On Mass Effect 3

I've been absent this week partially because I've been working, partially because it was my birthday, and mostly because I was playing Mass Effect 3.

The gameplay was good, the story (up to a point) was great.  I wish they'd done more character development with the other characters,  but what they had was good.  I mention the last bit specifically because they mentioned there'd be fewer companions so that they could focus more on them, but it really felt sub-par to me. The graphics were good.  I'd heard there were problems with importing your character's looks from the previous game, so I just built my guy's face from scratch when the option came up (though the import didn't look bad, so maybe they fixed it.)

The side-missions weren't that great, but the main-missions made up for that.  Overall, it's a great game. . .

Until you reach the ending.  All of the choices which affected the outcome of previous games, and played a part in each successor suddenly didn't matter anymore.  The morality choices made in the last game didn't effect the end.  They give you three possible outcomes, and each one is essentially the same choice, never mind the plot holes that come up.  It really feels like the game designers took a big crap for the ending and then served it up to the fans calling it prime rib.  This article explains it much better however it does contain spoilers.

Bioware is working on an extended cut for the ending of the game, however it won't be available until the summer, and you'll need the full game (Likely meaning if you bought it used, you'll have to get the online pass, something you'll need to play the multi-player anyway.)