Introduction: I have taken a break from movies yet again to go back and replay the entire Mass Effect trilogy from beginning to end with all DLCs to experience the story in its absolute entirety. I should note that I have beaten all three games 5 or more times each! Not only is the first ME one of my top 10 favorite games of all time (yes I will get to that at some point), but the trilogy as a whole is an amazing glimpse into great storytelling and a rich universe full of fantastic lore and compelling characters. If you have no clue about this franchise, I would highly suggest you look into it or just go out and start playing the games. Things are kind of complicated, but if you read on I will make things much easier for you. Yes, I played these games on the X-box so let's get that out of the way, and, suffice to say, massive spoilers lie ahead!
The Story: Let me start of by giving some background information: ME is a role-playing game whereby you play as a guy/girl named "Commander Shepard" and you essentially live the journey as you traverse the galaxy in an effort to save galactic civilization from impending doom. You can customize the character to look as closely to yourself as you wish or do what you will. You can choose to be a good guy referred to as a "paragon" or you can choose to be a little punkass referred to as a "renegade." There is also the ability to find love (or sex) with multiple characters as romance options. Personally, I always craft a character that looks as closely to the real me as possible, usually play as paragon, and always romance the asari, Liara. Gotta have love for my blue goddess!
Anyway, in 2148 humanity uncovered alien artifacts on Mars that led to the discovery of huge devices used for travel around the galaxy called mass relays. Through these mass relays, spaceships can travel the galaxy at unbelievable speeds which led to humans slowly becoming members of an intergalactic community comprised of many unique alien species and cultures. The heart of this society resides on a giant space station called the Citadel. The story begins in 2183 as Commander Shepard (aka you) finds himself/herself investigating a mysterious beacon left from a long extinct alien race called the Protheans. These Protheans are believed to be the creators of the mass relays and the Citadel, but they vanished suddenly so any artifacts are highly valuable since they may answer the mystery or contain advanced technology. Shepard is being overseen by a Spectre, a super elite soldier, handpicked by the Citadel's council to represent their interests as well as to monitor you for possible entry into the ranks of the Spectres. Before the mission to retrieve the beacon even begins, the planet suddenly becomes under attack by a giant spaceship and robotic aliens, known as the geth, whom no one has seen for decades. Amidst the chaos to find the beacon, you stumble upon humans transformed by the geth into cyborg-esque zombies as well as the murder of the Spectre overseer by another Spectre called Saren. As you eventually interact with the beacon, you realize Saren is working with the geth in order to unleash a race of advanced machines known as the Reapers. It would seem these Reapers killed the Protheans and then vanished into darkspace at the edge of the galaxy for some unspecified reason. You eventually return to the Citadel in an attempt to warn the council of what is coming, but they refuse to believe it, only acknowledging that Saren has gone rogue after much prodding; in turn they make you the first human Spectre in history. This leads to you building up a crew and being put in charge of your own ship, the Normandy.
From here there are only 6 major story related missions, albeit long ones, with additional sidequests of their own. What I like to do before playing all those missions is to first knock out all the sidequests in the game since you are able to access any number of solar systems and planets that you can land. Trust me, the game keeps you busy enough. But I like that they offer you a straight path as well if you so choose to skip the extras. However, you will most certainly be rewarded for exploration and you will gain much more experience and levels through this. Toward the end of the game you find yourself on a former Prothean world, Illos, that was once meant to be home to a cryogenics facility. You learn that every 50,000 years the Reapers appear to "harvest" all life in the galaxy and that this current cycle is coming to an end. The Protheans did not actually build the Citadel or the mass relays, and that was, in fact, the work of the Reapers too. Saren's huge spaceship is in fact a Reaper itself, and it is attempting to use the Citadel to unlock a huge mass relay to unleash all the other Reapers to harvest this current cycle. The geth are just mindless followers believing the Reapers are gods and Saren himself is simply under a form of brainwashing, known as indoctrination, whereby your thoughts become that of the Reaper's goals. Shepard and crew make it back to the Citadel as it has come under attack by geth forces, the Reaper spaceship, called Sovereign, and Saren has infiltrated the council chambers. After fighting your way through hundreds of geth you either kill Saren or convince him to kill himself after realizing he's being controlled. Unfortunately, Saren's body comes under control of Sovereign and you must fight him again even more powerful. With Saren's second defeat, Sovereign is momentarily crippled allowing the alien fleets to take him out. With all this done, you have saved the galaxy...for now. The Reapers are still out there and the time to prepare has come! The ending feels quite satisfying and epic.
