I won't discuss plot details here, but I will write vaguely about the ending of the game. If you don't want my impressions to enter your mindset before completing the game, I would forgo my review.
Virtually everything about this game is an improvement from the first two games. It strikes a middle-ground between intensive customization and streamlining. For instance, there are more weapons to be had, but we see fewer variations than in the first game, but certainly more than in the second. This allows the player to enter into combat equipped as they see fit - a pleasant change. Also, there are fewer squad-mates than in the first two titles, but the customization of their abilities has been increased. This also was quite good.
The combat is improved. It is quicker, with generally faster ability cool-downs for more active use of squad-mates. They also operate more intelligently, not barreling into crowds of enemies as they did in Mass Effect 2. Grenades were added to the game, though I personally saw little use for them in my first play-through.
My biggest complaint over the first thirty hours of the game also relates to multi-player - there's just too much loading and waiting. I was compelled to seek out my crew during the break between operations, but was torn away from doing so by the reality of loading screens. Though they don't take an excessively long amount of time, it all adds up very quickly. Why the ship itself wasn't one contiguous zone escapes me.
Another improvement is that we're not bothered by trivial missions anymore. There is the occasional scan-and-go-find-this-item mission, but when we step off of the ship with a gun, we're going in for a fully-scripted, voice-acted - and plot-relevant - shootout. No more are we going on trivial side-missions (as we did in Mass Effect 2, finding anomalies).
Some have made attacks against the writing of the game. Most are nonspecific, though I take it they mean how cheesy the writing can be at times. That is to be expected. It's the end-of-days for these characters, and that means a bit more of an "Aw, screw it" sort of basis to build the lines on.
The biggest problem with this game, without question is how it ends. If you haven't completed the game, I encourage you again to refrain from reading below.
The endings are terrible, and uniform. There is little to no variance between endings, other than a few tweaks. This affects the game's chief virtue: re-playability. There's little point in going back to play through it again, knowing that regardless of what choice you make, you're stuck into a very narrow set of endings. It's what killed Deus Ex: Human Revolution for me, and it's what kills the entire Mass Effect series for me personally. Coming off of a fresh play-through of this game's predecessor, which provided endings ranging from the triumphant to the bleak, I can't iterate enough how badly this game failed in its last twenty minutes.
Because the demand for more material will be enormous, there will undoubtedly be some single-player expansion in the form of DLC. It may simply be another squad-mate, but I hope that it carries on where the endings leave off. I have never encountered an ending so unsatisfying in any entertainment medium.
Virtually everything about this game is an improvement from the first two games. It strikes a middle-ground between intensive customization and streamlining. For instance, there are more weapons to be had, but we see fewer variations than in the first game, but certainly more than in the second. This allows the player to enter into combat equipped as they see fit - a pleasant change. Also, there are fewer squad-mates than in the first two titles, but the customization of their abilities has been increased. This also was quite good.
The combat is improved. It is quicker, with generally faster ability cool-downs for more active use of squad-mates. They also operate more intelligently, not barreling into crowds of enemies as they did in Mass Effect 2. Grenades were added to the game, though I personally saw little use for them in my first play-through.
My biggest complaint over the first thirty hours of the game also relates to multi-player - there's just too much loading and waiting. I was compelled to seek out my crew during the break between operations, but was torn away from doing so by the reality of loading screens. Though they don't take an excessively long amount of time, it all adds up very quickly. Why the ship itself wasn't one contiguous zone escapes me.
Another improvement is that we're not bothered by trivial missions anymore. There is the occasional scan-and-go-find-this-item mission, but when we step off of the ship with a gun, we're going in for a fully-scripted, voice-acted - and plot-relevant - shootout. No more are we going on trivial side-missions (as we did in Mass Effect 2, finding anomalies).
Some have made attacks against the writing of the game. Most are nonspecific, though I take it they mean how cheesy the writing can be at times. That is to be expected. It's the end-of-days for these characters, and that means a bit more of an "Aw, screw it" sort of basis to build the lines on.
The biggest problem with this game, without question is how it ends. If you haven't completed the game, I encourage you again to refrain from reading below.
The endings are terrible, and uniform. There is little to no variance between endings, other than a few tweaks. This affects the game's chief virtue: re-playability. There's little point in going back to play through it again, knowing that regardless of what choice you make, you're stuck into a very narrow set of endings. It's what killed Deus Ex: Human Revolution for me, and it's what kills the entire Mass Effect series for me personally. Coming off of a fresh play-through of this game's predecessor, which provided endings ranging from the triumphant to the bleak, I can't iterate enough how badly this game failed in its last twenty minutes.
Because the demand for more material will be enormous, there will undoubtedly be some single-player expansion in the form of DLC. It may simply be another squad-mate, but I hope that it carries on where the endings leave off. I have never encountered an ending so unsatisfying in any entertainment medium.