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Mass Effect 3
Customer image from Jacob Magner

by Electronic Arts
Mature
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (154 customer reviews)

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Platform: PlayStation 3 | Edition: Standard

 
   


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Product Features

Platform: PlayStation 3 | Edition: Standard
  • Battle as Commander Shepard on many worlds across the galaxy as you unite the ultimate force to take back the Earth before it's too late
  • Enormous enemies and take on a smarter type of foe that will consistently challenge your best combat tactics and put you on the edge of your seat
  • Customize your Commander Shepard, your squad and weapons to engage the enemy on your terms
  • Allows the option to import decisions from both of the previous games into the new game, but can also be played as a standalone game
  • Experience a new emphasis on melee combat, movement and an improved cover system

Product Details

  • Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
  • ASIN: B004FYJFNA
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 3.7 ounces
  • Media: Video Game
  • Release Date: March 6, 2012
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

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Product Description

Platform: PlayStation 3 | Edition: Standard

Amazon.com Product Description

Mass Effect 3 is a Role-playing Game (RPG) / Third-Person Shooter hybrid set in a Science Fiction universe. Mass Effect 3 is the third game in the popular Mass Effect series, and is rumored to be the final installment. In it players continue the adventures of Commander Shepard utilizing extreme character customization which is the hallmark feature of the series. Additional features include: the ability to import decisions from both of the previous games into the new game, ownership/play of previous games not required, customizable weapons, improved mobility and melee combat, many returning characters (if they were not killed off in previous imported games), an improved cover system that allows for more action and more.

Mass Effect 3 game logo
Shepard combating an enemy using the melee Omni-Blade embedded in his armor in Mass Effect 3
Join Commander Shepard in the struggle against the Reapers in the conclusion to the Mass Effect trilogy.
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The Final Chapter in the Mass Effect Trilogy

Not everyone will survive. An ancient alien race, known only as "Reapers," has launched an all-out invasion leaving nothing but a trail of destruction in their wake. Earth has been taken, the galaxy is on the verge of total annihilation, and you are the only one who can stop them. The price of failure is extinction. You are Commander Shepard, a character that you can forge in your own image. You determine how events will play out, which planets to explore, and whom to form alliances with as you rally a force to eliminate the Reaper threat once and for all. How you wage this war is completely up to you: go into combat with guns blazing or use cover to plan a more tactical assault. Utilize your squad to full effect or take a lone wolf approach. Rain death from a distance or go toe-to-toe with enemies using devastating melee attacks. Mass Effect 3 will react to each decision you make as you play through a truly unique experience of your own creation.

Key Game Features

  • A Rich, Branching Storyline - Experience a sci-fi epic with multiple endings determined by your choices and actions throughout the game
  • Massive in Scope - Battle on many worlds across the galaxy as you unite the ultimate force to take back the Earth before it's too late
  • Large-scale and Intelligent Enemies - Battle enormous enemies and take on a smarter type of foe that will consistently challenge your best combat tactics and put you on the edge of your seat
  • Unlock a Customizable Arsenal - Tailor each weapon with devastating upgrades including scopes, grips, barrels and dozens of other unique attachments. Each weapon boasts its own powerful impact and visual flair
  • Unleash Death from Afar or Go Toe-to-Toe - Customize your soldier and squad to engage the enemy on your terms. A huge variety of weapons, abilities and equipment allow you to combat the enemy in your preferred style of play

Additional Screenshots

Shepard using a powerful gun against a charging mech in Mass Effect 3
A customizable arsenal.
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Dialog screenshot from Mass Effect 3
A rich branching storyline.
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A giant enemy from Mass Effect 3
Large-scale enemies.
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Concentrating fire on an enemy in Mass Effect 3
Multiple play options.
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Product Description

Earth is burning. Striking from beyond known space, a race of terrifying machines have begun their destruction of the human race. As Commander Shepard, an Alliance Marine, your only hope for saving mankind is to rally the civilizations of the galaxy and launch one final mission to take back the Earth.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
121 of 139 people found the following review helpful
Platform for Display:PlayStation 3|Edition:Standard
Fun:   
(If you don't want to read all of this, skip down to the Summary section)

Ok, a couple of things before I actually review the game:
1) I will not talk about any spoilers at all.
2) I played through the entire game. I started when the game launched on March 6th and finished it tonight (March 10th)
3) I did not play Mass Effect 1. I played through Mass Effect 2, all the way through, 3 times and even though I had problems with the game, they were insignificant to my overall enjoyment of the game. (I would place ME2 in my top 10 favorite games of all time). If you see a 3 star review and think I'm a troll or just trying to be one of those guys who didn't give a Mass Effect game a 10 out of 10, just look up my review of ME2 to see how much I like this series)

