First impressions (singleplayer): - no spoilers
The introduction was fantastic... I still think Mass Effect 2 has the most b@lls-busting intro I've ever seen (granted, I don't game that much), but this one really sets the mood of the game.
Likes: I'm only four or so hours in, but I figure I can give my two cents. New fighting system, quest waypoint "reticle", the fact that you jump in with the meat of your newly-designed skill trees already filled in - yes, you can wipe them clean and start over (if you jumped in with empty skill-trees, it'd be ugly), and the fact that there's no time wasted in saying the galaxy is f#cked (Earth especially). I haven't tried any of it out yet, but the weapons customization and the diplomacy displays look like more things to spend what will probably be another 40+ hour playthrough on.
The game itself is gorgeous... the scenery and the music are all top-notch, as is the voiceover. The large-scale battles that take place outdoors are great so far, since you don't know from which way the enemy is coming next, and an enemy platoon can come up over the nearby hill and surprise the hell out of you.
You can tell on the "squad selection" screen that your squad is significantly smaller this time out, and you recruit a few of them early on... so while I enjoyed the large squad in the second one (and their missions), it's great that this time out the two discs are all about diplomacy and kicking the Reapers to the curb, and not about individuals on your ship.
Dislikes: Is the multi-player any good? I THINK the single-player experience suffered a little because people who couldn't figure out that this was an adventure game and not GoW (great game) b!tched about not having MP. This game series never had it before, and this outing didn't need it.
If it's fun and rewarding, though (and I think I've read that it benefits your single-player experience somehow), then maybe it's not a total loss, but ME's a single-player experience.
The facial import feature not working is a huge disappointment.. there's several articles on the 'net about how "big" a deal this is, but I just tried to replicate one of my characters as best I could, and went from there (a female). I somewhat miss that her scars and red eyes are gone, since she was seriously Renegade, but I've gotten past it. If it hasn't been fixed in a month or so when I want to play through as my other two characters, well.. at that point, I'll be irritated, but it still wouldn't cause me to not play through with them.. I'd just chalk it up to the character "aging" a bit, if they weren't spot-on.
I found it by accident who is and who isn't returning as squad members, so now I'm wondering if it's worth going back into ME2 to change the romances of my two other characters (this one's fine) so that they have the best "romance" plotline possible on this one. At the end of the day, I probably don't give enough of a crap to care... as it is, one of those "romantic interests" inquires about where you stand with them on that topic, so I'm wondering how much of a difference it makes if you strayed from them in the second game.
Just typing this is making me laugh out loud.
Is this game a fitting end to the Trilogy?
So far, definitely. You really get the feeling that the galaxy is losing the war against the Reapers. I wish the Reapers themselves weren't so "present" on the Planets they're invading, but their direct involvement in battles also shows just how up sh!t creek everyone is.
I still think the best representation of a Reaper was Sovereign. His scale was utter insanity when compared to other ships (these are of a similar scale, but Sov seemed "bigger"), and because they were new to us, his mere presence was jaw-dropping.
9.5/10 for the game so far, even with that stupid import glitch. Haven't even touched Multiplayer yet. I only play early mornings/late at night, as I purposely put my Plasma in my atrium to keep me from playing it during the day (impossible to do, as the sun makes the screen unwatchable).
ME 2 was an easy "10/10" for me, and the first ME was a 10/10 also, so it's been a hell of a strong game trilogy. I'm sure this will go up to 10/10 once the glitch is "fixed" (if it is), and I've put more time in behind the wheel.