The Characters: By far, the strongest parts of ME are it's story and, of course, the characters that help build that story. Let me start off with my main love interest, Liara, who is an asari: a race of all blue women who can "meld minds." I'd say they are two parts vulcan and one part every man's fantasy! They can live for a 1000 years or more and go through 3 phases of life as they reach a sense of enlightenment and great biotic powers. Liara is an archeologist who was studying the ruins of Protheans when you recruit her, because she is the daughter of Saren's main lacky, Benezia. In the first game, she is more of an innocent scientist that is a bit of an outsider, but she becomes impressed with Shepard's remarkable willpower and determination. To be fair, the love interests are a little weaker in the first game, but the overall love interest of Liara is epic by the end of the trilogy. I can't recommend choosing her enough even if you're female as well. Now for my best friend in the trilogy, the turian, Garrus. Turians I'd say are closest to humans' personality, but they focus a lot on military efforts. Garrus starts off a bit naive and too cynical of the galactic system yet still manages to be too idealistic. Garrus is a complicated guy, but if anyone has your back throughout the trilogy, he is your man. Trying to give Garrus a run for his money in the cool department is the krogan, Wrex. Krogans are like the badasses of the galaxy as they are big, bulky, and have a temper. They were a somewhat primitive race given too much technology too soon which led to them trying to take over the galaxy with their superior numbers and strength. In response, the galactic community introduced a genetic modifier, called the genophage, to reduce their numbers permanently. Wrex isn't all that bothered by this at first because he believes krogans need to reclaim a proper place in the galaxy again without so much fighting. Wrex has some interesting stories to tell as well as some of the best lines in the game. You have an option to kill him at some point, but I would seriously recommend you reconsider such a decision! Speaking of life and death decisions, you're initial crew are Kaiden and Ashley since they are both human soldiers you gain on the first mission. Kaiden is a biotic which is like a telepathic warrior and Ashley is just a straight up fighter. At some point you will have to sacrifice one to complete a mission, but it's a tough decision of which to choose because both can be really boring or annoying depending on your outlook. Kaiden is laid back but there isn't much depth to him outside of him being forced into becoming a biotic rather than it coming naturally. Ashley always rubbed me the wrong way because she hates aliens and whines too much about her family. But since I prefer her strength in battle, I usually choose to keep her alive. Next is Tali, who is basically just a teenage quarian, on a rite of passage for her culture that attempts to search the galaxy for something useful to bring back to her fleet. The quarians built the geth centuries ago, but they rebelled and kicked the quarians off their own homeworld. Now they roam the galaxy aimlessly in spaceships trying to slowly build strength to fight back against the geth. Also, due to their weak immune systems, they live inside suits to protect them from diseases. Tali is fun, but her young age prevents her as a romance option. She is always so amazed by everything and it is interesting hearing what she has to say. Rounding out this team is Joker, although not playable, who is the human pilot of the Normandy. Let's just say he earns his nickname many times in the franchise as he offers much comedic relief. There are many great supporting characters like your mentor, Anderson, but it is the core cast that makes the game so excellent. Later you will gain further insight on the characters and see how awesome building up the relationships can be when they carry over from game to game.
My main squeeze, Liara!
The Highlights: Obviously, as I mentioned, the characters are so rich and fun. But besides them and the great story, the gameplay is fun and feels rewarding as you get increased skills and better weapons and armor. I loved the genuine progression in strength to that final badass state by games end. This is especially entertaining when you factor in the new game plus mode; the other entries never left me feeling powerful which sucked. The music is incredible and arguably the best in the trilogy. This is probably as close as we may get to a free roam game in space, but it could use some refinement, because there isn't much to see on the planets and going on foot is not recommended at all. While the renegade/paragon gimmick is reminiscent to other games (even from Bioware themselves), I liked that the choices you make in game make a lasting impression of how the story progresses. Even your gender can open up different dialogue options. These choices make the replayability through the roof! Lastly, the ending to this game felt the best and most satisfying; the story felt complete but that there was a long war ahead of ourselves. The other two games couldn't give me that sense of closure while also exciting me about the next entry.
The Downside: That fucking Mako! It controls like shit and does nothing but annoy the living fuck out of you! Honestly, if that were removed from the game and we were given the Hammerhead or just something with solid controls, this would be a perfect game. Sure there were some design flaws, with repeated landscapes and areas, along with a shoddy cover system, but I can forgive those things since that was not uncommon at the time in games while it was also forerunning the franchise as a whole.
The DLC: There were only 2 DLCs for the first game, but they are notably cheaper than the rest in the franchise; only $5 a piece. Also, I believe the "Bring Down the Sky" mission is free with the game of the year edition anyway. Even though these DLCs aren't all that great, considering you can probably get one for free, and both are 10 bucks tops combined, I'd recommend just getting them. Neither are all that critical to the later games though so if the carry over effect is what you want most then don't bother especially if you're on a tight budget.
