Earth’s Final Hope
Every legend of course has a beginning and ending. It’s unfortunate for us to say that this bad ass game has to come to end, but all good things must have that ending. This game, Mass Effect 3 of course, will not have an ending that’s not short of epic.
For those of you dedicated gamers who have played through the Mass Effect series, you already know what’s going on, what Commander Shepherd is up against, and realistically what his odds are. But, for those of you gamers that haven’t played through this amazingly beautiful series, let me catch you up a little bit (if you haven’t already read our reviews).
Essentially back in Mass Effect 1,we get introduced into this world where aliens exist, space travel is possible and there’s always something going on. We also meet our hero, Commander Shepherd of the Alliance military, who actually gets considered to be a Spectre (basically a galactic peacekeeper that can do anything for their mission deemed necessarily, even outside the bounds of galactic law), but the plans are initially foiled by a rogue turian Spectre by the name of Saren Arcturus. Shepherd eventually becomes a Spectre for the Council and his mission is to stop Saren. Shepherd is successful with his mission but not without some trials along the way.
Flash forward two years from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2. Shepherd is aboard the SSV Normandy when it comes under attack by a group of aliens called The Collectors. Shepherd dies trying to save the pilot to the Normandy, Joker and is brought back to life by a pro-human organization called Cerberus, also a hated enemy amongst many in the galaxy. Shepherd’s mission now is to gather a crew and destroy the Collectors. After Shepherd is successful, a warning comes, that a group of older aliens, called the Reapers, that wiped out an ancient civilization known as the Protheans now have a new target: Earth.
Flash now to Mass Effect 3, Earth’s attack from the Reapers is imminent, now is essentially the last stand. Shepherd must now gather all the allies possible to bring an end to the Reapers destruction and keep the galaxy spinning so to speak.
First off, I fucking love the Mass Effect series, I mean it is literally phenomenal in everything that it does. My favorite thing of all time about is that every choice a player makes in the game affects its total outcome of how the game is going to end or even progress for that matter. Decisions made in the first game create this sort of “butterfly effect” for the second game, and then even in this game, yes players will be able to continue their Commander Shepherd all the way from the first Mass Effect.
With that being said, some new features of course are in this conclusion of the Mass Effect series. First off, the graphics seem to have been updated just a little bit more so they look a bit nicer than even Mass Effect 2. Second, if you loved the combat system that was used in Mass Effect 2, you’re going to love combat in Mass Effect 3 and here’s why: The cover system that caused some frustration within the second game actually got a bit of an upgrade so it’s definitely better now. Last but certainly not least, Mass Effect 3 includes the option of using a Kinect if players are using the Xbox 360. Yes, players will be able to give their squads commands as well as say what Shepherd is going to say in the game, and probably other things that we don’t know about yet.