Adam Zimmerman's Favorite Game Series! THE SHEP...Male and Female Sheps

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I have been playing video games for over 20 years. I started as a little kid playing Super Mario Bros. on the original NES. Over the years I have played hundreds, if not thousands, of different games, and the Mass Effect Series made me do something none of the others had ever done, feel genuine emotions.

Don’t get me wrong, games have made me excited, mad, happy, frustrated, etc., but only during my time with Mass Effect did I actually laugh out loud, have to try my hardest to hold back tears, or feel hatred toward a character. Even if it did nothing else, that alone would make me give my vote to Mass Effect for the greatest series in gaming.


I personally am the type of gamer who never plays through a game twice, even if there is stuff I missed the first time around. Even games that I consider to be in my top 5 all time, like the original Bioshock, never play through more than once. Mass Effect is a different story for me. I’ve played through the first one twice (soon to be 3 and 4), the second one I’ve played through somewhere around ten times, and the third one I’m about to start my third playthrough of.

Not to mention Bioware has always teased us during E3 and other conferences showing a live action trailers. Not the first to use this technique but the best. These trailers look so real and convey all the emotions of a Mass Effect game in under 2 minutes.

The games are experiences that I just can’t get enough of, and if you have never played any of them, then you’re missing out on some of the best on some of the best that gaming has to offer.
The simplest possibly explanation of the story of Mass Effect is that it is an epic intergalactic sci-fi adventure.

In the first game you are trying to stop an alien named Saren from taking over the universe. In the second game you are trying to figure out why the Collectors and Reapers are kidnapping thousands upon thousands of human colonists, and in the third and final entry you are fighting for the survival of all sentient beings in a war against the Reapers I don’t want to get too deep into the story however because my story won’t be the same as your story.


While both your and my stories would share major plot points, the details could be entirely different. Plenty of games have allowed player choices to effect the outcome of a game, but never before had the dozens upon dozens of decisions you make in each game carried over to the next. It’s amazing if you play through the entire series seeing the outcome of small decisions you made in the first game finally come to fruition 2 games later.


The series has evolved from its first entry back in 2007. While all 3 games fall into the action/rpg genre, the first Mass Effect was probably 70% rpg/30 shooter. Mass Effect 2 swung in the other direction playing 70% like a tactical shooter and 30% like an rpg before settling into the middle with Mass Effect 3.

For all three games you and your squad have a wide range of weapons and powers (sort of like magic in other games) at your disposal, and can pause the action at any time so you can tell your squad what you want them to do and more carefully pick your abilities and targets.


After the games have launched, Bioware has continued supporting the games by releasing several DLC’s for each. Each one adds several hours of gameplay, and adds to the already incredible story. The two that stand above the rest for me are the Lair of the Shadow Broker from Mass Effect 2, which reunites you with a teammate from ME1, and the Citadel from Mass Effect 3. Citadel is a trip down memory lane, and lets you get all of your living squadmates from all 3 games back together for one last time. There are also numerous nods to the previous games sprinkled throughout it.

Mass Effect 3 also saw the series first foray into multiplayer. For me it was a great success. It plays a lot like Gear of War Horde Mode, with 10 progressively harder levels before a final 2-minute survival 11th round. One of the things that makes the multiplayer so fun is that you can actually play as all the different alien races that until then had only been non playable.

The multiplayer also ties into the single player campaign. All the original maps were also mission locations in the campaign. Bioware has been great to their fans as well, putting out multiple multiplayer's DLC’s all for free.


Any look back at the Mass Effect series wouldn’t be complete without talking about the ending. Opinions vary widely from it being great to an absolute travesty. I fall somewhere between those extremes. However, this is a case where it’s not about the destination, but the journey. Bioware did release an extended ending that addressed many of the problems with the way they originally ended it though. They didn’t change the ending, just added to it.


In the end, no series is perfect. But between the emotional highs and lows, extremely high quality gameplay, impressive graphics, and arguably the best story telling in all of gaming, the Mass Effect series stands atop my list of greatest video game series of all time.

Future:

Mass Effect a year later has one more DLC which is still being played through. They've saved the best for last earning it's one individual review. 
Also Bioware has confirmed Mass Effect 4 giving us a whole new gaming engine to play on Oculus Rift. Also confirmed is that Shepard's story is over, he like Nolan's Batman is a trilogy so now, we'll have a completely new story to play through and get emotional over. This seems fitting that one of the best gaming series ever should do the classic reboot that most are doing these days. Tentative release date stands at 2014.

By: Adam Zimmerman

Replay Value: Extremely High (For All 3 Games)

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