Final Rating: 9.5/10 with or without DLC
The Story: Picking up a few months after ME, Shepard finds himself under attack by a new, mysterious enemy as the Normandy is not only destroyed, but you along with it! Over the next 2 years, your body is reconstructed by a seedy organization, called Cerberus, through the use of advanced technology. If you played enough sidequests in ME, you should have run into the organization and their exploits of illegal scientific experiments and just flat out evil exploits. This time they are trying to paint themselves more as a group just trying to work for the betterment of humanity at all costs even if the results sometimes appear horrific. At the helm of Cerberus is an equally shady leader only referred to as the Illusive Man. Rightfully so, Shepard does not trust them, but after learning human colonies in the galaxy are disappearing, with no one in the Citadel council giving a damn, you decide to work with Cerberus in order to uncover the mystery. It is revealed that those believed responsible for abducting human colonists are a rare alien race, called the collectors, whom have connections to the Reapers. To your surprise, Cerberus has also constructed a new Normandy for your command along with Joker returning as your pilot. You are then tasked with assembling a new team that can better combat this new threat and hopefully prevent whatever nefarious plan is underway.
The cool thing is that you can assemble the team in pretty much any order you desire, but you are required to add a scientist called Mordin to help repel tiny insects the collectors use to immobilize humans. Other than Mordin, there are only a handful of characters you must recruit in order to trigger the next phases of the game. But unlike the first game, there are only 4 main story missions. To balance out how you play the game, the order of most missions do not matter at all and can actually be played after you complete the main story missions. This is a nice touch, because it puts more control in the hands of the player. So maybe you want to play just the bare bones or you want to save certain missions until after the main story, you have that option. Since you come to realize that the collectors are hiding in some system beyond, what is called, the Omega mass relay, your goal eventually turns into tracking them to that location. The only problem with this is that no one who has ever gone through the Omega relay has come back. This eventually is dubbed the "suicide mission" and, as such, your team members desire certain aspects of their lives resolved before they go on this mission they will probably not return from. This is further confirmed when you learn that the Omega relay leads to the center of the galaxy with nothing but black holes and supernovas. Somehow the collectors have constructed a base there with aid from the Reapers.
Your team is much larger and more varied than it was in the first game which is certainly a good thing! Like the first game, the cast is impressive with pretty much all really likable allies. Even though you don't have to, I prefer to play every sidequest, recruit every ally, and do everything there is to do before completing the main story since it feels more concise this way. Anyway, things become quite urgent because the collectors eventually abduct the crew of the Normandy once they realize all the trouble your giving them throughout the game. After successfully going through the Omega relay, you battle your way through collectors employing your team's skills to outsmart and outfight the collectors at each turn. By your journey's end you learn that the collectors are the ones that destroyed Shepard and the first Normandy, because the Reapers, led by the main Reaper, Harbinger, feel as though Shepard is a threat to ending this cycle. The reason for abducting the colonists is to melt them down and convert them into a new Reaper in the form of a human. The collectors themselves are unwitting pawns since they are genetically modified slaves of what was left of the original Protheans. As you attempt to blow the base up, you must then contend with what was created thus far of the human Reaper. With its defeat, the Illusive Man advises against destroying the collector's base since it could help them win the war against the Reapers, but I always chose to blow that bad boy up! This also serves as your resignation from Cerberus to boot. So with the defeat of the collectors, surviving the suicide mission (assuming you and your team survived), and assembling a loyal team, you then turn to preparing for the biggest fight of all: the Reapers themselves are coming! Needless to say, the action is awesome and the final fight feels epic. The ending leaves you anxious for more because you know you've only won one small battle in the war that lies ahead!
The Characters: Since the team is much larger, I will try to break things up more rather than just a giant wall of text (even though this whole thing is a wall!). There was also an increased emphasis on building relationships in this entry probably more than even ME3.
Miranda: She is a "Cerberus cheerleader" as some characters refer to her. She's a human hotty modeled after real life beauty, Yvonne Strahovski, who also serves as the voice actress. Miranda was the lead scientist working on resurrecting Shepard for the Illusive Man. She was constructed herself, so to speak, through genetic manipulation to be perfect by her controlling father. You will be reminded of this fact many, many times through perpetual closeups of her ass (not that I mind). While she comes off as a bitch, you eventually convert her to your way of thinking as she realizes that, even with perfect genes, Shepard has surpassed her and that his/her spark was forged rather than given. She also has a soft spot for her twin sister who she keeps hidden from her father and you must rescue.
