Product ReviewsMass Effect 3 (Microsoft Xbox 360, 2012) Video Game

Ties the series in a nice bow, with lens flare.

I loved the first two, so I had to buy the third. I've heard alot of awful things about this game (particularly the ending), but decided to trust that it would be good anyway. I was pleasantly surprised at how amazingly enjoyable this game was. The graphics are breathtaking, the dialogue is intriguing, and the cinematography is just as good as, if not better than, anything playing in multiplexes right now. Bioware seemed to take the best from both games and smack them together into this one. Many elements that made the first game good are seen in this one, as with the second. There are even new features such as playing Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit with the Reapers. The only thing I'm not too fond of is the "Theater of War" concept, because I feel it wasn't explained very well in the game and ended up confusing me more than providing entertainment, which is what a game is for in the first place. That being said, many other things are streamlined and make for an easier and more enjoyable overall game experience. The secondary missions have just as much work put into them as the priority ones, which is good considering the dull repetition of planet landings from the first game. ALL of the missions, regardless of relation to the primary storyline, are done in a highly-stylized cinematic format, so there's not alot of wandering around or scanning planets. However, you can always get an in-depth look at the planets within each system and read their facts and figures if you want to, but it's not as important in this game as it is with the others. The focus here is action and dialogue, two of the things that made this game so entertaining and playable in a world that had either one of the two, but never both.Read full review...

Great game. Mostly good and some bad but overall a great game.

The Trilogy is complete.

A lot of good theatrics in this game, it could almost be a movie.
This is a great game, I enjoyed playing this game, its a long game (for me it was) but I think its worth it. The singleplayer is a long one and the multiplayer is interesting, hopefully the multiplayer will be interesting enough to keep people playing a year later.

As Mass Effect series go, sometimes I found myself wondering, "Now where do I go now or what exactly am I suppose to do" because well... the stairs that lead out of the room are hidden behind the corner wall next the pile of boxes behind the broken statue, which was the same thing in the first two series.

I heard the Kinect sensor really helps with this game, especially if your on "Insanity" and at that part when Marauder McShields steps out in front of you and blows you away, I heard you can use biotics with the Kenct sensor and finish him off. My suggestion, is to upgrade your pistol with heavy-duty mods when these special cut-scenes happen (like the Mars mission when the scientist sexbot bum-rushes you)

There are many things taken out and changed, there are glitches, if playing singleplayer the A.I. squad mates are a mixed bag, sometimes they really help and sometimes get caught in a floor groove and keep running or squat in the middle of the floor and appear to hide behind some invisible wall. But despite all of this, its a great game.

The ending I think is open-ended, I wonder if it will open a series of side missions of the Mass Effect series or maybe spawn a Post-Reaper series, maybe a bunch of good guys riding good reapers ready to fight a bunch of bad guys riding a bad reapers, or something.

How to raise your Galatic Readiness? That has to upped through multiplayer, no way around it, but multiplayer isnt hard, its actually pretty fun. Multiplayer requires an "online pass" so if you buy this game used with no OnlinePass, it will cost your 800 MS Points, around $10.

Is it worth buying? If you played through the first 2 games, of course you got to get it and play it.Read full review...

better than expected.

the plot is a let down from mass effect 1 and 2, you have 2 choices, believe that every choice matters in this game like in 1 and 2 or reject the illusion of choice, because this game ultimately boils down to which color explosion happens when you decide what happens to the reapers. that being said it's still a good game, the graphics are an improvement over mass effect 1 and 2. handles pretty decent. controls are responsive. over all? i'd rate it a 7.8 out of 10, playable, enjoyable but lacking the same depth as mass effect 1 and 2. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: oldschoolgamese...

A good game with a seriously flawed ending. 70/100 (-25 of 30 for ending)

Despite the 3/5 rating, I do recommend this game with one very important caveat I'll address shortly. To provide some context, readers should know I've played ME1, ME2 (including all DLC missions), and ME3 many times over several years on the Xbox 360. I've played both Shepard genders (though I have a bias toward the FemShep) and all classes (soldier, adept, etc.). In short, I'm reasonably well versed on the ME series. To provide a more accurate rating, If I had 100 points to work with I'd give ME3 a score of 70 or 3.5 out of 5). I'll summarize the good and bad below with a necessary spoiler at the end:

GOOD:
* Superb graphics and sound
* Good levels in general and a few amazing ones (the battle on Palaven's moon and fight to the Shroud on Tuchanka come to mind).
* On the subject of levels, I really liked the inclusion of height via stairs and terrain. Movement up or down was easy to traverse and made level navigation more interesting.
* Movement mechanics are improved over ME2 (movement in and out of cover, combat rolls, etc. though some practice is required to leverage it most effectively.
* ME3 is the best of the series in terms of balancing customization of weapons and armor.
* I like the requirement to balance weapon choice versus power recharge speed.
* At a fundamental level, ME3 has a solid story based on the events of ME1 and ME2.
* The play was very emotional for me the first time I played ME3 given the fate of many of the characters from ME2 (not to mention entire races). Further, the game genuinely surprised me on multiple occasions with unexpected events.
* I liked the return and participation all of all characters from ME1 and ME2 (assuming they survived these games of course).

BAD:
* With a couple of exceptions (Female Krogan Shaman and to a lesser extent, Samantha Treynor), the new characters in ME3 are weak. The reporter (aka "Slim Snookie"), and James Vega are little more than boy/girl toys respectively.
* The game should have allowed more time via cut scenes to show the effect of allies you obtained during the final battle in Earth orbit and London. The game only hints at this for a few seconds. For example, if the Destiny Ascension participates Bioware should have shown it getting some payback (reference ME1) on a Reaper or two. In London, it would have been nice to see combinations of various races (say Krogan and Turians) take it to Reaper ground forces and perhaps show them in the background helping your squad from time to time.
* Minor bugs (though not nearly as obtrusive as those in ME2) such as "invisible" characters (voice minus character image), and rare game freezes requiring a reboot.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT: THE ENDING.
Simply put, the final 15-20 minutes of ME3 was awful. The ending is basically broken into two parts, a land battle (which was fine), and a vocal confrontation with a quasi-omnipotent "Star Child" on the Citadel. A lot of ink has been spilled on this subject so I'll summarize with two points:
1: The Star Child's logic concerning organic-synthetic existence is seriously flawed, yet Shepard can't call the SC on it. As a result, Shepard is only presented with three false options that he/she would never choose given the events of ME1 and ME2.
2: Shepard dies no matter what (if you only play single player), and I have a serious problem with this. A happy ending should have been an option given thRead full review...

It's no Mass Effect 2 that's for sure!

While the gameplay was great the first time around, it has very little replay value like the previous games. I have played through ME 1 & 2 several times, so I have a variety of Shepards. Each playthrough was pretty different. Even after the 4th or so playthrough, something cool and different would happen with both games. Not so with ME3. I am currently about half way through my second play through and it is almost identical to my first. The first Shep I used for my first play through, all of my characters from ME2 survived. But I had some key players die in ME2 with this Shep I am playing now (Jack, Mordin and Thane). It's still pretty much the same thing. There is a different character in place of the dead ones and they pretty much say the same things. And don't even get me started on that pathetic ending. And there wasn't even an end game boss battle? Come on! I think BioWare really hit the pinnacle of their game developing abilities with ME2. Now that was an epic game. I was so anxious to see how in the world they could possibly top ME2 with this game. I was very disappointed to find out, that they cannot. The first play through was awesome (until the last 5 minutes) and now that I'm half way through my second playthrough, I realize just how subpar this game is compared to it's predecessors. Very disappointing. So yeah, I would recommend it to a friend, but ONLY if they wait until it is cheaper. It was not worth the $80 I spent to pre-order the "Collector's Edition". What a joke!Read full review...

Don't buy it for anything more than $20.

I have played all three Mass Effect games and have loved them. The Mass Effect series is my second favorite series. However, this game is extremely disappointing. The game is great up until the last hour when you "take back" Earth. It was nothing as expected or advertised. I expected to have an ending that was a blend of ME1 and ME2. This means that I expected to have epic space and land battles where I had to make ethical decisions that impacted the game. The ending was nothing like this. It was basically the same as any other mission, and you get to make a "choice" at the end. There are three options, and they are all bad options with the same video ending. The video makes no sense, answers no questions, provides no closure, and is an insult to all of the fans of Mass Effect. I basically have two big problems with the game. One, the ending is too ambiguous which doesn't provide any answers or satisfaction. Two, the ending is anti-climatic which means that it is boring and not fitting for a Mass Effect game and especially for the end of a trilogy.
I have a third problem, but it is not with the game. The third problem is with the developer. Bioware has made some unethical, greedy business decisions lately. It started with their decision to make KOTOR into an MMO instead of a console release. They knew that they would make more money with it as an MMO. I won't get into why I hate MMOs and how they are destroying the RPG genre. Bioware has recently "dumbed down" other RPG games like Dragon Age II to appeal to the masses. This brings us to ME3. There are two issues with ME3. First, there is a code required to play the multiplayer. This is done to make more money from people who rent or buy used. Second, they are releasing a DLC with the "true" ending, and they will charge $10 for this DLC. They made this false ending that no one likes so they could force everyone to buy the DLC with the "true" ending. This is also done to make more money at the expense of loyal fans. I paid full price ($60) for what I thought was a finished product. I was wrong. It is not finished, and I have to pay more money to finish it. All of their business decisions are fueled by pure greed for money at this point.
Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on this game. If you are a fan of ME1 and ME2, then buy the game later. Wait for it to be $20 which won't be long. I bet that it will be $20 by this summer.Read full review...

