Mass Effect 3 PC
User Score
4.8 out of 10

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 4426 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,850 out of 4426
  2. Mixed: 380 out of 4426
  3. Negative: 2,196 out of 4426

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  1. lasertank
    Mar 7, 2012
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is linear and repetative. Decisions made in ME1 & 2 all lead to the 3 similar suck endings. The ending concludes nothing but leaves more problems. All kinds of tragedy are intentionally forced upon players and provides insufficient reasons. The RPG essenses: dialog, history, puzzle, are all missing in ME3. The rushy epilogue disclose how badly bioware wants to kill this game. In ME1 & 2 the length of the ending cinematic last more than 5 minutes, but in ME3 only a less than 1 minute miserable epilogue awaits you.… Expand
  2. Nogard123
    Mar 8, 2012
    1
    Seems Bioware has lost its touch,iam glad i didn't buy this piece of crap.
    The endings are just a big fu to all its fans.
    And then there is the day 1 dlc ,Bioware sold its soul to the (devil/EA)
    I feel sorry for the people who bought this,i know my money wont ever go to a Bioware game again ,ever!
    How the mighty have fallen.
  3. Lifewhacker
    Mar 8, 2012
    2
    After putting in nearly 100+ hours in the first two Mass Effect games and loving every second of it, Mass Effect 3 left me more than disappointed. The story feels really dumbed down, filled with plot holes and for lack of words, just really bad. There have been tons of technical glitches so far, including issues installing with Origin. (LOTS of texture pop-in, etc on a GTX 260- more than enough to run the game) Bioware has been on a decline lately, and Mass Effect 3 officially lost them an otherwise loyal fan.… Expand
  4. Mekah
    Mar 9, 2012
    1
    And series goes out with a whimper. Like the second game we get an extremely pared-down experience with a near total focus on Gears of War-esque shooter gameplay. Linear level design, no exploration, once again a very limited and disappointing Citadel, still not enough skills especially for team members, and just an awful narrative that culminates in one of the most absurdly shortchanged endings I've ever seen. Manipulated stock photo for one of the big reveals, barely functional journal, broken face import. Feels like a game rushed to completion yet somehow they had the time and budget to provide a multiplayer mode.

    I think I'll go play Mass Effect 1 again and lament that the series will never live up to the potential it had thanks to Bioware.    … Expand
  5. Martell
    Apr 9, 2012
    1
    After Dragon Age 2 you thought EA would stop.. but no!! they did it again!! let's be honest the game is a let down compared to ME2 and the fact that the reviewing sites acclaim this with a 10/10 or a 9/10, it's just ridicolous. the game is fine until you discover that your decisions, the allies you find along the way and the difficulties you overcome during the game have no weight in the final battle. if you expect something similar to the suicide mission in ME2 where your choice mattered you'll be very disappointed!… Expand
  6. Atech66
    Mar 11, 2012
    0
    Thank God.. this is why i use Meta for everything... no BS no paid off journalism just the freakin truth. We have been getting screwed this whole year .. Bethesda kicked my teeth in with Rag(e) and B(usted)rink and now EA screws the biggest pooch of all.. way to F go you money hungry half azzed dumb sh*ts. greed has taken over the entire damn industry without Indie games i almost didnt have a gaming year.. EA you suck.. if Diablo 3 is screwed up ( nothing to do with EA) Im giving up.… Expand
  7. Zireael_Ua
    Mar 8, 2012
    1
    This game was great, interesting, brilliant, before...This is MOST STUPID end ever!!!1 I cant believe this **** is end Mass Effect 3. Hate ME series now.
  8. Redscare89
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    Garbage game. I'd return it but unfortunately I'm a PC gamer. Steer clear if you enjoy not wasting 60 bucks. Game itself doesn't really deserve a 0 but Bioware and EA just prove time and time again they are just greedy money grabbers who don't give two **** about their fans.
  9. Jaitsu
    Mar 8, 2012
    4
    The gameplay is great and all, and the story is as good and ever, but BioWare/EA made a huge mistake in essentially FORCING the player to play a ton of the multiplayer to get a halfway decent ending for the single-player. Bioware claims that the game can be beat without playing the multiplayer, but that's mostly lip service; you CAN beat the game without the MP, but you're going to get a terrible ending if you didn't go and do EVERYTHING possible in the SP, and even if you do, you can't get better than a subpar ending. That's a really, really bad design decision - especially considering how bad the MP is. It doesn't encourage teamwork, it encourages leaving your teammates to die so you can take all the kills and you don't have to fight for cover or deal with them drawing fire to your location when you're trying to be sneaky.… Expand
  10. ShtKck
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    Computer version is rough around the edge technically, but story? Unmatched. Soundtrack? Unmatched. Roleplaying? Unmatched. People need to deal with the way the story plays out, just because you don't like what happened to a particular character doesn't make it a bad game.
  11. jonasion
    Mar 7, 2012
    3
    I haven't played the game, [nahhh, dont stop reading, go on:...] and probably wont.[just a bit more...] Having read what other fans of the series ME1+2 have had to say I will keep my money in my pocket and just comment on this: Why is it that game review magazines seem to have completely gone 'corporate'? Look at the difference between the review and the gamers perspective: "http://www.gamespot.com/mass-effect-3/reviews/mass-effect-3-review-6363906/" Gamespot, which I has always been my guiding star has of late begun completely not focusing on the essentials: Will the gamers actually like what they see? Battlefield 3 was so riddle with bugs it was unplayable. ME3 is so riddled with messy dialogue and bad story line that it seems a travesty to try it out, especially with this DLC being thrown in your face early on. A game is not only good if it has great graphics, sound track and is playable without a patch on day 3. Time to try some Indie games perhaps?

    My point is this: If we can't trust the game reviews we read, then we cant trust MetaCritic's scoring either. Thus, MetaCritic needs to exercise some journalistic control on these review sites.    … Expand
  12. Rakka
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    I loved Mass Effect
    I adored Mass Effect 2
    I truly and utterly despise Mass Effect 3. EA and Bioware basically killed one of the best gaming title of the past 10 years with this last installment. It's boring and blatant, it tries to act like an FPS game, it's overly simplified, it's ugly, it's story is nowhere comperable to the previous ones, it forces gay romances down your throat, it's t    oo easy even on insanity, it's...it's just BAD. And this comes from a gamer who even bought ME2 Collectors Edition because of how much I loved these games.

    I strongly suggest not buying this game, Boycott Bioware, BOYCOTT EA, do anything that you can to make them realize this is not what we wanted.

    This is a sad time for gaming.    … Expand
  13. vish
    Mar 8, 2012
    0
    This is atrocity. 1. DLC 'From ashes' already on the disc of collector's edition at least.
    2. Problems with new facial system. I bought 2 collector's editions of Mass Effect 1 and 2. I lived with my character for 4 years already. And now what? I just have to wait for BioWare doing their job correctly? 2 years of development and this is how you treat paying customers?

    Thank you Electronic     Arts for making the BioWare company it is today. Great games, great crappy performance, great greed.

    Lights out.    … Expand
  14. Mozu
    Mar 6, 2012
    5
    Regardless of what the paid reviews will tell you, this is another excellent example of how Bioware can take a game and franchise which once held promise, and turn it into a lazily-produced money grab, pandering to the lowest common denominator. Gears of War combat through incredibly linear levels, even fewer dialogue choices that don't seem to matter one bit, stripped-down character customization and skills, and, of course, the quality writing, roughly on the level of high-school fanfiction.… Expand
  15. GamerUntouch
    Mar 6, 2012
    3
    Choppy dialogue, forced combat, awful storylines, terrible animations.

    Bioware could've done better with this really.
    It's a shame.

