Warning: This page assumes you have played Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 (DLC included). Spoilers for those two games will be unmarked.
The third in the Mass Effect series from BioWare, the esteemed creators of the Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic series, and the final game starring Commander Shepard. Several months after the second game, the Systems Alliance has had Shepard brought to Earth and relieved from duty for their actions, either for destroying a batarian relay to delay the Reapers or just for working with Cerberus, depending on whether the player completed the "Arrival" DLC in Mass Effect 2. Soon after, though, the Reaper fleet finally arrives in the Milky Way and attacks Earth, leaving millions dead and the Alliance military on the run. After escaping the devastation, Shepard is reinstated and embarks on one last mission: unite the other races of the galaxy, build a fleet capable of rescuing the human race from the Reapers, and launch a final battle for the fate of all sentient life.
Like the second game, Mass Effect 3 allows players to import their save files from the other two installments, altering the storyline to match the choices your Shepard made in Mass Effect 1 and 2. Mass Effect 3's plot varies drastically depending on the save file; over one thousand variables are recorded in each save, and every decision made can have an impact on the story. Even choices made in the original game that were never addressed in the second. Many story tropes may never come into play for a given playthrough.
In terms of gameplay, combat is based on the Mass Effect 2 system, but with new additions, most prominently the ability to roll even when out of cover. Shepard also has a new heavy melee attack; the specific strike this varies depending on class, but most of them use a device known as an omniblade. Combat is more difficult than the other games, as enemies will now adopt roles like "cover buster" or "suppressor" to force players to occasionally lose health. All types of weapons can now be carried by any player, regardless of class, but a "weapon weight" system has been instituted to preserve the balance between weapons and powers. The number and size of the weapons you carry will affect your power cooldowns, with certain classes getting improved weight for certain guns. Mass Effect 3 is also the first game in the series to have a Story Difficulty Setting, making the combat Easier Than Easy but retaining full dialogue options.
Two elements from the original Mass Effect, grenades and weapon modifications, return to the series with a slight redesign. Grenades are now a class-specific power, and they are thrown like traditional grenades instead of frisbees. As for mods, Mass Effect 3 returns to a gun accessories setup, instead of the second game's universal upgrade system; mods you buy or find need to be added at "weapon benches" after you acquire them. Weapons' appearances change depending on the selected mods. The power tree from the second game has also been modified: now, instead of evolving a power only once at the end of its life, there are more chances to evolve and more types of evolutions, and certain aspects of powers can now be upgraded directly, and the level cap has been returned to Level 60.
With this game, BioWare added an entirely new element called Galaxy at War. Players can gain War Assets through gameplay that contribute to a Total Military Strength number. But there's also a Galactic Readiness percentage, the readiness of sectors in the Milky Way that determines the Effective Military Strengthnote So for example, if TMS is 200, but Readiness is at 50%, the EMS will be 100)which affects the game's endings. The readiness can be increased playing the new multiplayer co-op mode, the Datapad mobile game, and the N7 Hub on the official website. The 4-player co-op is the main event; in this mode, none of the protagonists of the series appear, players instead creating their own characters to liberate key positions from Reaper control. While using Galaxy at War can increase the chances of saving the galaxy in the single-player story, participation in it was entirely optional, and if the Extended Cut was downloaded all endings are available as long as the right choices were made in the campaign. The Legendary Edition remaster did not include the multiplayer mode and is entirely offline, so for that version Galactic Readiness is locked to 100%. Instead, the values required for the better endings were adjusted so that the best ones are only possible by playing all three games in the collection.
Lastly, the Paragon / Renegade system has been further refined into the Reputation system. Rather than having separate bars, both Paragon and Renegade points now contribute to a combined Reputation bar that's used for story checks, and neutral "Reputation Points" contribute to both. This gives the player greater flexibility to play how they want, and avoids a weird quirk from 2 where completing story missions would award Paragon and Renegade points simultaneously.
The game was released on March 6, 2012 in North America and on March 9, 2012 in Europe. After an unprecedented fan outcry over the original endings, BioWare released the Extended Cut DLC on June 26, 2012, a free DLC pack that adds more scenes to the final hour or so of the game to further explain each ending and resolve several unanswered questions (it's commonly assumed that the Extended Cut includes new endings that outright replaced the originals, which isn't true: it added new scenes to the existing endings so that they feel more explained and less like a Gainax Ending).
Mass Effect 3 has had three other major packs of post-launch DLC expanding its single-player content. The first pack, Leviathan👁 Image
, was released on August 28, 2012 in North America and August 29, 2012 everywhere else. The second pack, Omega👁 Image
, was released on November 27, 2012 everywhere. The final pack, Citadel👁 Image
, was released on March 5, 2013 everywhere, almost exactly one year after Mass Effect 3 was released, and is one large continuity-infested trip down memory lane for Shepard and their crew from all three games. Unofficially, in 2016, fans released the Expanded Galaxy Mod for the PC version of the game.
The Xbox 360 version includes an exclusive voice command feature; players with Kinect can issue verbal orders to squadmates during combat and read an option from the Dialogue Tree aloud to select it during conversations. Mass Effect 3 was also one of the third-party launch titles👁 Image
for the Nintendo Wii U. It included various touchpad features, as well as an exclusive heavy weapon, the M-597 Ladon, that remains exclusive to this version even after the Legendary Edition. Speaking of, in 2021 Mass Effect Legendary Edition bundled the first three games together with upgraded textures, resolutions, and the inclusion of all single-player DLC packs (including the Kingdoms Of Amalur armor), alongside other minor tweaks such as a final handshake with Joker and redoing Tali's photograph.
Mass Effect 3 contains the following tropes:
"The best."