Mass Effect 3

I had my doubts whether any game could live up to the amount of hype seen surrounding Mass Effect 3’s release. I shouldn't have been concerned though, I love it. The twisting compelling narrative; the authentic character interaction; the seamless integration of cut scenes and action and, last but definitely not least, the awe- …

[Tom 15]

Hmm

First of all, Mass Effect 3 does not feature "multi-player". It features co-op.

Secondly, this game looks way better than Skyrim... whilst Skyrim was very good at providing nice vistas the actual textures when up close were incredibly poor. The Unreal Engine currently looks amazing and is really fine-tuned... unlike Skyrim there's no dodgy edge logic or things floating about/unrealistic physics.

[sabroni]

Re: Hmm

How many players does co-op require then?

[Rob]

Re: Hmm

Multiple players I think

[Spotfist]

Meh, Starcontrol 2 did a better job 10 years ago. Someone needs to use the same engine but do a Starcon remake instead!

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Ahh, but did it have cute blue "bisexual" "female" aliens designed specifically for fanservice?

[Peter H. Coffin]

Sorry, the cute blue "bisexual" "female" aliens are designed for character and interesting story *as well as* fanservice.

[jai]

Shame.

I was really looking forward to playing this, but the review is kind of putting me off. Seems like, if you haven't played the first two, and you don't have a PC, then it's best to skip this game :(

[The Baron]

Of course, what you could do is buy ME1 and/or ME2, which you can now get for cheap, and thus learn the story from the start. Then, if you like them, you could buy ME3 at a later date - which, by that time, will also be available for cheap. Thus you will get the whole trilogy for less than the price of ME3 today. I'm too good to you people ;-)

[Tegne]

I'd still buy it

I've not played the previous 2 either but the game is still great as a stand-alone job. I'm a little bit tempted to stop playing where I am and play through the first 2 so I can get the whole picture though.

[David Webb]

I've played and completed ME3 and the ending destroyed the entire series for me, totally and utterly ruined any replay experience through ME1-2 to try different scene endings for ME3. For instance, in ME1, don't save the council, in ME2, kill half your crew, does that have any effect on the ending for ME3? Nope, none of the choices you made in ME1-2 actually matter when it comes to the ending of ME3, you get the same 3 "options" all of which suck, it's almost as if BW couldn't think of a way to end the game.

It was supposed to be a final that answers all the questions and closes the story on what has been an epic adventure, it left a bad taste in my mouth and a "what the fuck?" as the only question answered.

Don't get me wrong, the game itself was fun, it's just the ending, that horrible ending that ruined everything I had done over 3 games, 5 minutes worth of gameplay totally screwing over hundreds of hours worth of gameplay, choices, hard decisions....

I had planned (after beating ME3) to work a new ME1>2>3 char going "renegade" to see the effect on how the story ends, now I'm just going to delete ME3 because it has NO replayability factor, none, zero, zilch.

[Si 1]

I completely agree

The endings are awful. I finished the game earlier today and I was utterly gobsmacked by how bad the three ending options were. It was Deus Ex Human Revolution all over again, except this time it's the end to an epic trilogy rather than a single game being spoiled.

Would it have been so hard to do a Return of the Jedi-style "Yub-Nub" ending? :(

[David Webb]

Re: I completely agree

I know right, the build up to the end was amazingly well put together, except for the fact you somehow end up wearing clothes you never wore and your armour vanishes, go up, have a chat with the [spoiler] and then sit watching planet [spoiler] with [spoiler], that would have been the perfect place to end the game with a long CS, with the Catalyst firing off and doing it's thing as Shepherd and [spoiler] die together. Then they could have fast forwarded to a couple of years in the future and show the results of your hard work.

Tali on planet [spoiler] wearing a hat as a Geth tends to her garden.

Liara and the Prothean (if you have DLC) exploring old Prothean ruins together.

The 2 Krogans having military drills with Garius whilst Krogan women watch on holding babies

(or cutscenes depending on which chars are still alive and the choices you made through the series).

Since 2007 we have been investing ourselves in the "lives" of our character and his/her comrades, the ending we got was weak, weaker than weak, it's no longer a matter of "oh, I so want to try X in 1 to get Y in 2 so I get ending Z in 3" it's "meh, not even worth playing again, the endings are just so bad".

[hexx]

my copy arrived yesterday, can't wait to play it. I spent solid 80+ hours in ME

[hexx]

*in ME2*

[JDX]

NOT the Matrix

>>Every 50,000 years the Reapers awake and exterminate the universe

>>of all intelligent life in a rather nasty cycle of destruction – The Matrix anyone?

