A Massive Effect

Commander Shepherd with Joker, the Normandy's pilot. Copyright Bioware.

Yesterday, I finally got to play Mass Effect 3 (it was a birthday present). So now I'm steadily working my way through the campaign, getting ready for that final assault on the Reapers.

... and I love it. The combat is excellent, graphics are amazing, and it's like meeting old friends when I bump into characters from previous games - which is how I'm feeling at the moment as I work on my short story, Wild Ride about some of the characters from my first book, Liberator's Ruin. It puts a smile on my face to meet up with Wrex and Mordin. Sadly however, I've already seen two die, and it feels like the universe of Mass Effect is somehow diminished for their loss. Kudos to Bioware for getting me to feel empathy for make-believe characters in a game.

I'm also impressed that they've managed to keep a background tension running, so I actually feel like the pressure's on to get the galaxy to work together to defeat the Reapers.

What I'm less enthused about is the way some characters have been sidelined (a problem with Mass Effect 2 and Liara, fixed with the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC). Whilst Liara is back to being a full squad member, I'm missing Miranda Lawson, who my current character romanced in the last game. She's off doing her thing, though we have met up and reaffirmed our relationship, but I would've liked to have her around a bit more. Nevermind. Maybe there will be some DLC to bring in more characters, but I am feeling the loss of a decent selection of squad members. Especially since there's one I really don't like - new guy, James Vega. What. A. Dick.

On the plus side, we now have a sexy robot on the team! I won't spoil how it happens, but at some point,


EDI. The ship's AI, now with a body.
Copyright Bioware

 EDI, the Normandy's AI, get's herself a body. And develops feelings for Joker. Now, that could be a bit creepy, or weird, but I think it's sweet, so I've been egging them on. Besides, what's a sci fi game without a beautiful synthetic? But let's not get into the question of whether she's fully capable, okay?

I'm also finding the banter between crew members to be quite amusing. In particular, I came across Joker and Garrus making racist jokes about their respective species (human and Turian), which was very funny.

There's been a lot of talk about the ending online so far, but I'm avoiding it. I want to find out what all the fuss is about on my own. As I've got tomorrow and Friday off work, I will be spending my time playing more Mass Effect 3, so hopefully I'll find out then.