Mass Effect 3 - Review Roundup #1

Dhruin

SasqWatch
Joined
August 30, 2006
Messages
11,842
Location
Sydney, Australia
The review embargo has been lifted and virtually every major site already has their Mass Effect 3 critique online. Here's a random roundup of sites I thought of checking before signing off for the night. As for the game itself, it appears to be nearly perfect from the early rounds.
Eurogamer, 10/10. "The first truly modern blockbuster":
From third-person shooter to conversation-led adventure, from resource hunting minigames and role-playing skill trees to multiplayer battles, Mass Effect 3 attempts to be all games in one, and does a surprisingly good job of pulling it off. No single element truly excels, but together they create an experience that engages on multiple levels. Everything ties in to something else, creating a dizzying web of interlocking metagames that encourage you to explore every corner, undertake every mission and exhaust every conversation.
IGN, 9.5/10. "Amazing". This is a critical snip just to provide balance:
<div>
But some changes aren’t as positive. Mass Effect 3 totes a far looser side quest system that’s less compelling and interesting than its predecessors’. It’s easy to earn a bunch of side quests only by overhearing conversations in certain locations, with no real context as to what you’re supposed to do. While the main quest is heavy on story and action and certainly fulfills in its own right, Mass Effect 3’s slant on side quests feels wanting, making the 30 to 40 hours it takes to complete everything in the game just a little more arduous.
BioWare has somewhat down-scaling the RPG-centric nature of the series, but thankfully this dumbing-down is totally optional. Mass Effect 3 still very much acts the part of action-RPG, but players will be given options to lessen the role-playing if you want to jump only into the action or story. Then again, BioWare has made Mass Effect 3 deeper in some ways, too, with features like enhanced weapon customization. So not all is lost.
GameSpot, 9/10. "...a poignant and memorable roleplaying action game":
The series' focus on player choice is as vital as it has ever been in Mass Effect 3. The effects of choices in previous installments have an impact in extraordinary ways here, more so than in Mass Effect 2. Sometimes the nods to prior choices are subtle. A lover might fondly recall her previous entanglement with you, while still supporting your new romantic interest. At other times, the impact is far more dramatic. Entire quests, conversations, and characters shift as a result of your actions in previous games (not to mention, your decisions in this one). As a result, you might be delighted by characters other players never meet, share intimate talks with crewmates other players never interact with, and deal with decisions other players never make. And as in previous Mass Effect games, your entire attitude when choosing dialogue options (paragon or renegade) can drive you to conclusions other players could never consider.
Giant Bomb, 4/5, though "not the best game in the series":
Along with building your alliances, scientists will also be constructing something that they think can stop the Reapers. But those old space racists at Cerberus have their own ideas about how best to proceed. So along with ending centuries-old conflicts via 30 minutes of third-person shooting and a few choices on a dialogue wheel, you'll also fight your way through human enemies, along with Reaper husks or others, depending on the scenario. Much of the side content in Mass Effect 3 is combat-focused, to the point where the game's multiplayer levels appear as "N7 missions" in the campaign, and most of these have you running around a relatively small area, hitting buttons and fending off waves of enemies. Sometimes a mission will simply stop and give you the objective of "survive," which feels like an artificial way to pad some of these missions out. It's not that the combat in Mass Effect 3 is bad--it's cleaned up and feels a bit tighter than ME2's did--but it's still not substantial enough to serve as the centerpiece of the game.
Destructoid, 8.5/10:
When all is said and done, Mass Effect 3 is the conclusion of Shepard's career and as fine a conclusion as they deserve. The story is more fast-paced than anything BioWare h...More information.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,842
Location
Sydney, Australia
So, nothing on the mediocre animation? Is it really not that bad, or what. I guess I'll go get it on release day this Friday regardless, because the Mass Effect games have been the most engrossing games for me in many years.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,915
Location
The Netherlands
roleplaying action game

I think that this is - imho - the best fitting description so far, based on what I've read here and elsewhere.

And I think this is the creation of a new sub-genre.
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
21,908
Location
Old Europe
any word on FOV and use/jump/cover issue?

Played a bit of the MP demo and the FOV seriously hurts the experience on PC as does the "use it all key" aka spacebar.

Im trying to stay away from BSN since that place have turned into a cesspool of spoilers, haters and defence drones.

C

edit, is any of the reviews on PC?
So far I can only see console ratings
 
Joined
Oct 29, 2009
Messages
439
Location
WGS84 Latitud:59.85 Longitud:17.65
I've just posted the second review roundup for this game. And the review from PC Gamer deals with playing the game on pc, the review from Atomic Gamer deals with olaying the game on pc and Xbox, the review from GameXP (the German one) features the PS3 platform.

Both the review from Atomic Gamer and PC Gamer mentions how it plays out on PC, the PC Gamer review explicitly mentions this:

I’ll get the other irritations over with now. The spacebar – previously only used for sprinting, ducking, taking cover, using switches, talking to people and vaulting over things – is now also used for diving away from cover too. It makes an already maddeningly imprecise system utterly ridiculous. At least half my deaths were from the spacebar not doing what I expected it to. We’re on PCs. We have 128 keys. We can handle a separate button for taking cover.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,147
Location
Denmark, Europe
"We can handle a separate button for taking cover. "

Noooo, this is the ultimate controller for ME:

108d7w5.jpg
 
Joined
Apr 18, 2011
Messages
3,263
Location
The land of rape and honey
Player needs to play multiplayer in order to prepare for singleplayer endgame?? Cheap.

