Mass Effect: Infiltrator Review

Written by Colby Wednesday, 25 April 2012 10:00

If you still haven't finished Mass Effect 3 and want to boost that Galactic Readiness rating before going to take one the Reapers, or if you are somewhat of a masochist, Mass Effect Infiltrator may just be the game for you.  The Mass Effect Datapad is another free app that is integrated pretty well with Mass Effect 3 and the Mass Effect universe.

The first obstacle that will be a little difficult for gamers to overcome is the cost of this game. When it originally launched alongside Mass Effect 3, it was $6.99, which is far and away too much to pay for this game.  However, perhaps because they want to spark more demand, or maybe because of negative feedback, the price has been reduced by two dollars, which is better, but still pretty high.  Kind of makes me wonder if Cerberus is actually behind the production of this game or if everyone that is willing to spend that much money on the game is indoctrinated. 

Mass Effect: Infiltrator has great talent behind it, Iron Monkey Studios, who also did the iOS adaptations of Dead Space and Mirror's Edge which were great games, as well as a whole lot more EA games.  Infiltrator has an even better mythology backing it up with the very deep universe that makes up the Mass Effect series, but just doesn't have the spark that these other games have.  

Infiltrator puts you over the shoulder of Randall, a human Cerberus agent who goes rogue upon discovering Cerberus' less than philanthropic side.  The majority of the game takes place in different sections of a Cerberus base where you move through eliminating enemies of different species and ocassionaly making a decision as to whether to spare or kill different Cerberus scientists that you come across. Initially, Randall has a very limited number of tools to work with, but after each checkpoint you recieve a rating and a pile of credits dependent on that rating.  As you progress through the game, replaying checkpoints to increase ratings or grind out more credits, you unlock a wide variety of weapons and biotic powers.

As much as Mass Effect Infiltrator seems pretty straight forward and formulaic, it just is not enjoyable.  A number of uneccesary difficulty spikes will cause more than a few rage quits for the average player and replaying sections is not fun or different, but you're going to have to do it if you want to be powerful enough to beat the game.  The main story bits are moved forward by a Volus who is trying to assist you and some head honcho for Cerberus who speaks via giant television monitors throughout the base.  Neither of these are interesting, they are just there because, hey, you can't have a game without tacking on a story right?  On top of all this Randall seems to be a complete joke repeating lines that seem as lamely ridiculous as something Duke Nuke'm might say.  "Everyone's dead!", "Aww Yah", and "Take that" are the one line quips that come at the end of the checkpoints.  

This is obviously a blatant play on capatializing on all of the Mass Effect 3 marketing that's been done, and not actually a genuine attempt to add to the Mass Effect Universe.  This game can only be seen as excpetionally disappointing, but unlike Mass Effect 3, you'll be ecstatic at the ending, because hey, at least that means you can quit playing.