. Conclusion-
    -Its quite an accomplishment to pull of an ending so bad that it ruins the whole series. Its just that bad.    … Expand
  23. Sinilin
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    I love the previous games in the series but ME3 is a disappointment in so many ways. Firstly, I can not import my Shepard's face from ME1 and the game also has bugs all over. Also, the ending of the game is astronomically bad; it goes against everything Shepard has done in the previous games and what Mass Effect-series has really been about. Players choices do not matter at all in the end, all you get is pretty much a one and only ending. An ending that has plot holes as big as black holes, no conclusion and just leaves you empty. I can't believe Bioware actually did this. It's so bad.… Expand
  24. thedoctor
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    Until about the last 15 minutes of ME3, it wasn't just a 10 - it was a 100. But the last 15 minutes are so awful that if I could give the game a negative score, I would. It completely invalidates everything you worked so hard to accomplish not only in this game, but in ME1 and 2 as well. I have zero desire to play any of the ME games ever again as there is no point. Nothing you do, the choices you make, or the relationships you build make any difference whatsoever in the outcome of ME3. The entire series now might as well never existed to begin with! AGH!… Expand
  25. Xingenue
    Mar 19, 2012
    1
    FEMSHEP PLAYERS: They got rid of all of the male romance options except for 2. So choose wisely or else you're in for a disappointing play through in the "romantic" department.

    STORY/DIALOG: I enjoyed the story up until the last 10 minutes of the game. The choices / societal ties you've been establishing over the course of 3 games don't amount to anything aside from numbers on your Estima    ted Military Strength meter. The "endgame" scene is terrible and full of retcons (not just small ones, but ones that quite literally destroy the past 3 games). Aside from that, the dialog is still witty and some of the character development improved many characters I didn't really care about in ME2. However, I felt Ashley's dialog was brief for players who didn't romance her. INTERFACE, MECHANICS, ETC: I actually LOVED what they did with the mechanics / gameplay. Powers recharge faster and they integrated a combo system for adepts that can cause biotic explosions and massive AOE. Multiplayer is surprisingly addicting. However, the quest interface is worse than ME2. There are no "flags" for side quests anymore. You have to constantly be checking your journal (oh and the codex + journal are now merged together so its even more user-unfriendly). I had to keep a sheet of paper on me while I was playing to keep track of side quests. Despite all the positive things I have written, I'm giving this game a 1 because, at its core, Mass Effect was about the story. Its why Mass Effect 1 was my favorite despite the terrible gameplay mechanics. I have spent money on the DLCs and the collectors editions. It has all amounted to nothing because I didn't get "an end" to my story. Their marketing campaign was "TAKE EARTH BACK". At no point do you do this in the game.… Expand
  26. Luxangel7
    Mar 20, 2012
    0
    The game itself is pretty good, not great, not awesome, pretty good. That's it. But the ending. Oh my God the ending. If you have been playing Mass Effect DONT PLAY THIS ONE. The ending will utterly leave you in complete shock and dismay at the sheer level of laziness, stupidity, condescension, and incoherent plot holes that you will find in the ending. Literally EVERYTHING about the ending is completely GOD AWFUL. Stay away from this piece of shi*. First they make us pay for "DLC" to have the prothean squadmate, that hackers reveal is already on the disc and no one needed to pay for it, and now this??? Just vote with your wallets and stay away from this horrible horrible middle finger to the fans.… Expand
  27. Armis
    Mar 21, 2012
    0
    Just echoing what I'm sure many others have said. The game itself is OK. It's not nearly the 10 that bought off critics seem to be giving it. It's simply a mediocre shooter with above average dialogue. But. The ending. Not only is it amazingly bad, but in order to make it even slightly less **** you'd have to grind at the horde-mode multi-player. In a single-player game. Boycotting Bioware from now on.… Expand
  28. LEGION3000
    Mar 21, 2012
    1
    What happened to Bioware? Where did you go wrong? The once proud creators of 3 of the best RPGs in all of gaming (KOTOR, ME1, DA:O) have become the peddlers of mindless garbage like Mass Effect 3 and DA2. The whole idea of Mass Effect was the 'EFFECT' part. Your actions are supposed to effect the outcome of the game, and the series. This game literally takes every decision you have made in the previous games, laughs at them and then flushes them down the toilet. Sometimes just strait up telling you, "no you didn't choose to kill that guy last time because we feel he is important to the story we are trying to cram down your gullet! But you can choose which one of your companions you want to boink, even the gay one! LOOK HOW EDGY AND COOL WE ARE!"

    This game is an insult and a travesty to anyone that played the games before. At least Bioware had the decency to change main characters before ruining Dragon Age. The graphics look good some of the time, and the song in the purgatory club has a good Daft Punk beat. Otherwise play Mass Effect 1 and 2 again and just imagine the end of ME2 is the ending of the series, you will be far far happier than the choose your death ending of ME3    … Expand
  29. Brodesmus
    Mar 23, 2012
    0
    This game is excellent...until the last 15 minutes or so. The ending (there is only one with different colors) destroyed one of my favorite video game franchises. Mass Effect appealed to me because the choices that you made had weight, they affected the story in a tangible way, but no matter what you did in any of the games you always get the same choice of endings. Red, blue, or green.
  30. cwmpro
    Mar 23, 2012
    0
    I was really excited to play this installment of the mass effect series, the idea that the choices and decisions a player can make will create a unique story-line is a great one. That said Bioware has done the unthinkable and ruined what was a great series, one that in my opinion could have gone down as one of the best known generational games. The graphics are sloppy and areas are just covered with shadows, choices from previous games are meaningless, what a waste of time to go and play mass effect 1 and 2 to import a cool custom character, what happened, well none of the choices effect anything in the end. Characters that may have been killed are brought back, no dialog circle half the time, and don't even get me started on the ending which should have been highly developed and unique based on character decisions made throughout the series. Instead we get an ending that is 95% the same in/on every choice with 5% slight but insignificant modifications to represent crucial decisions. Another aspect that the developers messed up on was the blatantly obvious plot holes in the game left in the ending.Furthermore on PC at least this game is incredibly buggy. Glitches occur and you have to reload your game because your character will get stuck on/in a wall. It is sickening that a game you pay 60$ for is not smoothed out, properly tested and not properly developed with regards to the story-line. My overall recommendation of this game is that you should not buy it because it is a waste of money, just look up the plot online or rent it as a last resort; this game has been nothing but wasted opportunity and disappointment both to me and many other mass effect fans out there. It is also nice to know that the critics for this game either didn't know what happened in previous games, did not know the intent and founding principles mass effect was built on or just didn't finish that game before rating it. While the critic rating is one of the most high games out there, I feel along with others that have posted that the games leaves a heck of a lot to be desired. If I had the option to return this game I would. It was incredibly ridiculousness that one the day 1 release that there was DLC content available as well, and it doesn't matter what EA or Bioware says the content is highly relevant to the story-line and would change game play if not purchased.
    In conclusion this games don't not have a good plot, has poor writing, poorly developed game play and graphics, is full of glitches, has day one DLC and one of the worst endings of all time. For a dedicated fan it is equivalent to being spat on. As a loyal mass effect fan I will always love the idea of what could have been my favorite game series of all time. I am not happy with Bioware or EA for ruining this idea and because of my unhappiness they will not be reviving anymore money from me for further purchases. Beware of this game and do not buy it.    … Expand
  31. Jhereg
    Mar 24, 2012
    3
    Mass Effect 3 is a great game with a few minor quibbles like the "one key to rule them all" binding and requiring Multi-Player to increase your EMS. Truly well done....until the end! All the endings are functionally identical and there are only three of them. The ending mechanics diverge violently from the accepted process of the Mass Effect Universe both canonically and play mechanics wise.
    I fail to see how they think I am going to buy any DLC when in the end nothing I do changes anything and the work towards the endings is pointless. Why Bioware...Why?    … Expand
  32. Ristul
    Mar 25, 2012
    0
    Bioware is not the company it once were, Mass Effect 3 is less of everything compared to the previous games. Thanks for nothing Bioware, now go make another crappy Dragon Age sequel.
  33. Travasourus
    Jun 3, 2012
    0
    This game is filled with boring auto-dialogue and by the end of the game, the story makes no sense. Bottom Line: Mass Effect 3 effectively killed the trilogy.
  34. Beddead
    Aug 30, 2012
    4
    К сожалению это самая плохая часть серии. Везде чувствуется халт 91;ра. Окружающий мир мертв. Никаких событий вокруг при блуждании по цитадели не происходит. Инженер в доках прощается со своей девушкой практически на протяжении всей игры. И так далее. Так же намного меньше внимания уделено дизайну уровней. Ощущение что все слеплено на скорую руку. Второстепенные квесты тоже примитивны. С ностальгией вспоминаю вторую часть где можно было нарваться на драку просто идя по цитадели. Ну и концовка подкачала.… Expand
  35. 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
  36. 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
  37. 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
  38. clos4life
    Mar 10, 2012
    1
    Let's see. Gay character forced upon you on a game whether you want him to or not? Check (way to ruin my fantasy by making me interact with a crying dude talking about his husband. Guess he was butthurt.) Day 1 release DLC for a huge money grab? Check. Aforementioned DLC a huge part of the lore of the game with a prothean character that you can't see unless you pay for it? Check. Yeah, game is good but my rating is still hoping EA/Bioware suck it. I hope your sales suck.… Expand
  39. Hawgh
    Mar 16, 2012
    10
    The game's pretty much everything I could have hoped for in the last instalment of a trilogy; A slightly elevated action level really nails home that this is something that has been built up to. The strengths of the Mass Effect series are still going strong, with gameplay in particular having been improved compared to the second game. Strictly speaking, I only think the game is worth a review score of 9, but I'm going with a 10 in order to do a small bit to counteract the immense amount of butthurt being levelled in so many of these reviews.… Expand
  40. Gladio77
    Mar 9, 2012
    7
    I liked the first two very much. Although this is not a bad game it again is a dissapointment.
    I think because Bioware was such a good company in the past we all expected them to continue this forever.

