Mass Effect 3

I'm going to start off by saying that this game is ALMOST perfect.  Caution, spoilers could follow.  I'll do my best to avoid them.


You know that moment, the night before something super exciting is about to happen, and you just can't believe that that night is here?  Yeah, that was March 5th for me, total disbelief that Mass Effect 3 was about to come out.  And then it arrived at my door and let me tell you, bliss ensued.

Mass Effect 3 is the final chapter in the Shephard trilogy of Mass Effect and let me tell you, it is fantastic.

Three things that I really liked about ME3

1.  Shephard can move!

-- This Shephard is much more mobile than past iterations.  For one, he can sprint endlessly in combat, helping to speed up things.  Additionally the cover system is much more refined making combat easier and more seamless.  Another cool addition is that Shephard can slide over obstacles to move more quickly around the battlefield.

2.  Perfect hybrid of Shooter and RPG

-- The constant battle in the Mass Effect series is whether the game is an RPG or Shooter.  The first game leaned heavily on RPG, the second became a Shooter.  The third is both, successfully.  In the first game, there was TOO much RPG focus and the shooting felt half-assed.  In response to demand for a better shooter, in the second game they removed a lot of the RPG elements and focused on shooting, which made for a more playable game.  The third is perfect in this aspect.  They brought back a lot of customization features that were notable absent whilst also focusing on the shooting.  The increased combat speed due to mobility helped raise the level of shooting.  The gameplay in the third, in my opinion, is flawless.

3.  All of those decisions are finally haunting (or benefiting) your Shephard

-- The big dram of ME is that you can have one character that you take from game-to-game-to-game, along with EVERY decision you have made.  I've done one playthrough as a Paragon Shepard, and I just started my playthrough as a Renegade.  As a Paragon, every decision I made throughout the series seemed to benefit me and help me get the perfect ending.  It will be interesting to see if all the decisions I made as a Renegade screw me over later in the game, and make things more difficult.

Now, I said this game was almost perfect, and I still mean that.  The voice-acting is amazing (I think FemShep is way better than Male), the cutscenes and graphics are pretty spectacular and the gameplay changes really enhance the experience.  Additionally, the multiplayer is pretty fun and I like that it can make your single-player game easier by playing a lot of it.  But I think the one true failing of ME is the ending.  Now, I won't spoil the ending for you kids, but I just want to say after pouring a hundred hours per character into this series, to have it end like it did was underwhelming and a bit disappointing.  I did not like any of the possible endings, especially the "perfect" ending because it's pretty retarded IMO.  Go play it if you want to know, and when you do, we'll discuss the impossibilities of it.

Anyway, the lame ending hardly detracts from my perfect rating of Mass Effect 3.  I highly recommend it for anyone, whether you've played the series or are just coming in.  It is a perfect way to spend 20-30 hours of your life.