    3 because at least, when it was fitting, the music was nice.
  16. Krichevskoy
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    I enjoyed ME 1 immensely but this feels like an empty shell compared to that. My previous choices seem pointless, it's like that story and deaths are ignored.
  17. Sharpmaxim
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    OK, unlike paid critics and users (who actually play with pink glasses on) I will keep this one short. Don't be an idiot like me. I already wasted 100 bucks for EA (50 bucks for SW TOR, and another 50 for this piece of crap). Overall impressions: Graphics - mediocre to the best; Animations - epic fail. Animated by professional programmers, definitely not CGI specialists (lol); Dialogues - MOST EPIC FAIL EVER. They surely have been written by some retarded and are only targeted to impress retarded rednecks; gameplay - FAIL. Plus add here 10 USD DLC on the first day - and that's about that to make a conclusion, that BW is dead. I hope they spend my 50 bucks for this **** for doctor, because it is obvious someone in EA BW needs serious treatment. Oh, and I hope paid critics won't be happy with their bribes. That's all.… Expand
  18. CorporatCulture
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    A sparkling meta-game with flawed minigames, but still worth playing. Mass Effect 3 is a stunning tour de force of an epic, arrayed with a cast ranging from legendary writer Jennifer Hepler to reformed misogynist Jim Sterling and such media luminaries as Kotaku and Rock Paper Shotgun. Its story arcs span intrepid epics from the great script leak of 2011, where the seeds of backlash were first sown. Subsequent chapters as the leak of the art book are also worth playing, where you discover that many of the supposed characters were not who you expected, adding both intrigue and drama into the mix. When the second act ended, and Hepler was stoned by the masses despite not even having a role in the great BioWar, I was rapt with trepidation as Sterling rode to her rescue. The third act proves to be even better, with such missions as the Great DLC Robbery and Space Needs Games. Indeed, ME 3 is a stunning indictment of the electronic gaming industry and the insidious ability for media outlets, backed with hard corporate cash, has morphed it into a culture of conformity. Mass Effect 3 highlights this process, from the beginning at the ashes of the previous game to its non-conclusion, in which we have to purchase for $9.99 on the Origin marketplace. The writing of this meta-game is beyond reproach, though the character design leads some room to be desired. However, this masterpiece has a few flaws. The mini-games are not particularly entertaining. The dating simulator is simplistic and contains much laughable dialogue, though it is understandable given that it is a satire designed to parody sophomoric RPGs of yesteryear. The "Cmmdr. Shepherd" gun and run sections fall prey to numerous glitches, rendering levels unplayable or at least requiring numerous playthroughs. Enemy designs are uninspired and spawn incessantly, a fitting tribute to the Gauntlet games that were such a great influence on Bioware. Much of the dialogue seems hackneyed, but that is understandable since the gonzo mini-games were directly modeled after Tales of Game's Presents Chef Boyardee's Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa, another game series that Bioware drew more than a little inspiration from. The level design is somewhat mediocre, but understandable given how the bulk of the development cycle was spent polishing the other areas of the meta-game, especially the Forums Realm.

    Speaking of which, the Fandom faction (housed in the Forums Realm) throughout this game is simply tremendous. The Biodrone hive's rise and implosion was a chilling morality play fit for these uncertain times, and truly Bioware has conveyed in vibrant imagery what happens when large groups of people act mindlessly. Bioware's avant-garde depictions of "fanservice" present the proverbial fall of an hubristic artist become waylaid by easy money. ME 3 cleverly teaches this moral lesson, which should be remembered by every game designer, by showing the bizarre incestuous relationship between the fandom, engaged in the torid cutscenes known as "shipping", and the company itself. The company, in turn, rewards the fandom by courteously appropriating its creations, as we see vividly displayed in the ending, a beautiful DA artpiece that Bioware exposes to the world. Ultimately, Mass Effect 3 is not truly a game, but a moment. An experience. It transcends media boundaries and challenges our perceptions as to what games are and what they are made of and what they can do. Who are players and who are characters. What is the pH level of the bodily fluids of an alien lifeform. If you enjoy stunning cinematic takedowns, you will love this game.    … Expand
  19. GesDarkmaw
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    Just finished first run of it. Great game, I really like the new characters and le add some new spice to the game, but I do miss some of the previous characters who are missing. The setting is, as usual, exquisite. It does feel a little bit like the first game, but I can excuse that if it's a good game in general.
  20. oh_brother
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    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 le    vel. 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
  21. bartreligion
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    Best game this generation. Don't believe the trolls who bash this game. Mass Effect is this generation's Star Wars. They really shoud delete all these troll acounts giving negative scores :)
  22. Cain123
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Bioware you have truely sunk low.

    Day 1 DLC
    Auto dialogs.
    Import bugs
    TERRIBLE ENDINGS and Writing.


    All in all I hope this game flops worse than DA2.
  23. hayuto
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    I regret pre-ordering this title. I only played Mass Effect 2 before and i thought this will be the same game but with different story (and maybe better graphics). It's not. It's horrible. The little things i loved in mass effect has been removed like for example mini-games! I ask - whyyyyy? Who ask you to remove it? Not me. I don't know what else could i write hear... Just read other reviews and you will get the idea.… Expand
  24. MrBoBo1
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    The first thing that sticks out for me here upon purchasing it, it's suppose to be an emotionally driven game... yet EVERY character either sounds like a Vulcun or Data from star trek. The game has no emotion what so ever. I'm sorry, am I missing something here? I'm disgusted by the clearly paid off media acting as advertisements for the game rather than reviewers none of them even attempted to pick this (obviose) problem up.â… Expand
  25. me-0815
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Origin - Unacceptable. Day 1 DLC - Unacceptable. As far as the rest of the game is concerned: Mass Effect 1 was an exciting, innovative new type of Action-RPG. It had an epic story in a unique, diverse universe, very good writing, great characters and real choices for the player. Little is left of that. In their desire to cater to the fans of shooters and casual games, BioWare has reduced the RPG elements, trivialized the dialogue and taken away much of the character development and choices that make a proper RPG. The story that started in Mass Effect 1 as an interesting and mystic space opera has been transformed into a predictable soap opera with mostly mediocre, sometimes outright terrible, writing. It might still be better than most of the other stories in video games these days, but that's of course not very difficult, and it's nowhere near the quality that BioWare used to deliver. Probably the worst example of the inability of the writers are the endings. On the other hand, perhaps they too were imposed by EA, to reduce the required work and costs. One complaint against Mass Effect 1 was the somewhat uninspired combat system. This had already been replaced in Mass Effect 2 with a clone of the usual cover-based shooters. Not very innovative and in my opinion still quite repetitive and not very challenging, but many players seemed to enjoy it. So in that regard, Mass Effect 3 certainly delivers the expected. But that's of course not nearly enough to make it a great game, and it's also not the reason why I play BioWare games or RPGs in general.… Expand
  26. nuttex
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Instead of an amazing finale to one of the best franchises in last 10 years, all we get is one big grim disappointment. Either way, endings can be described as "Life sucks then you die". Can't say this is what I was expecting. Ironically, it turned out to be that what Bioware was to Mass Effect is what Reapers were to the galaxy in game.
  27. passisname
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    This game clearly ended the trilogy in the most special way possible.
    If any game could claim it ended this trilogy in the most special way it would be this.
    I give this a 10/10 because this game ended the trilogy in the most special way possible.
  28. Corepore
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    This game runs like a fan fiction of a fan fiction. Our only hope is that BioWare releases a DLC to fix our brains after the damage this unfortunate pile of crap did.
  29. Yvetta
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Save your hard earned money, I am a die hard ME fan and this game was unbelievably disappointing. Just know one thing, You Have No Choices in the end. None.
  30. darkrockerxx
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    It's awesome how EA thinks their costumers want to play. Mass Effect 2 had its issues, but after all it was still a good game. This game here is ridiculous. Pure linear nonsense, a really bad gameplay and last but not least players are forced to use Origin. Flop of the year.
  31. Beatz
    Mar 6, 2012
    2
    I hated to see so many negative reviews, but now that im about 10 hours in I just cringe on the fact that i must support these low scores. This game has lost its way. ME 1 and 2 were In depth. ME3 is boring, characters are dull and dialogue is horrible. options of choosing what you say is only 2 choices. either paragon or renegade. nothing in between. there is no feeling of getting to know other characters or feeling a connection with absolutely anything. might as well play gears of war! The Genre RPG should be RIpped out of ME3. Bioware! You disappointed me this round!… Expand
  32. MerpanDerp
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    Day 1 DLC aside, this game was quite possibly the biggest disappointment so far. The story and especially its end was an incredible let-down, driven by boring, static dialogue. All of the 'new' characters lack depth and character or end up being completely irritating due to bad writing. Gameplay is lacking, RPG elements almost completely removed and the oh so praised 'Cinematic Experience' destroyed by awkward animations.

