Bioware
Mass Effect Trilogy

This review has been on my mind for at least a couple of years, and I've finally managed to wrap it up: a slightly different challenge than usual, undoubtedly fun, but what a struggle! But it was worth it, primarily for sentimental reasons and also because I see that video game reviews are quite popular. It had been since I was about twelve or thirteen years old that a video game captivated me so much, so here you have the complete trilogy, three for the price of one: fantastic, right? Aliens, not particularly clever galactic federations, alternative energies that disrupt the course of history, conflicts between organics and artificial intelligences, resurrections, killer machines shaped like giant squids. What do you say, they're all clichés? But of course, however, who cares, really? Let's include that, for crying out loud, for a video game, ME is not excessively realistic, excessively complex and intellectual, nor too simplistic and merely for goofing around; for what I WANT from a video game, it's practically perfection; it has intriguing content and is well-presented, and that's enough to forgive the myriad of small and large flaws that this trilogy is full of. For being a middle ground between a shooter and a role-playing game, ME is full of practically forced choices, there's the right solution and the wrong/detrimental one, which is quite frustrating, many more gray nuances were needed, then the playability of the first episode leaves much to be desired; unintuitive controls and a few essentially useless and repetitive side missions, the ending of the third... better not touch on that, even though they somehow patched it up, it's still a great disappointment, but so it is, the journey counts more than the destination. Then a few muddles here and there, some characters with no depth and pitiful characterization, the nigga stereotype Jacob Taylor, the unnecessary Kelly Chambers, and the pathetic "villain" Kai Leng. Yet I forgive everything, overall Mass Effect is an engaging experience, an interactive sci-fi epic with a decent level of customization and a ton of intriguing points.

The first chapter has a well-conceived plot full of twists, plus a pair of "villains," Saren and Benezia, that are quite intriguing; it's thanks to the first Mass Effect that I got to know Alfred Tennyson, strange but true, and that alone would be enough for a 5 out of 5 (and despite this, poor Ashley was left on Virmire in 95% of my playthroughs, what did the Latins say? Ah yes, ubi maior minor cessat). ME2, in many respects, is the most stylish of the trilogy: greatly improved playability, the possibility to recruit as many as 12 characters into your squad, many of whom are truly fantastic, and above all, the atmosphere, in terms of mood the second chapter is undoubtedly the best: it's not open war yet, and you find yourself working for a controversial organization operating beyond legality to investigate an apparently indecipherable mystery; you deal with a wide variety of settings, characters, and different themes, and this makes Mass Effect 2 more than just intriguing. The third is the showdown, the threat finally reveals itself in all its immense destructive power, the goal will be to convince the various species of the galaxy, divided by ancient grudges, to create a united front to avoid total extermination; many moments of great emotional impact, further new characters, an extensive arsenal of weaponry available, and a couple of DLCs, Leviathan and Citadel, truly well made. From a gameplay point of view, the customization possibilities are remarkable, there are six skill sets to choose from: do you prefer a super-soldier capable of excelling with any type of weapon, a technician able to incinerate, freeze or fry enemies with electric discharges, or a biotic prodigy to "skin enemies with the powers of the mind"? My favorite is a middle ground, the infiltrator: tactical cloaking to become invisible for a few seconds, take aim with a nice sniper rifle, and BANG! Headshot. Believe me, I usually blatantly despise this kind of crap, but with Mass Effect, it works, even if, of course, it's not the reason I fell in love with the trilogy.

The story and especially the characters, these are the real highlights of the ME experience: my personal number 1 is undoubtedly Major Kaidan Alenko (what a surprise, who would have thought?), but from the perspective of complexity and evolution throughout the storyline, Liara, Miranda (as much as she might seem annoying, she's really a great character), Thane Krios, and the eccentric scientist Mordin Solus are absolutely remarkable. But it's not just them, I've "grown attached" for one reason or another to almost the entire "cast" of Mass Effect, a court of miracles full of quirky aliens and non-humans, including worth mentioning Kasumi Goto, the futuristic version of Margot/Fujiko, the nice muscle-bound braggart James Vega, Javik, and IDA, almost antithetical characters united by sublime trolling abilities. Then the "real tough guys," Wrex, Grunt, Jack, Zaeed, and especially Aria T'Loak, without forgetting well-defined and brilliant support characters like Joker, Samantha Traynor, and Steve Cortez; not to mention a couple of "substantial villains" like Saren and the Illusive Man. What to say then , the soundtracks are very well-done and evocative, and, despite the "serious" themes and the grandeur of the plot (we essentially have to save the entire Milky Way) there are plenty of ironic and humorous moments; the final DLC, Citadel, is even entirely focused on this aspect, and it's an authentic gold mine.

In short, these Canadians from Bioware made me feel a bit like a kid again, but without going overboard; the 3 Mass Effect games are something perfectly in-between; you play the role of a "superhero," the final mission is to save the world (worlds, in this case), so no terribly dreary and crappy hyperrealism that, for the writer, negates the very concept of video games, but the protagonist and characters, in most cases, are far more than stereotyped caricatures, and there is a very detailed and well-defined background context, as well as broad and interesting (even if imperfect) customization possibilities at various levels, which is also excellent for longevity, among other things. Carefully evaluating all the pros & cons, but especially the time spent happily jaunting from planet to planet, I’d call it a triple masterpiece, a bit flawed but easy to overlook; thank you for your attention, now I HAVE TO GO.