The End Has Come, and What an Ending It Turned Out To Be.
After
playing through the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3, all I can say is
thank you Bioware. The story of Commander Shepard is finally complete.
Where the actual ending of the game failed to bring closure for a lot of
fans, this was a near perfect way to say goodbye to Commander Shepard
and friends.
The Citadel is about a conspiracy to kill Commander
Shepard. It takes place in a new area of the wards, with a new enemy to
give the Reapers, Collectors, and Cerberus a break in their mission to
kill the Commander. Along with the new story content, the Citadel also
gives you a casino to test your luck in, a battle arena to test you
skills in, and a customizable apartment to test your home decorating
skills in.
The best part about the Citadel isn’t the story, which
admittedly is very good. It’s all the nods to the previous two entries
in the series, and being able to see all your old friends, including
Wrex! It is also laugh out loud funny, and Wrex is as good as ever.
It
is a great change from the rest of the game, which is very grim and
emotionally draining. During one section of the DLC, instead of just
having two squad members with you, your whole team is fighting alongside
you.
You only control two of them like usual, and the rest are split
into two separate fire teams that go on separate paths from you, but it
is a sight to behold. The bad guys never stand a chance. The friendship
and comradery is really played up throughout the DLC as well.
Speaking
of bad guys, the Citadel brings a new villain, and he is Shepard’s
equal in every way. I was totally surprised when he the main baddie was
revealed. The boss battle was much more satisfying than the final battle
in Omega was.
Every variant of the new enemy is essentially the same as
members of Cerberus just with a different color scheme.
The only
downside to the Citadel was that while you do get two new weapons, you
don’t get any new powers and a few squadmates were missing from action.
Everyone outside Legion makes an appearance, but Miranda only shows up
if you romanced her, and a few others, like Jack and Samara, only show
up for the party, and are not able to join your squad for any missions.
It was especially disappointing that Jack wasn’t able to join your squad
because at one point Joker goes for help and when he comes back, he
says he brought people that like to get shot at.
Our Honest View gives, "Mass Effect 3: Citadel" 5 out of 5. Overall it is more than I expected and even better than I dared
hoped. Even though I personally am far from done with this trilogy, if
this was the end, I would be happy and at peace. It has been one hell of
a ride. I recommend saving this until just before the end, so everyone
in your squad can be there for you to say goodbye to.
Mass Effect 3:
Citadel is available for download now on Xbox, Playstation 3 and PC for
$14.99.
By Adam Zimmerman
Replay Value: Extremely High (ENTIRE SERIES + DLC)
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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