Friday 10 / January / 2025
It’s all come down to this. There is, simply no turning back. You either stand side by side with the rest of the galaxy to stop the Milky Way from burning, or you watch from the sidelines, and wait for the flames to inevitably reach you.
That, in a nutshell, is the crux of Mass Effect 3, the glorious climax of Bioware’s legendary sci-fi role-playing game.
At the end of Mass Effect 2, after not so politely tendering his resignation to the Illusive Man, the head of the pro-human organisation named Cerberus, Commander Shepard —the hero of our story — is brought back to Earth to stand trial for going AWOL with Cerberus, though that may depend on other actions you commit in your previous games.
But there is something far more dangerous literally looming over the horizon. Shepard and his squad mates have discovered that the Reapers — a highly advanced race of machines that systematically destroys all advanced civilisations every 50,000 years — are returning, and this time, Earth is squarely in their crosshairs.
The same is true for other planets such as Palaven, home to the militaristic Turians, Thessia, the primary planet of the wise asari, Tuchanka, the battle scarred birthplace of the reptilian Krogan, and Suurkesh, which spawned the brilliant Salarians, are all under attack.
The Citadel Council, the seat of the galactic government, and the Systems Alliance, Earth’s unified government, continues to disbelieve Shepard, reducing his warning to the invisible threat of a few bogeymen.
Until of course, it stares them in the face. Shepard’s trial has barely begun, when the Reapers finally hit Earth, hard. Millions are slaughtered in a matter of minutes, and the Commander, together with his old squad mate Ashley Williams and new arrival James Vega, has to hot foot it to the Council to ask for aid. His old comrade-in-arms, Admiral David Anderson, stays behind on Earth, determined to organise a resistance and stymie the Reapers for as long as possible.
En route to the Citadel, Shepard is asked by Admiral Steven Hackett, the commander of Earth’s forces, to head to Mars, where recent discoveries made by a certain Dr Liara T’Soni may just hold the ticket to salvation for humanity and its allies. While the council are willing to listen to Shepard, they are unable to provide them their forces.
Their own planets are under attack, and they need to commit to saving their own forces first. But the galaxy does realise they need to put aside their differences and band together for the greater good.
Only then can they hope to withstand the merciless onslaught on the Reapers. Even those who would normally be found on the fringes of the law — whatever side that may be on — have returned to help. Zaeed Massani is back leading mercenaries to slow down the Reapers’ inexorable advance, while expert thief Kasumi Goto is busy conducting sabotage missions behind enemy lines.But it’s not just a handful of people joining forces. The entire galaxy is helping, with some old allies, some new friends, and even an ancient warrior everyone thought was long gone. Previous Reaper invasions may have been overwhelmingly successful, but this time around, the entire galaxy is going to be fighting back. And you get to lead them.
The Short and Skinny
Name: Mass Effect 3
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action RPG
Produced by: Bioware & EA Games
What it’s about: The final chapter of the legendary Mass Effect series is about to be written. The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance and you’ve been asked to lead the fight to save it. Will you answer the call?
Platforms: Microsoft Windows,
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Where to buy: Origin, Amazon,
PlayStation Store, Xbox Marketplace, masseffect.com, Humble Bundle, EA.com
IGN Rating: 9.1/10
