Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! Welcome back to the Assassin's Den!
I'm glad I didn't set a time table for this retrospective, because had I done so, I would have been more irritated that I stepped on my game disc for disc 1. (I've been playing the games in order to refresh my memory on how they work.) But now that I've got a replacement for it, I'm starting on the third and final game with Commander Shepard.
First off, do NOT load up this game without the Extended Cut DLC installed. It is completely free, will remain so until April of 2014 (originally 2015), and fixes several things that weren't flagging properly in the original pressing. And with it installed, you won't have to deal with the major issues that internet was butthurt over when this game was originally released.
The game opens with proof of what we and Commander Shepard already knows; the Reapers are real, and they are invading. Earth's leadership is freaking out, starts demanding ways to beat the Reapers from the relieved-from-duty-for-committing-a-war-crime Shepard (but only if you played Arrival. Then, Shepard was relieved from duty was for working for Cerberus. I think that Arrival gives a better opening.), only to get "Sorry, we're screwed because you didn't listen to me three years ago." And to put a point on that, a Reaper beam blows up the Alliance military leadership, leaving only Shepard and Anderson alive. They make their way to the Normandy, where Anderson stays behind to remain Earth's military leader, and reinstates Shepard into the Alliance Navy.
From there, Shepard, the Virmire survivor and new squadmate James Vega head to Mars on the orders of the head of the Alliance Military, Admiral Steven Hackett. They make their way into the facility, only to meet Liara, who tells them there is data about a Prothean superweapon that could give them a chance against the Reapers. Shepard, the Virmire Survivor and Liara (Vega was sent back to have the shuttle ready for extraction) make their way through the facility, fighting Cerberus troops the whole way, until they retrieve the data they need and head to the Citadel to present this information, but the Virmire Survivor is critically injured in the process, and needs immediate medical attention.
Once on the Citadel, the group presents the info to the Council, who says, in so many words, "Sorry folks, we can't help. We must secure our own borders.", but the turian Councillor, in private with Udina present, "Appeal to our leadership directly. We're upholding/reinstating your Spectre status. Go save us."
And this is the major focus of the game; gathering allies and resources to bring the McGuffin against the Reapers. You fly around the galaxy, scanning planets for resources for one of the other, and follow the story to gain the actual allies. And it's a fun ride the whole way.
The gameplay is mostly the same, but with one major change; there is no longer such a thing as "class specific weapons." It has instead been replaced with a weight system; Shepard is now use any gun he or she wants, without extra training. You want a soldier with an SMG? Perfectly fine. An Adept with an assault rifle? Go ahead. But be careful; how much weight you carry affects the cooldown of your powers. So if you decide to haul around the heaviest assault rifle as an Adept, you're not going to be using your biotics all that often. (I'll explain the intricacies of the combat systems of all three games in a separate entry, since I didn't tackle it in any of these.)
Your squad is mostly composed of characters you had in ME1, with a couple of exceptions. Liara and the Virmire Survivor return, as does Garrus and Tali. EDI makes her debut as a squadmate, and you've got a new squadmate James Vega.
But don't think all the squadmates you got to know over the course of the previous two games won't show up. Mordin and Wrex play an important part in the Tuchanka questlines. Jack makes her presence known in the Grissom Academy quest, as well as a cameo later. Miranda has three meetings on the Citadel, as well as playing an important part on Horizon. Jacob drops in during the Ex-Cerberus Scientists questline. Grunt shows up in the rachni quest, and only survives if you did his rite of passage in ME2. And Legion pops up during the quarian/geth war questline, and having him is the only way to broker a peace agreement between the quarians and the geth. But if they died, don't worry; they all have place holders. They're kind of like Biff the Understudy from Baldur's Gate 1; they come in and perform the role of the previous squadmate, though they have different personalities. Urdnot Wreav being the most glaring, but all the place holders are different than their squadmate counterpart.
Now, this game is all about consequences. Garrus and Tali didn't survive ME2? Well, they won't appear in the squad, and will have a placeholder at their important point in the story. Wrex's survival or not affects the story, as does whether or not you saved Maelan's genophage data in ME2. Whether you performed loyalty missions affects certain quests in the game, as does something as simple hanging up on the Council in ME1. So many quests are affected by your decisions, and you could play both games many times just to see how your actions will affect one little quest. That's the reason I said to get that Asari writings quest; it affects a quest in this game!
And I'm glad to say that this game finally brings in Kahlee Sanders into the games, and shows up what she looks like, and gives her a voice. I was so happy to see the protagonist of all the novels was finally in the game, and to see that she has an important part of the Grissom Academy storyline, and becomes an important war asset. Kai Leng also shows up in this game, upgraded by the Illusive Man and works as Shepard's antagonist. And I'm happy to say that yes, you do get to kill him. :)
Now, everything you do builds toward the Military Readiness Rating. You have three factors; Total Military Strength, Galactic Readiness Rating (which you build via multiplayer), and Effect Readiness rating. Without multiplayer, you only get half of your TMS rating as your EMS. In order to get the best possible ending, you need an EMS rating of 3100 (4000 without the Extended cut, which is impossible without multiplayer or other DLC) when you invade Earth. You gain TMS by completing the story, sneaking into Reaper territory with the Normandy's stealth capability and scanning planets for War Assets (yes, planet scanning is back, but unlike ME2, it's not painful). Yes, this game has the Normandy's main selling point, the stealth system, as a tangible game mechanic. About time, I say.