Jacob: Often criticized as the most boring character of ME2, Jacob is another human lacky of Cerberus. He's an ex-Alliance soldier who desires to make some kind of difference since he knows things go on behind the galactic scenes that need to be taken care of. His issue is that his father seemingly died a decade ago but turns up alive and as a total douchebag. He's not hard to sway to Shepard's side because he knows a thing or two about the tough choices. While I think Jacob is a decent character, he is by far the worst love interest if you're playing female because he seriously screws you over in ME3.
Mordin: He's a salarian which are gecko-looking aliens. Salarians are notorious for their immense intelligence and rational thinking. Although they lack physical prowess, they are expert strategists, infiltrators, and scientists. Mordin had a hand in modifying the genophage that inflicts the krogans and there is some pent up resentment or guilt. Helping him resolve some of this guilt allows him to trust Shepard revealing his softer side like his singing. Mordin is another complicated character, but definitely an enjoyable one. He's also the most necessary to the team since he figures out a way you can fight the collectors.
Jack: She's a human and perhaps the most powerful biotic you run into throughout the franchise. With her immense power, she has plundered all over the galaxy wreaking havoc until she was put in a high-tech prison. As a child she was held captive and experimented on by Cerberus so needless to say she does not trust easily. She also comes off as a total bitch and extremely unstable and insane. But underneath the tough-girl attitude she is broken, with a little girl mentality, and quite sensitive, unable to trust anyone around her. She makes for an interesting romance, but I could never get past the shaved head! She eventually trusts Shepard after making her realize what really happened at the facility she was kept at and resolving her fears of the past.
Thane: He is a drell and a master assassin. Drell are like lizard/fish aliens that are small in number due to over-polluting their home world years ago. They came to live on the planet of another alien race called the hanar which are big jellyfish. As a small child, Thane was trained to be an assassin by the hanar as a part of an agreement the two species have. Through his philosophies and doctrines, he trained his mind to be separate from his body as he sees himself more of a tool than a person when he kills. Drell have amazing memories and so it was necessary to create the separation. But when his wife was killed by those seeking revenge against him, he finally murdered people without being told. This has led him to seek forgiveness accompanied by the fact he is dying. To gain his trust you must stop his son from following in his footsteps. Thane is most definitely an interesting guy since his outlook on life is new and refreshing.
Samara: She is another asari but much older than Liara. She's what is known as a Justicar, which is like a Jedi for the asari, as she travels the galaxy righting any wrongs. There is an elaborate code which she has memorized which helps guide her morality even if it involves killing anyone who gets in her way. The code appears strict, but it was meant to keep the universe in a black/white mentality. Due to the severity of the lifestyle, the Justicars only number in the hundreds. Her loyalty is easy to gain especially if you're playing as a paragon, because you two will share a mutual respect. But she requires you help her with a little matter of killing one of her daughters! Her daughter, Morinth, is an asari anomaly, called an ardat-yakshi, which drives one to kill anyone they come into contact with through the mind meld. Interestingly enough, you have the option to kill Samara and add Morinth to your team, but I would recommend against that.
Legion: Surprisingly, especially considering the first game, Legion is a geth. Displaying signs of true artificial intelligence and individuality, he attempts to help you stop the Reapers, because he says they are the ones that corrupted the geth in the first place. He has a weird fascination with you which turns out to be a great respect for Shepard even though you have killed many geth. Through your help, you attempt to convert geth back to the normal way of thinking and no longer see the Reapers as machine gods, and, in turn, gain Legion's loyalty. Legion is quite the interesting character since you never run into a geth like him, and he is much more human-like than he cares to admit.
Grunt: Unlike a regular krogan, Grunt was sort of a test tube baby grown to embody all the best of krogan DNA. He's basically like a little kid with hints at an early teenager. He sort of just wants to have fun, but at the same time seeks to understand his purpose and place in the universe. To gain his loyalty you simply have to bring him to the krogan home world, fight along his side in a rite of passage, and give him a place in a krogan clan. To my great delight, that clan just happens to be Wrex's!
Zaeed: He is yet another human and another assassin but more of a mercenary really. He seems to only care about money and to gain his loyalty you must help him try to kill his old partner; apparently the two originally started one of the largest mercenaries gangs in the galaxy, but Zaeed was betrayed. There's not too much to this guy since he was a DLC and mostly tacked on at the end.
Kasumi: She is another human, despite dressing much like a quarian, and a master thief. She likes to stay invisible as much as possible and lacks a bit of depth like Zaeed due to her being a DLC character. To gain her loyalty you must help her steal back a sort of memory box that belonged to her old partner, mentor, and lover. The only problem is that it's in the hands of a powerful crime lord.