Anyway, so Mass Effect 3 is a great game, with some problems. There are graphical hiccups here and there, sometimes your squad mate's AI isn't the best, paragon and renegade interruptions take a back seat, the music isn't as noticeable and recycles about half the tracks from 2, and the cover system, with the new rolling and jumping from cover to cover mechanics, either works great or does some unintentional things at the worst possible time. In the end, these points aren't enough for me criticize Mass Effect 3 too much. The game would of course be better if these weren't issues, but it still has a lot of the elements that made ME2 a great game for me.

There isn't too much of an improvement graphics wise between 2 and 3 (on the PS3 at least), but the game runs smoothly and the occasional pre-rendered cut scenes look fantastic. Even though the AI and cover system isn't perfect, the fighting and squad mechanics are just as good as they were in ME2. In some respects, the shooting and abilities are better than what they were in 2. The missions and character interactions are great and the story has some more meat to it compared to ME2. Not that this makes 2 inferior and 3 superior. This aspect mainly compliments ME3's war torn setting.

So, while the game isn't perfect, Mass Effect 3 is exceptional, especially when it comes to cinematic gaming, writing, dialogue, character development and blah, blah, blah, blah.

And here comes the "But..."

But, there is a major problem with Mass Effect 3. It's not with the premise, the conflict, the missions or the climax. In fact, the problem I have with Mass Effect 3 is at the 99% mark. I'm talking about the very ending of the game. The last 15 minutes of game that took me about 40 hours to play through. Of course Mass Effect 3 has multiple endings, and I've only experienced two of them (after I finished the game, I immediately loaded a previous save and tried to get a different ending). I hated my ending. I hated my ending so much. I didn't hate it because it was a sad ending. I hated it because of how it was handled.

I'm not going to say exactly what happened, but I will try to outline all of the problems with it. And so I don't go on for the next three hours, I'll just make a list:

#1) The game just...ended: Putting aside whether that was a good or bad way to end the Mass Effect trilogy (side note: it was a bad way), I'm just going to focus on what happened after the end of the conflict. Almost nothing. Remember how Mass Effect 2 ended? That two or three minute cut scene after the suicide mission? That cliffhanger ending to an unfinished story had more closure than my ending to Mass Effect 3. It felt like the entire game and the last big struggle, the final showdown, had no importance. And this is partially because...

#2) Nobody reacts to anything: Of course there's no golden rule on how to write an ending to a video game, but typically it is a good idea to have an extended ending after the conflict is resolved to wrap up the characters. You can do this in a couple minutes (as with Portal 2) or an hour (as with Metal Gear Solid 4), it really depends on what type of game you have. With Mass Effect 3, there was no reaction. People didn't say anything, people didn't talk to each other, I didn't even get a montage or a slideshow or where are they now movie. So after spending about 35 hours recruiting everyone for the suicide mission in ME2, being introduced to characters from ME1, then expanding on those relationships for an additional 40 hours with ME3, and even taking the time to talk to people on the Citadel and catch up with people on board the Normandy after I finished an important mission, the resolution I got was absolutely nothing. I don't know how this planet is doing, how this alien race is adapting, if this race is even around anymore, if this side character, like a turian or quarian admiral, is still alive, and, perhaps most importantly, what my crew and friends think of what just happened. Regardless of what ending people got, whether nobody died or everything, everywhere died, there should be some reaction. Because of this, it feels as if nothing mattered. Not only that, the ending made me feel like...

#3) In the end, none of my relationships and conversation decisions mattered: This was perhaps my favorite thing about Mass Effect 2. If I had to summarize ME2 in one sentence, it would probably be something along the lines of "Saving the galaxy and having some really interesting conversations with really interesting people." By not wrapping up and providing closure to all of the characters, it feels kind of pointless. I wanted Garrus, Tali, Legion, Grunt, Mordin, Thane, Kasumi, Samara, Jack and everyone else to survive Mass Effect 2. Their presence in ME3 enhances the experience, but it is incredibly disappointing every single story, character, and subplot just ends. This strips away the consequences and the dynamic and interactive story elements which made Mass Effect famous, and I bet people care a lot more about this than combat. This leads on to the next number.