This game is heavy on the DLC. You have From the Ashes, which introduces a new squadmate, Javik, the last Prothean, a new gun, and a war asset. Leviathan gives you a couple of quests about a "Reaper killer", a couple of new guns, and a couple of war assets. Omega has you retaking Omega with Aria T'Loak, who becomes a temporary companion, and you gain a couple of weapons and a war asset. And finally, Citadel is essentially Bioware's goodbye to the franchise, which gives you a story about a Cerberus clone of Shepard its attempt to steal Shepard's identity. The second half of the DLC involves shore leave, which allows you to have some fun with your friends from the past two games (sans Mordin and Legion, who are gone due to to storyline reasons), and have a party with them. You also gain access to mini games, which include an arcade and a combat arena. As for what you gain toward the ending, you gain a new gun, and two new war assets. You also get the groundside resistance pack, which gives you new guns, and an alternate appearance pack, which nets you outfits for a few of your squadmates, which boosts certain stats or them. There's also a multiplayer pack with maps, but I don't really play them, since I don't have an Xbox Live gold account. (I'll go ahead and say my views on multiplayer; it's fun. Not necessary once you have the extended cut DLC, but it's fun.) Finally, you have the Genesis comic, which functions exactly like the Genesis comic in ME2.
Oh, and a special note on the DLC "mission packs"; they come available at a certain point in the story, and make more sense at a certain part in the story. From the Ashes is available after you finish Mars, but you don't get to use Javik until after you finish Palavan. Leviathan is not available until you get EDI in your party, and should be picked up at that moment. Omega isn't available until you've been to the Citadel after you finish Palavan, but you should wait until you finish getting the Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse under her control, and if you chose the Paragon path for the Blue Suns, that takes a little longer. Citadel becomes available after Cerberus invades the Citadel, but in my book, should be completed no earlier than Thessia's quest. However, Miranda is not available for the party until after Horizon, which, in my book, is where the ending starts, and wouldn't make sense to take a break just as the Alliance is gearing up to take down Cerberus once and for all. I can understand that having the Normandy get some much needed repairs and the crew get some much needed rest right before the final assault would be healthy for them, but I kind of feel like the pacing is spoiled. Going from full tilt to a long stretch of downtime feels off. That said, I still wait until Miranda is available for the party to start it, because I love her scenes in it.
Now, even with all the praise I'm giving the game, there are a few things I don't care for. The art redesign is irritating. If you were like many ME1 players working to get their Shepard just right, you were pissed off when you import your Shepard and find that he or she looks NOTHING like what you worked for. I once had a Shepard that was a red-head, but when I imported her, her eyebrows somehow turned green. GREEN. Any who doesn't accept the default Shepard is going to want to accept the offer to modify the imported Shepard to fix the eyes, hair, nose and the other things that the new options for character creation have introduced. And while I will never begrudge more options for character creation, they shouldn't come at the expense of existing character models.
I also don't like basic uniform redesign. From a military standpoint, that uniform doesn't make sense. That high collar looks wrong to me, but this complaint is minor, since we finally get the Alliance dress blues, as well as what has a "BDU" feel to them. You also get an N7 sweatshirt, if you bought the collector's edition, though I doubt the code to get the DLC no longer works.
And I really hate Ashley's redesign. She goes from a no nonsense, tough as nails soldier to a femme fatele look. Her new look does not conform to military standards, and every time I import a game with her as the Virmire Survivor, she looks wrong in ME3.
But these are minor complaints, and should not detract from your enjoyment of the game. You CAN fix your character's face. You don't HAVE to wear the ugly looking uniform, though everyone else who is in one is stuck with them. And while the Ashley redesign can't be fixed in game, she doesn't HAVE to survive Virmire.
Finally, my take on the ending. I really think that most who are still butthurt after the Extended Cut DLC don't understand what the game's story is about; your are preparing for an invasion so you can stop the Reapers. Once you start the invasion, it's a straight shot toward the end. Not a lot of room for a "Lord of the Rings ending". People are going to die in this kind of story, even the hero. You're not supposed to have the "Mega Happy Ending", and to expect one shows you don't understand what is going on.
All in all, Mass Effect 3 is a satisfying end to the series, and can be picked up on the cheap. I picked up my new copy for 15 bucks new, and you can find older copies for cheaper.
Next up is an in depth look at the combat systems of all three games, followed by an entry on the companions and the romances. After that, I'll close it out with my final thoughts on the entire series.
Happy Gaming!
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