With the introduction of Mass Effect, Bioware blew the proverbial roof off. The Baldurs Gate developers brought the world of Mass Effect to the masses with virtually no problems. Part space opera, part strategic RPG, and part intergalactic Tinder-sim, Mass Effect really does have it all. Here are all of the Mass Effect games ranked: best to worst.
(This feature is based around the original trilogy during their respective release windows, therefore does not take into account the Legendary edition and any changes contained therein)
1. Mass Effect 2
Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Friday the 13th Part 2 and Mass Effect 2 – what do they all have in common? They supersede their predecessor by every metric imaginable.
Mass Effect 2 takes all of the issues many have with the first game, and removes them entirely. 3 dimensional characters like Jack and Legion take their place. The true horrors of the Reapers become corporeal, and we learn what they are capable of. Finally, we are given a graphical upgrade which looks an entire console generation apart from its debut.
Suffering still from frame-rate issues and the occasional console crash, Mass Effect 2 isn’t without its problems.
This flawed sequel offers tactical combat. Personality-filled characters, and a continuation of an ensuing plot of a solar system in peril. This sequel had the potential to be a disaster, instead, Bioware show us what a sequel should be!
2. Mass Effect 1
They say love-at-first-sight doesn’t exist, yet anyone who was lucky enough to get their hands on Mass Effect for the first time on release, will certainly disagree.
Originally releasing as a clunky and disorganized affair, Mass Effect shows us that a game doesn’t have to be beautiful to be wonderful. It gives us storylines which we will never forget, a roster of characters that feel like family, and an enemy unlike any other seen before.
The moments of betrayal run through Mass Effect like water through a viaduct, and the moment we realize who our true friends are and who we cannot trust, has goosebumps running through our bodies every single time.
It could never be said that Mass Effect reinvents the wheel, but what it does do, is show us that the wheel doesn’t always have to be used in the way we have come to expect. The moment we step aboard the Normandy and are offered the reins of control is the moment this story really begins, and as we all know, what a story it is…
3. Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 is the final instalment of the Mass Effect series.
Seeing commander Sheppard facing existential threats, saying good-bye to old friends and making alliances which will last centuries, Mass Effect 3 takes everything it has learned from the previous games and perfects it.
The combat system is smoother, the cut-scenes are absolutely mind-blowing, and the action through-out feels ripped from the pages of a Hollywood screenplay.
Even taking into account the positive reception to the sheer scope and scale of the narrative, Mass Effect 3 managed to fall at the last gate, with that ending…
The ending makes for disturbing reading to any fan of the franchise.
Finally seeing the Reapers burst through into out-and-out combat, and the survival of the solar system at stake, should be the moment we all remember.
Unfortunately, all we remember is that ending. The idea of taking away the ultimate choice and delivering a consequence so laughably inappropriate, must have been an in-joke. Only a few short months following the game’s release, a fix to the ending was delivered, and the series gained a befitting conclusion, but nothing will ever atone for the feeling we originally had in those final moments.
Wrapping up the original series, Mass Effect 3 was a powerhouse of a game. Delivering more finely-tuned gameplay, introducing and removing characters who we have loved and lost, and finally giving us a cinematic – if unsatisfying for some – climax to one of the best series’ ever made.
Mass Effect 3 is the divider in the series. You either love it, or you hate it, and either way is absolutely fine. The third instalment knows exactly what it is from the moment it begins, and it expects nothing short of your undivided attention.
4. Mass Effect Andromeda
Mass Effect 3’s divisive ending left the main story nowhere to go. Bioware’s task was obvious and monumental, make Mass Effect worth coming back to. It is safe to say that they failed.
Mass Effect Andromeda is the fourth game in the series and diverts drastically from rest of the series. Taking the series to more of an action-packed direction in comparison to it’s original and strong RPG narrative-driven experience.
Set between the second and third instalment Andromeda lacks any of the intrigue or mystery from either game. With more focus on getting from ‘a to b’, Andromeda misses the key point of its predecessors. We care about the characters.
Featuring the voices of screen legends such as Clancy Brown, one would think the roster unforgettable unfortunately, this is not the case. The NPCs leave very little impression on you, and are largely bland.
Mass Effect lives and dies on its character interaction. We feel a sense of loss, despair and resentment a character meets their end in the original 3 games. Unfortunately, when a character meets their end in Andromeda it almost becomes ‘par-for-the-course’.
Combining a story that feels empty and lacking of stakes. Characters which annoy you from the moment you meet them and a game-world which feels more empty and lifeless the more you explore it. Andromeda falls at every possible hurdle and fails to deliver the same feeling and emotion as it’s three predecessors.