Everyone Else: If this weren't enough, you also get Garrus and Tali back as squadmates as your learn more about them. Garrus has become a sort of Robin Hood hero much to the aggravation of criminals. To later regain his loyalty you must help he seek revenge or get over the deaths of the team he assembled to fight crime. Let's just say it's great to have Garrus back covering your butt in a fight! As for Tali, she is back with the quarians trying to figure out what is happening with the geth messing with stars since it could be a dangerous weapon. She is more grownup now if you seek to romance her, and to gain her loyalty you must represent her at a trial for treason and figure out what happened to her father who you learn died experimenting on geth. Unfortunately, you do not get to play with Liara, Wrex, or Ashley/Kaiden. Liara can have her romance furthered through DLC since she is out for revenge against the powerful information broker, the Shadowbroker. She is so determined because she was the one that got your remains back after the Shadowbroker acquired it; this is all the more touching if you romanced her. Wrex has merely settled down trying to unite the krogan clans under his banner. He has some good ideas, but I really wish he could have come with us on our journey! Ashley/Kaiden only appears once on a collector mission in which they disclose they no longer feel they can trust you since you're working with Cerberus. Beyond that, there isn't much interaction even if you romanced one of them. Besides these characters, the supporting cast is further strengthened as you get to know them better as well as lots of new people. Also, your interactions and relationships continue to develop and carry over from the last game as well as leading into the next game. Obviously building these relationships is a top priority in enjoying the story to its truest potential.
The Highlights: Again, the story and characters are by far the best part of any ME game since that is really the main reason anyone should be playing these games. But more to it than that, the "loyalty missions" for each character were an awesome idea that helped you choose to gain more depth to a character. There is a lot more to do here than the previous game outside of just bullshitting with the Mako. There are many, many sidequests even if most are just self-contained missions with little relevance. Despite this, I can see the experimentation with how to present the missions, and I appreciate that. Furthermore, the fact that many of your crew can die, because you didn't help bring out their best, makes things feel more rewarding when you work to play the game at its most optimal state. You also see the fruits of your labor first hand as you gain the necessary supplies to take on the collectors. One thing I truly appreciated was that most hidden items highlighted when entering a room which made it easier to track things down. Last, replayability is even more refined this time around since now you can go back to ME and mess with choices to see how they will reflect in ME2. We're talking endless play time practically.
The Downside: The most compelling downgrade was in the RPG elements. There is virtually no customization to your gear, weapons, and team. Your allies can no longer be customized in the same way you are except with mere costume color changes you need to unlock. This is all connected to the other big problem in that the gameplay focuses more on combat than the previous entry and plays more closely to a shooter. The cover system is improved, but still needed some work. You also never feel like you're getting that much stronger which sucked. Self-contained missions can feel weird at first especially when ME was essentially free roam to a certain degree.
The DLC: There are a shitload of DLC for this entry, but some are free unless you got a used copy I believe. There are 2 extra characters with their accompanying missions which I feel are crucial: those being Zaeed and Kasumi. The only others I felt that were as crucial were "Lair of the Shadowbroker" and the "Arrival." But if you can't afford to pay significantly more for the combined DLC than the game itself, then the single most important DLC is "Lair of the Shadowbroker." This is the longest and most thorough of the downloads while also bringing more Liara action and the most connected to ME3. The rest don't really contribute that much to ME3 and can easily be missed if money is an issue. But it is worth noting that the "Arrival" leads into ME3 so epically that you will feel satisfied.
Final Rating: 9/10. With DLC: 9.5/10
The Story: Whether you play the "Arrival" DLC or not, the events of that story set up the beginning of ME3 as you are awaiting trial on earth for the deaths accrued from destroying a mass relay a few months ago. Your team has been disbanded and the Normandy has been seized and refitted to be an Alliance ship. However, Earth is receiving strange transmissions that the Alliance is worried may be the Reapers. While talking to the Alliance leaders, the Reapers arrive on Earth and start blasting away at anything in sight. It's on baby! The Reapers are here and they are ready to kill everyone in this cycle; attacks and invasions begin immediately as the Reapers use the relay network to reach the major worlds throughout the galaxy and everything in between. Knowing you're the only one who can save the day, Anderson helps you flee Earth in the hope you will assemble the combined forces of all the aliens in the galaxy to take back Earth and defeat the Reapers. The Normandy thankfully comes to your rescue right when the Reapers are closing in. First order of business, "get your ass to Mars" because Liara has discovered plans for a Prothean super weapon among the artifacts located there.
