Finally, the game fans have been waiting on for years. While hearing about the day one DLC and the multiplayer I was worried that the single play may have been sacrificed, but I'm glad I was wrong. I had fun playing the game, and still find myself playing the multiplayer of this game. One of the coolest things they did is tie in a bunch of the books/comics into the game story.Story:I really enjoyed the story and finding out the effect some of your decisions in previous games really made this a great narrative. Along with that, the decisions you make in this game have a lasting impact and I was presented with some of the hardest decisions to make ever in a video game. It's a really dark game and the story reflects that wonderfully.War Assets is new to the Mass Effect franchise and it's basically a pooling of all the resources, people, ships, intel etc that you have collected that will help in your fight. If you don't play the multiplayer you will get a 50% reduction in your overall score, which can really cut it close to being at full readiness if you rent or buy this game used.In between missions and objectives your crew sometimes moves around the Normandy and actually have conversations with other crew members, instead of standing in one spot the entire time. This makes the ship feel alive and that your members are having lives when you are not there to babysit them.On top of all that, you have a ton of side missions that help you gather more military strength. While they are fetch quests at heart, they can be missable if you're not carefully and most have a pretty cool backstory to them. Also, every few missions or so you are presented with a situational weapon that can mix things up and sometimes used in more ways than killing your enemies.Gameplay:Bioware has finally perfected the gameplay of the two games in this one. We have the customization from the first game mixed in with the action feel of the second. They included a ton of guns in every specialization (SMG, Sniper rifle, etc). Each gun can have two attachments that can reduce recoil or increase the damage of the weapon. Every class can use any weapons, but more powerful weapons weigh more, which reduces your skill recharge rate, and with skills you can carry more weight without loss.In singleplayer they brought back the same classes as Mass Effect 2 had with some improvements to the quality of them. The max level in this game is back at 60(as I it should be when dealing with Mass Effect) and each class has a ton of skills to choose from. Along with that you get to choose an additional skill to level up that comes from your companion's main skill (So if you're a soldier you can choose to get Slam, a biotic skill). Each class its own Heavy melee attack animation as well (Soldier has an Omni-Blade stab, while Biotics get a falcon punch style attack).Planet scanning is back and it's really improved this time around. Instead of scanning each planet for multiple resources, you fly around using left trigger to scan the system itself for planets or debris for items, which can make your presence know to the reapers. On 360 they added quick saving into the game (Back button) which is something I've wanted to happen for console games.Multiplayer has the same classes, but with only 4 abilities that you can level up to the max of 20. In order to get weapons, equipment and other usable items like Medi-Gels you have to buy trading card-ish booster packs that give you uncommon/rare/ultra chances the higher up you go. While this is a cool alterative to getting weapons and what not, it gets annoying since non-human races have to be unlocked the same way.Six maps are included with the game (taking place in different parts of the galaxy and are the layout is the same as some of the N7 missions). Three enemies Cerberus, Geth and the Reapers are able to fight you on any of the maps and each is really unique. While the ground troops are basically the same, the harder enemies vastly differ. Cerberus has Atlas (giant human controlled robots), people with shields, powerful turrets, snipers and samurai-ish warriors. Geth have Primes (giant Geths), Rocket Troopers, Hunters (invisible shotgun wielders), and Pyros (flamethrowers). Finally the reapers have Ravagers, Brutes, and banshees. They all react differently (Geth and Cerberus take cover, Reapers rush you) and with each difficulty (Bronze, Silver, Gold) they get increasingly harder and more of the tougher enemies can appear at once. Granted this is just Horde Mode but I'm having fun with it, but It is a mode to play with friends and not by yourself.While Bioware said it does not have impacts to the story, it actually really does. You start out with 50% Galactic readiness and it cuts your Military strength in half and the only way to get to 100% is to play multiplayer. Each day/restart of the game takes away 1-2% so you will need to be constantly playing multiplayer to keep 100%. While normally I would be fine with this, but its tied down to an online pass so those who can't play online/buy it used will be at a significant disadvantage. Not to mention those who only care for single player.Soundtrack:Man was the music really awesome in this game. Ever since I watched the trailers main theme I just knew it would be good, and I was right. You can pick out themes from Mass Effect 1 and 2 in some of them, and if you played those games if you feel a sense of De ja vu while hearing it. Mass Effect defiantly has some of the best Sci-fi music around. Weapons/Biotics/Tech all sound great and didn't really notice wrong with them.The voice acting is still just as awesome as the previous installments, and the main character voice actors stay the same. I was never really taken out with pointless dialogue, or bad voice acting or anything like that. One complaint I do I have, as do many is Diana Allers (Jessica Chobot). She didn't really have that important of a role and you could kick her off the Normandy at any time, but her voice just annoyed me and I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to actors. It just felt forced, and I like to hear about the little news segments around the galaxy so I visited her a lot.Graphics:Best graphics for a Mass Effect game yet. All the weapons have great animations, the Biotics look really awesome, and the combat drones look way better in this game. The faces look upgraded and I think they look the best so far. The random planets you go to just look beautiful. Some of the best looking sky and outside graphics I have seen in a while. The enemies are well designed and really creepy at times.Verdict:I had a lot of fun with majority of this game and I'm still playing the multiplayer with my friends. The gameplay is really fun, soundtrack is great and the graphics are top notch. I enjoyed most of the story, the music, soundtrack and I recommend at least a rental if you're interested in trying this game. It was a powerful, awesome, and amazing rollercoaster ride to the finish and its one I'm glad I took.~ Written: March, 2012Positives:* Decisions that matter* Dark story* Hard decisions* Situation weapons* Quicksaving on consoles* Lots of class diversity* Really fun gameplay* Avatar awards* Blasto 6* Best graphics yetNegatives:* Disc swapping* Multiplayer required for 100% rediness but is tied down to online pass.* Still can't use Makos* Diana Allers