Mass Effect

Mass Effect.

A Galactic Roller Coaster Ride.

When I played Mass Effect for the first time in late 2013, I was instantly caught up in the universe this series of games created. Taking on a galactic threat as a human soldier against all odds made this game more surreal than any other game series. What other games strive to do is pull you away from our world and drop you into their world, where sometimes it is an open sandbox, and at other times it is playing a character in their world, which plays by their rules.

Mass Effect broke all of this narrative by allowing you to explore a galaxy of different planets that had different races, and this galaxy had their own problems which very quickly became yours: The Reapers.

The first game introduced you to Commander Shepard, a soldier in the Alliance military, on a mission to secure an ancient beacon that belonged to an extinct race called the Protheans. And from there your adventures truly begin. I loved the story writing in this game. While I thought combat was clunky at times, I was drawn into this game by the story, the characters, the difficult choices, all leading to a end of a game, where I fought to the best that I could do to save the galaxy from a villain who I had come to despise, and the threat of a greater evil. This game had roped me in and I remember beating the game and quickly putting in the second game, even though it was pushing midnight, and I had work the next day.

Mass Effect 2 did not hold any punches in this game. The opening sequence sees your ship getting destroyed by an unknown ship, crew of the Normandy dying, and Commander Shepard getting spaced.

No, that was not a typo. Commander Shepard dies within the first 5 minutes of Mass Effect 2 and there is nothing you can do differently to stop it.

Fortunately, science is way more advanced in 150 years, and after 4 billion credits and 2 years, you are brought back from the dead, to investigate missing human colonies, and ultimately save the galaxy from.. You guessed it, Reapers.

However in this game, the bar is set extremely high for success. While most of the new team from Mass Effect 2 are new, two familiar faces return to Shepard Garrus and Tali, who are my two favorite characters in the entire series. To make sure you get the best possible outcome for the ending, you must take time to know your crew, making sure they have no distractions for the upcoming final mission, and to upgrade your ship to handle the unfamiliar Omega 4 relay that you and the team will be going through.

This mechanic is the best thing in the series, as it allows you to form bonds with characters, and truly get to know them. While some characters are more interesting than others, you still get a good sense of comradery when you call everyone together for the final mission.

Unfortunately for me, three characters did not survive the final mission, and I had to say goodbye to Jack, Grunt and Thane, due to me not fully preparing for the final push. Their loss would be felt in the final game of the series, where no one was safe.

Mass Effect 3. The long awaited Reaper attack happens. Even with Shepard warning humanity and the Council, no one heeded them until it was too late. You are tasked with bringing a whole galaxy together to end the Reaper threat once and for all.

However this is easier said than done. No one wants to help Shepard, not without Shepard either making a promise or helping secure the borders so they could help. This game has three major plot hooks that must be accomplished.

The Turian Primarch rescue/Curing the Krogan Genophage.

Ending the Quarian War with the Geth.

Destroying Cerberus and pushing your new fleet back to Earth.

This game specializes in combat and diplomacy, and gathering resources.

The game has a War Asset bar that tracks your progress throughout the game, and while it is a fun gimmick truth be told, it is tough to fill out completely, making your final push against the Reapers feel even that much more difficult. To this day even with the Legendary Edition, I still have yet to achieve the “ Perfect” ending.

Speaking of the end, the ending is one of the most controversial points of the series. We were told as players that our choices mattered, throughout all three games. And it did, just not the way we wanted to.

I can remember, getting my squad together for the final mission, and thinking to myself. “ This is it. Three games and hundreds of hours, all leading up to this.” This game makes you feel the weight of those choices, making you think, “ Could I have done more? Did I do enough?”

And it all lead me to choose to save my galaxy, my friends, by choosing to Control the Reapers at the end, rather than destroy them. As a few tears fell down my face as I thought back to all that I did, all that ran through my head was this.

“ I am playing this trilogy again, making it better than this playthrough.”

To be honest, I have played these 3 games a lot, and when Legendary Edition came out, I played it immediately, getting wrapped back up into the story of Shepard. While my Legendary Edition playthrough was a lot better than my original playthrough, I still sit back and compare the two. Just those two. No other playthroughs. “Why?” you may ask. Simply put, I changed my playthroughs to make all the right choices between my Original Playthrough and Legendary Playthrough, but these two made me feel like a little kid opening up a birthday present, that pure excitement of entering the Mass Effect Galaxy, and no other series of games has made me feel the same since.