I might be giving this game too low of a score but I’m going to stick with this for now bc of little things that brought down the experience for me personally. As a whole though, I think this was a satisfying end to an overall enjoyable trilogy. Starting the legendary edition with ME1 really didn’t sit well with me but ME2 and ME3 made me understand the greatness of the Mass Effect series.
I knew about the backlash ME3 received, specifically with its ending, when it first released. After now playing it for the first time, I think the hate was overblown and it was overhated to the point where some people made it seem like this is a bad game. It’s really not a bad game at all. I loved most moments that happened in this game and I wasn’t upset at the ending bc there’s only so far you can go with player choice. Especially if BioWare intends on continuing the Shepard saga. I got the perfect destroy ending and it seems like that would be the canon ending in the event that this gets followed up on. I loved it and didn’t feel insulted by it bc it made sense to me. Yes you lose EDI and the Geth with this ending but this entire series has been entirely about tough decisions and choices that come with sacrifices. To me, that made sense and I wasn’t upset at all. At some point there needs to be a concise ending and yes that means that you as a player will have some of your choice stripped away bc the writers have to tell and wrap up their story. As long as it’s done well, I have no issues with it and this game did it well imo. You have an ending that Saren would have wanted in synthesis, an ending that the Illusive Man wanted in control, and an ending that Shepard and Commander Anderson wanted from the start in destroy. I honestly don’t see the issue with this.
As far as the game as a whole is concerned, I think the gameplay in this game is the best out of the whole series. The tweaks made to movement and fighting were surprisingly smooth and worked well. I like that each game slowly broke away from the clunkiness that came with ME1’s cover and shoot style. Cover and shoot is still the foundation but there’s a lot more freedom when it comes to how you play. The gun/armor variety is also expanded and the skill tree is pretty much the same with some minor tweaks. Gameplay wise, this is the most fun in the series.
The story gave me the same feeling that I had with watching Avengers Endgame. I knew it was probably going to be a spectacle and was going to be an exciting finale for a long term story. I wasn’t disappointed. Seeing decisions made in ME1 and ME2 affect my ME3 story(especially with war assets) was great to see. Saying goodbye to some former squad mates was really tear jerking. Legion in particular hit me the hardest. You fight and end a whole side war for him to finally become a person but it’s bittersweet bc he has to sacrifice himself in order to see a dream become reality. 10/10 storytelling right there alone. Mordin’s death to cure the genophage was also really sad to see. Overall, I just really liked that the whole galaxy was at war and you needed to unite everyone against this one threat(again, very similar to Avengers and Thanos). This whole all out war aspect made the pacing feel like it was moving at just the right speed and I felt engaged all the way through.
I really only have 2 main issues with this game. #1 being that I HATED the changes they made to the journal and mission progression. I needed to use a mission guide for 80% of this game bc it did not direct you well in how you’re supposed to complete quests. ME2 had quest check marks to show you how far along you are in progressing the quest. It also told you where to go for every single one. This game however does not do this. It gives you a summary of what was said when you received the quest and that’s it. There were many times where I had to find out from a guide that I could not complete a specific side quest bc I either did not progress in the story far enough yet to unlock that planet/nebula or I had already completed it but just needed to buy an item from the spectre terminal. ME2’s journal and mission progression was a lot less confusing and I wish they would’ve kept it. My next issue is a personal one and depends on how you feel but I think ditching the ME2 squad and making them feel sidelined was a terrible idea. Jack, Miranda, Mordin, Grunt, Samara, Legion, Jacob, and Thane are all so much more interesting characters than the OGs from ME1(also, James didn’t add anything at all as a new character). Again this is just my opinion but I would have much rather had the ME2 squad be the ones kept as part of your crew. Having the ME1 characters in the crew just didn’t do it for me at all. Javik and EDI saved it from being a complete disaster though.
All in all, I would love to give this game the same score as ME2 bc I think I enjoyed it just as much. But again, my 2 issues are really just nitpicks but are issues nonetheless and is why I give it just 1 score lower. I think this game was overhated though when it initially released and I think that the legendary edition version I played made for a satisfying end to a fantastic trilogy of games. There’s no reason not to play this game if you played the previous 2. And it also might be a lot better than what you’ve heard about it.