    I conclude that after dragon age 2, knights of the new republic and this that they have lost their touch. Luckily enough with games as skyrim we have other options. A 7 for effort.
  41. Metalsand
    Mar 17, 2012
    2
    When I first saw the user ratings, I thought maybe a group of players were just being overly dramatic. I was dead wrong.

    While Bioware did a decent job on story, most of it was just reusing previous material from the first and second games. Unfortunately, this is the only good thing I have to say about this game. Combat feels like if I played the COD4 campaign 4 times in a row. The fi    rst and second times would be fun, but the third and fourth are just the same things over and over again, and it feels like with all game combat, depending on which part of the story you are on, they would use copy and paste more. The last battle was RIDICULOUS. It became a test to see how long I could hold down the left click button, with 30 enemies plus 5-10 mini-bosses coming all at once, and sooner or later, the sheer spam would always back me into a corner, where 5 of the minibosses would keep on using stun attacks to keep me from running or even firing back. The sheer length of the combat fights is terrible as well, it would be safe to estimate that over half of the fighting you will be doing in this game is just filler, especially the last mission. In only one small section of the last mission, I'd go up against waves that would take around 20-30 minutes to complete, with over 4 waves to complete. This is one SECTION which is 100% combat spam that takes more than 2 hours to complete. So you just shoot for 2 hours straight at the same enemies, using the same weapons and same tactics. I've watched chick flicks with women that not even including the benefits of the woman are MUCH more exciting than the combat in this game. It is a sad state of affairs when Bioware games turn into a giant grind instead of story, and the whole game feels like it was made by a 3rd rate developer that had no clue what they were doing and instead mashed everything together and called it a game. Bioware has been on the decline since ME2 and Dragon Age 2, but with the release of ME3, it is safe to say that they are a dead company now.… Expand
  42. weskandel
    Mar 16, 2012
    10
    I'm in the camp of people who loved Mass Effect 1 and really struggled with all the changes made in Mass Effect 2. I still thought 2 was a decent game and a well told story, but I would not have given it a perfect score. That being said, I went into Mass Effect 3 with hopeful but guarded expectations. I expected there to be something which was going to let me down. Also, I started seeing headlines about the "fan outrage" regarding the ending, before I completed the game. Again, I was expecting to be let down. What I feel I got out of Mass Effect 3 was the most cinematic, expertly told and emotionally engaging stories of the entire series. Even upon completing the game and experiencing the now infamous ending, I'm still blown away. From a technical standpoint I played it on the PS3 and experienced some significant frame rate slow downs and even temporary freeze ups. But I don't feel like it was so bad that it ruined the experience. One major issue that occurred however, was for about thirty minutes the game would freeze up when I tried to enter the area with all the refugees. Even with these technical hangups, I still give Mass Effect 3 the highest rating possible. It is a masterpiece.… Expand
  43. gotthammer
    Mar 16, 2012
    3
    Mass Effect was a great game, the only complaints I can recall being performance (optimization?) issues and the rather clunky inventory.
    Mass Effect 2, counting the DLCs (esp. Lair of the Shadow Broker), was also a great game. It wasn't perfect : some aspects felt over-simplified when compared to the first game, and the resolution of the main story could have used more choices. Still, a gr    eat game.
    Mass Effect 3, the finale of a trilogy, was also a great game, for the most part. Decent graphics. Great looking locations/environments. Pretty cinematics/FMVs. Dramatic (if a bit overly so, at times) sequences. Superb score/soundtrack. The dialogue, like the previous game, was mostly solid (ok, there were some cheesy/seeming forced/heavy-handed bits, like a few speeches). The plot was 'ok', but could use some beefing up/more work, but it was, for the most part, 'ok' (not counting the ending). Almost everything was great. Almost.
    The ending, IMHO, ruins, not just the game, but, as it is the ending of a trilogy, the franchise as well.
    The ending doesn't feel to be 'in character' with the setting or even the overall feel of the game and the franchise. The ending seemingly negates any choice and also disregards (or doesn't reward) the efforts of the player throughout the game. It is very, very disappointing.
    The ending alone makes me unable to, in good conscience, recommend the game to anyone I know. Unless Bioware were to 'fix' the endings by providing more options/choices, as well as clarifying the mess that is the current set of endings, I won't recommend the game, nor will I purchase any downloadable content for Mass Effect 3.

    Pros: Visuals, environment, soundtrack, dialogue/voice acting/humor, cinematics/FMVs, quantity of weapons

    Cons: Ending, fewer squad mates, graphics options too limited, lack of inventory/over-simplification of RPG elements, some dialogue, quantity of armor choices, lack of other 'hubs' (there's only the Citadel), some aspects feel rushed (example: under utilization of some characters, the ending, etc.)    … Expand
  44. OddSuperFuture
    Mar 16, 2012
    0
    The game is absolutely top notch until the ending is reached and you're presented with 3 choices. 3 choices which completely dismiss any decisions you've made prior in any of the 3 games. There are 3 ending scenes with no closure and a convoluted, out of character plot which disregard the franchises key themes. This destroys any motivation you may have to replay this game-or any of the other ME games.… Expand
  45. North
    Mar 18, 2012
    3
    I can't believe you Bioware! How dare you insult your fanbase with such dimwitted story progression, and worst of all, with an idiotic ending that pissed off everyone as hellfire !! Do you guys have any idea how many people are invested in this game, to see their stories achieve a more fulfilling end? What a logically insulting end, with loads of plot-holes?