On Mars you discover that Cerberus is just as evil as you believed they were in ME as they are more concerned with controlling the Reapers rather than destroying them. This leads to them attempting to sabotage Shepard at every chance they get. However, the plans for the super weapon, called the Crucible, seem to be straightforward despite the fact that the Protheans never managed to complete it in their cycle. In order to gain the resources to build the Crucible, as well as the forces to secure its implementation, you must set out to unite the many aliens species. This is no easy task because many of the problems between the cultures spans hundreds or thousands of years. The first peace to broker is between the turians and the krogans since the krogans demand a cure to the genophage to procure their aid. To the dismay of the salarians, you manage to create a cure or fake a cure depending on how you want to play this. Then with distribution of the cure, and the added defeat of a Reaper, the krogan pledge support and you gain support from the turians to help with Earth. The next order of business is ending the newest war between the quarians and the geth. Because the quarians struck first, the geth once again ally themselves with the Reapers, however, this opens the opportunity to turn the geth into a true AI. By helping the geth become true individuals, destroying yet another Reaper, and deterring the quarians from battle, the two come back together for mutual benefits, and, in turn, both pledge support to you. Or you can just screw everyone over and pretty much all involved die. Along the way you obviously can do sidequests to help bolster your forces while running into you old squadmates and rekindling relationships. Despite a sense of urgency, you are definitely rewarded for exploration.
With the Crucible all but built, and virtually all aliens on board, you realize you are missing one crucial piece to the puzzle which is the power source of the Crucible referred to as the Catalyst. It is believed that the answer to this riddle is with the asari on their home world. You come to learn that the asari had a Prothean artifact that knew what the Catalyst was, but before you find out, Cerberus' main lacky, a bitch boy named Kai Leng, intercepts and takes the Prothean artifact, called a VI. This leads to you finally discovering Cerberus' base of operations, and with great effort, finally destroying it and that bitch boy Kai Leng. Unfortunately, the Illusive Man was nowhere to be found and believes he has the final key to controlling the Reapers. You then learn that the Catalyst is, in fact, the Citadel itself since it will be used to deploy the power of the Crucible. But apparently the Illusive Man alerted the Reapers of this fact and they have secured the Citadel while moving it to Earth's space.
With no more preparations left, you bring everything the galaxy has to the fight for Earth in a final battle to attach the Crucible to the Citadel. There is an entry point in London that will get people aboard the Citadel, but it's obviously guarded and can only be reached on foot. So while the combined forces of the galaxy wage battle in space, you and your crew begin the final ground assault. It's at this time you say your final goodbyes, and it is truly touching. At this final hour is when it all hits home how much you went through between all three games to get to this point. Everything is on the line and you cannot fail! After defeating another Reaper, the only thing that stands between ending this war is a classic trench run to the Citadel protected by Harbinger itself. Unfortunately, everyone pretty much dies and you cling to life as apparently the last survivor. Staggering to your feet, you fight through a few minions, including the infamous "Marauder Shields," as you make it to the Citadel. Somehow, Anderson has also made it up and you meet at the control panel to the Citadel as the Illusive Man shows up, completely indoctrinated by the Reapers. You can either kill him or convince him he's indoctrinated, much like Saren, and he will kill himself. Now with the Crucible attached, nothing appears to be happening and you pass out.
Before I go on, I will save my rage for the ending until the end since it deserves its own attention! Anyway, you run into some little bitch, dubbed the starbrat, that claims to be the mind, so to speak, of the Reapers, and that it is the actual Catalyst. After some bullshit about how they have to kill everyone to protect them from destroying themselves, it is revealed that the Crucible, in conjunction with the Catalyst, can either destroy the reapers, make Shepard the mind of the reapers and you will control them, or you can merge all life in the galaxy as one big freak show hybrid of organic and synthetic life through synthesis. The DLC gives a forth option whereby you reject the choices, lose the war, and then the next cycle used the crucible and won anyway. LAME! Obviously I chose destroy since that is the logical conclusion and what I worked for many damn hours to do! In the end, you get one of your options and the war is over with no resolution to your characters. You then see some stupid old man and kid talking about "the Shepard" and some apparent setup for another game while then being prompted to buy fucking DLC! If you get the "Extended Cut" DLC you do get a little bit of resolution for your characters through goddamn slideshows! But, you still never get a good sense of what became of Shepard except in the control ending. And that, ladies and gentleman, is Mass Effect!
The Characters: I'd like to say the cast grows even larger with the final installment, but instead we focus more on bringing closure to past relationships. It's not to say that we don't meet new people, but for now I will focus on the newbies.
