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Tell Me Why I Ought to Buy Mass Effect 3

Forewarned is forearmed, I’m about to do my ranty indie hipster thing.

I’m not sold on Mass Effect 3. There, I said it. A very unpopular opinion, of that there can be no doubt. Don’t get me wrong, I adored Mass Effect 1, and played through Mass Effect 2 at least three times before grinding to a halt about halfway through insanity difficulty because everything took so long to kill. This is not a series I’m predisposed to disliking. I adore space opera. Alastair Reynolds and Isaac Asimov are my two favourite authors. This should be the ultimate thing for me. The thrilling climax to a series I thoroughly enjoy in a genre I can’t get enough of. But every single time anyone mentions 3 now, all I can muster is a huge feeling of “meh”. Why?

Yes, I tend to steer clear of the major AAA titles these days. I’m not denying that. I won’t touch Skyrim or Deus Ex, much less anything like Call of Duty or Battlefield. It’ll tell you the last title I paid more than £10 for: Halo CE Anniversary. A big title, certainly, and ultimately if we’re frank little more than a glorified map pack, particularly when you consider I already have Halo CE. The one notable difference between that and every other title I’ve mentioned so far? I didn’t realise the game was coming out until about a week before launch, at which point I ordered it off Amazon and forgot about it ’til it dropped through the mailbox. The others you saw coming several miles away with a horde of metaphorical heralds trumpeting to the entire world. Between advertising, previews, reviews, interviews and the mainstream masses clogging up every discussion forum with it I was burnt out on the product before it even shipped. I just didn’t want to know any more.

I know correlation doesn’t equal causation, I’m not an idiot, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was a link between how much you force feed me your marketing before launch and how much I will resist buying it.

So here we are. It launches tomorrow. £40 for a game I’m already of tired of hearing about. I do want to play it, really. I know I’d enjoy it, and I certainly don’t want it spoiling for me by some big mouthed internet-type person. It’s very hard to justify £40, as well, especially when part of me feels like I wouldn’t want to play it. I’m currently enjoying Sequence; that set me back all of £2. And then Spiral Knights, SMNC, and Realm of the Mad God; all of which are free unless I feel like going out of my way to drop money on them. Stacking just launched at £8 and that’s currently downloading.

That’s my stance then: Don’t tell me to buy your stuff, I’ll decide for myself and you pushing me will only put me off. And certainly give me a reasonable price point for the content you’re offering. When I can get 20-40 hours entertainment out of a game that’s 5% of the cost it certainly looks a lot more attractive. It also means I can afford to take a risk on it, I’m not out of pocket badly if it’s no good.

I do want someone to sell me on Mass Effect 3 though. That’s the point I’m belabouring. Give me a good reason why it’s totally going to be worth £40 (plus DLC). Someone needs to make me not entirely bitter and jaded. Otherwise the plan is to wait a year and pick up a GOTY edition with all the DLC built in for like £5 preowned, and that’s even if I still care at all by that stage. Go on, leave me a message in the comments as to why I should leave my comfortable indie bubble.

GLHF

~Meroka

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