The makers of “Mass Effect 3” want you forget about the “3” at the end of its title. The final chapter of this acclaimed trilogy is just too good to be played only by people who played the first two, press materials insist, and it’s been designed with newcomers in mind.
As somebody who missed the first two games, I can speak for the target audience: Playing the game might be like watching “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” without having seen the first two movies. You can appreciate what’s there, but still feel like you’re missing something.
I’m talking less about the story, which pulled me into the game’s sci-fi world lickety-split, than the gameplay. For all its role-playing game trappings, “Mass Effect 3” is at heart a simple shooter, with two twists: You have computer-controlled teammates helping you out, and you can pause the action whenever you want. With time frozen, you can issue orders to your squadmates, and the game’s elegant interface makes this as simple as saying, “Hey you, shoot your freeze-ray at that guy. And you, blast that other guy with fire.”
Before long, you realize a few things. For instance, freezing someone, and then shooting fire at them, does tons of damage. Problem is, once you figure out these combinations, they become the obvious things to do, and the game’s initial sense of strategy and discovery gives way to rote repetition. It’s lucky some of the things in your bag of tricks, like slow-motion shooting, are exciting every time, or the game would get real boring, real quick.
| ‘Mass Effect 3’ |
| » Systems: PS3, Xbox 360, PC |
| » Price: $59.99 |
| » Rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
The relatively shallow combat isn’t the only thing that might surprise those of us who heard such great things about this game’s predecessors. Take the morality system, if it can be called that. In conversations, you can choose responses that reflect the “Paragon” or “Renegade” character types, but neither of these is really “bad.” Choosing “Renegade” speech still means you’re fighting to rescue Earth from robots, you’re just doing it with attitude.
The best parts of the game, then, aren’t found in the heat of battle or diplomacy, but in lonely, quiet space. Really, “Mass Effect 3” should be
most loved by Trekkies, as no game more deeply indulges the fantasy of exploring the final frontier. The game’s dialogue may be mediocre – aliens circa 2180 speak in the irritating vernacular of humans circa 2012 – but the research reports on the planets you visit are nothing less than fascinating. The “Mass Effect” universe has a menagerie of creatures that would make George Lucas jealous, and reading about how the conditions of various species’ home planets affect everything from their speech to their politics is a thrill for the natural scientist in us all.
Speaking of planets, they look great, almost photographic, from a distance, but up close, there’s a surprising lack of attention to detail. Water looks like Jell-O, characters’ hair is locked in place, and facial animations are cadaverous. (The excellent soundtrack, coupled with these visuals, is like a good actor in a bad movie, doing a heroic job of elevating the material.)
In the end, “Mass Effect 3” is a little like these planets that look great, but only from a distance. Taken as a whole, it’s easy to appreciate, and has enough moments of pure gaming joy to make up for its many frustrations.
Above all, it has the most important thing a game can have: a world of wonder and possibility, eager to be explored.