    The only positive thing about     this game was the entire process of rallying allies. Because I am a more RPG oriented player, rather than bang bang, pow pow... Yet even at that, I couldn't see any satisfying plot writing. The whole marketing hype, day one DLC, and Xbox kinnect components were already indications that something was off about this game. And yet you were so sure that this would be the best game in the series. EPIC FAIL, by literal definition! You probably can't fall deeper than this. Nonetheless, I gave you 3 for your blood and sweat poured into the making of the game. Please get a grip and revitalize yourselves before the shame becomes too unbearable. But first, get rid of that EA leech! There are a lot better publishers out there, smaller, yes, but treat their developers with respect. My suggestion: strike a deal with Valve or create your own publishing company. The Bioware I have known is capable of doing this.… Expand
  46. MadclownJack
    Mar 11, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I honestly did not get what all the fuss was about, until i took it upon myself to "dive" into the story and see for myself. And boy was it a shallow dive. First, the story. The story is so simple it verges on pointless. Hell, I'd go so far as to say this is the worst, blandest story of ANY game i have played so far. This is very, very bad. I won't go "spoiling" it for you, because frankly, i CAN'T. I don't remember what i did in this game, aside from amassing an army! I don't remember anything interesting about the missions, nor the side-quests. The Gameplay. Or in this case, the arduous art of playing a very boring game. I'd like to warn future players to finish EVERY side quest, before you take on a priority mission, because then you lose all the side quests you didn't finish, and with that vital characters. Read the manual. That is a **** move to keep you replaying the game and seeing how the gameplay is more of a unsatisfying chore as opposed to a fun experience, you'd do well to remember that if you wish to finish it. Pick your covers, because Shepard can't aim well and will get confused sometimes and get out of cover without your command. Also he's sluggish and badly centered so have in mind that shepard's shoulder or head can get in the way of your aim. The visual experience is the only thing that carries this game across. SOMETIMES. There was only one instance that i remember, while playing the game, that actually got me excited a bit. That's the Tresher Maw vs. Reaper on Tuchanka. It was a lovely sequence that kept me going, hoping there would be more such sequences. There weren't any. There was a mass of cliches and uninspiring story elements though. The graphics are just a little polished, nothing new. The animation is stiff and sluggish. Rent or Beware.

    Bioware, I **** on your honor. EA, I hope you lying, money grubbing bastards get your just deserts. And i hope you choke on it and rid us all of your blight upon this world.    … Expand
  47. Piapia
    Mar 14, 2012
    3
    Never has a game dropped the ball so INCREDIBLY; it is beautifully wrought and so well done that you will overlook many of the plot holes it does have and a lot of the laziness that went into the game; from BioWare's use of stock images to well over a hundred graphical and audio errors and various glitches that will sometimes even make your quest bug out and you can't finish it. Errors with importing save games an inability to even transfer your custom faces over... so many things wrong, but the visceral gameplay and climactic build-up of the game, the choices and the story, well... you' be willing to overlook it... almost. You might have cringed at times and facepalmed at others but chances were, you'd still enjoy it and still had a good game.

    But the ending... dear GODS... BioWare lied on every front; nothing they promised for endings are there. The ultimate tale of Shepard concludes with you losing to the Reapers regardless of how well you fought, and having spent an entire game building a fleet you never get to see in action, ending on a note that essentially says, "Yeah, we're going to make more games because we're sure you'll pay for it."

    With content cut from the game so it could be sold at day one, them finishing the game early enough so you could actually download it before release (as I did) if you pre-ordered but STILL having a host of technical issues... and an ending that would have fit better in an obscure Japanese Anime (and has been known to make fans of that genre just as mad anyway; check out Neon Genesis Evangelion for a reference example) the game has literally dropped the ball on all marks and BioWare has fumbled their chance to make history (beyond being the butt of what will likely be a long standing joke). If you were looking for something to finally dethrone the CoD franchise or Halo or other gaming giants, this game is NOT your champion. And if you DO like those games? Better you stick to them and avoid ME3.    … Expand
  48. WynnTTr
    Mar 11, 2012
    2
    Disappointing gameplay, atrocious ending. Day 1 DLC, Origin. I don't need to go on.
    What a let down. Won't be buying EA again - torrents here I come.
  49. linksmaster
    Mar 18, 2012
    0
    After completing the game one has to wonder whether Bioware diverted all their resources to Star Wars - The Old Republic. One can only hope that is the excuse for this ending to the series. Regardless of the excuses or, perish the thought these "endings" were actually planned out, the Nihilistic ending made me regret having spent time even bothering to develop a character. Perhaps it's a joke. Or a calculated business move to offer DLC that lets you have an ending where you actually have some impact. As such this mess is such a shame for what had been such a promising series. In my humble opinion it is that bad. And it's sad. Not the sadness of any ending but the saddest thing in the world: Wasted potential. The wasted potential from a sloppy meaningless ending to an otherwise previously well executed series. I have lost the will to replay Mass Effect due to the ending. If that was Bioware's (and/or EA's) intentions, then well played EA/Bioware. I won't bother to return. If this is the same attention they plan for other games then I wish them well. I will not be playing them.… Expand
  50. kolas310
    Mar 8, 2012
    10
    /i like how some people seem to have finished the game in one day. Right now I played for 12 hours and it seems that it's not even the third of it. As a fan of the series I must say that it's awesome, it's like BioWare took everything that was best in 2 previous parts and put it in this one. Of course there are some drawbacks, small one is character animation, and the bigger one is that we have little choices while talking, and there is a lot of it, so it just begs to give a little bit more of possibilities to a player. Still - the game is great, atmosphere, fighting, tactics, character progression, just makes me wanna play more and more.… Expand
  51. mromih
    Mar 6, 2012
    9
    Great game. I hardly buy games on the first day, only on a rare exceptions, and this is one of them. The trilogy is one of the best (if not the best) in a Sci-Fi story driven video game. Intriguing story line, that gets deeper and deeper (the best way to experience the full effect , is by playing the games in sequence). You will feel the story and identify with the characters. Just play them, you won't be dissaponted. To those haters having issues with the DLC in day one, well.... don't buy it, pretend it doesn't exists, and then...buy it in like..6 months? LOL… Expand
  52. Gayben
    Mar 9, 2012
    0
    Holy mother of **** is this game bad. Did not live up to the hype at all. Leave it to EA to spend money on marketing that should go into the game. Story was bad, and interacting with characters was worse. I couldn't manage a second playthrough.
  53. Urza
    Mar 6, 2012
    9
    Lots of fun, great game. The game has 3 settings; 1 for people wanting to play a shooter, 1 for traditional mass effect players, and 1 for people that don't want to deal with shooting. Be warned, this choice effects the rest of the game. There's no mandatory DLC, it's an optional character with no story outside the DLC.. just like Mass effect 2's DLC. Missing some PC features like text chat for the coop and controller support. It'd be nice if all the tweaking options weren't buried in an out of game configuration tool, but if you'd played a BioWare game, you know what to do with it.… Expand
  54. Shoozle
    Mar 6, 2012
    7
    Reddit trolls need to **** off seriously. Its not that bad of a game, but yeah it does not deserve the high praise it has quickly received. Animations are shoddy at times, the characters are boring but I enjoyed the story (though not the ending, bit pathetic to be honest, hope there is not a fourth). The gameplay too was as enjoyable as the second but still not matching the first.

    Better     than 2 but still not coming to as good as the first.… Expand
  55. Deacz
    Mar 21, 2012
    1
    yea its not worth a 1 but more like a 5 or soo but im still giving it a 1 to prove a point. Where to begin?, once again a **** console port, thats a lot bioware. On my way to the end i had 2 game stoping bugs, one with the dlc that wouldnt let me watch videos and another one with the main game that required a reboot. Also sound and video would bugg out at times, In the end this is a fairly shallow rail shooter with a ok story, great production values, and a horrible ending.

