Mass Effect 3 - First Impressions/How To Type While Being Really Tired

For those of you that know and understand me best as a gamer you're already well aware that I'm extremely critical of sequels. Lead Salad periodically makes a comment in regards to that and it spins into a series of small jokes which ultimately makes me provide evidence that there are, in fact, sequels that I feel are better than the original (see Hitman: Silent Assassin, Gears of War 2 and Assassin's Creed 2).

It's not that developers sucked up the game, but made changes that were unnecessary and ultimately lost what made the original better. The new Batman: Arkham City is worse than the original because of the sandbox and diluted plot structure. Dead Space 2 took the intimacy of the dark horror of the first game and threw it into a linear format with way too many enemies. I realize it's preference, but I feel that if a game has something special going for it don't change the formula. Unless your Assassin's Creed. Then absolutely change the formula.

Bearing all that in mind it's with no small thought process or uncritical eye that I can boldly claim that Mass Effect 3 is shaping up to be the best of the trilogy. I'm 3 hours in and I'm absolutely blown away.

Allow me to explain.

The original Mass Effect is in the upper echelons of gaming for me. Good action mixed with an excellent overarching story, great rpg elements, a phenomenal cast and decisions that I'm forced to make that actually mean something. If I remember right my first playthrough took me just over 65 hours and I continued to beat the game another 6 times. Continually improving my character and eventually beating the game on it's hardest difficulty to import that file to Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2 is an excellent game. It improved combat, in a manner, but also handicapped the Vanguard class. I figured the game was being more "shooter-y" than the original and after switching to the Soldier class the game was much more fun. The story still kicked ass and the characters were as excellent as ever (yay for Garrus!). It's an epic game, but went too far in removing rpg elements out of it's rpg-ness. Leveling up was almost non-existent and customizing your guns wasn't an option outside of ammo types and armor wasn't salvagable anymore. You had to just switch around different armor pads for different effects.

Mass Effect 3 is the evolution that ME 1 to ME 2 should have been. The action is even faster and more frantic and varied than 2, but reinstates a lot of rpg elements. There are far more powers to upgrade and you're given more skill points to distribute, but at a cost of higher powers costing more points. There are also skill trees within skills that make you further plot out your strategy for battle. The graphics are improved, but most noticeably in the faces and armor. Animations are much smoother and movement in general feels much more natural. It's nice to play an rpg that isn't clunky as hell....or made by Rockstar.

Next, I'm going to do the unthinkable and draw comparisons between Star Wars and ME:

ME 1 felt like Star Wars Episode IV. You have a new hero establishing himself and realizing his powers. He ultimately saves the day.

I felt that ME 2 was still Episode IV because even though you're against great odds and there is still overwhelming doom ultimately barreling down on you you still had a big victory against the enemy. The stakes were high, but I never truly felt very helpless.

ME 3 feels like Episode V. You know. The one where the rebels get their asses kicked and Han gets frozen? The one where it seems they're up against unbeatable odds and the stakes are through the roof and hope seems lost?

To me, the game is surprisingly dark and effecting (no pun intended). There's a small boy early on in the game that Shephard kind of sees from afar and while leaving earth the ship that the boy is on gets absolutely destroyed. Being a father of a small boy it kind of hit me in a strong way. The little boy does show up again in a somewhat expected/predictable, but very haunting manner that left my heart racing. It's a reminder of what's at stake and how terribly stacked the deck is against us.

It's nice too because even Shepherd admits, in dialogue, that it's pretty helpless. He puts up a good front for people, but when he's with Liara (one of his oldest friends and he's speaking candidly) you can actually see some cracks in his unending bravado. In the first 2 games he seemed almost untouchable, but here....he seems more human. More defeated. A powerful man that feels powerless in a situation that seems highly likely for failure.

All in all I played just over 3 hours and I'm absolutely thrilled with the direction the game has taken. I look forward to plunging dozens of more hours into this first playthrough and seeing how Shephard and his crew fair in the end....if they do at all.

Also, Ashley Williams looks a lot hotter and significantly less "cross-eyed," but holy shit. She's still a bitch.