Of all the negatives I've heard (related to DLC and other issues), this is the one most troubling to me. If I play the single-player game well, I should receive full rewards within the single-player game. If I play multiplayer well, I should receive full rewards within the multi-player framework, ala Red Dead Redemption or any other singe-player focused game with a multi-player addon.

This feels like EA bullying around their users to drive up multi-player metrics (most users online, blah blah blah).

Gross.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
333
Location
Ynys Afallach
Think ill hold off on this until ive read a few reviews from sites that are not just an extention of Ea's marketing department.
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
213
Of all the negatives I've heard (related to DLC and other issues), this is the one most troubling to me. If I play the single-player game well, I should receive full rewards within the single-player game. If I play multiplayer well, I should receive full rewards within the multi-player framework, ala Red Dead Redemption or any other singe-player focused game with a multi-player addon.

This feels like EA bullying around their users to drive up multi-player metrics (most users online, blah blah blah).

Gross.

You can get enough "war assets" in a single player playthrough to see 3 endings with save and reload. There is a 4th ending that can only be seen if you do a NG+ (new game plus = replaying with the same character).

The game guide mention 6 endings though...
 
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
7,313
Of all the negatives I've heard (related to DLC and other issues), this is the one most troubling to me. If I play the single-player game well, I should receive full rewards within the single-player game. If I play multiplayer well, I should receive full rewards within the multi-player framework, ala Red Dead Redemption or any other singe-player focused game with a multi-player addon.

It isn't new, though. In my eyes the same mechanism led into multiplayer parts of games having exclusive content - like races being playable only there.

This bias towards multiplayer is not new. It merely reaches its pinnacle about now.
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
21,908
Location
Old Europe
For the people who "HATE" multiplayer games, i urge you to at least try it on mass effect 3, its realy realy cool and addictive.

I'm one of this guys that likes more to watch trees grow than to play multiplayer shooter games, but i've tried mass effect 3 demo multiplayer and i've realy realy enjoyed it !


I'm realy curious why metacritic users' rating is 2.2 !? i've seen a lot of users vote 0 even if the game was released in 1-2 hours ? how could they even taste the game?

Maybe i'm being naíve but i havent seen a lot of reports of mass effect 3 leaks before the date.
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2009
Messages
130
Seems like another metacritic pile-in where everyone who thinks they're cool and not following the herd, follows another herd instead.

Multiplayer - I will never, ever play multiplayer. I see enough of other people during the working day without having to interact with them when I chill out. If EA wants to make some single player content obtainable only by multiplayer means thats up to them, but it makes me less inclined to buy their product.
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2007
Messages
542
Location
Englandland
You can get enough "war assets" in a single player playthrough to see 3 endings with save and reload. There is a 4th ending that can only be seen if you do a NG+ (new game plus = replaying with the same character).

The game guide mention 6 endings though…

See, that's what bothers me. Crossover multi-player/single-player marketing is fine… such as a "widget" that's only available in multi-player once you've finished single-player or vice versa. But actually limiting the number of available game endings in a single-player game because I don't choose to play multi-player feels, again, like EA pushing me into something.

I know that if I ever play ME3 (and jury is out on that and waiting on real reactions from folks on this site), I will almost assuredly never play the game in multi-player, something I only do with my wife or very good friends, and my wife and very good friends do not play Mass Effect. So, now I'm being penalized for that choice.

Rule 1: don't limit gameplay based on participation in activity A. Instead, reward users with special, additional widgets based on participation in activity A. If they wanted to give me a special "gun" because I played a bunch of multi-player I'm fine with that, but don't limit the actual, potential ENDINGS TO THE STORY… </endrant>.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
333
Location
Ynys Afallach
The giantbomb article actually reads like what I expected from the game, disappointing but might as well play it if you did the previous 2.

For the people who "HATE" multiplayer games, i urge you to at least try it on mass effect 3, its realy realy cool and addictive.

I'd say the exact opposite, I'm not a fan of multiplayer and ME3's multi is far worse than most. I can't believe that the single "survival mode" from the demo is actually all there is to it, you just sit there on the map shooting wave upon wave of enemies, it's worthless as anything other than a piracy deterrent.

But actually limiting the number of available game endings in a single-player game because I don't choose to play multi-player

Like JDR said, it doesn't lock you out of anything and we've known about it from the moment they announced the multiplayer aspect could affect the single-player as that was the obvious first question.
 
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
527
I'm fine with that, but don't limit the actual, potential ENDINGS TO THE STORY… </endrant>.

It doesn't in any way limit the possible endings you can get if you completely ignore multiplayer. It just means that you may have to play more thoroughly to have some of the lead up feel more successful - but there is no plot line, cutscene, or outcome that in any way requires you participate in the multiplayer. Doing so just means you can skip some of the side non-quests (planet-scanning for artifacts and lost ships basically) and substitute the points you would have gained from those activities with increases from multiplayer.

The only difference between this padding and other forms of padding is in this case you have the option of which kind of padding you'd like to do or mix and match. It should be mentioned though that almost nothing you do up until a certain decision point effects the absolute ending at all. Your choices are played out far more immediately and throughout the leadup to the end. Those things are not effected by multiplayer at all - since they're the resolutions of decisions made over the course of the 3 games - and some of them can be quite dramatic. In fact, some of the resolutions you get to subplots about half way through the game are so satisfying that the ending itself will feel like a choice between 3 differently colored lightbulbs.
 
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
1,710
Back
Top Bottom