    0/10
    Try again without EA, Bioware.    … Expand
  33. Pareus
    Mar 7, 2012
    3
    If this was a new IP this game would be fine, but it is not a worthy successor to ME1/2. The game makes it very clear that you are playing Bioware's Shepard not your own. Whereas previous games allowed you to choose almost everything Shepard said, here you are railroaded with autodialog and few conversations options through the entire game. The dialogue itself is much worse than previous games as well.
    he game assumes you have read the novels and makes them canon for your Shepard, there is not even a expository line about Anderson stepping down. If you havent played arrival you are similarly left without adequate explanation for the events leading up to ME3. As well, the game is buggy as hell. Expect random freezing/crashes at some missions, missions that wont update, and numerous graphical bugs. You cant even import your ME1 face, I cannot even understand how they thought it was ok to release the game without fixing that one.
    While ME's story has always had a lot of problems with logic and plot holes, the ending to ME3 goes off the deep end. I have no problems with a grim ending, if it is done well, but the ending here, the ending to your Shepard's story now and forever is illogical as hell and poorly written. Nothing you have done throughout the entire series makes a difference in the end, you will be forced into one of three stupid choices, none of which make a damn bit of sense.    … Expand
  34. FACLONS
    Mar 7, 2012
    1
    as someone who enjoyed 1 2 this is a disgrace to the franchise what a terrible way to end it the graphics where awful the game play was so dumbed down it felt like gears of war and the lack of almost everything RPG related was unacceptable.
  35. Dodo22
    Mar 7, 2012
    4
    It is impossible to import your Shepard from the previous games as the new face creation mechanism will not identify the elements from the save file. Importing your save is what has made Mass Effect as prolific as it is. Unplayable until a patch for an issue that should have been resolved during the testing phase. They apparently had the time to make $10 day one DLC but not enough time to ensure that a critical component of the main game is functioning properly?

    Aside from this I have played through the first segment with the base Shepard, and it appears to have restored mass effect to initial appeal from the boring outing that was ME2.

    Still I'll go no farther without my Shepard character. Product is in a condition that I reasonably should not have expected. Any other industrial sector and they'd be compelled by law to restore my money, however, software laws let them off the hook. Fix it.    … Expand
  36. mrrip
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    Then ideas of things that you love changing into something really bad, you at first trying not to notice that or avoid it with hope that things will be better. Then I played ME 2 I thought that things will change and after developers review criticism of game develop a true masterpiece of game world. But then we saw a total failure of DA2 that become a fantasy clone of ME2. After that we got a clone of WoW in space (KoTOR) that is failure 2. And now ME3â… Expand
  37. bobdole
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    I sincerely hope this is a joke. Come on, Bioware. Come on. This isn't even funny anymore, what happened. I miss great games like Baldur's Gate II, please stop doing this to me.
  38. ki-orz
    Mar 7, 2012
    1
    Contrains minor spoiler

    I played mass effect 1 week before ME3, and re-played ME2 two days before ME3 came out (lost saves after switching to windows 7) i was really disappointed in simplicity of the game, side missions just felt like quickly made DLC
  39. EHuntington
    Mar 7, 2012
    4
    Mass Effect 3 is, at best, a disappointing game. At its worst, it's a cliched mess of nonsense dialogue and forced decisions. What's most disappointing for me, is the separated structure of the game. Dialogue happens, then gameplay, then dialogue, then gameplay. There's no fusion. Mass Effect 3 has lengthy fighting sequences and lengthy dialogue and story sequences, but the two never mix. There's no story in the fight, something happens then something else happens. It's depressing. This game has turned me off to Bioware. I won't be getting their next game.… Expand
  40. McLOVIN
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    As a proud passive gay of African-American origin, I am deeply disturbed and offended by this ridiculous "game". What's wrong with you, Bioware? Did you seriously expected to fool many thousands of young gay and transgender gamers? Censored interspecies "sex" does not make your inferior product neither good nor appealing. OH MY GOD I think it's the absolutely worst game I've ever played in my entire life. I can't believe I'm saying that. It is so ugly, primitive, outright boring. And what's up with the "critics" and their scores, huh?… Expand
  41. KidDeath10k
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The overall game was good up until the ending. Each of the ending, Shepard dies and the Mass Effect relays are destroyed. What really ruined it was half-way through the game on the Citadel someone asked that if the Mass Effect relays were destroyed if it would stop the Reaper attacks.

    The ending was not original by any means. Your good ending is GREEN, the Reapers leave (but are not destroyed) because they had a change of heart. The bad ending is RED and literally, synthetic life is destroyed (Reapers, Geth, EDI, etc). The neutral/Illusive Man ending is BLUE and Shepard becomes the God of the Reapers, humans becoming the dominant race in the galaxy. I have decided at this point that I will never by another Bioware game. SWTOR was a letdown, so I unsubbed. Mass Effect 3 was watered down and unoriginal, so I am disappointed. Dragon Age 2 was disgusting and watered down, which disappointed me. Bioware went from telling amazing stories to just another EA company banking on a collective interest. Also, the Day 1 DLC was *essential* to the story and without it you're missing a huge chunk of information. $10 for content that should have been included with the game.

    Bioware, this has already been done by the Deus Ex franchise. This is not original and I was very very disappointed.    … Expand
  42. RyuseiDate
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    Let's divide this in 2 categories Gameplay and Story

    Gameplay: I find myself in an amazingly dumbed down game. Mass Effect 1 was a great piece of Action Role Playing game, developing your own Sheppard was basicly the purpose of the game and your decitions would mean everything at any point of the game... ME2 ... dumbed things down but we still retained that feeling of control over the sit    uations... ME3 simply disposed of this. Absurdly limited options at all times, guided responses and quite a lacking 'Action' feeling with dificult to track camera angles and constant shaking (that tries to emulate some sort of movie but instead just blocks your actions) tend to present themselves as a turnoff. The game is not Graphically impressive as it has shown, expressions are lacking and the overall presentation seems that relies too heavy on some sort of grain filter that bothers the eye.

    the multiplayer is clunky and proof that trying to convert your Action RPG into a TPS RPG is not a good idea.

    Story: After all this is an RPG, but let's leave aside that mostof your options don't matter, if the story is good one can forgive that... but we meet a pale shadow of what Sheppard was, that barelly keeps track of his recent disgraces only to form an alliance that may go nowhere (and that at the end serves little purpose) the crew of the Normandy presents itself as a cardboard version of their ME1 and 2 selves and the new characters are equally plain. I decided to see how the multiple companion options were but when I noticed that most of the effects meant "Sheppard gets laid, forgets the issue and then continues his quest" with no repercutions whatsoever simply... well, it shows how "important" relationships are in this game...

    The endings are dissapointing and likelly copied from other sources, predictable options that serve no other pupose than forcing the player to play a few more times a few scenes... A Mediocre ending for a series that started greatly as a way to show hard science fiction... dumbed down into a mediocre soap opera about a crew that wishes to get laid during an open war.    … Expand
  43. Zellith
    Mar 7, 2012
    1
    Lots of bugs in conversation - graphical in nature. Peoples poses instead of seamless transiton into another would just pop into new poses occasionally. The voices a lot of the time didnt match the lip syncs whatsoever so peoples faces sometimes would look like ventriloquists. I even found and experienced a few bugs along the way. My main problem is the games ending. It just failed to deliver on every level. It left me angry and confused. This game had so much promise and it was squandered. I do not recommend this game be purchased at this time. Wait for the price to come down.… Expand
  44. SaBOTeur
    Mar 8, 2012
    0
    The writing and plot in this game are by far the worst in the trilogy. The use of deus ex machina betrays BioWare's incredibly lazy narrative and ridiculous ending. Choices and consequences are non-existent, the combat is simplified to the point it's painfully easy even on hardest difficulty, animations are clunky and facial animations are always deeply entrenched within the uncanny valley. Characters are stupid, boring, predictable and funny for all the wrong reasons. Avoid this game at all costs, your time is better spent elsewhere… Expand
  45. rawrOMGrawr
    Mar 8, 2012
    1
    I read all the negative user reviews and thought "meh, troll campaign". Having now bought ME3 I can tell you how wrong I was.