#4) The ending made me feel like none of my preparations, side quests, and decisions in the game mattered: When the credits rolled, I sat down and looked at my TV thinking about the impact I had. Doing this deal with someone, or saving this person's life, or deciding not to kill this person, or running off to this star cluster, to fetch this book, and bring it back to somebody on the Citadel didn't feel like it mattered. This goes a little farther back than the game's last 15 minutes, but it undoubtedly still applies to the game's ending. When I was doing the last set of missions, I didn't feel like everything I built up was having an impact. It was as if my readiness meter was there only for me to look at, but had no affect on the story. In comparison, with the suicide mission in ME2, people talked about the Normandy's status, characters talked to each other (like people didn't trust Miranda, or Miranda disagreed with Shepard if he picked someone she didn't like for a job), and the success of the mission depended on your decisions and getting people loyal. If you picked the wrong person to do something, somebody died. If a person wasn't loyal to you, they were likely to die. If you didn't follow someone's advice about the mission, the crew, or the ship, more people died. It felt like your actions mattered. Even if somebody simply says, "Good thing you did X" it still mattered. With 3, I didn't feel that at all when the game ended. Did doing X make the last set of missions any more or less successful? I have no idea and I shouldn't have to look at the game's programming, or read a strategy guide cover to cover, or play through the game 5 different times to realize how all of these variables work in the end. The decisions I made with the digital comic included with the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 which summarized ME1, the decisions I made in ME2, and most of my decisions I made in ME3 didn't matter. In ME2, I created a second character (Male Shep, renegade) who handled situations differently, who picked the opposite key decisions, and purposely killed certain people during the suicide mission to see how my story in ME3 will be different. So granted, I will see some of the differences when I play the game with that character. However, after playing through 3, my guess is all of those differences will likely appear in the first 90% of the game. And besides that, I shouldn't have to play the game 2 or 3 times to understand the impact I had on it the first time.

I know at this point I'm beating a dead horse, so I'm just going to move on. Unfortunately, there are still more problems with the ending, but some of the problems get into story details. So I'll just talk about one problem in extremely vague and unhelpful terms. So, finally...

#5) That stupid thing that appeared at the end: I don't want to say what that "stupid thing" actually is. Oh well. BioWare decided to include something in Mass Effect 3. Whenever this something appears, it is either unintentionally funny in how bad or stupid it is or it is painfully annoying. This something would not go away, and I started to hate this something, not only for how it was used, but how BioWare keeps forcing this something into the story. Ok, I'm going to stop here, since I can't actually talk about it unless I say what it is. So I'm just going to wrap this up.

SUMMARY/CONCLUSION:

Mass Effect 3 is an exceptional sequel to Mass Effect 2, but the game is ultimately undermined by it's horrible ending. When you include the mythos, the characters, and the dozens of plots and subplots, the ending goes from bad to devastatingly bad. Honestly, it is one of the worst endings I have encountered in a video game. (NOTE: I'm not saying ME3 has the worst ending in a video game ever. I'm just saying it has one of the worst endings I have played through and have seen with my own eyes). Read more ›
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22 of 29 people found the following review helpful
The End... March 21, 2012
Platform for Display:PlayStation 3|Edition:Standard
Fun:   
This game seems to have generated a lot of controversy. I love Mass Effect, from the first game in 2007, up to the last ten or fifteen minutes of the third game. I rate it as my favorite video game series of all time (not my favorite individual game though...I still designate that title to either Breath of Fire 2 or Chrono Cross). Mass Effect completely immersed you into its world, with its compelling story line and its detailed character interactions. Of great interest was the fact that your choices in each game would affect occurrences in the subsequent releases. Why didn't I enjoy Mass Effect 3? Well, as I said before, I did enjoy it a lot until the very end. The three main pre-ending problems with the game that I had were:

(SPOILER ALERT)

1)not enough squad members: ME2 had you with 10 characters from which to choose (12 if you got DLC). Now I got...6 (7 with DLC)?! Jeez...it's the end of the universe (and the series)...one would think Shepard could recruit more personnel

2)New cover system: I applaud Bioware for trying to add new aspects to combat but it's very annoying to be running from cover to cover when I'm actually trying to move forward

3)Dialogue limited: Dialogue choices were fairly limited compared to previous games...sometimes only two options

My dislike of the ending is shared by many fans as is evidenced by current video game news. My concerns are:

1)Shaky plot ending: Synthetics will always rise up and kill their organic masters so in order to prevent that you're...gonna kill all organics? Save organics by killing organics...yeah, makes sense. I felt like I was listening to the Colonel Sanders guy in Matrix Reloaded. Ergo.

