Mass Effect 3: General Feelings

Well, after a very long break I am back. I know you've all missed me terribly, as I am one of the few shining lights in your life. You don't have to say it, I just know. To my Russian readers, dosvedanya or something. I'm sorry, I don't speak your language. Anyway, I've decided to break up my reviews into four week parts so that  I can put more thought into them and maybe actually finish games before I review them, just like a big boy. Generally the first week will be first impressions, the second and third will be something interesting I've noticed about the game, and the fourth week will either be a reworking of my original impressions based on the ending or something else I thought was interesting if my first impressions were totally right. If there are five Sundays in a month, then I just get an extra week to play the new game. I think this will allow for a little more analysis and depth. Also, again, the finishing the game thing. That's been bugging me since I started writing this blog. This month will be a little different, however, as I have already finished the game. I was sick almost all of Spring Break so I had nothing better to do. Therefore, I have all of my impressions of the game and will have to be crafty with the rest of my articles. Also, I'm now posting this on a Monday so I've already screwed up the format. Anyway, I hope this works better than that hellish weekly format.

Now that old business is closed, we shall move on to new business: Mass Effect 3. As all of you know, I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect series. Bioware has done a fantastic job of building a deep universe, a compelling story, and a rabid fan-base. Because of the quality of the previous games in the series, hype for Mass Effect 3 has been fevered. Ads were ubiquitous on TV and the Internet in the months leading up to its release. Xbox Live even had a countdown on the dashboard. However, the game has also been mired in controversies surrounding its ending and DLC. I'll talk about the endings and controversy in different, spoiler-laden part of the review. Right now, I want to talk about the more general gameplay aspects of Mass Effect 3. Does the game work as a game?

In terms of actual game-play, everything is very much like Mass Effect 2. The style is more action-RPG than the first one, with fast-paced, roll-and-shoot game play not totally unlike Gears of War. The characters still have powers to upgrade, though now there is a branching tree-esque system in place where the gamer picks between two different modifications to their skills once they upgrade it past level three. There are all kinds of cool weapons that are actually impressively distinct in terms of how they fire and how much damage they can do. The vehicle sections are still gone, the elevators load quickly, and they've added decapitation effects when you shoot enemies in the head. In terms of bare-bones gameplay, nothing has changed. The dialogue is also handled similarly using Bioware's patent-pending talk-o-gram dialogue wheel. The paragon/renegade quick-time actions are also still in place, though now they can have actual influence on the game. Really, what you can take from the game play is that Shepard is still a badass space warrior who will stop at nothing to see an end to the Reapers.

There are two gameplay concepts introduced into Mass Effect 3 that are different and really modify the game feels; the war assets and the multiplayer. War assets are a concept that isn't completely alien to the Mass Effect franchise. The essentially act like the upgrades to the ship from Mass Effect 2 in that you need to take part in missions in order to acquire resources to get the best ending possible for your playthrough. It's a fairly simple concept, but one that is even more effective in this game. Collecting war assets feels so much grander and more important than modifying an engine. It's easier to imagine amassing hordes of Elcor to help in your war effort than imaging the difference between Thanix cannons and whatever second-rate crap Cerberus installed on your ship in the first place. It's epic, for lack of a better word, and makes you want to gather every race in the galaxy to help save Earth. The multiplayer is much less successful. If you don't already know, the multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 is tied to the single-player via a galaxy readiness system. Galactic readiness is a handicap on your war assets that cuts off half of the effective strength of those armies from the beginning. For instance, if your war assets total at five thousand and your galactic readiness is at 50%, then your effective strength is only around two-thousand five-hundred, which will probably give you an ending that results in everyone dying and show naked pictures of old Marlon Brando. In order to raise your galactic readiness, you either need to play the multiplayer or apps you can get on your phone or Ipad. Its extremely annoying, especially since the free app is really only useful as a way to boost your galactic readiness in multiplayer. The multiplayer itself is essentially horde mode, where you kill wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies. You can unlock different classes, races, and other schwag as you gain levels. There seems to be one map for every system in the game's universe, so that's about six maps. Its not awful, its just really boring and made to feel like a chore you have to complete to complete your single-player campaign. It's horribly unnecessary.

Besides the very existence of multiplayer, the only other problem with the game-play is that the controls can be a bit awkward on occasion, especially while using cover. Shepard has a tendency to roll when he/she should really duck or randomly stand up completely out of cover for no discernible reason. It seems like a little thing, but it can get you killed pretty easily. Other than that, all I can say is that its Mass Effect. They want you to feel powerful without being a god like just about every other game out there, and they execute very well. The gun play is tight, the dialogue system is still the best around, and the quick-time events are actually enjoyable which is the exception when it comes to quick-time events.

Next week, I'll talk narrative in this game and the rest of the Mass Effect series. I don't know if I'll talk about endings yet. I might make an article that's all about controversies. We'll see.