James: You may recall back to my review of "Mass Effect: Paragon Lost" where I addressed the annoyance that is James Vega. Well, he's actually much more tolerable in that film than he is in game. This guy is a cocky bastard who thinks just because he does a few fucking chin-ups he can match up to Shepard. Shepard has saved the galaxy twice and is attempting to save it for a third time and your bitch ass thinks you can equal that why, mother fucker?! He does have a few decent moments, but other than being a dumb meathead, there isn't much going on here. People have said Jacob is like the worst character, but I reserve that spot for this bitch boy. And to think how many great characters are not playable in favor of this idiotic poser!
EDI: Now while EDI was in ME2 (technically was in ME we learn) as the Normandy's AI, she becomes an actual playable character this time around and we develop her character far beyond the interactions we got in the last game. She manages to gain control of a mechanical body from one of Cerberus' agents that was used for infiltration. She spends the majority of the game learning more about being human through understanding higher concepts like altruism and love since you have the option to push her to romance Joker. She's not too bad, but I would still preferred to have someone like Wrex in her place.
Javik: He's the last Prothean and was discovered in cryogenic sleep during his DLC mission. You'd think a character that important to the lore would have been a top priority over the likes of idiots like James, right? Regardless, Javik is pretty simplistic as he looks down on all the aliens as inferiors; think of it as if you woke up and now dogs and cats rule the planet and they aren't even as advanced as you. Furthermore, he is single-minded in his ruthless approach to doing and killing whatever in an effort to stop the Reapers. Now while he may come off as a douchebag at first, he starts to grow on you through all the funny things he says. One especially notable moment in passing dialogue is when he proves just how stupid James is. Gotta love that shit!
Traynor: While she's not playable, Traynor is a human and she's essentially your secretary. You had a similar character in ME2, but there is more emphasis on Traynor since she contributes much more to the main story. Also, she is the gay romance option for females other than asari because many did not see them as truly gay since they don't mate traditionally and don't see themselves as women per se. Traynor isn't too bad as she is really inexperienced but proves her worth through finding constant intel.
Cortez: Another human, Cortez is the pilot of your dropship that takes you into each battle. While you've always had something like this in each game, only here is the interaction with the pilot truly explored. He also serves as the gay romance option for men. He lost his husband in a battle with the collectors, and you can chose to help comfort him through the loss and possibly romance him if you so desire. He's actually a really good guy and brings up some poignant facts about how Shepard may be a badass in battle but would be nothing if he just gets shot down while going into the battle. I really liked how grateful Cortez appears when you help him move on like a good friend.
Everyone Else: Unlike ME2, a significant amount of action did not happen with the other characters with the time between games. The other playable characters are Liara, Garrus, Tali, and Ashley/Kaiden. Liara spent her time uncovering the Crucible schematics on Mars. Garrus was merely making preparations for the turian military for when the Reapers come. Tali was sadly dragged into the quarian/geth war now that she had been promoted to admiral rank. And Ashley/Kaiden has just been spending time with the Alliance apparently making a reputation strong enough to warrant promotion to Spectre by the middle of the game. Sadly the ME2 squad members are pretty much only present in single missions dedicated to reuniting with them. However, everyone makes a cameo or two and you feel the interactions strongly. The DLC greatly relieves this weaker spot to the story, but as it is, you still gain some degree of resolution with each character and more so with others. The supporting cast also receives a lot of love, but it could have been better since some are reduced to mere letters sent to Shepard telling about what has become of them. Overall, I felt satisfied by how all the characters and relationships were handled. My love with Liara is epic, and I felt like she was keeping me going. There's definitely sad moments as I lost some crew members, but we eventually avenged everyone.
The Highlights: For the final time, the best part of the ME trilogy is the amazing story and beloved characters that you come to cherish. I was honestly sad when some died, and I really do love Liara! Speaking of which, the relationship building is much more vast especially with the DLC factored in. You gain your final insights on the characters and see them grow to their conclusions even if I wish we could keep going. Seriously improved combat as things feel more fluid and the cover system works significantly better. There is a big improvement to the RPG aspects compared to ME2 as guns are more varied, more customization to the armor and perks, and exploration is more necessary than it was in the previous game. For better or worse, the addition of multiplayer does add more life to the game, but I still think of how much more complete this game would have felt had those resources been put toward the story! But, multiplayer is fun and adds even more customization than single player. Furthermore, you have the ability to play as the other species and truly craft your dream character.
The Downside: The fucking ending obviously! But I'll spare you my rant until last. Almost as bad as the ending is the reduction in playable characters. Why did they feel they would shrink it so much while filling in multiple slots with new people?! Still not as much RPG elements as the first game, but it was a vast improvement over ME2 especially in terms of the weapons. People have criticized the increased emphasis on combat, but I did not feel it was all that different. If anything, I would say it became further refined and more fluid. It did feel a lot like "Gears of War" but I don't see that as a bad thing by any means. There is this sense that things were rushed (which they were) and some missions feel like something is missing or incomplete. Sidequests need a major overhaul, but I don't mind it that much. And with ME2 not allowing you to properly customize your allies, it was further annoying they did not add that for ME3; adding some color changes is pointless especially when it adds no skill bonuses. Finally, tons of buildup to a fight against Harbinger and no delivery whatsoever.
