By Ed Zhao ’12

Mass Effect 3 is the conclusion to one of gaming’s most innovative trilogies. The series is very much about a deep, vibrant universe where your decisions from previous entries dramatically alter the situation in subsequent games. This is something unique to the medium, as hundreds of myriad choices can result in a vastly different experience than your peers. No other entertainment genre can offer a journey tailored to one’s particular decisions, an exclusive tale for each player.

Yet there would be no weight behind these choices if the characters weren’t so riveting and the worlds so engaging. The Mass Effect trilogy is well known for crafting squadmates that are layered and the first two games spent hours exploring their motivations and back-stories. In this final game, it’s all about wringing emotion out of those bonds and this is oftentimes through moments of sacrifice or heroic last stands. Every situation is perilous, and the game wastes no time underscoring the danger.

The enemy is a race of gigantic, mechanical machines called Reapers. They easily overpower Earth’s defenses and it falls to Commander Shepard to unite the galaxy’s remaining, disparate civilizations. You navigate decades of historical conflict, making compromises and settling interstellar disputes. The script is strong throughout and the imaginative scenarios are generally excellent.

In terms of gameplay, there have been minor refinements from the previous game and there is a strong balance between the RPG and shooter elements. Players level up and can then choose specific upgrades for each character while Bioware, the developers, have also added stealth kills and further options to modify weapons. Aiming is smooth and while it won’t compare to Call of Duty or Halo, Mass Effect is still fun to play. The end result is the best combat of the series, though there is an unfortunate absence of heavy weapons like rocket launchers or Mass Effect 2’s portable nuke.

Series fans will also be disappointed over the lack of squadmates when compared to the previous game. Mass Effect 3 instead focuses on the big picture concerning the interactions between entire species rather than expounding on the idiosyncracies of your team. Still, the loss of this humanizing aspect is a shame and proponents of particular characters will have to settle for minor cameos.

Bioware has also included a co-op multiplayer mode that pits up to four players against waves of oncoming enemies. There’s a particular pleasure when communicating with your team to exploit synergistic stratagems or flanking entrenched enemies. Interacting with intelligent humans is certainly a step up from the game’s AI, and the mode further induces playtime through a leveling system. Defeating enemies results in experience points, allowing for customization options in regards to special skills and weapons. Different objectives also change up the pacing as the mode shifts from simply defeating enemies to capturing areas or assassinating certain targets.

Yet the greatest drawback of Mass Effect 3 still relates to its engrossing story and the promise of the trilogy’s conclusion. Many will be unhappy with Mass Effect 3’s ending and there are already Internet petitions for Bioware to change it. This might point to a flaw in the game itself, but it also highlights the strong emotional attachment to the series. Mass Effect, due to its excellent story and characters, has elicited this response. Fans care and they care deeply enough to raise some $77,000 while one fan went as far as filing a FTC complaint. The outpouring of sentiment is a tribute to Bioware’s masterful creation and the impact of the Mass Effect franchise.

Ed Zhao will be working as a Business Analyst at EEDAR, a company that does research for video game developers. Specifically, he will mostly be analyzing how particular games could see stronger sales by leveraging statistical analysis and historic trends; other job duties will include mock reviews and answering particular client queries.