    I started play and was greeted with a full-on 5 minute IG cutscene which told me nothing of what had happened since ME2, built no atmosphere and could have been better acted out by brewer's yeast. This would have been OK had there been something pretty to look at,     however by the end of this protracted, dry-wretch-inducing fable I was still waiting for the textures to pop in. They never did; and neither did the skybox (which looks like a late 90s perlin noise experiment), text renderings (HO5M4H0V - oops, I mean NORMANDY - I'm looking at you), bullet graphical effects or any other advancement in graphics technology since the early 00's.

    I have read complaints about the animations and I tend to agree with them, however I did derive some entertainment from this aspect of the game by finding a battle zone, blasting the Benny Hill theme from my stereo and then dashing around it, avoiding cover wherever possible. Due to the new "playability and experience-centric" combat system I actually found it quite difficult to die while doing this.

    Sadly, the story-line and telling is the biggest casualty here. I don't usually complain about story-lines per se because usually this borders on personal preference - who gets mad at a book because things don't end the way they want them to? - but in this instance I feel I have to; the story line simply ignores anything that happened in any other ME game and the setting as a whole. Imagine if a scene in LOTR: The Return of the King had seen Sauron march up to Aragorn, flip on his ghetto blaster and serve him legal notice to get down and funky for hobbiton. Could be a great scene; shouldn't be in a LOTR movie - right? The writers of ME3 would disagree with you.

    The voice acting is wooden and poorly synced with facial animations, just as the lines are tired, cliched and poorly synced with your dialogue "choices". I don't use those inverted commas lightly; the dialogue choices are akin picking one of two bottles labelled "coke" and "pepsi", one filled with water from the fountain of youth and the other with aqua regia. It's hard to take a game seriously when almost every dialogue choice plays like the grail scene from Indiana Jones and yet does nothing to advance the plot.

    There's more - the controls, the "RPG" system, the AI and the return of the mini games (now transformed into button-press-cutscenes) - but, in all honesty and not being a terribly fussy gamer, I could have honestly enjoyed this game if it had got any one of the major parts above right. It didn't and hence I didn't. I sincerely hope that you have found this review persuasive (If you haven't bought it yet) or condoling (If you have).    … Expand
  46. zoozooboo
    Mar 8, 2012
    4
    The only thing surprising about the negative reaction to this game is that took you all so long to realize these overpaid basement-dwellers have been making hackneyed, nerd-baiting snoozefests since the overrated Knights of the Old Republic (a game with one of the all-time stupidest twists in any medium). It speaks multitudes of Bioware's lack of creativity that the second they break free of their D&D and Star Wars licenses (disregarding Jade Empire, which I admittedly haven't played), they jump immediately into creating aesthetically bland space operas and high fantasy romps because the 'spergers can't have their pinned-on mittens ruffled by change or new ideas. Compare the openings of games like Bioshock or Skyrim - games that give you a sense of true mystery and dread, games that prelude to their greater themes and ideas in the first few minutes - to Bioware's uninspired openings: You're standing around as you're totally personal and unique and awesome character (let's just call him/her "M. Sue" for argument's sake) whose super-unique jawline just gives him LOADS of personality, I'm sure, then someone talks your ear off for twenty minutes about PURELY EXPOSITORY BUNK and then whatever they're talking about attacks you in your vanilla spaceship/Game of Thrones field. Sure, you can't judge a game entirely by its opening, but this really illustrates how little Bioware understands about storytelling, tone, or personal expression in art. Their obsession with being "cinematic" is laughable as well, because, 1.) D&D campaigning (the only sort of story structure Bioware seems able to create) is in no way "cinematic," 2.) gaming has reached a level of artistry that most people who take the medium seriously are past trying to just be film's little brother (a reason why the actual gameplay in this developer's titles is so often maligned), and 3.) if this unholy mix of Uncanny Valley Barbie dolls and outdated space opera chic somehow stumbled into the multiplexes, it would tank faster than you could say "The Spirits Within." I'm not one to say you can't make an engrossing game based on going around talking to people... hell, I love the LucasArts adventure games of yesterday. But the difference is those games had style in spades - from the whimsical noir of Grim Fandango to the truly creepy mystery of The Dig - whereas Bioware is simply content to milk easy characterizations and plots (if I ever have to help another space-slut track down her deadbeat space-dad because he owes her space-money or WHATEVER, may I be forced to have sex with a Krogan for the rest of my days), knowing they're working in a field where, until recently, the bar was low enough to get away with it. (It is also interesting to note Dragon Age II, despite its numerous gameplay flaws, was the only Bioware game that comes close to being more than the sum of hastily borrowed parts. And of course it was the start of the internet backlash; nerds don't like it when you slip some beef into their pink slime.) It genuinely makes me angry that the writers try to pass off their totally exploitative (and cringe-worthily awkward) sex scenes as promotions of sexual equality, because they didn't just include hot lesbian action to turn on the fanboys then realize they needed to include some male homosexuality as to not look entirely pandering. The company is skilled at creating an immersive experience, I will give them that, and not every moment spent in their universes is entirely unpleasant. But with schlock writing, unoriginal concepts, and often shoddy gameplay, why do they get a pass for creating a world that's cool to hang out in for a couple hours? That is the bare minimum you're expected to do when creating a piece of narrative entertainment! If you honestly think these games are the pinnacle of any sort of storytelling or characterization, by God, read more books, watch more films, play more games, live more life. Then, come back and see how your Shepard (OMG, does YOUR Shepard Renegade Interrupt people because MY Shepard totally does lololol) and all his dead-eyed and dull-voiced pals relate to things made by people who have seen sunlight in the last ten years. My theory is, they won't.… Expand
  47. Hippari
    Mar 8, 2012
    3
    This doesn't feel like it cost 50 million dollars to make. I'm wishing it didn't cost me 80 dollars to buy.

    Before all that, I never really got into any Bioware games beyond Mass Effect, but the first one really snagged me. I bought it on a Steam sale for 5 dollars because it was so highly praised. I saw why! Its combat was moderately challenging, had a great story, cool characters and     I enjoyed their interactions with each other and the universe they lived in. It was a living breathing environment that I was simply enraptured by. As soon as Mass Effect 2 was announced, I preordered the Collector's edition because I had no idea that things were going to get cheesey. Still, the game didn't disappoint me. It looked better, put me in some great new environments while cutting out a lot of the generic copy paste elements from the first and best of all, introduced some more great characters with genuinely cool interactions between them. Sure the classic combat got thrown under the bus in favor of the tried and true bootleg Gears of War system, but it wasn't broken by any means. It still left me with a good enough taste in my mouth to preorder the CE of ME3. Besides, I was this invested in the series, I had to see it end.

    Oh boy. Too put it simply, Mass Effect 3 is lazy. The characters look, move and sound terribly. On the design front, I could take or leave most to f the new outfits and the textures are also hit or miss, but some character's faces look positively simian (Ashley). Margaret Cho bot makes a cameo in the game for whatever reason that is, taking the place of Kelly Wong's established character. From a quick google search, she is actually pretty, but you wouldn't think so from the way she's rendered in game with her ginormous squirrel face and mouth that moves independent from the rest of her features. I heard that a lot of the development was put into voice acting ,which is believable because there are loooots of it, but the volume normalization is really off and on to the point of me wonderig where the money went. Margaret Chobot in particular has a bad habit of leaning away from the mic every now and then. If she were saying anything important I'd doubtlessly be more irritated.

    The game's animations are also sloppy; there are LOTS of poorly thought out loops mixed with awkward general movements. I giggle everytime I knock an enemy down and they break dance windmill flare there way back to their feet, but I can't help being disappointed with the stupid looking running animations.

    Oh, the breakdance comment reminds me of the developers decision to make the spacebar do everything. Sometimes it works! Really! On tuchanka I found myself just holding spacebar and marvelled at how my character ran and jumped over the stuff I wanted to jump over, and slid and rolled everywhere I inted them to. Theeeeeen... there are cases where I'm trying to pick up an item on the ground and my Shepard instead chooses to do kumbi rolls around it for 45 seconds before sliding into cover behind a chest-high wall, not having picked up the item I tried telling them to. Nobody's perfect.

