MASS EFFECT 3: 4 out of 4 Stars!

By TangoMega

So here I am, 5 days into the release of "The Most Anticipated Game of 2012" according to a couple of websites, and I had to come up for air. Saving the Universe is a commitment, believe me.

BioWare has closed the trilogy of Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre (Special Tactics and Recon, the Hand of the Council, the multi-species head of the Citadel) and believe me, it’s a banger.

The Walking Dead: The Next Generation

Now, I have not completed the game, but there’s a reason for that: this game is going to have a life-cycle that is insane, if you had to wait for me to truly “finish”, you’d never get this review. Maybe I’ll come do an update after I finish, but unless they kill Shepard, I don’t know how my opinion of this game can change. It’s the best I’ve ever played, period.

So on to the review.

As far as the single-player elements of this game, you’ll not appreciate the richness of the story if you’ve only started from here, but don’t fear: the multiplayer is absolutely perfect for the uninitiated. Everything has been building to the galactic war, and that’s exactly what they drop you into. Pick up your gun and kill something.

"You like GUNS? We got GUNS! You like BIG GUNS? We got BIG GUNS! Come down to GUNMART! Open seven days a week!"

If you’re a Halo or Gears player, think of this as Horde Mode with the best 3rd person shooter I’ve ever played. The evolution of tech and biotic abilities work flawless in the team-based squads. The more diversity you have in your squad (Soldier, Vanguard, Infiltrator, Engineer, Sentinel, or Adept), the better you will do. I tried it during the demo and had problems finding good partners, but now after 890,000 other players picked it up on the first day, that is not a problem.

Oh you thought engineers were number crunching mathletes?

The better your squad, the better your chances of survival and completion. The multiplayer isn’t mandatory, but it’s a great break from the standard fare and progress in multiplayer affects your Galactic Readiness Percentage. As Shepard story progresses, you step into the role of a grunt on the frontlines and see firsthand what it means to sacrifice for the effort.

"Don't mind us, we're the re-decorators."

"Well, you just don't understand STYLE!...We still expect to be paid in full."

There are some minor glitches in the release, such as the import of characters from part 1 aren’t coming through, but when you consider the inclusion of a mode that most hardcore players were extremely wary of, we have to consider it rather minor. The story is top-notch, a darkness rivaling anything Hollywood can produce and placing Shepard in situations that very nearly brought me to tears. BioWare seemed as if they wanted to convey what war must feel like as best they could, and it translates so well.

Did we mention the Interstellar Kamikaze Leap Frog Grand Championships?

The Multiplayer is such a breath of fresh air in a world that’s all about kill-confirm that I don’t even touch Modern Warfare and the like. This is about teamwork, taking back Earth, and the better your teammates, the better you will do. You will appreciate the skill of other Mass Effect players when they are right there next to you pulling your fat out of the fire. The same combos of damage apply in multi that do in single-player, so when a guy drops a singularity in front of you, biotic attacks are coming from the skilled teammates and chaos ensues. Speaking from personal experience, you begin to feel a real camaraderie with a squad if you’re into the story… a black ops team of specialists, not knowing each other, tasked with a classified mission behind enemy lines. I am overwhelmingly impressed with the feeling that BioWare has managed to inject into an already outstanding product/game.

How about the hot chicks? Did we mention the hotties?

I hope this review adequately explains how good this game is… if you’re not into games, take the time to check out the full-length novels or the comics to see how deep and rich this franchise can be. I would provide more words, but to be honest… I need to go and play. If you’re on Xbox Live, search out TangoMega.

Every toy in the arcade Claw Machine had the same dream. Freedom.

We got a whole galaxy to save.

So my advice to anyone wondering what the hype is all about, feast your eyes on the franchise that is out-Star Trekking Star Trek and making Star Wars feel like it’s all about the kids in tone. Grab a copy of Mass Effect 2 for the low and catch up and catch on.

You will so not be disappointed…