RETRO! 'Mass Effect' | Part 5
With 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' only a few weeks from being released, writer & gamer David Nolan continues to record his immediate reactions to the 'Mass Effect' games as he returns to the action-shooter-RPGs for the second-last time...
There isn’t too much of the game remaining so we’re going to power through to the end.
With one choice left, the Normandy heads for the pretty world of Virmire; this is by far the nicest looking planet you go to in the game, and it is a welcome change of scenery after the wintery hell-scape of Noveria.
Before you can meet with the salarian team you must first turn off the AA weapons of the Geth by driving in the Mako. The first half of this mission (another driving section) reveals that perhaps the designers were forced to repeat themselves to save time; this section is fortunately brief and Shepard meets up with the salarian team quickly.
At the camp, you find out that Saren is trying to breed an army of Krogan and that we’ll need to nuke it to stop him. Wrex, our Krogan squad mate, isn’t happy because destroying the research could doom his species.
In a great use of the series’ choices system and foreshadowing what comes later, Wrex could die at this point in the story if he refuses to stand down. Fortunately, Zoë manages to convince him, so we can move on.
Shepard must choose which of Ashley or Kaiden to send to help the salarians and which to work on the bomb. This will come back into play in a big way later, so it is an important choice. Zoë sent Kaiden to help the salarians.
Now begins a great series of firefights. A mixture of long canyons that are great for sniping with plenty of cover for flanking, followed by a series of tight corridors. You also have the opportunity to sabotage the Geth’s forces to aid the salarians, giving you the feeling that there’s a big battle going on around you.
You find more than a few Krogan and Asari, and even a few indoctrinated salarians. Some you release will attack, while others will be fine in presenting an interesting dilemma. Paragon Zoë releases them all anyway without hesitation, giving the friendly ones a chance to escape.
When you come across an Asari secretary guarding Saren’s private archives you again have the choice of whether to let her go or kill her. Letting her go is actually one of Shepard’s funnier lines, so I’d imagine even renegades would let her go.
Now to the reveal of the Big Bad: the Reapers and their ‘leader’, Sovereign. Sovereign reveals that the Reapers are sentient ships that will harvest the galaxy as they have done countless times before. Even this early, it’s clear that the writers didn’t have an idea of how they were going to solve the problem.
The way that Sovereign talks is trying to sound mysterious and aloof, but there’s no reasoning behind it. Not ‘no reasoning an organic can understand’, but none. It could be that they were trying to suggest that even the Reapers themselves aren’t in control of their own actions, but considering how the series doesn’t provides a good logic to any of it, it’s more likely that they simply couldn’t come up with one. After that exposition dump, it’s now time to set up the bomb.
As Ashley readies the nuke, you get a call from Kaiden stating that he needs help. You head off to help him but halfway there, you see a Geth drop ship go back and attack Ashley.
Now, here is one of the two major BIG CHOICES of the first game: which squad mate will you sacrifice? With a heavy heart, Zoë apologises to Ashley and continues towards Kaiden. The ensuing boss fight with Saren plays out fairly identically either way, but it is a good boss fight.
Faulty logic seems to be a common trend with Reapers and their servants as Saren makes little sense. After blasting him for a little while, the Normandy makes a quick escape and the bomb goes off. Mourn your lost comrade and get ready for the final fight to begin.
When you go to the galaxy map, you aren’t given the option to fly anywhere. Instead, you trigger a series of cutscenes where the Council impounds your ship, tells you that they aren’t going to go after Saren because it’s too dangerous (worst use of special forces ever), so now you and Captain Anderson must commit treason to save the galaxy. Nice way of upping the stakes, Bioware.
Now you make your way to the Prothean version of Troy: Ilos. On your way there, the person you romanced will seduce you, giving a nice pay off for that sub-plot - love in a time of crisis.
When you get to Ilos the crew argues of the best way to attack, but the Normandy’s skilled pilot Joker gets to show off his skills. The scene is well written and performed, but the editing takes away some of the tension as each line of dialogue pauses a beat between each character. You must choose your squad carefully as these are the two you’re stuck with until the game is done.
Once you’re down on the ground you need to find a way inside the bunker that Saren has locked down. If you have a technically skilled Shepard like Zoë, then you’ll have the chance to activate several of the more powerful Geth, and keep them as allies. It’s a nice touch, but it’s so easy to miss and not in a particularly large combat area, so it feels like a missed opportunity. Once the door to the bunker is open, you set off in the Mako down a long straight.
About half way down the straight you hear a very familiar tune: it’s the tune that plays at the main menu. It may not immediately resonate, but when it does spark there’s an emotional response.
Suddenly you’re trapped by two force fields. An ambush? No - an exposition dump. Shepard gets to talk to a Prothean computer intelligence, learning what the McGuffin we’ve spent the entire game pursuing actually is: a backdoor to the Citadel, and thus a way to gain control over the mass relay network. With no time to waste, Shepard and her team get back in the Mako and continue after Saren.
The next section is a series of shootouts with Geth anti-tank infantry and a couple of the bigger ones. The tension of the narrative manages to overcome the repetitive nature of the gameplay at this stage, but it’s a shame that the designers couldn’t improve this climax a little more.
Just when you see the Conduit, there’s a cutscene showing the Geth fleet and Sovereign attacking the Citadel. You only have a few seconds to get through before the gateway closes. Speeding by four giant Geth machines to make it with little time to spare is a thrilling moment, and a good way to finish off this part of the level.
Now to take a deep breath, gamers – we still have one more gameplay article to go in this series. Come back next time to see Zoë Shepard take down the traitorous Saren at last.
Next post we’ll explore the narrative and many gamers’ feelings towards how this game fits in with the series as a whole. (Hint: if you think the issues started with Mass Effect 3’s ending, there were even more that preceded.)
Until next time…