    One thing that really broke my heart though was the fact that all my Saved character faces were imported poorly. I could recreate them, sure, but that's just pathetic. I don't understand why it's like that. If they added more options to the character creation bits, yeah sure, but they didn't. Why couldn't my sheps be imported properly?

    Of course, aside from character continuity, none of these previously mentioned issues were the thing that made me enjoy this series. After all if I want good and fluid combat I'll play Gears of War. If I want great animations I'll play GTA4. I wanted to see what became of these characters that I'm so invested in, of their universe that fascinates me so. I don't want to spoil anything, but God, this is where the ball was dropped. A lot of characters are cameos and after thoughts, like an old friend who stops by to give a quick hello in the middle of a roadtrip. The story has also drowned in nacho cheese to the point that it has simply become predictable when not outrageous and kinda generic where it used to be something special. It almost makes me feel as if Mass Effect 2 was a completely pointless existence. I have a sneaking suspicion that they knew the old players would come back no matter what and they had to focus on roping in new ones.

    The multiplayer's cool though, I guess. If you're into that. I'm not.

    I thought it would be funny if I ended this review on an after thought. Get it?    … Expand
  48. Gunny_IIDTA
    Mar 8, 2012
    4
    Got to say i am very disappointed with this game, i dont know if its just me but the graphics have got worse the game mechanics are still clunky and unwieldy (despite that i still love ME2) the character writing has gotten extremely chicle... What the hell happened to Kotor/Jade empire bio ware that's what i want to know. Also this game being clearly developed for consoles has not helped it in the slightest… Expand
  49. Sandzu
    Mar 9, 2012
    1
    Really disappointed in this game, played both ME1 and ME2...they were great. But this one is just bad, day 1 dlc really badly wrote ending
    overall emptyness of the game..just feels hollow... choices u made previous game make hardly any visible impact in this game. They had good series going on, feels like they just wanted to finish it fast and move to other projects.
  50. MumtazKhan
    Mar 12, 2012
    1
    This game completely destroys the franchise and trust in Bioware with the ending. They took the lazy way out and had an ending with no closure and with none of your previous decisions from the last 5 years and 3 games having any influence at all. The last few minutes of the game make me feel like I wasted my time and energy playing these games.
  51. boddilyfluids
    Mar 16, 2012
    0
    Breaks cannon, massive plot holes, incomplete game. While this is the final chapter in one of my most cherished series, there is very little that remains after a botched ending that can be considered good.
  52. antiver
    Mar 9, 2012
    0
    Awful. EA makes me feel like a criminal. Origin is a PoS. DLC is an obnoxious cash grab. Immersion is ruined by broken game mechanics.

    Looking forward to the remake/redux in 15-20 years.
  53. Kyrgsh
    Jul 17, 2012
    4
    Possibly the most disappointing release I've ever played. I will, in all honesty, never forgive the developer for taking narrative control away from a character I'd spent _years_ with and forcing her to engage in the least satisfying ending- and least in-character actions- imaginable. I haven't even logged into multiplayer in months. Regardless of how many new "cool" weapons and commendation packs they throw at me, the game is dead to me. I paid for it and have no interest in ever going back. And all those "critics" who gave the game a 10/10...I doubt I'll be trusting your opinions from here on out.… Expand
  54. Half-lifeer
    Mar 17, 2012
    6
    I Can't believe it.... i... i just can't.... I have stood for this game, through the hole launch periode, claiming that the ending would'nt matter to me if the game itself was great... But... but... The ending was seriously bad.. So bad that, It has destroyed the whole franchise for me.

    But the game itself isn't bad, is just the ending..... IT'S HORRIBLE!

    There isnt really anything i can     say, that everybody allready has put out. I can only say that im a terribly sad Mass Effect fan and it will take time before i get over that piece of sh** ending(s). So 6 score points from me. It would have been 9 or even 10, but yeah.... wtf were you thinking Bioware ;.(… Collapse
  55. InTheRain
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    This really saddens me. I enjoyed the first Mass Effect greatly, it was one of the top games and one my personal GOTYs. But this is a travesty, it is nothing short of a joke, the punchline written by Hepler. SPOILER : The ending reveals it was all just a grandpa telling his grandson a story. How lazy do you have to be that you have to end a story with "It was all just a story."? I don't even understand how being hired through nepotism has helped Hepler maintain her position as a writer for bioware, this is the third game in a row that they have released with just horrid writing. You can disagree all you want, but why don't you go back and play Baldur's Gate and compare the writing of then to now. Admittely most of the reviews are probably trolls, the positive ones at least. Fans in denial that their perfect company could ever have a flaw, who likely haven't even played the game. The plot makes no sense, they go out of there way to make sure every past action of the player doesn't matter whatsoever, they sexualize characters for no reason and the ones they have no way of sexualizing they completely ignore.
    Picking a heterosexual option is a renegade choice, how? Overall I'm not disappointed, I was disappointed when they ruined Dragon Age. Now I'm just waiting for them to release their ultimate garbage ball which will either kill the company and put it out of it's mercy or get them to reconsider their writing staff a little more carefully.    … Expand
  56. i59
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Along with most other EA franchises, Mass Effect has been utterly raped by idiotic decisions i.e. having to pay to get better endings, not being on Steam etc.
  57. Cruxador
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    I wanted an epic conclusion to the previous two games that brought the full weight of my choices to bear in a glorious ending involving the previously lampshaded themes of entropy. The ending I got instead simply didn't fit, it was a hybrid of the endings from Deus Ex and Toppa Tengen Gurren Lagann, and somehow still failed to be compelling.

    The only "positive" aspect of the game that the    y could think of to market being gay romance. As a heterosexual, I don't care about gay romance, and as a gamer I care very little about romance as a sub-plot in the first place.

    Additionally, the visuals and gameplay are both substantially worsened from the previous two games.    … Expand
  58. Kenmei
    Mar 27, 2012
    6
    I feel like the biggest problem with this game was the blatant disregard for the consumer when they put together the story for this final piece. While I didn't think it was the worst ending to a Sci-Fi trilogy (Hello Matrix), I do think there were a few things that they could have done differently. The biggest problems I had with this game though were alot of the things they missed. The lack of side missions, the lack of places to explore, and the fact that Bioware thinks we are all idiots with the issue with the DLC really puts a stain on this otherwise great gaming trilogy. I am glad that they are going back to address the issue of the ending but, with everything else that accompanied this game, the series really took a step back from ME 2, which I still think is one of the best sequels of all time. Bioware really lost touch with their consumers with this game and I do believe that is the EA influence doing the devil's work. The issue with the DLC will forever taint this game, no matter what they do with the ending. Still the ending of this series can be salvaged and the fans can be appeased somewhat with an ending they might like. However, in it's current form and even if the ending somehow changes everyone's mind about this game, this is still the worst game in the Mass Effect series and it's truly disappointing for me to write that. The utter disrespect shown to us players by Bioware with the DLC is the worst thing about this game and that will never go away no matter what they do with the ending. Still, if you've gone this far with the series, I would advise you to give it a chance just to see what you think. Just know that this definitely doesn't live up to the first two games in the slightest.… Expand
  59. crnppscls
    Apr 15, 2012
    2
    Annoying. Bought this off the back of a lot of favourable reviews. Are there any actual reviewers who arent in bed with ea ? The graphics are fine but the writing and some of the gameplay are truly awful. Worst game in the series but on the upside i learned something
  60. JamieLee
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    Now we all have good reason to buy Used Games again. I'll wait until the price drops to compensate for the DLC. I mean really....A Prothean Member which for some of us long time players is almost a must have and slap in the face at the same time, and Eden Prime return for 10$?!?!? Really!?!?! Really?!?!
  61. buckfutter69
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Enjoyed ME2 immensely, but day 1 dlc kinda killed it for me, I won't be supporting this game because it makes me a bad person. it's simply not good ethics on part of bioware, anything that was developed alongside the game should be available at the day of release. This is just plain bad business ethics. In the end, its Bioware thats laughing all the way to the bank from all the money they made. on a side note, i really did not like being force fed the issue of homosexuality/transexuals. Please Bioware, if you want to be activists that's fine but keep those issues out of games. Unnecessary homosexual dialogues aren't going to make you more edgy, it's just plain unnecessary. lets not revert back to DA2 with Anders.… Expand
  62. DCVDNH
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    The word **** (or sometimes ****e in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Northern England and Wales) is used by English speakers, but it is usually avoided in formal speech. Minced oath substitutes for the word **** in English include sugar and shoot.