The DLC: Let me begin by saying I do not count the multiplayer DLCs since they do not contribute to the story, and they're all free anyway. Don't even get me started on the "Extended Cut" though. However, I would highly recommend coughing out the money for all the DLCs this time around. Ugh, but be aware that they will set you back a whopping $50 for all 4 story downloads; this is especially painful considering you can easily get the trilogy itself for roughly $60 or less. The "Javik" DLC is practically mandatory since, seriously, it should have been in the game to begin with. The "Leviathan" mission should have been a part of the game as well since this gives us the origin of the damn reapers themselves! The "Omega" DLC is the one least needed since it contributes so little to the story, but, like the others, it should have been included from the beginning since it was hyped but never delivered. People have compared it to "Lair of the Shadowbroker" but nice try; LotS could have been in ME3 for all we knew at the time, so adding it as DLC did not feel as forced. "Omega" was forced because we all know it wasn't going to be saved for ME4! Finally, the "Citadel" DLC is probably the single best download of the whole franchise. Not only does it add the most extra play time, but it was as if the fans themselves wrote it. So many great moments and it felt like a satisfying conclusion to one of the best storylines ever. I just pretend it came after the credits in my mind! I should note that the armors you win from the arcade can only be 1 a playthrough and there's 3 sets so that's a decent incentive to play through 2 more times after the first!
Final Rating: 8.5/10. With DLC: 9.5/10
The (damn) Ending Rant: Grr! Let me say I was an ardent (and still am) supporter of the "indoctrination theory" since I feel it would have been one of the greatest endings to any form of storytelling flat out...not just to a video game. There's a whole documentary laying out the evidence on youtube if you somehow haven't heard of it. Instead, what we got was "artistic integrity" and "space magic" as fans have humorously quoted. I don't want to go into a giant tirade since the subject has been discussed to hell and back at this point, but, let's face it, a happily ever after was needed here! Screw that, just making damn sense was needed here! The reality is we all know now that the game was rushed and the ending suffered most from this. What makes me most mad about the ending is not even the stupidity, but the lying, misrepresentation, and false advertisement by many of the creators claiming the ending would be just the opposite of what we got! And for those so-called fans that chose "control" or "synthesis" you are not true fans at all! No one who followed the story of all 3 games would EVER accept those decisions! You fought through all 3 games to DESTROY the reapers and you tell yourself it's okay to give in at the very moment when it all matters?! Fuck, 2 seconds ago you had the option to make the Illusive Man kill himself because he's indoctrinated trying to control the reapers and then you just do it yourself?! Ahhh it's counterintuitive to everything we've fought for! AHHH! Fuck "artistic integrity" you pretentious douchebags! Okay, I'm calming down. Eh, I wasn't all that bothered by the endings really as much as I simply realize the game was rushed and as such it became a bi-product of the shitty gaming industry we have nowaday. It's just so depressing to see one of my favorite games go down with such disappointment when it could have been legendary. I guess I won't be able to make up my mind entirely until we see what direction ME4 truly goes in. Oh, and one more thing, that slap in the face 4th ending added when you shoot starbitch is a disgrace!
The majority of the main characters in the franchise as a whole:
Final Conclusion: Despite my dislike for the ending since it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, the overall feel of the franchise is extraordinary! Honestly, this is one of the greatest video game experiences out there to date. It's one of the best storytelling experiences there are flat out! There's so much room for crafting your own tale while developing rich relationships with many characters. You grow to love them so dearly that they feel real and they touch you deeply and emotionally. This is one of the most successful aspects of storytelling, and when you accomplish this feat you've done something remarkable. You can easily go back and relive the story through different angles making different choices and seeing the outcomes. No other game franchise involves the player this way with meaningful decisions while having the ability to make different friendships and romances. Over the years since ME came out, I have become so fascinated with the lore that I wish it had a greater impact on society in a way "Star Wars" does. Hopefully as the franchise continues they will try to do things better and not drop the ball at the last minute. But I look forward optimistically to ME4 or whatever comes next. Even if nothing can ever live up to this trilogy, the story that has already been weaved is more than epic enough. I can not recommend playing this franchise enough no matter what kind of gamer you are or even if you don't play video games. This is more of an interactive book than anything. Seriously, stop whatever you're doing and play these games...you will not regret it at all!
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