5 Best and Worst Features of Mass Effect 3

Written by Kevin Chow Friday, 23 March 2012 06:00

Mantis X Mass Effect 3 has only been out for a few weeks and it has gotten many complaints, mostly related to the ending. It has gotten many perfect scores from professional gaming review sites, but many user reviews are less than perfect. Regardless of the scores, Mass Effect 3 has its good features as well as the bad. In my opinion, here are 5 features I like best and 5 features I dislike most about Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 3 Best Features

Weapons are customizable. Weapons can be equipped with mods such as barrels, scopes, and stabilizers. I really like this feature because it allows me to fit my weapons with whatever mods suit the mission I’m on best. In multiplayer, it allows me to optimize better against the different type of enemies. To add the RPG element, weapons and mods also have its own levels.
Bonus powers can be unlocked in single-player. During the campaign, talking with squad mates can result in learning new bonus powers which can be purchased at the medical bay on the Normandy. This is a really nice feature because I can do more power combos without having to rely on my squad. It also allows me to choose whichever bonus power suits my play style best without having to create a new class.
There are more powers to evolve. All powers starting from rank 4 gives the option to choose between two options for that power. In Mass Effect 2, evolving powers only happened at the last rank. With more choices for evolving powers, it allows me to choose whatever fits my play style. In single-player, it’s easy to reset powers. So I can easily try out the different options. However, I have to be more careful for multiplayer since resetting powers isn’t as easy.
Weapons have weight. This was originally going to be listed as one of the worst features, but after playing multiplayer with +200% recharge speed, it changed my mind. The weight directly affects the recharge speed of powers. The heavier the weapons, the more time it will take for powers to recharge. In single-player, I usually like to carry a bunch of weapons, but then I realized I really only use one or two of them. In multiplayer, I usually only use one. So having the weight system is a lot more advantageous.
Mass Effect 3 has multiplayer. This is a pretty big feature even though it’s not versus other players. It’s four player co-op with 11 waves of survival. Overall, I have spent way more time playing multiplayer than the campaign. After finishing the campaign, I went straight to the multiplayer and have been playing to level up and earn credits for gear. Even though the reinforcement packs are random, I find the whole multiplayer portion of the game really fun.

Mass Effect 3 Worst Features

Paragon and renegade points are combined into one reputation bar. Because of this, there isn’t really a difference between choosing one over the other because the paragon and renegade specific choices are based on the level of the reputation bar. So even if you went all renegade, you’ll still be able to choose the blue paragon choices when they come up.
Reapers can kill you during space exploration. After scanning a few times while in space, Reapers can detect the Normandy and start chasing you. It is possible to stay and scan more before leaving, but the Reapers will eventually chase you down. I thought this was kind of dumb because it feels like the only reason it’s there is so that it takes longer to finish the game. It became really annoying to have to constantly run away.
Missions can be obtained even if the location isn’t available yet. Knowing that some missions can’t be completed after progressing through a certain point of the main storyline, I like to do all the side missions first. However, many of the side missions can be obtained even though the area you need to go to isn’t available yet. I ended up spending a lot of time looking for how to do those missions.
The journal is horrible at mission tracking. Most of the time, it doesn’t update as you progress on missions and the details are very vague. For some missions, it doesn’t even say where the location is. It just says to go find a certain item. During missions, these items can easily be missed too. Luckily, they can be bought from Spectre Requisitions if missed.
There is no point for extraction in multiplayer for level 20 characters. For those who have already finished the campaign, there isn’t much benefit to promote their level 20 multiplayer characters other than bragging rights and N7 rank. It’s better to just farm credits with them. Because the last wave only offers more experience, there doesn’t really feel like there is incentive to complete it.