I knew about the backlash ME3 received, specifically with its ending, when it first released. After now playing it for the first time, I think the hate was overblown and it was overhated to the point where some people made it seem like this is a bad game. It’s really not a bad game at all. I loved most moments that happened in this game and I wasn’t upset at the ending bc there’s only so far you can go with player choice. Especially if BioWare intends on continuing the Shepard saga. I got the perfect destroy ending and it seems like that would be the canon ending in the event that this gets followed up on. I loved it and didn’t feel insulted by it bc it made sense to me. Yes you lose EDI and the Geth with this ending but this entire series has been entirely about tough decisions and choices that come with sacrifices. To me, that made sense and I wasn’t upset at all. At some point there needs to be a concise ending and yes that means that you as a player will have some of your choice stripped away bc the writers have to tell and wrap up their story. As long as it’s done well, I have no issues with it and this game did it well imo. You have an ending that Saren would have wanted in synthesis, an ending that the Illusive Man wanted in control, and an ending that Shepard and Commander Anderson wanted from the start in destroy. I honestly don’t see the issue with this.
As far as the game as a whole is concerned, I think the gameplay in this game is the best out of the whole series. The tweaks made to movement and fighting were surprisingly smooth and worked well. I like that each game slowly broke away from the clunkiness that came with ME1’s cover and shoot style. Cover and shoot is still the foundation but there’s a lot more freedom when it comes to how you play. The gun/armor variety is also expanded and the skill tree is pretty much the same with some minor tweaks. Gameplay wise, this is the most fun in the series.
The story gave me the same feeling that I had with watching Avengers Endgame. I knew it was probably going to be a spectacle and was going to be an exciting finale for a long term story. I wasn’t disappointed. Seeing decisions made in ME1 and ME2 affect my ME3 story(especially with war assets) was great to see. Saying goodbye to some former squad mates was really tear jerking. Legion in particular hit me the hardest. You fight and end a whole side war for him to finally become a person but it’s bittersweet bc he has to sacrifice himself in order to see a dream become reality. 10/10 storytelling right there alone. Mordin’s death to cure the genophage was also really sad to see. Overall, I just really liked that the whole galaxy was at war and you needed to unite everyone against this one threat(again, very similar to Avengers and Thanos). This whole all out war aspect made the pacing feel like it was moving at just the right speed and I felt engaged all the way through.
I really only have 2 main issues with this game. #1 being that I HATED the changes they made to the journal and mission progression. I needed to use a mission guide for 80% of this game bc it did not direct you well in how you’re supposed to complete quests. ME2 had quest check marks to show you how far along you are in progressing the quest. It also told you where to go for every single one. This game however does not do this. It gives you a summary of what was said when you received the quest and that’s it. There were many times where I had to find out from a guide that I could not complete a specific side quest bc I either did not progress in the story far enough yet to unlock that planet/nebula or I had already completed it but just needed to buy an item from the spectre terminal. ME2’s journal and mission progression was a lot less confusing and I wish they would’ve kept it. My next issue is a personal one and depends on how you feel but I think ditching the ME2 squad and making them feel sidelined was a terrible idea. Jack, Miranda, Mordin, Grunt, Samara, Legion, Jacob, and Thane are all so much more interesting characters than the OGs from ME1(also, James didn’t add anything at all as a new character). Again this is just my opinion but I would have much rather had the ME2 squad be the ones kept as part of your crew. Having the ME1 characters in the crew just didn’t do it for me at all. Javik and EDI saved it from being a complete disaster though.
All in all, I would love to give this game the same score as ME2 bc I think I enjoyed it just as much. But again, my 2 issues are really just nitpicks but are issues nonetheless and is why I give it just 1 score lower. I think this game was overhated though when it initially released and I think that the legendary edition version I played made for a satisfying end to a fantastic trilogy of games. There’s no reason not to play this game if you played the previous 2. And it also might be a lot better than what you’ve heard about it.