Missive #25: Ed’s Review of Mass Effect 3

Howdy agents and directors.  Today I’m going off course a bit to talk about one of my favorite video games, and I ask that you indulge me this week.  Remember that my views do not necessarily represent the views of Sean, Reality Blurs, or any other thinking person- just me.

My favorite video game series of all time had been Mass Effect.  I loved the story line progression and how each decision you made in character had lasting effects and these effects were promised to follow you throughout the series, and it did in Mass Effect 2.   However Mass Effect 3 failed to do this  If you have not played it, stop reading now…..there are SPOILERS contained in the rest of this article.

Okay…so I pre-ordered ME 3 and was excited to play through it.  I’ve played it twice now, with different characters and choices and regardless of my previous decisions in ME 1 and ME 2, the game in ME 3 always ends the same with no fall out from those earlier games.  This was way too scripted, and in truth could have been a brand new sci fi game not including Commander Shepherd at all.  The game play was great, the story was good, just felt like I had been told “Everything you have done with the character will effect the last installment,” and the truth was none of it mattered.  ME 3 had the chance to be the first true rpg for video game systems to break this mold, but they didn’t take it far enough, didn’t follow through on the promise, and as a result many gamers all over the world are dissatisfied with the final effort.  In effect we feel cheated by the ending.

I have a solution to all those role players out there….put down the controller and play at a gaming table where you truly have control of the character and the world or universes’ fate.  Until video games can break that wall, there will never be true rpg gaming on those systems.

Too bad, I had great hopes for ME3.  It is an rpg I’d like to see in table top form, and I can see it as a movie, but as a video game rpg, the last installment failed in its mission.

Now what I liked:  I do like the online missions, though I hope they add more maps soon.  It really makes the game a lot of fun and could make them lots of money if they support it.

So my final score is a 4 out of 10 for campaign rpg gameplay, and 8 of 10 for the online missions.

Laters all,

Ed