    Thumbs up for the multi player tho, almost the best part of the game. short and shallow as it is.    … Expand
  56. avagamer
    Mar 10, 2012
    1
    The game itself is good, but the ending is killing all the impression of her. The worst ending in the game. Please BIOWARE! Change it, do not wear the universe MASS EFFECT!
  57. ARTHURIUSS
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    A terrific game.Bioware has really outdone itself in this final installment.Everything including the game play, the story and the music has been improved. This has got to be the most emotionally compelling experience in video game history. The ending though was depressing and I would would have preferred a happier ending. If anyone deserved a happy ending it was Shepard but it was still beautiful. My favorite Mass Effect game and deserves a perfect 10.… Expand
  58. Pekotski
    Mar 15, 2012
    0
    Bioware disappointed again. This time - the last time. I dont understand where the high score from critics come from - its a proof of how deeply this industry is corrupted. The list of critics who support this **** is simply a pay list.
  59. Edmank
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This has been some ride, since Mass Effect first grabbed my attention. I have played through every bit of the first two games, and loved every minute. Now the final comes, and I feel equal parts excited and sad. Sad that it will have to end, but thrilled to get a chance to play it. And it does not disappoint. The emotion - always the strong point of Mass Effect - is brought to another level. The characters that I have come to care so much about are even more fleshed out. And the goosebumps at certain points of the game...well, I won't spoil. Just get it.… Expand
  60. DevastationInc
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    Mass Effect 3 is an incredible game and ends the trilogy successfully. The gameplay and graphics are top notch, but as expected the storytelling is where the game truly shines. Bioware manages to keep improving the series right until the end and should be commended for it. Buy copies for yourself, your friends and all their friends as you won't be disappointed.
  61. happycakes
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm writing this review due to the overwhelming amount of people saying it's the worst thing ever.. What is wrong with gamers today? I've played the first 2 Mass Effects and this one is pretty much exactly the same.. The story is still typical lame sci-fi story, same okayish voice acting (pretty good when it comes to video games). I haven't finished yet but from what I've seen Bioware have really done well to capture the atmosphere of what it would be like at a time like that.. The world just seems so void of hope and anyone that is hope seems like they're just lying to keep face. Some of the vista's are just beautiful, as well as some of the cut-scenes.. Spoilers: I was quite taken by the raid on Earth and the giant worm vs giant stalker on Tachunka. I like the way they've changed the scan/resource gathering system, even the mission system. They're both much more fluent and the risk/reward system of scanning is a much better idea.

    The combat is pretty much the same damn thing; hide in cover, spam abilities and shoot till everything's dead. Same as ME2. The abilities have some cool upgrades. The weapons have some cool mods, there are some cool weapons. I just got the stinger. It rapes (exploding dart gun).

    I don't care how it ends, I am enjoying the experience, the scenes/acting alone is better than 90% of the movies coming out these days so I don't know what the **** people are whinging about. Is it just nostalgia? Have you kids finally grown up and realised that all video games are **** and not world changing life defining experiences? This game deserves more than 5, no more than 9.5. It's subjective.    … Expand
  62. jhass28
    Mar 7, 2012
    10
    Holy onslaught of negative comments, batman.
    Perhaps due to my lack of the time-warping abilities that you all seem to possess that allowed you to complete a 50-odd hour game on the day of its release, I have not yet finished Mass Effect 3, and therefore cannot provide much insight concerning the overall strength of its plot. It's taken me a while to adjust to the game play, squad, etc (I     went through an almost identical stage with the transition from ME1 to ME2, which went on to be my favourite out of the two), but hey, you know what? I'm enjoying myself. Quite thoroughly. I'm sensing a lot of Bioware/EA hatred in these comments, which, while you are entitled to, has no place in describing the quality of the game itself. So please. Do us all a favour, and attempt to provide insightful reviews that other people can actually use. No game deserves a '0' unless it makes your computer explode. Not because you find Liara's eye-shadow unsatisfactory.… Expand
  63. MikeyRu
    Mar 7, 2012
    10
    Mass Effect 3 is an epic adventure from start to finish. It'll get your heart pumping, and probably get you teary eyed. The level of customization is perfect (I made my armor black with pink stripes and pink lights, haha). The dialogue options aren't black and white, which is really refreshing. I LOVE the ability to use Kinect with the game, calling out orders to my party members instead of having to pause the action. Also, kudos to BioWare for being brave and standing up against ignorance and bigotry, and supporting the LGBT gaming community! I got choked up when Cortez casually mentioned he had a husband. That little moment was actually a huge step in the fight for equality. And by the way, if you don't want to be gay in Mass Effect 3, then don't be gay in Mass Effect 3. Unlike in real life, you actually have a choice in this game. Grow up, people. Stop trying to sabotage a game's release just because you're sexually insecure. Years from now, people with your stance will be looked upon like the racists of the last century. Don't be on the wrong side of history. Peace.… Expand
  64. euu
    Mar 7, 2012
    6
    This game is just okay. It's not going to blow your mind , it's not going to revolutionize gaming; it's just a decent third person shooter with RPG elements that concludes a very overrated series. I don't understand how people who were drooling over Mass Effect 2 a while ago are giving this game so many negative scores. It's almost the same game, in fact I think Mass Effect 3 is a little better than its predecessor. More customization options have been added in the game, there is a main story this time, you are not just doing boring tasks for your team members and the amount of time you spend scanning planets has been reduced. Compared to other games released this year, Mass Effect 3 is not bad, but as a story driven action RPG it doesn't hold a candle to games like The Witcher 2 and Deus Ex:Human Revolutions.… Expand
  65. ijyt
    Mar 7, 2012
    10
    An excellent conclusion to one of the best game series in ages, the use of multiple endings depending on your in-game choices is a highly pleasing feature, increasing the replay value. BioWare shines with Mass Effect 3.
  66. sevsquad
    Mar 7, 2012
    9
    I'm about 12 hours in now and I have to say the game is quite fantastic, it seems they are following the current trend of games actually using cinematography in their cut-scenes, so the cut scenes actually have meaning this time around. The graphics are undeniably improved while still maintaining the basic look of the characters (so Assari actually look like they have skin instead of a failed to load texture solid blue tone) The story starts off bad, (I mean like written by a high school creative writing class bad) but gets better the longer you play, the gun customization system is much deeper and no more planet scanning for minerals!