One of the best games out there.

This game is one of the best - even better than Skyrim! Character looks, personality and history can be customized and the game seems to never get boring. I've lost count of how many times I've played it.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: kh05sales09

Emotionally riveting story and characters and intense action!

I found this title to be one of the most rewarding video game experiences I've ever had. I have played Mass Effect 1 and 2, so its difficult for me to separate my feelings about the game from the story as a whole and judge it as a stand alone title. So keep that in mind.

In Mass Effect 3 we find a very dramatic conclusion to many of the subplots that have surfaced throughout the franchise. Most of this is done through returning characters that you'll enjoy seeing and largely depends upon a lot of your previous decisions from Mass Effect 1 and 2. After having some discussions with friends its been pretty amazing to me to hear about how their stories diverged from my own on many of the subplots. We see quite a bit of character evolution for some of our old friends, so that was very satisfying.

The combat/action was a great deal of fun as well. It amazes me that BioWare has largely squeezed a very strong third person shooter with cover system into an RPG. They've done this since the beginning of the franchise but it has gotten cleaner and more enjoyable with each title in my opinion. As an RPG fan of old (and when I say of old, I mean back to the early Ultimas) its nice to see that they have maintained the tactical portion of RPG combat as well. Through cover, directing your squadmates, and the use of various biotics and powers to overcome diverse combat challenges you end up with a very fun but tactical combat system.

It wouldn't be a Mass Effect 3 review without mentioning the ending I suppose. I was aware of the outcry about the ending before I actually got to the ending. And I'm a pretty forgiving person when it comes to stuff like this so I honestly expected to get to it and come away feeling like the reaction was exaggerated. Well, I have to say I was a little let down. I was by no means outraged by it though. A lot of folks didn't like the subject matter of the ending and felt there were plot holes. I fall less into that crowd. I found the subject to be largely thought provoking and the more I've dwelled upon it the more it has grown on me. I was disappointed that there wasn't a nice big epilogue to send the series out on though. What we end up with is an ending that throws some interesting decision making at you and then trails off with about a minute worth of epilogue. I felt that could have been much stronger, but overall it was an okay ending.

A quick note on multiplayer. I don't play multiplayer so didn't even look at it and can't comment on it. I will say this one negative thing about it though. It appears that there is a cut scene in the ending that cannot be achieved by playing singleplayer alone. I found this to be unfortunate, knowing that I wouldn't be playing multiplayer. BioWare had stated that all endings would be possible through single player alone but it appears that either there's a bug in the way your final score is calculated or they overlooked this detail when making that statement. So, a bummer, but not too major.

I considered docking a star for the multiplayer/singleplayer issue I mentioned and for the ending because I do think it could have been expanded upon with more epilogue. But I can't do it, simply because its such a small portion of the game and the remainder may quite possibly have been the best gaming I've ever had. I view the entire game as a wrapup to the series, with many subplots getting some phenomenally well crafted attention. So overall I found it to be a strong conclusion to the trilogy.Read full review...

Best Mass Effect game, despite the ending

I've been a huge Mass Effect since the release of the first one, and I have placed a total of more than 100 hours into my Mass Effect story over the span of the trilogy. Overall, this is the best game out of the whole series. Sure the ending was extremely disappointing, to the point where I wanted to immediately return my game back to Gamestop. However, it's the overall experience of Mass Effect 3 that prevented me from doing so. Bioware did such an amazing job with this game, which leads me scratching my head on how the ending turned out to be. So overall, I give this a 4.7/5Read full review...

Wardog

The game was great.l loved the action play in it. I enjoyed it so much that I'm now playing it on the hardest level. I give it 5 stars

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: decluttr_store