WARNING: This review contains spoilers for Mass Effect 1 & 2
Where to start, at the beginning of course, way back in November 2007 BioWare released Mass Effect, One of their best progressive story driven games to date. With its unique chase the bad guy across space plot with twists and turns around every corner. With great characters, interesting backstory and its unique combat system overall made you really want to see this through to the end, just so you can see what the hell is going to happen?
I am not going to talk about everything about Mass Effect, but the basic story is; a spectre has gone rogue and it’s your job as Shepard to track him down and eliminate him. On your travels you will see that he has been very busy finding and using ancient alien artifacts and unleashing the alien Race “The Geth” (A robotic race of being) on the unsuspecting planets within the universe. You get the control of a ship called “Normandy” and set on missions around the galaxy to hunt and understand what and why this spectre has gone rogue.
The final sequence see’s you back at the starting grounds of the citadel where it is under full attack, and the spectre you have been hunting from planet to planet has started the process to bring the REAPERS back from Dark Space. After a lengthy battle Shepard manages to defeats the spectre and stops the summoning, however the reapers are still coming as it has been foretold, every 50.000 years humanity will be wiped from the galaxy and have to start all over again.
Moving forward now to Mass effect 2 released January 2010, sees the Normandy attacked by an unknown entity (Ship) and your faith full main man Shepard dead “Noooo this sucks”. You then find out the corporation calling themselves Cerberus has recovered his body and brought him back to life “phew”. This is the first game in the series to implement a/her option, why this was done is beyond me since there was no female main character option in the first game. As game progresses Shepard will eventually find out that the reapers were responsible and working by proxy through and insect like species known and the collectors, and these are the ones responsible for the extinction of entire human colonies. As you play through that game you must gain loyalty and recruit your squad to defeat the Collectors, on what can only be described as a suicidal mission.
Moving to the final scenes of the game now as I personally do not wish to spoil your game experience too much if you wish to play through it yourself one day. So after choosing either to destroy or sterilize the base, Shepard then destroys the human-reaper larva and escapes before the bomb detonates. Back to the Normandy Shepard speaks to the Illusive Man (you get to meet him at the start), who will either congratulate or condemn your actions. Final scene sees Shepard in the cargo bay of the Normandy with joker (Ships pilot) and the survivors of the mission; joker gives Shepard the schematics of a reaper and that’s really it. Regardless of which ending you see humanity now has the reapers full attention, which has awakened in Dark Space, and is set to descend upon the galaxy, beginning the events that unfold on Mass Effect 3.
The time has arrived as the reapers have descended upon earth, the final hours our at hand can Shepard and the crew save humanity? And can the weather change and give is 1 inch of snow so everything stops around our country so I am able to skip work “Come on I do need to save the world”. Shepard is back and this time the shit has hit the fan as the reapers are here to exterminate all life in the galaxy. You need to take control of Commander Shepard and save the entire universe, bring alliances races together for one final stand against the dreaded reapers.
Since your first outing as Shepard, you have been told many a time that the reapers shall return and have done so every 50.000 years to wipe out humanity and everything time this has happened the citadel has been the reapers beacon. You have done your best to warn every one of their coming, and their first port of call will be earth but does anyone listen no (Typical government). Shepard however has been grounded by the alliance, but when the battle starts to heat up and earth is under full attach he escapes through a pretty epic battle sequence, where you come face to face with the reapers to get to your ship the Normandy. Your mission sounds simple, make your way to the Citadel and convince the council and ultimately convince all alien races to band together to take on the reapers or face all out extinction “Seems easy right, NOT”, as you will find out during your game time.
Your first task is to go to Mars, where you need to steal blueprints from Cerberus, your old employers from Mass Effect 2. These blueprints contain information on how to construct an advance weapon to take on the reapers. Of course it wouldn’t be the same if some of old friends popped into the final episode, so please welcome back Liara T’soni, this time thought she is Shepard’s trusty lieutenant, also coming back are Garrus and Ashley Williams. As the game unfolds Shepard soon finds out that old feuds between alien races are still raging on, so Shepard being such a nice guy is tasked to do missions and bring these factions together under one banner. This time though no mission is simple, as many of the places you will visit are full on war zones, making this game bloody awesome for action.
Mass Effect wouldn’t be the same unless your choices have a direct impact, so let’s choose which alien race should join the alliance, the raging morons on the left or the raging morons on the right mmm hard choices, diplomacy don’t we just love it. Yet again the story is full of little twists and turns that will delight the fans of the series, those that have never picked up the genre before “tut tut” will be astounded by the amount of richness and depth.
The mechanics have not change that much since Mass Effect 2, one biggest change though is the fluidity of movement, Shepard is noticeably more mobile that previous games and differently moves in more of a fluid way. Our graceful ship the Normandy has been re-modernised, back to its original layout, after Cerberus mock job of re-building the ship in Mass Effect 2 which in my opinion sucked as I kind of got lost. I must not forget, we now have hand to hand combat awesome, up close and personal shiz niz.
Something we have always craved since day one “co-op mode” and this time we have it, finally we get to play with a friends instead of the dumb down AI who in my opinion tend to either die too much or just hug your every move. If you have a iOS you can even download an app for the game “Yep you heard it an app, whatever next” which is all about reclaiming the galaxy (Universe), planet by planet from the reapers, it is almost like a board game, also as an added bonus whatever you do in the single player game feeds data in to the app to effect what is happening in that world.
BioWare has pulled all the stops this time and have created a huge believable universe to explore, everything feels so responsive and incredibly precise, and it really does feel like you are playing in a TV Sci-Fi show “BioWare idea here”. I almost forget to mention you can have sexual relationships in this game and yes you can even have gay relationships if you wish.
If you have played any of the other games do not forget to import your character, as everything you done in the past will then affect everything in this game which can really effect you game experience so do it, if you can. Something I have not mentioned yet, well there are possibly a few things I have yet to mention so Point 1 experience points. XP is broken down by class and each class will have a couple of races associated with it, they will all level up together. Point 2 Multi-player mayhem, up to four players can play at once and will need to face 10 waves of enemies on the battlefield. Its Biowares take on wave based survival or should I say Mass Effects version. Ammo is dumped around the map which allow you to reload when needed and you also get the chance to revive al fallen comrade as long as they have not had their head caved in by the enemy. You also get to do side objectives for an example disable bombs, activate consoles or take down a bunch of targets etc. As you level up in multi-player you will earn points, point mean prizes “come on I had to say that”. Well points mean credits in this game and credits are allowed to be spent on three different quality packs, of course the more expensive the pack the better the quality the item is going to be. Some items can be for single use only, however you will also get better weapons, upgrades even new characters and classes to play.
So what can I say about this game, “ITS AWESOME, BLOODY BUY IT”, it has possibly the best wave based multi-player scenarios I have ever played, a heart wrenching single player, story driven, cinematic, on the edge of your seat gut wrenching experience. What more can I ask for, maybe a TV series please, now that would be awesome. Graphics are so unbelievably realistic; sound is mind blowing and extremely authentic to the series. With its heart pounding plots, sex with sexy ladies (No boob views) or guys (no genital views), co-op mode what more do you want. Even if you have never played a Mass Effect game before you really need to play this game, or your best friend should slap you around the head for being a moronic jerk. The epic conclusion is within your grasp, defend earth, fight for freedom you were born to do this.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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