Mass Effect 3

When the fate of the galaxy is in your hands, how often does it feel like it's really in your hands? It does in Mass Effect 3 ($59.99 for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360), the latest (and ostensibly concluding) chapter in BioWare's expansive space RPG saga. Picking up where Mass Effect 2 left off in 2010, this game thrusts you back into the persona of Commander Shepard, who's standing at the brink of one of the most daunting challenges ever: rescuing Earth, and the entire Milky Way, from the clutches of the all-consuming Reapers that are threatening them as never before. Packed with action, character development, and customizability that transcend what you find in most games, Mass Effect 3 is an entertaining and frequently engrossing trip into the psychology of helplessness, if one that?doesn't?realize all of its?towering ambitions.

The Babylon 5 Effect
As with the previous entries in the series, Mass Effect 3 thrives on its story and characters, and the handling of these aspects does not disappoint. The threat is placed front and center in the prologue, when Shepard barely escapes Earth during the Reaper invasion, and keeps simmering as the attempts to put things right encompass?and ultimately endanger?the rest of the galaxy as well. During your?struggle to unite myriad disparate races against their common enemy, you're constantly reminded of the enormity of your challenge and the fact that failure is, unfortunately, a very real option. You can access at a moment's notice a full readout of your battle readiness and the strength of your committed allies, and it's a testament to the strength of the writing that nothing you do?ever seems like enough. In this way, Mass Effect 3 echoes the epic science-fiction TV series Babylon 5, alternating triumph and tragedy with the unsettling sense that some forces at work are eternally operating?just beyond your understanding.

This is an incredibly effective way to establish and maintain mood, and it's?sustained through your interactions with the other humans, Krogan, Geth, and so on that you meet along the way. Par for the Mass Effect course, what you say and how you say it affects the course of the game in ways both minor (your Paragon and Renegade ratings) and major (characters may die, or be forever altered, based on your choices). Add in the high stakes, lush soundtrack (by Clint Mansell, composer of films such as Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and Black Swan), and generally superb voice acting (from Mass Effect stalwarts like Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale as Shepard, Keith David as Admiral Anderson, Seth Green as Joker, and Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man,?and newcomers like Jessica Chobot and Freddy Prinze Jr. alike), and the moments that most games treat as?throwaways?provide rich emotional fuel for everything that occurs, straight up to the slam-bang finale.

Deep Customization
It doesn't hurt that BioWare gives you near-complete control over Shepard if you're starting from scratch (you select the gender, and then adjust aspects of personality that are at least as important as battle skills), or that if you're importing a character from the preceding game the choices you made during it?will have significant impact on what happens?now. BioWare has done a remarkable job of creating a consistent universe of which you're an active, energetic part, and in which anything can believably occur. From Shepard's own guilt over previous mistakes to potential romances with key figures of any gender and orientation to the possible permanent loss of people you've been working with for a long time, nothing is predictable and everything is fair game.

Mass Effect 3 is just as compelling in these respects as last year's big ?anything goes? extravaganza, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Because of the sheer breadth and openness of the world, that game has the edge on addictiveness and replayability. But Mass Effect 3 is unquestionably?more affecting and personal. In addition to the basic dialogue choices, which do enough on their own to make you feel unique, you can even configure the style of the game to your specific liking. Focus on fighting to transform the interstitial banter into cut scenes, choose Story if you prefer conversations to combat and want to (drastically) reduce the likelihood you'll be flattened by a platoon of Reapers, or go with RPG mode for a well-balanced combination of the two. You'll have the same basic narrative experience in all three, but there's a real difference in feel that shows how seriously BioWare took the idea of catering to different play styles.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/GEUy64fuMWw/0,2817,2400683,00.asp

whitney houston funeral live stream kevin costner whitney houston whitney houston funeral live pat buchanan slither slither chris christie