2007 was a good
year. I graduated high school, started college, and received what I still
believe to be one of the greatest RPGs put out in recent years: Mass Effect. The premise was simple: you
were a space marine chosen as the first human Spectre—elite agent of the
galactic Citadel Council. Mass Effect
had a fully fleshed out world that could give the Star Wars Extended Universe a
run for its credits. Unique alien races with developed cultures and histories
and a bounty of planets to explore. Yes, the exploration could be tedious and
even frustrating in standard definition, and though it wanted to be a
third-person shooter, the combat mechanics made the firefights clunky. But I
loved it and regardless of the “improvements” that the sequels made to the
mechanics, the inaugural game remains my favorite in the series.
I looked forward
to carrying Jim Shepard—my Shepard—over
to Mass Effect 2. I didn’t expect any
heavy decisions from Mass Effect to interfere
with my Mass Effect 2. Some familiar faces returned,
and those faces that didn’t were missed. The endgame was suitably epic with its
“suicide mission,” despite the narrative’s insistence on reminding me that this
was a SUICIDE MISSION (caps lock necessary). But regardless, I lost some
characters I wasn’t attached to, saved those I was attached to, and wondered
what the big bad Reapers had left to throw my way so I could take it out in typical
American Earthling fashion.
Unfortunately,
the canon of Jim Shepard ends there.
I played through
the first two Mass Effect games on
the Xbox 360. I played through 3 on
the PC. To put it succinctly, the combination of price and poor reception for the ending barred me from buying it immediately, and the superior performance of
the game on PC only complicated my decision further. My excitement stayed
strong long enough for me to play the demo upon its release. The gameplay felt
identical to Mass Effect 2, which was
expected, but the glaring issue of characters having undergone some sort of
brainwashing that changed them entirely. Urdnot Wrex (who died in my first
playthrough of Mass Effect) was best-buds-chummy
with Shepard, a far cry from his respectful-but-still-gruff demeanor in Mass Effect 2. Already, Mass Effect 3 was shaping up to be a
bizarre continuation of a beloved series for me.
Finally, I gave
in when the game was cheap enough on PC. Already, a friend of mine was playing
it and another avenue for gaming and socializing was enticing. Unfortunately,
there was no easy way of moving my save file from my Xbox 360 to my PC, so Jim would
have to be remade from scratch. I began with character creation, trying to be
as close to Jim Shepard as I was before. I thought I’d get some options to
craft the backstory as I had at the beginning of Mass Effect 2 when I tried to start a new game. No such luck. So
far, my Shepard was my Shepard in name only.
Even without the issues stemming from this not being my Shepard, inconsistencies
in both gameplay and narrative manifested quickly: no sign of or reference to
Urdnot Wrex, who was alive as far as I knew from my last playthrough. Instead,
he has been replaced by his brother who sounds and acts like Wrex 1.0 than Demo
Wrex. My conversation options seemed more limited in that opportunities to
choose what Shepard was going to say were infrequent compared to previous
games. Bioware did a lot to make the game accessible to not only newcomers to
the Mass Effect series, but to role
playing games in general. Starting a new game in Mass Effect 3 is not just creating a new character. It’s tailoring the
whole game experience. Decide you don’t like fighting but you like some story? They’ll
dial back the combat for you. Find story a buzzkill? We’ll minimize the
cutscenes and let you maim ‘til your heart’s content. All of this would be
admirable had they done this in the beginning.
I’ve spoken to
some who’ve come to Bioware’s defense. Yes, it expands the audience. But
someone who plays Mass Effect 3 as
their first exposure to the series is not going to be happy when they go back
to game one. Why can’t I dive sideways? Why does my gun keep overheating? Where’s
the reload button? Why won’t Shepard stay in cover? There was a different
mindset behind Mass Effect than its
sequels. Maybe it was EA’s evil influence or just an overzealous move to
improve the original’s weaker mechanics. What is inarguable is that Mass Effect is the weird grandpa whose
worldview seems backwards to its son and grandson, Mass Effect 2 and 3. But
I was there with the weird grandpa from the beginning. I understand his
worldview. 2 and 3 need to get the hell off my lawn.