Stargate Atlantis :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: NOT the Matrix

Or even further back, Jack McDevitt's excellent novel 'The Engines of God'.

[Petrea Mitchell]

Re: NOT the Matrix

Or Star Control 3, for that matter. (For all I've heard third-hand about the deep seriousness of ME3's storyline, betcha it doesn't come up with as depressing an answer to that scenario as the ending of SC3.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: NOT the Matrix

Or Bab5. Or even Lord of the Rings, for that matter, features an ancient evil reawakening. But The Matrix notably does not.

[sabroni]

How's it on 360?

The boy had ME2, or possibly the first one, on his 360 and it ran like a dog when things kicked off, frame rate dropping to lowish single digits in a firefight. Anyone tried this on 360 and know if this is still the case?

[G Mac]

Re: How's it on 360?

I am in about 3 hours and fine here. I never had a problem with ME1 or ME2 either.

I *did* install all of them on my Xbox 360 hard drive though...

[Dcope]

Well so far..

I have spent the new year gradually re working through my Ariel Shep paragon through me1 and me2, as i lost my saves, completed me2 at 12.10 am last night and unlocked my copy of me3 and carried straight on, it didnt inport my sheps face but I recreated her more or less, and carried on.

Had to call quits at 3am and have been keeping going at work on Nicotine\caffine\sugar and i dare say i will be there at the same time tonight, red bull will be purchased on way home.

I will hold my thoughts on the ending till i get there but that will be a way off now and I too am planning a playboy renegade run through when finished my paragon play through.

Personally im loving having Liara back and when i find what Tali is up to the old ME1 team will be back, Miranda was a poor sub and the shadow broker DLC was too short.

On a side note it just me or has everyone had a boob job since me2?

[The Baron]

Re: Well so far..

> it just me or has everyone had a boob job since me2?

Nah, I haven't. I thought about it, but then I thought sod it, I'll just keep ordering XL pizza deliveries instead.

[Aldous]

multiplayer

multiplayer works on your readiness rating (war assests * readiness = outcome you get) so if you want a "happy" ending you need to do it .did a 20 min mission last night which boosted readiness by 5% across all sectors so not bad

[MJI]

Not sure on this

Played ME2 liked it - just started ME1 but not done much yet.

The comment about ME3 are worrying. Bad frame rate drops, duff ending, Miranda issues. PC version suffers from Origin - I have Steam on it, been told you can't have both.

Enough to wait for bargain bin I am afraid.

Yes I used default John face soldier, space born, lone survivor. goes for Miranda.

Played ME2 first as it was cheap and available - got 1 on the Steam sale - PC - so cannot swap saves.

Prefer controller to KB so will wait for bargain bin - sorry.

I have enough games to play anyway.

[Dcope]

Re: Not sure on this

"PC version suffers from Origin - I have Steam on it, been told you can't have both."

Utter tosh , i run both no issues at all

me1, straight disc,

me2 steam

me3 origin,

all installed and all work, this is not a prosteam/origin verdict on drm etc etc etc, just saying they work for me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not sure on this

> PC version suffers from Origin - I have Steam on it, been told you can't have both.

Whilst Origin is a steaming shit sandwich that EA has kindly rammed down our throats for no fathomable reason, it does co-exist with Steam without problems.

[Adam T]

Steam / Origin

Last I heard, EA titles you bought through Steam will be honoured by Origin (you can download them from Origin), but like heck can I find the article again. Worth looking into though.

[Andy 70]

Origin

hmmm, been waiting for this release for ages, and seems like EA is trying to jump on the steam bandwagon. i trust steam to be around longer than origin. unfortunatly, EA has a winner on it's hands and it knows it with ME3. same for the last star wars release, and not so much, but the NFS series too.

plus, another installer/drm client? really? ffs.

not buying this till it's on steam. probably next year. may get the 360 version if it's on download.

EA = dicks. no change there then.

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the reality on spyware?

Speaking as someone who'd happily pay double to be without the spyware, can we have an independent review on what Origin actually scrapes? From what it says, to install ME3 you have to consent to the publishers scraping your credit card number, details of your daughter's school and your voting intentions. Personally I'm going to wait until this fucks off or until the publishers recognise that most of us will pay more if they drop the bullshit. Either one works for me, they're worth more than some fictional supersoldier.

[Stuart Halliday]

Is there a PC demo?

No demo, no purchase here.

[Dcope]

just finished first play through....