    In the word's literal sense, it has a rather small range of common usages. An unspecified or collective occurrence of feces is generally *    *** or some **** a single deposit of feces is sometimes a **** or a piece of **** and to defecate is to **** to take a **** and a new variant to leave a **** While it is common to speak of **** as existing in a pile, a load, a hunk and other quantities and configurations, such expressions flourish most strongly in the figurative. For practical purposes, when actual defecation and excreta are spoken of in English, it is either through creative euphemism or with a vague and fairly rigid literalism.

    "****" can also be combined with other words to denote the type of feces one has. For instance, "snake **** describes feces that are long and thin in shape, thus reminiscent of a snake's appearance.

    **** carries an encompassing variety of figurative meanings, explained in the following sections.    … Expand
  63. Solclaim
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    I sure hope nobody reads user reviews anymore, These are just sad. That said, Apparently im some sort of freak, i played an loved the first game, thought the second was lacking, but this is by far my favorite in the series. But hell maybe its best if everyone flames the hell out of the game, i mean everything the "real" fans asked for in me2 is there, its improved in every way, and a damn good game, so well you think your accomplishing something by rating one of the best games to come out in the last few years a 0/10, ill give it this nice 10/10. because its shiny and what not. The Internet never ceases to amaze me, then again, Im sure we would have a hell of a lot more positive reviews without the legions of haters banning together here, and you know, everyone else wasn't too sucked in to the game to come give it a meaningless review. Speaking of that, Im off to play a damn good game.… Expand
  64. me_gusta_mierda
    Mar 6, 2012
    5
    Shepherd makes some funny faces but not on purpose xD

    The gameplay is OK but the bad facial animations, and well, ALL the animations, make the game unpleasant to look at. You should try it only if you want to view it as a piece of comedy. Me gusta or no me gusta?...I give this game a SITUATIONAL me gusta. Le faces are so funny xDDD
  65. wwefan1089
    Mar 6, 2012
    3
    Its no secret this game failed expectations for all fans, sadly this is that terrible excuse of a writer
    who wrote M.I.T.H. (wont say her name or nickname to keep band-wagoners off) terrible terrible writing
    as a business owner id fire this employee immediately i want to be successful and dropping a load to make a load of cash is necessary to me, the fact this writer wants to represent hom    osexual is beyond me
    nobody has asked for this, thinking they need any representation in video games is completely asinine and immature, but apart from that making DLC which is very important to the lore and day one which means if you want to know something that should be included in the game already you got to fork over money to see it, think if a movie at the theaters made you pay another ticket just to see deleted scenes and another ending would be outraging this how we feel, bioware drop the poor writers its for your own good i know good writing i frequent 9gag daily. in my opinion remake ME3 and make it good    … Expand
  66. powerua
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    BAD Game! Truly disappointing. Bioware made 2 fantastic games in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 where you controlled Commander Shepard. Horrible ending as well. I am disgusted.
  67. cndblank
    Mar 6, 2012
    10
    So far this game has hit every mark at least on the PC side. The multi-player is surprising good and I like how they worked it in to the story without making it mandatory. Combat is much better. And the game pays real respect to the first two. About the only thing I really would like to have seen is for Bioware to open this up the modders.

