Mass Effect 3 Review

Released by: EA Games | Developer: BioWare | Format: Xbox 360 | Available: Out now | Price: £49.99

If, like me, you're old enough to remember Elite on the ZX Spectrum, then you'll understand when I say that the Mass Effect series of games are pretty much what your imagination had stretch to in order to fill in order to make that creaky old wire-frame game feel like you were actually fighting in a space-opera of massive proportions. The series kicked off in 2007, introducing Commander Sheppard and the crew of the Normandy as they traversed a politically fragile alliance of planets - shooting, talking and making friends/enemies on different worlds. Fast forward to part three and the Reaper invasion that Sheppard has been trying to get everyone to believe would happen finally materialises with an attack on Earth. The Reapers are a sentient robot race charged with wiping out all organic life in the galaxy every so often to re-set evolution. They are highly advanced and nigh on unstoppable but, somewhat conveniently, a weapon has been developed on Mars that may just be able to do the job so, after a quick tutorial level, that's where Sheppard and his crew set off to...

As before in the series, you are given the option to create the character of Sheppard in whatever form you see fit - male or female - and this avatar is then spliced into all cut/dialogue scenes. Players who have gone through the preceding games can also import the character they have shaped beforehand - replete with prior experiences shaping the landscape of play and the way NPCs react to Sheppard. After its sojourn as a Cerebus ship, the Normandy is now back to Alliance configuration crewed by several familiar faces from parts one and two.

The control scheme remains largely unchanged and, although slightly cumbersome on a console without the benefit of a keyboard and mouse, it remains useable. In a welcome concession that makes more of the shooting aspects of play, Sheppard and his compatriots are slightly quicker on their feet than before. Weapons, armour and characters retain a similar level of customisation and levelling up potential and everything has had a graphical overhaul, making for beautifully complex looking game.

On Xbox 360, the game is marketed as being 'better with Kinect' - Microsoft's gestural controller being used for menu navigation and as a microphone for interacting with NPCs when conversing - something which seems to be a rising trend that is implemented in several games with varying degrees of success [see Binary Domain review]. 

Mass Effect 3 is probably everything a diehard fan could want from a closing finale to a much loved series - BioWare have even introduced the oft requested multiplayer which sees a human friend take on the role of one of your NPC characters to fight alongside you. A game of massive scope and ambition, it was always going to take something special to finish the fight and, with this game, BioWare have certainly delivered...

9/10