We’re waiting to review Mass Effect 3 — yet in this post is a Mass Effect 3 review!
As is glaringly obvious, no Mass Effect 3 review appeared on this site. There are two reasons for that:
First, we wanted to log more hours with the game before making a decision (it’s safe to say we love the heck out of it, but still…)
Second, we’re very curious — considering the ‘Mass’-ive (har har) amounts of fan outrage — about what Bioware is doing with the Mass Effect ending.
That is all.
For what it’s worth, here’s AP’s review of the game:
It isn’t easy to sum up an epic franchise of this kind in a few hundred words, or to measure its depth and richness in a few short weeks of playing. Like “Skyrim,” ”Gears of War” and a few others, “Mass Effect 3” is the culmination of amazing storytelling, complex characters and satisfying action. It has flaws, but is nevertheless a superb gaming experience.
Playing as Shepard, you are constantly inundated with choices — hard choices that may have major ramifications on future proceedings you had no idea were coming. You might not always like the outcome, but this only feeds your desire to press on and fight back the invading Reapers with even more vengeance.
Weapons abound, and all of them can be tricked out with mods aplenty. The open world allows for tons of side missions, collectibles, upgrades and diversions into multiple conversations that are fantastic and make you wonder where the hours went while you were engaged in every detail.
It smacks of exclusivity to say this, but it’s true: To play “Mass Effect 3” without having experienced the previous two games would almost be a waste of time. Yes, the action and role-playing elements are still strong, and you can see where the action hits all the right notes. However, it would be tantamount to watching the last 20 minutes of “The Godfather: Part II” and just never knowing what happened in the hours of film that preceded it.
Some games you can’t walk into cold, and “Mass Effect 3” is one — a stellar culmination in a franchise filled with battles, characters and moments that have spanned the galaxies.
Final Grade: A