2)Choices didn't matter: All the choices that you made in the previous games and in this one didn't really matter. You got three "choices"...yet they all end up practically the same...Shepard dies, universe saved, mass relays destroyed, Normandy crashes. The only visible difference in the endings is what Shepard does (whether he controls or destroys the Reapers or chooses synthesis) and the color of the explosion. THE COLOR OF THE EXPLOSION!...THAT'S MY BIG FINAL CHOICE.

3)No proper epilogue: what happens after these events? What happens to the supporting characters you have come to cherish? Do they make it back to Earth? Do they colonize the new planet? What happens to all the races that were in Sol system...how do they get back home without the relays? What happens to Shepard's love interest?

4)Hero dies: Not many reviews on the internet say that fans are upset about the death of Shepard (only that they hate the lack of choice and the near identical endings). I am though. I am all for Bioware providing a bittersweet ending, but give us the opportunity to have a good ending too, based on our in-game choices. Quite a few games have ended with the loss of the protagonist...God of War (Kratos), Final Fantasy 10 (Tidus)...however, these games did not involve the player shaping how the hero's life progressed or have the level of social interaction that Shepard had with his supporting cast. The player develops an emotional bond with the characters (the same way our parents and grandparents feel about Young and Restless). I'm sure many players like myself think that Shepard deserved at least one ending where he could walk away and finally hang up his N7 armor and have a couple kids with Ashley or Miranda (or Tali...don't know how that's gonna work though...through another emergency induction port?)

In a nutshell, the ending spoiled Mass Effect for me. The only good thing about the end was the soundtrack which I think complemented what was happening. Some people have been saying " you wouldn't ask a writer to change a book ending or a director to change a movie ending so why ask Bioware to change their game ending?" Movies and books don't involve YOU deciding the path things take and therefore don't have the kind of effect on you that a game like Mass Effect does. I'm not going to say don't play the game, I'm just warning you that you may be upset by the ending if you are a die-hard fan of the game series. But hey, I'm no video game expert, just an average Joe who enjoys video games. I give the game a 3.5 out of 5.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Great Game April 13, 2012
Platform for Display:PlayStation 3| Edition:Standard|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:   
I was addicted to ME2 and kept on playing it over and over with different options. Got ME3 for my birthday and could not put it down until I finished it. Game play was as good as ME2, lots more weapon and armour options but for me it didn't improve the game. I agree with other comments I've read that the ending could be better, my only comment about the ending is... I didn't want one, I wanted the game to go on much longer than it did with more varied missions. Unlike ME2 I've not felt the urge to go back and play again but I'm sure that will change.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The truth
This game was great until the ending. That is why I am giving this game a 3. Only because this was the worst ending I ever seen in video game history. Read more
Published 1 day ago by The Gamer
I loved this game.
I don't care what people say about the ending of this game, this game was so much fun. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Casual Rater
Great game!
Despite all the whiners about the ending and your choices not really making a difference. The game is a lot of fun, I actually started and got about 3/4's of the way through... Read more
Published 7 days ago by torosama
Buggy
I've played Mass Effect 1 and 2 and got hooked. Although it is very similar to the Star Wars Universe in several aspects..."biotics" is one example. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Iaquil
Great Game, Highly Recommended
I spent about 40 hours on my first play through, did a lot of the side quests and explored the galaxy quite a bit. The first play through was a lot of fun. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Alex
Was the ending a little bizarre? Sure, but... (spoiler free)
Yes, as everyone has commented, the ending leaves a little to be desired. But, people are being too hard on the overall game in my opinion. Read more
Published 10 days ago by E. J. Paul
The Truth About Mass Effect 3
We've all seen the reviews about Mass Effect 3 -most of them ripping the game to ribbons for its ending. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Gamer
Good Game - I had no problem with the ending.
I really enjoyed Mass Effect 3. My one major quibble has nothing to do with the ending but rather the lack of new characters or races. Read more
Published 16 days ago by J. Viveiros
Was Confused But Now Understand
I have played both Mass Effect 2 and 3 (because 1 wasn't on the PS3) and thought they were two of the greatest games I have ever played. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Joe
Solid Ending to a Solid Trilogy
I really enjoyed Mass Effect 3. If I could change 1 thing, though, perhaps there could have been a little less action and a little more rpg. Read more
Published 20 days ago by sexy_sean37
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Mass Effect 3!!!!! 26 Apr 17, 2012
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Mass Effect 3 leaked, does not keep your ME 2 choices. 3 Apr 3, 2012
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