    I would say the biggest problem I have with it right now is that many time side quests don't tell you which system to go to so you have to guess. But that is relatively minor.    … Expand
  67. Swordguy
    Nov 18, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So, a few months have passed since this game was released, and I have decided to do a straight up and honest review of this game. I have a full 1080p play through on YouTube that backs my review.---------------Mass Effect 3 is a mixed bag of nuts. visually it's stunning and well choreographed. the voice acting is mostly superb. The soundtrack is spot on and will leave your spine tingling, but is also reused when it shouldn't be. There is constant chatter between characters. the combat is fluid and enjoyable. The humor is refreshing at times even when the game is trying to be serious. Every area of the game has been refined compared to 1 and 2, and yet somehow this game has not ruined the fun of replaying the first 2 games, because all three games are unique and special in their own way. --------In spite of what Bioware did right with this game, It is disheartening to think of the corners that were cut in a few spots. Be it a budget issue, or a time crunch factor, there are at least 2 noticeably gaping holes in ME3 that made me rage like only a nerd can. --------------------The first is the unmasking method of Tali, which was done so cheaply and nonchalantly that long time fans of the series instantly felt betrayed, especially Tali'Mancers. no one asked to see every Quarian without a mask, Just Tali. Instead we got a stock photo from the internet, with a couple fingers lopped off and some some half baked photo-shopping. The second Major blunder is the writing in general. Words cannot describe how poorly written and contrived the storyline of Mass Effect 3 was. The First 2 games build up in anticipation for an incredible and epic climax. When you finally get there, you are punched in the stomach, kicked in the groin, It's revealed that all the main characters in Mass Effect are idiots (i.e. - Shepard finding out how to kill a reaper, then never bringing it up again like it was a fluke, this happens twice) and then, after the fecal matter finally stops showering on us and the game is over, we are told by a pop up window to pay more money for DLC even though Shepard just died because the Catalyst is stuck in a logic loop. Again, I have an entire playthrough on YouTube that backs up my opinion.---------------All in all, a masterpiece of a game, but ruined by a storyline and conclusion that will make you wish you never played ME1 or 2 so that you never had to experience such a heartbreaking case of bad writing.… Expand
  68. ThomasBerg
    Mar 8, 2012
    7
    After reading most of these user reviews while playing the game i couldnt belive what i was seeing. I thought the sheer production value and epicness of the game/scope and how promising the end was stunning to say the least and while i missed most of the exploration and RPG elements from ME1 and ME2 i understood why they were dumbed down since you have more pressing matters to attend to and running around wasting time would break my immersion. I wasnt suprised when i saw that the from ashes dlc would be an extra feature, i am a bit puzzled as to why they chose a prothean for this DLC, while not critical to the plot, it does answer a lot of the main questions i had about the epos. Since they made such a huge deal around the protheans and its mysticism, the more i talked with my prothean squadmate and got immersed into his story i was more and more suprised why this wasnt part of the main game.
    Ive been a fan of the mass effect genre since the first game came out, ive read all the comics, books studied the lore and i even loved mass effect 2, perhaps not for the dumbed down RPG elements, but the game was genuinly challenging and fun, characters and storytelling and voice acting was stellar.

    When i looked at my time played how it felt and how my war asset bar was nearly full, thats when i first started to worry.
    After a certain cuscene with tali i was so moved i nearly broke a tear, thats how immersive the game was.

    As i progressed feeling soon my long pondered, unanswered questions would or would not come to a close, i got more and more worried since the last hours felt somewhat rushed but was put to a rest when i got the grand epic feeling when the fleets arrived at earth. I was nearly standing in my chair, awed at the greatness of the moment.

    Then came the final assault on earth. This was also grand in scale. Ive wanted to see earth in mass effect ever since i glared at its magnifisence on the lunar base mission in ME1. The war torn earth looked grim and desperate and upheld my expectations. Then came the ending. Not since the conclusion to the ace seeries, sopranos have i felt such a black hole in my stomache. I felt betrayed at first waiting til after the credits. I searched all the forums i could about what i did wrong how i could get this abysmal ending and how i could fix it, seeing as i had nearly 100% completion and full paragon. Was this a bug? A mistake on my part on an important desicion? I pondered this for many hours until i was forced to accept, that was it. This was the ending to the biggest sci-fi epos in gaming history.    … Expand
  69. SpudJunk
    Mar 9, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80BqVpmuGiw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80BqVpmuGiw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80BqVpmuGiw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80BqVpmuGiw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80BqVpmuGiw    … Expand
  70. nn123
    Mar 9, 2012
    7
    Signed up just to review this one. It's important to me since I loved the first two, apparently one of the only ones that liked the second better than the first but I digress. Simply put, this game is good but not great. It fails at importing the character face used in game two, so right off the bat there's no way it can be a 10. The dialogue system has also been over-simplified, probably to make space for the multiplayer... which I don't plan on using. I have encountered bugs that have made missions unplayable. The graphics are good, although perhaps Skyrim has spoiled me since I really did expect more. Extremely skeptical of all the 'pro' reviewers giving high scores, guess that's what money gets you.… Expand
  71. Tangster
    Mar 10, 2012
    1
    The game was going great, I could forgive the little errors, the errand-shep side quests, the mediocre graphics, the day 1 DLC... all because the plot stormed along nicely and everything was going as well as could possibly be expected in a galactic war.

    I had the Krogan and the Turians, the Geth and the Quarians, even Aria all working together for to good of the galaxy.
    I'd rejoined with     my LI(Tali), had fun with my bro Garrus and discovered that Shep still can't dance.

    The last 5 mins? Ruined the game.
    The ending of the game was absolutely atrocious and also killed all the replay value for me as a) had to do all the side quests anyway for the GAW thing, no replay there)
    b) the endings are all terribad and boil down to pretty much a single endings with a different coloured light show.

    Come to think of it, it killed the replay value of the entire franchise since none of my choices in ME1 and ME2 made the slightest difference in the end.

    If Bioware are going to end a series like that, I'll just avoid their games in the future so I don't end up with a million metric tons of steaming disappoint, especially after being so emotionally invested in both my character and squadmates before being kicked in the face by Casey Hudson's lying foot.    … Expand
  72. Stylus
    Mar 10, 2012
    4
    This game is not good and certainly doesn't deserve the praise it's been getting from the gaming press. A lot of the poor user reviews on this site are in protest of how awfully Bioware has been treating their fanbase of late although that doesn't mean that they don't have valid criticisms, and Bioware would be foolish to claim otherwise. If you've already played the first two games you may as well get this over and done with, but I would strongly advise against picking up the series here.… Expand
  73. NightLurker
    Mar 10, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Truly the disappointment of the year! Bioware, what have you done? You took all that i cared for in the game, ripped everything valuable off and made tons of crappy drama endings. What for? You promised, that my decisions will be counted. This is what they counted for? Epic drama with killing everyone? I truly enjoyed the first two games, but the third one is a disgrace. Sincerely not your fan anymore.… Expand
  74. Avathar
    Mar 10, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A wonderful game, up until the ending (played through all of the possible endings, 6k+ EMS, max reputation, etc). I would have given this game a 10 up until about 90 percent of the way through when the overall feel switched from "We're going to defeat the Reapers and save the galaxy and live happily after" to "I'm a tragic figure and we probably won't be coming back from this". I knew they were trying to turn shepard into a tragic figure via all the foreshadowing, but did Bioware really think that after hundreds of hours playing a hero, we would be okay with having them suddenly switching paradigms on us? The whole Matrix thing about choice was just a sad, shameful ripoff and felt like some really lazy writing. I don't think Bioware realizes how invested their players are into Shepard at this point of the game - I'm now willing to just write him off. The last 2.8 games and hundreds of hours of playtime have been focused on saving the galaxy from the Reapers and suddenly at the end, it's not really about them anymore - the paradigm shift needed to occur way earlier than in the last 5 minutes. At the end of ME1 and ME2 I felt happy, like a hero - my character had saved the galaxy... at the end of this one I just feel... sad... Not how I wanted my Shepard's story to end.… Expand
  75. Broseidon
    Mar 10, 2012
    0
    The 15 minute ending to this game destroyed not only what was, up until then, the best game I've ever played, it destroyed the entire franchise for me. The road was great, but the ending is unforgivable.
  76. VendettaBB
    Mar 10, 2012
    0
    Oh man this will be difficult to express in words as I cannot seem to make a coherent sentence when it comes to expressing the devastating amount of disappointment I was subjected to all throughout my experience with Bioware's latest game: Mass Effect 3...

    I want to start off by saying that I found the first two games incredibly exceptional (Some didn't like 2 but I loved it in terms of i    ts story, characters and pacing) but the third installment is quite possibly the most disappointing game I have ever played that I can think of due to the fact that I have spent so much time and invested quite a bit of emotion into this series... The choices made from previous games are simply irrelevant and very little effort has been placed into implementing the power of choice and its consequences as the earlier games did so well.

