If you are looking into getting Mass Effect 3, you probably have heard plenty about the controversy over the ending. Many hate it, some like it; everyone is quite divided over the ending and it's influence on the game's quality as a whole.  Before I talk about that, let's get to the main body of the game itself.

ME3 still plays and feels like the former ME games, with it's squad playing style, dialogue options, level-up characteristics, and general gameplay. With ME3 you can choose to play more of a role-playing character (with more dialogue options) or a shooter character (less dialogue, more action), or a combination of the two. That option alone is a nice addition to the game for someone who has played the ME games before or who is just getting into it with ME3. If you are playing ME3 without playing the other two, please get the other two and play them first.  Overall the game feels like the other games playthrough wise, although compared to ME2 there is less exploring available.  One of my favorite parts of ME2 was scanning all of the different planets and galaxies for elements and resources, which took quite a bit of time but was very enjoyable. In ME3, you can really only scan a planet at all if you have a quest or side-quest that leads you to it.  The Normandy (the ship you operate from) seems a little less detailed and it is actually a little different and slower to move around in, but still feels like you are back into the action of the previous games.  The enemies are not too varied and you end up fighting the same types of enemies a lot, but at least they provide many different levels of strength.  Some enemies take simply a melee or two, some take an entire ammo's worth of shotgun to the face.  

The storyline still drew me in as much as ME1 and ME2 did, but there was always something that felt different this time.  Not really much hope.  A little darker, and little more challenging.  Now we go into the ending.

The entire game seems to mess with you as a game-player more than I have seen and felt in playing many other games.  There are many decisions you have to make that really affect the rest of the game and your Galactic Readiness (the level at which you prepare the galaxy for the Reaper attack...). It is easy to get emotionally into these decisions, and I found myself at times thinking over a seemingly simple decision for 5 to 10 minutes.  The ending (hopefully without any spoilers) is quite a decision-fest, which some say ends too abruptly.  Personally, I liked what they did with the ending and respected the developers for making it that way, but I didn't really enjoy it, and I didn't necessarily feel fulfilled by the ending. It did make me think more about what I had done and what would come from my decisions in the game, which is why I still liked and respected the ending but didn't really enjoy the way it played out.  We knew that ME was going to be a trilogy and that somehow it would come to a close, but I never thought it would be like this.  It really is interesting to see all of the debate over the ending, as it is just so vastly different in feel to anything else.  I think you will need to play it for yourself to experience it, and to know what I mean when I say I like it but don't enjoy it.

This game also for PC runs from Origin, a program that seems to try to be like Steam.  It runs well, but seems unnecessary. Not complaints though.

Overall, I would recommend this game, but please go into it with an open mind and try to ignore any preconceived ideas about it before you play.

Recommended: Yes