....... And i cant see what all the negetive fuss is about no spoilers, but the combat is engrosing, the story touching in parts and really funny in others but is paced to perfection, the ending thoughtfull and not to over the top.

Will give it a rest for a little the start my renegade play through at a slower pace, well all 3 games can take some time:)

Ive played some sequels in my time as a pc gamer, take any one of the Mass effect games and they are good on their own, taken as a trilogy the whole pushes it past anything in gameing and i am really glad i had to re do my play through from 1-2-3 made everything freash and so much more enjoyable, multiplayer? havent even tried it and was happy with the outcome i got this time.

Even if you dont buy it now promise yourself youll get all 3 at some point in sales etc and enjoy the ride.

[MonkeyScrabble]

Well

I finished (not beat) the game last night and two words apply, gutted and unfulfilled.

The endings that are currently there are just place holders for the real endings. This is most likely being done in an attempt to combat piracy because the real ones will be DLC requiring an Origin account etc.

There is another theory going about that since Japan players won't see the game until the 15th March, the real endings are being held back to allow everyone to experience it at the same time.

If I'm correct and this is the case then the DLC would need to come very soon and need to be very free. Trying to charge people to get the real endings would be an extremely cynical and transparent attempt at creating revenue and in the long run will break Bioware in two. Gamers will not be milked like cattle to increase the baseline profits of the company.

In regard to the Galaxy at War nonsense, there is a slight difference in one of the current endings that you can only see, in game, if you have played this and raised your readiness to a certain level. Now, based on the statement made that Galaxy at War being optional and not required, the current evidence implies you may have to use it to get an ending you want in the single player only environment. I hope that in the DLC for the real endings, the galaxy at war requirement they currently have in the game is resolved so that all endings (bar maybe one special one for people who do invest the time in the multiplayer) are available to me.

I'm no Bioware fanboi, Jade Empire was an atrocity that cost me 20 odd hours of my life that I'll never see again, so trying to get the goose to lay another golden egg in order to download what I should have been given in the box, and should be able to see without paying for XBox Live membership \ doing something I hate (multiplayer gaming), will make me think twice about buying from them again.

If all above is right, then Bioware are trying something very brave and if they pull it off, then they deserve to be commended. I fear though they will try to be too smart and end up doing something stupid. If so then it's going to come back and bite them hard.

I read around a few boards last night after getting depressed at the let down of the current endings and there are more than a few people who are out for blood over this.

[Myopic Aardvark]

No need to do multiplayer at all.

Just ensure every single side mission and system scan is complete before doing the last mission.

Ending was a bit disappointing though after all that. For my money, as epic as ME3 was, it's no ME2.

Right, back to The Old Republic. Maybe this time I can get a character above level 35 before wanting to reroll.

[MonkeyScrabble]

Aye that multiplayer is needed a bit to get the "best" ending of the current 3.

I saw somehting last night that said the total for doing all side missions is 7000 total military strength and the galactic alert level is a percentage of this total, which equals your effective military strength.

That is the number that is currently measured at the end.

So in single player where you are stuck at galactic alert level 50%, it basically means the total of 7000 is halved, so 3500.

To get the best ending, apparently you need a score of 5000 effective military strength from the side missions etc.

At the moment that can only be done by lightening your wallet and buying xbox live time to get your galactic alert thing up to 75% or so.

Shame really. I don't play well with others....

[Myopic Aardvark]

Not according to Bioware

There are posts from the developers on the Bioware forums that state (paraphrasing) - "It is possible to get the best ending in single player without playing multiplayer, but it's twice as hard"

So, no - multiplayer ain't necessary if you don't want to do it (Although the Mass Effect 3 Databook app does seem to offer a nice way of helping to build it up too).

[Nya]

Completed it last night and had to wonder what all the fuss about the endings? They are pretty epic ways to go out...yes no showing us the end result of the decision but the three choices aren't bad. Heck, if anything it reminded me a lot of how B5 ended.

Yes, the usual get your end away part before you go into the final battle is gone (or maybe that's just me). And come on, having Buzz Aldrin playing granddad at the very end is just blinkin' great!

[scouser_in_exile]

Is this out, then?

I wandered into Game today and they didn't have it. What gives?

[Jediben]

Re: Is this out, then?

EA won't let Game have any stock due to their current financial crisis.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: PLEASE HELP!!!

spacebar is used to talk to people interact with objects and cover

[Sparky 1]

Re: PLEASE HELP!!!

spacebar is the key you want it is the do most things button in ME3