    The story itself, from which Bioware has built its reputation, is laughable, cheesy, predictable, and just plain infantile. It seems EA perhaps has dispersed all of Bioware's writers or they simply left to companies that were offering a higher salary because the difference in the quality of the script and story between this game and the first two is seriously night and day, I mean words cannot describe how bad the story has gotten. People have compared the story to that of a Michael Bay movie and that is not far off, although Bay atleast gives some sort of conclusion to his stories, here there is none, just youtube the "perfect ending" and you will see for yourself.

    I believe the forced homosexuality and the day-one 10$ DLC (crucial to the main story btw..) as well as the horrible multiplayer crucial to achieving the optimal ending (lets kill waves of enemies like a cheap knockoff of CoD's survival mode) have all been touched on by others here but it goes without saying that these were all decisions made without any respect or care to the fanbase that made the company what it is. Those idiot doctors sold out big-time, as if they didn't have enough money, they do not care at all about their integrity, their image, or more importantly their fans - this is a complete spit in the face to all who invested their time and money in the previous games and it goes to show the absolute corruption of capitalism seeping into the gaming industry at last. Oh and the critics? lol.. if there ever was a case of them being bought out by these giants like EA or Activision, well here it is folks, do not trust the critics, if you must - pirate the game and see for yourself but I would strongly not recommend that either simply because you will come away even more disappointed than after having read this review. And I haven't even touched on the technical aspects or the gameplay or their obvious marketing ploys which have become, as others have stated, incredibly subpar.. The overall package that is Mass Effect 3 is one of the biggest dissapointments in entertainment history and is a very very bad game - do not put yourself through the pain and agony and sadness that I did by playing this game (I even re-played the first 2 before this.....)

    Bioware you have fallen far indeed - DA2 , then TOR (don't get me started), and now this... Although you will keep selling, know that you have lost all the fans that made you who you are today and that you will never be releasing a quality game ever again with executives like this.    … Expand
  77. Rubato
    Mar 10, 2012
    0
    For myself at least, Mass Effect 3 has been *the* greatest disappointment in gaming history.

    Bioware was previously one of my favorite developers.

    This game is utter trash.
  78. Suncaster
    Mar 10, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Don't waste your money on this, wait a few weeks, it'll be in the stores used for $9.99. Some people are saying that the ending was great because in real life you have tough choices. I say bull. They need to realize this is a game. It's fantasy, that's why we play it. If I want real life, I'll go ride my Harley, go sailing or argue with my wife. That's not what I want in a game. i'm trying to get away from real life for a while and pretend life is perfect. Bioware (or should I say EA) should have spent more time on multiple endings. that way everyone could have had what they wanted. I wanted the perfect ending after all the time i put in Mass 1 and 2. I was also unhappy about how easy it was to start losing everyone you had went through the first 2 games with. Halfway through i had already lost Mordin, Asley and Tali. no matter how many times I went back, i couldn't save them. they say it has sonething to do with the first 2 games, although I always saved everyone and had a relasionship with Tali.Of course that was over now, as she was now a pile of broken bones and flesh..I won't say much about the ending, as it has been covered pretty good already here. I really liked Dragon age Origins. Probably my favorite game of all time.(that was before EA got into the picture) Did dragons really exist in real life?, NO, Do happy endings exist in real life all the time, NO. But since this is a game and it's a fantasy world. I want my dragons and my happy ending. What were you thinking EA, Oh that's right, you weren't. I really feel the people giving this a 10 are either working for EA or are just so in love with EA, they have to give a great rating. Also, why are people so mad about the little gay scene. It's not like your being forced into any gay relationship. If ths bothers you, I would have to think your not sure about your sexuality. Me. I know i'm straight, so it doesn't bother me at all. Just say no. I like having relationships in the game, mine is with liara now, since Tali is smashed. why not let gays have their fun. I guess you just live in a world where everyone has to live to your standards or not at all.… Expand
  79. DTG321992
    Mar 10, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am a gay gamer. So this is not a 0 for them including the gay romance. I am happy they did. It made sense considering the game is supposed to be based on our choices.

    Speaking of which. Our choices didn't matter in the last five minutes. And I am so entirely pissed off. It didn't matter what we did over three games, there were three endings. They were all the same. Just with slightly different colors. There is no reason why the Normandy was going through a mass relay. It just made no sense.

    And the fact that the synthetics were created to kill the organics to prevent the organics from creating synthetics that would kill them was just so entirely stupid I don't even know what to say.    … Expand
  80. Em-Man
    Mar 10, 2012
    2
    The game featured a promising start. It was exciting to finally see everything you did in the last 2 games make a difference in Mass Effect 3... Only that it didn't. Nothing you did in the game has a result or consequence in this game, not even the stuff you do in Mass Effect 3. You can't do any major choices during the game. The combat feels like a bad version of Gears of War. The ending is horrible and makes the whole story of Shepard from the first game to the third feel irrelevant. The games has lots of glitches and feels rushed and unpolished.… Expand
  81. Roccius
    Mar 10, 2012
    1
    Just ****
    -Worst ending ever for a game saga based on choices and good narration
    -Plotholes
    -Fugly animations
    -Useless multiplayer
    -EA

    The only reason to buy that crap is to give it to someone you hate with burning passion
  82. FS3D_Pete
    Mar 10, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I rarely play games these days... I prefer to create content than to view it, from writing to 3D modelling... Mass Effect was the 1st game I put any real time into since my days as a teenager. It had a story that could be altered based on your choices, and those choices had the potential to alter plot points further down the line... A novel idea and a welcome change to the linearity of other games I had seen in the past. This alone got me hooked on the franchise. I couldn't care less about the 3rd person shooter aspects, although the RPG elements were better than I had expected from a game of this sort.

    Mass Effect 2 continued the storyline. I wasn't sure if I liked the direction they took the story in that game, and the mechanics of the game itself took a nose-dive. If I wanted to play Gears of War, I would have done so. However, I stuck with it because of the promise of finishing the story... And I am a big fan of story-driven content in a game, especially if that story can have different outcomes based on your choices.

    Mass Effect 3 is the culmination of this effort... And given that it was the final game in Shepard's story, it should have allowed for a total divergence of the story, decent closure to all the story threads, and for hard-core players who had put a LOT of effort into their profiles (as I had done), a satisfying outcome for the characters involved, with the protagonist surviving AND getting some form of reward for his effort, for players who worked for it.

    But what did Bioware do?

    They ruined it all in the last 30 minutes.

    Apparently, they decided in the development of the game, that all of your choices from the previous two games, and from the majority of the third game, would make no difference whatsoever to the outcome. They present you with two choices (three, if you have a high enough readiness score at the end), to either destroy the Reapers, or control them (and the third is to undergo synergy, a melding of synthetic and organic technology).

    None of the available choices made any logical sense, and the justification given by the entity within the Citadel at the end of the game was the weakest I had ever seen, especially as it's refutation was in the game itself... Remember when I referred to those who had worked hard? One of the plot points that could be achieved was a cease-fire between the Geth and the Quarians... Refuting the insinuation that synthetics and organics would always war with each other... But BioWare decided to ignore it.

    Not only that, but every side-mission you complete, every decision you make in conversation, amounted to nothing whatsoever. Sure, critics of this review might point out that your readiness score is increased by completing side missions, but the only difference this makes is to make it easier to achieve the required score for the third ending.

    There's no epilogue to the stories of all the races you decided to help along the way, and the decision to collapse the Mass Relay network achieved the very thing that the Reapers wanted in the first place... To ensure the collapse of galactic civilization. Think of the Quarians and the Turians in Earth orbit... How are they going to survive on a planet where Dextro-Amino acid-based nutrition is unavailable? And having managed in my save game to achieve peace between the Quarians and the Geth, now both of them are stranded in the Local Cluster of the galaxy, where the Sol system is.

