Is this Effect Massive?
Mass Effect 3 reviewed by Doc D Strange
Let me first bring up that I asked a buddy on Giant Bomb if he was gonna post a review for Mass Effect 3 and he told me, Honestly, follow my footsteps and don't review it. You cannot please Bioware fans no matter what you do. I mean that in the sense that you will enrage them no matter how you write or how you phrase it. I completely agree but fuck it I love writing user reviews and I will continue to do it cause DAMMIT it makes me happy!
Story/Gameplay
Im not going to get into spoiler territory on this review so don't worry. If you've never played a Mass Effect game before let me break it down for you. In the distant future Humanity finds these intergalactic warp machines call the mass relays that will take space ships to far distant area's of our galaxy. This is a historical moment for the human race as we become a bigger part of the known galaxy. The human species meets new life forms and obtains vastly advanced technology. You play as Commander Shepard, the first human Specter which is pretty much like the take no shit get the job done by any means possible type agent for the galaxy. Throughout the story of the Mass Effect games there is a greater power of machines the size of skyscrapers called Reapers that cleanse the galaxy of life and technology every 50,000 years. The Reapers leave some of the lower technologically advanced species alone and wait for the evolution of life to grow and then come back 50,000 years later to rinse and repeat. They're abunch of real assholes. So in Mass Effect 3 the Reapers come back into the galaxy and start reigning havoc on Earth and other planets. Its up to Commander Shepard to stop the Reaper threat once and for all. If your a fan of the series this game tries to cram in as many characters from the previous games into Mass Effect 3, which is cool but the game runs fast and loose with it.
On to the gameplay. This is a 3rd person over the shoulder action RPG and more on the action side this time around. At the beginning of the game you will be able to choose your class of hero ranging from guns ablazing soldier class to telepathic badass. Your powers will differ from which class you choose. In Mass Effect 3 you can equip any weapons in the game which is different from Mass Effect 1 and 2 which I thought was cool that Bioware added that. Equipping multiple weapons will slow down the recharge on your powers though, so there's a give and a take on which would you rather have. There are alot of different guns in this game I think like 20 or so but every weapon is customizable ranging from more damage mods to ammo capacity mods. As in the previous games there are dialog tree's to choose from which will progress the story and some what decide your fate. In short you have the choice of being the boring goody two shoes or the dick of the galaxy. The choice is up to you.
Graphics/Sound
Mass Effect 3 is a fantastic looking game! One of the best looking games of this console generation, great lighting and textures. The area's are always filled with stuff going on in the backgrounds. At one point your on a moon fighting enemies while Reapers are off in the distance just laying waste to everything, its a real crazy sight to see. The armor and guns look great to from alien weapons to the alien species themselves. I do wish that Bioware kept the film grain visual effect though I really liked that.
The voice acting in the Mass Effect series has always been top notch and Mass Effect 3 is more of that. The sound effect's on weapons sound great especially the plasma guns they just sound badass. The same goes for the audio of the different powers you will use. Mass Effect 3 has some really good music in the game from ambient to block buster movie soundtracks. If you have a surround sound system then crank that shit!
Multiplayer
When I heard that Mass Effect 3 was getting a multiplayer mode for the first time I was skeptical. I didn't want them to shoe horn in a lackluster multiplayer and sacrifice some of the story just cause the higher ups at EA told Bioware you have to have multiplayer cause all games nowadays have multiplayer. But I was somewhat mistaken. The online mode is tell me if you've heard this before....a wave based co-op horde mode. Yet I really think that this was the only way to put in multiplayer into a franchise like Mass Effect so congrats Bioware even if horde mode is getting really old. For completing maps in the online mode you help boost the galactic readiness of the singleplayer. Its a cool idea but you can always get the best ending without touching the multiplayer.
Is this game any fun
FUCK YES! I say that as being a fan of the first two games but Mass Effect 3 is a great conclusion to the trilogy. Im not going to say anything about the ending but people just need to take it for what it is and not get in an internet uproar about it. Having said that, I really think that Mass Effect 2 is the Empire Strikes Back of the series. It was my favorite and that's not saying that Mass Effect 3 is bad it's a great game and I was thoroughly satisfied with the game and enjoyed most of it.
Beer of the Review
I sometimes consider myself an Arrogant Bastard and that is fitting for this review because of my opinions of Mass Effect 3. Arrogant Bastard Ale is one of my all time favorite beers, no question. As in Stone Brewery's description of the brew "It is an aggressive ale and that you probably won't like it". Oh they think they're so funny but it's true most people I give this beer to give me that bitter beer face like they ate to many Sour Patch Kids. To explain the taste I get from this beer is really a mystery. If you have the balls or are a beer fanatic check this glorious beer out. www.arrogantbastard.com