    I see all these Zero review scores and I'm thinki    ng a Zero? Get real.
    Compared to WHAT?    … Expand
  68. Mothhive
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Day 1 DLC, reduction in graphics and animation quality, dumbed down even further than ME2, requires Origin, not available on Steam... how on Earth Bioware and EA are still in business are beyond me. First Dragon Age, then KOTOR and now the Mass Effect franchise? From great games to lazy cash ins. I hope they made enough money out of nickle and diming their customers over the years, because I really can't imagine many people buying any more of their games after their last few failures and complete disregard for their customers (besides their wallets).… Expand
  69. Myster2
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    Unfortunately this game just does not stand out in any way shape or form and it seems to just be a recycled game design. Multiplayer is fun for an hour or two as well then just kind of gets boring as well.
  70. iHyu
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Worst console port ever... horrble controls, stupid story and almost all choices from the previous titles are without consequences. I regret my choice of buying this game.
  71. sandrem
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Worst game in Mass Effect 1-3. Why I need to play multiplayer to successfully complete main single-player campaign? Why some characters and pieces of plot are cut from the game that I bought and are selling with additional price? How much we need to pay to get complete game, not piece-by-piece by additional money? Mass Effect is killed by greed.
  72. horsemnonkey
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Hardly any actual gameplay, just cutscene after cutscene after cutscene. For **** sake.
    The cutscenes would have been bearable if they actually were worth the storytelling. But it was just plain awful and cringeworthy to have to sit through. I felt ill irl.
  73. salazarthefines
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    I feel cheated. The game reeks of being rushed and incomplete. From the small, tightly bound maps to the unpolished haphazardly placed objects, it seems all the care and attention to detail that made the second game play like a movie (and some would say at the cost of playing like an RPG) have been thrown aside. There's no emotion or connection with the cast and every promise made by bioware over the years of having your decisions *matter* has just been a complete and utter lie as the plot rides roughshod over your own shepard's story to force itself onto you with plotholes the size of the citadel.
    I cannot play another bioware game.    … Expand
  74. mediochrea
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    EA, those blasted slavedrivers, have successfully raped a once creative and forward-looking studio, and are hoping for people to feast on their miscarried offspring. What's not to hate? And holy flying **** did they buy out ALL the critics?
  75. Slaw
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    At time of writing a major feature of this game(the ability to carry over your character from a previous game) does not function. The vast majority will play this game to continue the story with THEIR character making it arguably the most important feature in the game. How this made it through QA or was never tested is beyond rational thought. This is tantamount to selling something you cannot deliver.… Expand
  76. luluebelle
    Mar 6, 2012
    3
    to me the graphics its not that good when i look to naughty dog masterpiece uncharted3 mass effect looks very bad!!! i hate the story its very predictable ..its very disappointed..i preordered it a year ago i thought it gonna be like mass effect 2 but its not..bioware can do better..i think mass effect is the worst of the series. thank you bioware for ruined it lets hope we hear abot dragon age 4 soon .… Expand
  77. jd579
    Mar 6, 2012
    4
    well, i was totally dissapointed by this game. i loved me 1 and me 2 was even better, i had hoped that they would have fixed the problems in both in me3 and finished the story and it all sounded cool, the way that the game was laid out and how it would progress. i got it today and put it in and the first thing that i noticed was they changed everything about the old games. the graphics were realistic in 1 and got more realistic in 2, it looked like a movie. now it looks cartoonish or like an anime. this is probably the worst direction i could think of to go in for me. the first thing i noticed also was the alliance uniforms are different, those things on their shoulders are huge and the little chain thing, it all just screams anime or cartoon to me. i can't stand it. the next thing i noticed was the writing was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy worse than the first two. this is mass effect, its supposed to have excellent writing, like some of the best that you'll find. and i found the intro to be really just, im not sure how to describe it. bad. not on par with mass effect 1 and 2. the dialogue with characters in the game is worse, less detailed, less believeable. the story is just, bad. i mean, it seems like something youd find in some other video games but not mass effect. its not believable. characters just do a 180 from who they were in me2 or 1. they changed a lot of the graphics and the way the game works on missions from me 1 and 2 that didn't need changing. i heard a lot of people left or got fired or something for this game, and, you can definately tell. i heard one of the main writers left or was fired also, and you can definately tell that. at some times you can tell little pieces of the old mass effect series that are good, but mostly its something new and different and just doesn't play well. playing on palavens moon was pretty cool, and the geth ship next to the main battery. overall they just made all of these changes to something that didnt need changing.… Expand
  78. Egidijus
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. You can see two sides to this game. First, its a sequel to the Mass effect series, in witch if youre a fan played Mass effect 1 and 2. The second, that this game is trying to be marketed to a wider player market. while that is not the main concern here, it did lead to some design views,
    There is a lot of things to say about this game, some are good, most are bad. Fistly the thing that will put off fans of the series is the side quest structure, its seems that most of them you get from lisening to conversations, with no animated conversations scenes with the player. This makes the side quest just a fetch chores, without giving any emotional meaning to the player. Then theres the "support" task, witch is basicly suport one of the two views of the arguing characters. This is again done without a scene with coversation, you just come over, press space and then give a one liner, witch covinces them. It is impersonal, it doenst give any emotional tension or even feeling like a real choise. What I liked is the reapearance of the older side quest characters of the series. While they feel a bit overused. Almost in every side quest dialogue sene you can meet them, sometimes it works, sometimes its more like: oh its me, you helped me with that thing remember?. This is sometimes more like an anoyance, and i woudnt have mind if there where other new characters.
    The more well crafted characters are worth the time. Some again strike a more personal note, others are just there, and you dont much care for them. A little thing that bugged me was the dialogues of the main characters and squad mates, theyre timing seemed to be off. I really cant explained it but it felt like the actors wherent the with one another or didint get the sense of the scene or the suspence wich woud have created emotional, scared, angry reactions. The pauses between dialoged semed to long, as if it wanted to give dramatic tension, but only felt like the voiceover actors forgot the line. The fell of the citadel and the spaceship (Noramdy) are off. I did like the progresion of Citadel spaces. as the war progresed, they got damaged and more full of refuges and so on. The think that felt off is the design of the areas. They are quite small, combine that with the broken sidequest and you have an area that you go not to explore or get the feel of the game world, but get it get out, nothing more there. The Normandy itself was made in a line of checks. Finish a mission, get a dialogue witch a holovid character, leave to teh war room, go true a conference table witch was used only once, get true a chech of security withc was pointles, and let the personal assisance tell there more mesages. I this you feel boxed in as if these things had to be done that the player woudn miss anything (the expliration hating player forced walk ? ). While the ship is stocked with a new crew theres nothing much to do with these generic npcs. The dialogue isnt rememberable and i didnt care much for them, they are just there. Combat: the shooting mechanics are similar to the Mass effect 2 game. While in the last game the combat was overal a pleasant experience, here we have a cover porblem, enemys feeling very generic after a while, no heavy weapons. The fought enemies also left much to be desired, we get cerberus units (heavys, engineers, a few snipers, ninjas with swords) , and reaper indoctrinated species (human-melee, turian- ranged, canibal-heavy? then assary biotic power user and another heavy charger). We do get to fight some geth in the quarian missions. The main storyline: Mixed feelings about it too. the sotryline seems a lot more linear. You cant really choose what to do first. You go to mars, the turians, then the krogans. This felt a break from the past game freedom experiences, witch to me meant a lot. Parts of it was great, the quarian missions, getting the artifact from the assari home world. Coincidently these too missions are put on the table at the same time, and you coud choose witch to do first witch was a nice free feel to the exploration and getting support. So mostly youll spend youre time helping races, for theyre support in the war and this works for the story. It all goes to hell in the ending. It woud take a seperate article if we where to discus whats wrong with it. A few quick points: The plan doesnt make sense, you dont get any feeling that youre in a larger battle, the radio conversations that the other units have are emotionless, doenst contribute at all. the whole battle culmination is you with 2 other squad memebers just surviving an atack then launching misisles, after that a desperate run to the citadel by the tranportation beam (dont ask). the whole last part is emty of any feeling or emotion, and the bets parts are shown in cinamit moevies, witch you dont feel a part off. Characters ending. Last question: is it worth youre money? 50 euros? NO. You will play it if youre a fan, but it is not worth it...    … Expand
  79. Bombingburrito
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    This is one of the most disappointing games I've had the misfortune of looking forward to, and the end of a trilogy I regret falling in love with. The creators of the game have cut almost every corner they possibly could have to push this game out as soon as they could. The A.I group up in a single file line in front of my gun, the enemies will randomly break cover for no discernible reason, when behind cover my camera sometimes starts shacking and falling through the floor, the reduced amount of dialogue choices we get are extremely lacking, interaction with the crew has been reduced, the story is terribly written, much of the lore from the original Mass Effect has been retconned, choices don't change as much as I and many others had hoped for, and all the endings are basically the same with minimal details and colors changed, and no were near as much diversity as you would expect from the ending of a trilogy where choices had initially been used as a selling point. Even the few things they did do better, an example being the much more detailed faces and facial expressions, are wasted by what I assume must be inexperience or lack of care by the developers when used out of context with the situation, or used to so much of an extreme that what little immersion I have is ruined. To add insult to the injury of finding out the game I had been looking forward to for so long had been half assed, they cut out entire parts of the game and attempted to sell them back to me as DLC. This is the last time I make the mistake of putting faith into an Electronic arts or Bioware game, and I would be very concerned about the direction the companies are taking if I was an investor. Screwing over the customer like this will work in the short-term, but the customer base will eventually catch on to the nickle and dimming tactics, and move on to friendlier companies that put out better products. In short, this game deserves a 0 for the price that it is being sold at because of bad developers, greedy publishers, and an overall poor ending to an otherwise great series.… Expand
  80. kyttajuttu
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    Literally the worst game ever made. If you bought this you are the cancer killing the games industry and you should probably kill you are self.
    Also hampurger helper.
  81. JGIJOQIGPQGIOEG
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    Why the hell in gamespot showing only critics review first ? and don't show score by gamers? because waiting when all buy EA **** game and then show real score by gamers, don't be fooled by this trick, because its easy to buy critics, with money you can buy almost everything and you think you can't buy some nerd who write review ? the only true score you wil see from Gamers we know if you want good game need to have good reviews these days, the only company who respect now is Valve, i think all DLC for free and free best their games, amazing games like Portal 2 for half normal EA Prices, and THIS ? 60$ for unfinished game ? EA just want your money they don't give a **** about good games and fans, look at the Sims 3 eating money from kids, release half game for 50$ and eating money from rest half game in DLCS who worth 500$ **** ****… Expand
  82. Naith
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Contains spoilers. Don't open if you want to buy the game. I'm sorry, but I'll be adding to really bad score part of players. To start, I have to say that I'm a 22 year old man and played ME 1,2 and 3 with Female Shepard. This review is written after 5 hours of gametime. Even when the demo was released, I looked at it and said, hey, this is just way too easy. Another thing that pissed me off was when even though I was playing as an infiltrator, I didn't get my sniper rifle!! Why?! It's demoverzion! Yesterday, after I finished ME2 after 14 straight hours of playing - for the knitpickers, the game was nearly over, I was just finishing side missions, the first thing that pissed me off was that ME3 couldn't import my beautiful FemShep face! That was just the beginning. Why, why in the seven hells is she whining about Kaidan? Yep, I dated him in ME1, but than I spent 2 years dead, he behaved like an idiot and the character shouldn't give a damn about him. But no, even though I romanced Garrus - hell yeah, I', the pioneer of the interracial sex - he doesn't give a flying **** that he sees me. And this only goes on an on. They took a lot of time to finish this game, and indeed, they screwed the game and the players both kingly and thoroughly. The Mass effect trilogy for me is ME 1+DLC/ ME2/ME2 DLC. Then Shepard with her crew went to the Reaper' part of the universe and kicked the **** out of Reapers. Too bad than someone didn't do a decent game about it - It would have been amazing.… Expand
  83. Wynnyelle
    Mar 7, 2012
    1
    Can you say paid reviews? This game is a massive disappointment. I won't even get started on the ridiculous day-one DLC, but let me say that that alone is a reason to not support this company. When it comes to the actual game though, there is nothing new with this game. The game is dumbed down along the likes of Dragon Age 2, and I can't say that there are any redeeming qualities about it. The dialogue and story is sub par. What happened to the customization that was available in the first Mass Effect? Because I sure don't see it here. It's obvious that they didn't put any effort into any part of this game. They only wanted to milk their cash cow even more. Not worth the buy.… Expand
  84. Dokhera
    Mar 7, 2012
    2
    1 - Orgin is ....
    2 - The end ... what ?