    The worst part of it is in how there is absolutely no satisfying conclusion for the characters you have in your squad, or on your ship. One of the most unforgivable bugs in the game is that, no matter who you have in your squad in the final mission, you will find them aboard the Normandy, crash-landed on a planet in the final scene.

    How did they get there? Teleportation? No... This was an oversight on the part of the developers.

    My only conclusion is lazy story-telling. It's as though they gave up at the end and decided to just make up a weak plot. I've seen better fan-fiction from a child than what I saw at the end of the game. Rather than give us the option of a large and diverging story-line and a choice based upon all of the hard work you put into the game since Mass Effect, you instead end up with a choice from three possible outcomes, all of them a shade different, yet strikingly similar to each of the others.

    The only real difference your War Readiness gives you is in whether some of Earth survives, even less of Earth survives, or if Earth is completely wiped out. None of the other plot points, decisions, or side-quests make a damned bit of difference in the end, and that's a big problem for a game that was promised to account for your actions across the franchise.


    This ruined a story that had excellent promise... And has truly killed a franchise I previously enjoyed for its' story-telling.    … Expand
  83. Blapper
    Mar 10, 2012
    0
    Mass Effect 3 is the culmination of a sweeping trilogy of games that supposedly pay off the difficult choices you have had to make and the sacrifices you have has to carefully consider. Instead, it features the single worst ending i have ever seen in a game - be it shooter, RPG, what have you - while rendering your choices completely irrelevant, as you are railroaded into playing the tacked on multiplayer to get the good endings. It's an unseemly, awful system, and whether at EA's behest or BioWare's, it is not under any circumstances acceptable. On the ending itself, whether you play multiplayer or not, it's terrible. To avoid spoilers, I will leave it at that, but I have never been so insulted to have invested myself in a game, only to be slapped in the face, like that before.… Expand
  84. BriceGMG
    Mar 11, 2012
    1
    Aprés un Mass effect 1 et un Mass effect 2 attachant et épiques. Bioware s'est moqué de tout le monde avec un Mass effect 3 attendu et gaché par une fin scandaleuse.

    After a Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 epic and endearing. Bioware made â
  85. Mnem0
    Mar 11, 2012
    1
    Mass effect 1 & 2 were my favorite story-driven RPG games. To provide a point of reference, I would give ME1 a 9.5, ME2 an 8.5, and I was ready to give ME3 a 10 up until the ending. In comparison to the previous games in the series, ME3 has improved combat mechanics, great animation, fantastic cut-scenes and very powerful and moving moments with characters from the previous games. Some of the later Tali scenes almost brought tears to my eyes. The team AI is even better - they don't needlessly wander off into fire and die anymore. With that said, I'm not sure I could imagine a worse ending. I use the singular "ending" because that's basically all there is. Renegade or Paragon, you do the same thing, and it doesn't make sense in either case. Because of the quality of the game leading up to the ending, it probably deserves a higher rating, but the "finale" makes me too angry to give it one. The loss of Drew Karpyshyn (writer of ME1 & 2) is strongly felt. Knowing EA, they'll probably see all our anguish as a way to make money and we'll get our ending, but have to pay for the DLC that provides it. I won't pretend like this will cause me to never buy another EA/Bioware game, but I sure will think hard before becoming invested in their games. This could have been the best game of the past 10 years, and instead I'm left feeling heartlessly gutted.… Expand
  86. Punya
    Mar 11, 2012
    0
    I loved ME1 and ME2, and ME2's ending set the perfect scenario for ME3... So, how did Bioware manage to mess up so badly with ME3? That's a real mystery.
    ME3 is simply boring: almost all rpg elements are gone, all that remains is a poor 3rd person shooter... Totally useless, considering there are tons of better shooters out there.
    Level design is bad: linear and repetitive (no need for a     map), with endless waves of the same enemies. Skill choices and progressions are too limited.
    Dialogue choices are sporadic and messy: the short selection sentences are often unrelated to the subsequent dialogues.
    Cutscenes are uninspired and flavorless, and even the voice actors are not at their best compared to previous games (direction's fault?).
    The plot is messy and insubstantial, loading one sequence after another without any real meaning between those. Even romances seem quite forced and amiss.
    There is no real feeling of a galactic war going on around Shepard, nor any impact on player's decisions. Previous choices from ME1 and ME2 are virtually neglectable: you simply get one NPC instead of another, but nothing changes.
    What else? The game is too short, animations are really poor, and PC porting is simply horrible.
    Not even worth pirating: stay away from ME3, and maybe EA/Bioware will finally understand users are not dumb as they think.    … Expand
  87. Menaus
    Mar 11, 2012
    0
    So, EA forces you to use Origin, a crappy, glitchy re-brand of EA download manager, puts day 1 DLC that's ON THE DISK out, and expects people to buy it?

    This is very disappointing.
  88. robinhood1331
    Mar 14, 2012
    0
    Played the whole series and each game multiple times. The series as a whole, defined gaming for me. But the ending ruined the franchise and what it stood for. Just read the link below.

    http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/2/
  89. Lannie_0327
    Mar 18, 2012
    4
    An amazing game just like its predecessors, but the incredibly disappointing ending ruins the game. A recent review / article stated that fans should not be allowed the power to change a game's ending, since its tantamount to having da Vinci change Mona Lisa or Rembrandt's his Night Watch. I can see his/ her (whoever wrote it) point, but.. BUT you don't compare a Masterpiece, a Magnum Opus, to a modern abstract art of the lowest quality. And mass effect's ending was exactly that.… Expand
  90. sizuka2
    Mar 19, 2012
    4
    Mass Effect 3 is the culmination of one of the largest attempts at fusing gameplay and narrative to date. From the beginning, the bargain has been this: Bioware is telling a story about Shepherd vs. the Reapers; the players are choosing how Shepherd goes about this.

    For most of the game, Bioware tells a magnificent story, while providing changes and consequences to support the choices of     individual players. This produces a remarkable degree of player investment. Unfortunately, the very end of the storyline deliberately averts any catharsis.

    People remember the peak and end of an experience. Bioware ensured that the peak experience of the trilogy was this ending, and that the ending caused revulsion and rage.

    Do not play unless you can ignore the story entirely - in which case, why not play a game less focused on story?

    Not recommended.    … Expand
  91. cenkkitapci
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    Bioware keeps ruining it's name again doing demands of EA . Another huge disappointment sequel to a wonderfull RPG . First KOTOR then DAO and at last ME . This is last time buying a bioware game before reading user's critics .
    ME is not a RPG it is just a FPS including a cheap tv movie story or reverse . Choices (including your choices from ME1 and ME2 ) do not effect anything major in t    he game . They told about 14 different endings but all looked same to me , just colour difference ::)) .… Expand
  92. skinny_mean_man
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    unless something is seriously done to fix this game i will never buy from bioware again. they were my favorite company and now they are my most hated
  93. Ginadin777
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    No point in avoiding the obvious...ME3 is really a good game on its own... except for the ending. Wich is simply what matters most if u are making a ending to a triology that envolved allot of emotional investment, letting the player create the story as it goes... The entire ME game was focussed around this feature, and made it so very compelling. Choose to do A resulted in B. Or choose C? Everything u did needed some carefull thinking...made u invest in characters... In the end it felt like u were writing ur own epic Scifi Novela filled with plots - action - romance ... And what happened? Frodo came to mount Doom and was about to throw the ring into the lave, just as Sauron revealed he had a failsafe switch that teleports the ring back to him and voila!!! Sorta how this felt... no matter how i enjoyed the series, wich i did, and credit for that. The feeling i have now is one of total disappointment, flustered, sad... Of all the ways it could have gone i cant think of a worse conclusion to this epic tale. In wich i thought i made a difference. I am left with confussion, 'hate'... Only to be greeted with a grand message from BW/EA to buy more DLC when released... Shame on u...… Expand
  94. Mr13
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    Simply put, this game lived up to every expectation I had for the finale. It's everything I could've hoped for and more. Why such a low score then? Simple. The ending. As almost every other review says, the ending was such a colossal disappointment it ruined the series for me. It negated every other aspect of the past 2 games and simply was the worst ending to a video game I've ever seen. If Bioware were to patch their ending with a DLC package it'd be fine. Just to be clear, the game does not have 16 different endings. It has 1 ending which varies in a few small details. In the end it's all the same. And it's all terrible. Don't get this game until they patch the ending.

