Mass Effect: 10 Years Later

Mass Effect was a truly remarkable series, at least for the original trilogy. It was unlike anything at the time setting a new precedent for choosing your own adventure. This mixed with that awesome crew across the first three games made such a fantastic tale. The tale was an epic narrative across the cosmos and decisions you made in any game previous could affect the next one.

This was exciting and helped to make the story feel tailored or well more personal to each player. You could play it however you'd like, be good or bad and perhaps even a mix between. I'm honestly very surprised that there hasn't been a remastered collection produced yet for the current generation consoles. Aside from the story, the game had a selection of excellent growing characters that you cared about and intense space based adventuring.

Some aspects might have been a bit hardcore such as planet travel in a couple, but it all worked out for what was a strong collection of titles. You received not only exciting missions of which the galaxy rested on your shoulders, but smaller more intimate ones with your squad. You could adventure to the far reaches of space for quests or just follow a general more linear tale.

The choices came down to the player and that has been so special. I felt that a lot of this also came down to the Shepard players made, with each their own. It was somewhat downplayed by the ending of third since it became too focused, yet overall an incredible experience. There was some additional DLC that attempted to make this better, but I don't think I'll ever get over Macho Grande.

I felt that Shepard really was a strong part of why Mass Effect was such a big deal. While each played or customized the character different, it was still this bold individual attempting to propel humanity forward. The addition of Femshep was a nice touch as well giving a different perspective and more freedom of choice.

From the general core trilogy to the DLC that helped build out the stories, this was one remarkable series. Moving gears, it's best to chat about what feels like the end of the Mass Effect series. That is, at least the end for these first ten years and I do hope it returns. Good old Andromeda (not age, but how fast it has been cast aside), the long cycle and poorly received game. It attempted to provide a new galaxy with the same races while also bringing back the decent multiplayer from Mass Effect 3.

What we got was essentially a mess upon release and a very average experience. The story wasn't anything too amazing being a short run if you went through it in a linear fashion and just a blocky base builder if you spent more time in it. Some of the worlds were beautiful, but that didn't help the awkward story and generic enemies along the way. Whatever the case, it let down fans to a high degree and specifically that excellent trilogy that came before it. Mass Effect is still an iconic name in gaming and one known for a amazing stories. I can only hope to see more titles down the road and I do believe that magic is still there.

Read about Halo 3: 10 Years later
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