    Seriously Bioware. You had no other idea ? The development of SWTOR monopolize all your dev teams ? Very good SF series with bad ending.
  85. colliterz
    Mar 7, 2012
    1
    Not having read any of the spoilers that leaked in the days before the release, I was excited to finally complete my Shepard's story only the feel like I've been slapped in the face by BioWare. I think they tried to make this whole game as if they were directing a sci-fi movie...And when I read earlier about BioWare not intending to make post-ending DLC, it only added to my dissapointment...oh well, enough of BioWare is my opinion… Expand
  86. JongUn
    Mar 12, 2012
    4
    Mass Effect 3 does not live up to the hype, at all. First of all, almost no graphics options. I mean what the hell? Just porting from console is so frigging lazy it makes me sick. Look at Remedy, they did it right with Alan Wake. The textures on some stuff in this game is absolutely hideous. The animations are bad (males walk really weird in this game ++). Some of the explosions and gun effects are really low quality. Then there is the FOV in this game, it reminds me of Resident Evil 5. Why can't you adjust ANYTHING in this game? Oh yeah, I forgot... it's a really bad console port. Also you have to use the space bar for absolutely EVERYTHING. On the plus side it has some great voice acting, interesting characters and locations. Not enough to make it worth my money though. Sadly. The last Bioware game I bought was Dragon Age 2, and yeah, I was very disappointed then as well. I hoped they would redeem themselves with this game, but I was unfortunately wrong. This is the last game I will buy from Bioware, and I can't recommend buying this game to others. If you want to play it, rent it, or buy it used on console.… Expand
  87. Ticklefist
    Mar 9, 2012
    6
    Great, amazing game until the last 5 minutes. People are not exaggerating this one bit. Those last 5 minutes not only hurt the replay value of this particular game, but also the two installments that came before it. Without some serious reparation DLC I cannot recommend this game to a serious Mass Effect fan that has spent time perfecting "their Shepard." Not in its current state.

    On the     hand, if Mass Effect is something you've only had a passing interest in over the years but never really dove into it then the endings won't effect you so adversely. In that regard I can't recommend it enough.… Expand
  88. NaaR
    Mar 10, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Don't believe the hype. The game is actually somewhere between bad and mediocre. The gameplay works fine except that the Spacebar tried to do to much which is frustrating. Also the game has a ridiculously low field of view (70) which hits the game hard. It can be fixed by editing the ini file with special tools, but not in game. The face import bug is simply unforgivable. If you made your character face in ME1 then you wont be able to import it to ME3. This combined with the removal of the dialogue wheel makes it feel like I'm not playing my Shepard, but theirs. This is one of the severe problems with this series. This isn't my Shep. I'm playing a character that i simply cant attach to. The main character (Shep) is annoying here, which is highly problematic. Also, a character named Kai Leng is so ridiculous. Thats the problem here, many of the characters are badly done compared to the previous installments. Even the Illusive Man lost all his charm and is now nothing more than an indoctrinated fool. Very, very unsatisfying. Also the story is an entire big plot hole. The more I deconstruct it the less it makes sense. Im not going to do it here, but the main story actually conflicts directly with ME1 and ME2 rendering much what we learned there useless. Also the endings are very unsatisfying just so sloppy. They aren't explained and renders all our choises in the previous game useless. All in all, i had 5 Shepards waiting for import into ME3. I played it with one of them, and its highly unlikely that i will play the game again with another Shep. Its because the lack of dialouge-wheel and the detached endings make it unnecessary to play it again. It's just the same bad/mediocre experience again. The differences between Renegade and Paragon Sheps from ME1/ME2 doesn't impact the ME3 story much. Its basically very few details that change that are barely noticeable. Of course some changes occur in ME3 depending in how you choose in this game... But rather than playing it again, i just Youtube the alternatives. Dont buy into the hype. This game isn't good.… Expand
  89. Hanken
    Mar 10, 2012
    1
    March 6 is a great day because i got ME3, March 7 is a terrible day because i finished the game. Let's put Tali's picture aside for a while, the ending is already ruin the entire series. ME series are famous for let players choose their own story. Same thing happened in ME3, the only difference is in ME3 all ur choices and decisions doesn't count. Here is my logic, if u choose to let players have choice, u'd better respect our choices. Otherwise how great the opening and mainline is, how bad the ending is and how disappointed i am.… Expand
  90. Mindflow
    Mar 12, 2012
    5
    I really love all the games (ME1+2+3) and spend lots of time for perfect savegames, but the ending of ME3 is the worst ending i ever saw in a computer game! It ruins the story of the whole trilogy! I was planning to get myself a N7 tattoo (not only because i like ME, but also because i'm playing computer games since 1990) ... but the ending of part 3 destroyed that idea... what have you done, bioware?… Expand
  91. sympathy4saren2
    Mar 16, 2012
    0
    This game is a slap in the face to Mass Effect fans and rpg gamers alike. This game is so bad not only does it make for a horrible game, it completely derails the entire franchise with its massive failure during the climax and massive plot craters with extremely weak writing. The intense talent of Drew Karpyshyn and the masterful writing he penned in gone and now dudebro one liners and weak dialogue and plot abound. Choices mean nothing, the loot system is weak and insulting, there is no inventory....this game is a complete mess. Do not buy, avoid this game at all costs… Expand
  92. Massiv
    Mar 18, 2012
    0
    Worst ending in the videogame history for the best trilogy in the videogame history. The last 10 minutes of Mass Effect 3 ruins the whole trilogy. I don't even want to play with ME1 or ME2 because of the ending of ME3, this is why I give a 0/10. Without the ending the game would be 10/10 for me.
  93. Sirkiko
    Mar 13, 2012
    0
    One of the worst endings I've ever seen. To think that a masterpiece like the first Mass Effect has become this pile of excrement, it's heartbreaking.
  94. babymaru
    Mar 10, 2012
    1
    BW should really stop faking their quality with marketing. This is a bad game.
    They lost their writing. Since they are not good at gameplay or graphics, game is horrible.
    Ending is worst ending I have ever seen. It was very piontless. Mass Effect is not about synthetics vs. organics like Matrix.
    It's about struggle of galactic society and beauty of the people or their action within it.
    Onl    y good thing I saw was naked Liara. That was truly beautiful. Other than that, this game was completely waste of money and time.
    BW is dead. I will never buy game from this company.
    0/0    … Expand
  95. schweinhundert
    Mar 26, 2012
    0
    Well, I enjoyed the first two games, dunno why this one felt so cheesy and horrible right off the bat to me. Veryconsoley feeling.
    I always found the series a little cheesy, stiff, and b-movie grade, but this one, I couldn't even stomach for more than an hour.
    So there's my uninformative text to allow me to give it a lousy score of one.
    :)
  96. TwsitedComplex
    Mar 7, 2012
    3
    Very sad for a once great company.
    Bad dialog
    Using sprites for background characters
    Can't import faces from ME1
    The ending is literally copy/paste from Deus Ex
    Tali's face is a bad photoshop from a models website
    The vast majority of the time there are only 2 dialog options
    The list goes on

    It really is quite pathetic
  97. Kelemvor
    Mar 7, 2012
    4
    This game is not a surprise at all. The second installment was a real disappointment, but the direction for the third game was clear. Dialog is limited to 2 answers, one is nice, the other is more of the harsh kind. You have to play the boring MP to actually increase your odds collecting fleetstrength, a lot of the dialog is uninspired and boring, the animations are clumsy, the combat is repetetiv and forgettable, and the rest is just an interactive movie with game elements. Its not a good game and not a good sf-movie. It is something in between unable to satisfy even the lowest expectations. To be blunt: ME3 is a weak last installment. The shooter part is not up to par compared to a full fledged shooter, while the the weak rpg-elements are hardly worth mentioning. It's a dumbed down interactive movie with very little gameplay and an unsatisfactory story which ends with a huge letdown.… Expand
  98. bilwit
    Mar 9, 2012
    1
    Gameplay is enjoyable. Plenty of stuff to do. The real problem is the weak and contrived writing. For an RPG, where it's all about the story, it fails miserably on all accounts. All decisions you've made up to your last decision in the game makes virtually no difference, as they slap on the old Hamlet deus ex machina device that completely overwrites everything.
  99. MatDiF
    Mar 6, 2012
    5
    Mass Effect 3 is the latest installment of Bioware
  100. Havingboth
    Mar 6, 2012
    5
    It was kind of ok, I expected way more from the graphics and the "rpg" elements werent as satisfying as i hoped them to be. All in all Im glad i could finish that story, but that ending was a huge leddown too.Im going to send this back to amazon
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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.
    Read full review
  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]
    Read full review
  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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