The following is just my opinion and comments on the game – or should I say the marvellous piece of ‘art’ that BioWare gave us. I have not completed the game yet – probably over half done I suspect. Warning – some possible spoilers…
Atmosphere
Compared to the first two games in the trilogy this one is much ‘deeper’, ‘darker’, ‘sadder’ with a gripping story. As a sci-fi nut myself I absolutely love this. The actual game play seems fairly much the same as the previous ones – some changes though but nothing that is too radical. Choosing and upgrading items is different but comes down to the same idea – that you have different levels for each weapon/armor/tech etc.
This game also has an ’emotional’ aspect that is almost unsettling. This is what makes it so good. You feel the characters ‘pain’ at times and because we’ve spend so many years playing or interacting with them it feels like we ‘know’ them. So, when something happens to them (spoiler to follow) it has a real impact on the player. Some events are unavoidable – thinking of Thane here… Others seems to be because of a ‘bad’ choice that might have been made somewhere – Mordin, Tali… Either way you make a choice there will be some consequence – and you’ll have to live with it for the duration of the game. I tried to be ‘smart’ at times to choose something that might give a compromise between two parties but then it turns out no compromise is possible – Quarians and Geth… And then more than once I let a radical (Renegate or Paragon) action pass by because I could not react quickly enough – or was still shocked at the cut scene playing where something happened I didn’t expected – Why is suicide by some characters allowed?
There is also some aspects that makes me wonder about Shepard’s personality. Being a ‘Renegate’ mostly player the part of Shepard doubting his/her own abilities when having to deal with galactic-wide choices doesn’t quite fit – e.g. the conversation with Adm Hacket, the repeating dream of the child that could not be saved… You get the feeling Shepard is ‘more’ human than in the previous games – which is probably a good thing (sorta). And then the is Shepard’s parents… why weren’t anything of them mentioned before?
Sound
Then there are the sounds and music of the game. This is another fantastic part of the game. The sound of a reaper when you come across it is unsettling (especially if you have surround sound with proper bass… next to your feet… Since I got the Collectors edition of the game I got the sound track as well and it is also good hear it away from the game.
Story
The story behind the game is ‘vast’, spanning thousands of years. When you come across the only living Prothean you get the feeling (through sounds/music/dialog) that he is really out of time/place, with a feeling of sadness, regret and frustration (something similar that old Buck Rogers must have felt in the 25th century except this guy lost not just a bit of time but he’s entire civilization is extinct for thousands of years!). Anyway, first hand knowledge of what the Protheans did (wrong) should be helping but somehow it seems that even that is enough. One interesting thing that comes out in the dialog is that not all civilizations get destroyed in each ‘cycle’. Some are allowed to go on to start the next cycle. Only the ones that could be a threat are attacked. In some ways this does make sense, in others not – No one is allowed to learn from their ‘own’ mistakes… meaning the same mistakes are repeated every time. Learning from ‘others’ mistakes just isn’t the same. This sound so similar to real life….
Other aspects
Politics sucks, just like in real life. But this is another aspect that makes the game feel more ‘real’. I still think politicians must be locked up (for 30 years or so and only then allowed to lead the people 😉 ). Otherwise they don’t have enough respect for the things in life that are really valuable.
There is some humour in the game – like the two engineers that has an argument about the Mako from ME1 and Hammerhead from ME2, squad mates making comments about each other ad so on. And what is the deal about the stupid dog in the shuttle bay? It looks suspiciously like some characters in Half Life…
Then there are a couple of irritating things as well. What is the deal with the security scanner inside the Normandy itself? The two girls working there are talking the most rubbish possible. Sometimes I wish I could just shoot them or something… 😉 Also, the weird walking/running locomotion of Sheppard makes the character almost look ‘unstable’ and almost ready to fall over or something.
I’m not there yet, but once I’ve completed the game I’ll post some more comments again. Unfortunately from a few things I’ve read on the net (I try to avoid it) the ending might be a shocker or tragic in a way that will let the player feel like it was almost not worth it. I hope depending on the ‘right’ choices that it won’t be that bad…
All in all so far I’m amazed at the game. I’ll be playing it through again and again…
Update:
Apparently many others also are not impressed with the ending of the game. See Facebook and Twitter for details. I know BioWare did a lot of hard work on this game and they kind of said in the past that Commander Sheppard’s storyline would end with the trilogy but… the current options for the ending just seems to be ‘too limiting’ or non-existent. What happens if the want to make ME4 one day? (trilogy in 4 parts… aka hitchhikers guide… 😉 )