    10 for the whole game. -9 for the ending. Leaving us with a score of 1.    … Expand
  95. pitufos38
    Mar 19, 2012
    2
    SPOILER FREE CRITIC:

    1-All your decision in the game produce military points that determine the type of ending you have. But these points affect argumental outcomes that are not related with them. For example (not real, but good for giving you an idea): if you have saved Jon the missile would destroy the reaper. If you didn't save him the missile will fail. That's it, as stupid as it seem    s. So through the "trick" of measuring your decisions in a completely "out of context" point scale they have save a lot of story work. Without the story been changed by our decision, the decision lost the meaning, this is only a gears of war with almost no rpg in it. Even the different ending are the same clip with diferent colors.

    2-Taking apart the ending the game resemble mass effect 2. Too repetive, although has some good points, but you can forgive that because you are preparing for the big finale. Problem here is that the finale is horrible. However you will enjoy the rest of the game. I encourage to not make sidequest, it is not worht it (the ending will be still horrible) and main quest have a much better quality.

    3-The game sucessfully take into account your previous game actions for providing you (or not) help (or trouble) in some missions. That was quite good, at least in my story (I have heard not all are so good).

    4-Missions are repetitive, lot of them with very poor argument. Lots seems like a multiplayer match with boots (indeed they seems like multiplayer maps).

    5-Too much cloying conversations. In pevious games they were there too but were well introduced. Here they are all around and feels very forced. This is specially true in conversations between male characters.

    6-You got the sense there is a love story because is has become a standart of these games. Very forced, underworked. If you are going to put love in your game do it properly with an appeling story, nothing bad happens if you do not put it.

    7-DLC day one content. Quite important indeed, unlock protean squad member, that means unlock argumental questions about mass effect lore. Should not be an extra.

    8-The protan lore, from the dlc is quite good. like the protean society a lot.

    9- Wraping up. A few closer too mainstream thrid person shooter that previous games and less RPG. Still would be a good game with a good ending but...    … Expand
  96. Evanders
    Mar 19, 2012
    0
    The final 10 minutes of this...ugh,.. game?... is what I remember instantly when I think of Mass Effect 3.
    For the series to be one of the best space cRPG ever despite minor issues, for the ME3 for most of it's part living up to it's title, last moments of this game has redefined my entire perception of the series.
    I can't bring my self to start this game again, In fact I can't even thin    k of replaying the whole trilogy as I intended. Animations have some issues, Quest Log is complete mess and some moments are disappointing. But the "great" finale ruins absolutely everything I loved about this series.
    It is first time ever something like this happened to me in 16 years of gaming. Mass Effect 3 left a very bad taste in my mouth and for that reason I give it ZERO score.    … Expand
  97. johnson5
    Mar 21, 2012
    0
    I rarely review anything, I prefer to enjoy things myself (after paying such a large amount of money, for my income). But Mass Effect 3, just destroyed many things I was proud of about the whole series.

    First of all, beware of buying the game because of Origin. A blunt attempt to battle Valve, a bad one at that.

    Secondly, connecting the multiplayer portion of the game to your personal si    ngle-player experience and directly influencing your final score (thus the endings you can get), is just an awful way to promote the multiplayer part. And it's not even a small addition to the score...

    That doesn't mean much though, because as thousands have said before me, the ending is just despicable. Plot holes, no personal influence, not making much sense, seriously rushed and totally disappointing to anyone who has actually connected with the game. People are actually thinking of alternative theories, just to fool themselves that the ending was logical.

    This really feels like Dragon Age 2 (which had 5 dungeons in total and they were recycled in every way), Bioware having disappointed once again.    … Expand
  98. andraip
    Mar 23, 2012
    10
    It's a good game, the endings suck but I don't understand how people can give a game a 0 if they love it but just hate one thing... sad.

    And it did many things better then ME and ME2
  99. Feldane
    Mar 23, 2012
    1
    I want to state I personally started a metacritic account to rate this game. The game is not unplayable it just has some horrible flaws that ruin it as a whole. The good is as follows : The story it quite good, the voice acting is great ,it is a very emotional story, it really sucks you in and there is a lot more rpg elements(such as modifiable powers and weapons). The bad and it is really bad is as follows: The whole premise of the Mass Effect series is that chose matter, this is totally taken away from you in the ending(s). Even if you made the best chose in every three games import your character over all three, it doesn't matter. The thing that makes it incredibly frustrating is that you lose many character over the course of the games and you make friends and even lovers, and to be given an ending where in that all that sacrifice, all that character development means nothing, especially over the course of three game, is simply not acceptable. The ending honestly ruined the entire gaming experience for me. Other things that bad is decision you made in Mass Effect 2 dlc's & Mass Effect 1 general story are invalidated. Examples, You kill Wrex in ME1, he is back in ME3, you rekindled your relationship with Liara in ME2 Shadow broker dlc, she acts like she has seen you but for the brief time in ME3, You made Anderson a Counselor in ME1, Udena is the Counselor in ME3. A lot of fan favorites are also not playable character in ME3. Wrex is not playable, All of the added cast in ME2 are not playable, though they do make appearances, it is honestly really sad to see them take a back seat in ME3. There is also the day one on disc dlc, which I personally got the N7 special edition of ME3 so i got it for "free", it is actually quite vital to the story and should have been free in all additions.
    In conclusion i tried really hard to like this game. I loved it for the most part, but literally the last 10 minutes of the game ruin it. I know Bioware was aiming for a bitter sweet/deeper meaning ending. It honestly feels poorly executed at best and at worst a big slap in the face to the customer base that made this game so successful. I would not recommend this game to anyone. If you insist on playing it stop after you have your big chat with all your crew and friends, before the final battle, because the ending will ruin it for you. Just tell yourself you won and everyone lives happily ever after, because even the "best" ending is a sad one. So yourself a favor and pass on Mass Effect 3.    … Expand
  100. stb97
    Mar 28, 2012
    5
    I have to say, I loved Mass Effect 3, or at least I thought I did. The combat is definitely greatly improved, it is now much more fluid, and shooter fans will have an easy transition to this game, as the combat is rewarding and the abilities are much more fun and necessary to be effective on the higher difficulties. On the other hand, for people playing for the story, the combat can be tuned down so that it is still the same shooty-killy action sequence, but it takes significantly less time so you can easily get through to the story driven sections of the game. However, the one part they seemed to have skipped on is exploration, in Mass Effect one, we had the Mako, which provided a plethora of opportunities for exploration and side missions, in Mass Effect 2, we could scan planets, this provided an alternate currency system for upgrading your ship as well as still providing an avenue for side missions. However, in Mass Effect 3, there's really no exploration elements, which takes a sizable chunk of gameplay out of the game, as well as limiting us to the hub stations and the one time mission areas, making the game feel increasingly confined. But the problem with appealing to both the story and combat players, is that neither field seems that amazing, the story was quite frankly shallow with very few side plots or twists, and the combat alone was no where near good enough to carry the entire game. The ending was bad, but it wasn't enough to ruin the game for me, and the multiplayer was just, while enjoyable, a ploy to draw in more customers.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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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