Just finished the game. My (non-spoilerish) opinion :
The bad :
- The endings suck something huge. Really. I'd say 90 % of the "campaign discussions" in the Bioware forum is about how bad they are, and I agree. They are the new level of pathetically bad in a big franchise, and I'm pretty sure it's an achievement that will stand.
- The whole scam about Origin, forced multiplayer shoehorned in the game where it's absolutely not its place, day-1 DLC made of content which has been ripped from the original game to be sold separately (and Bioware outright LYING about it and saying it's been done after the game was finished, don't buy this crap, there is ample proofs that it wasn't the case, from leaked scripts from when the game was in development and already including the DLC's content, to much of the DLC content being actually on the CD even if you don't have bought and downloaded it), some art being shamefully ripped from images on the Net (by the same people crusading against piracy...) and, in general, grab for money at the expense of creator's integrity.
Regardless of the quality of the game, Bioware's actions have been a shame and they have lost all credibility in my eyes.
- The overall plot is bad, they used misplaced creativity when they should have gone for something classic, they used the usual stock deus ex machina when they should have used originality.
- Dialogues are neutered. Most of it is on autoplay, where Shepard just follows the script without your input, and sometimes against what you would have liked to say. There is only paragon/renegade answer, with no "neutral" ones, and most of the time it only changes the tone of the answer, not the actual answers.
- As a whole, the game feels too much like a movie and not enough like a game. The game is very linear, much more than the previous ones. There is a tons of AWFULLY long (and often unskippable...) cinematics where you can only interact once or twice. It's often extremely annoying. Samely, you often want to scream at the game "LET ME SAVE DAMNIT", as you regain control of your character only to directly enter a fight, to lose again the control for a cinematic just after this fight. Yes there is autosave, but in fact the game rely FAR too much on them.
- Previous choices in the serie don't seem to amount for much (but that's maybe just a feeling), and feel largely just change a few dialogues lines while the same situation is presented again, re-asking you to make the same choice.
- The "neverending waves" gameplay of DA2 is alive and kicking. Many missions are VERY tedious because of this.
- There is FAR too much fights against Cerberus. Seriously, they feel more powerful than entire Council races.
- The endings suck hard. Yeah, it deserves to be said twice. Or more.
The good :
- There is crapload of superb emotional moments in the game, especially if you take the "non-optimal renegade" options. Seriously, you can feel the anguish and self-loathing of Shepard when he makes some ugly choices that he feels are necessary.
To illustrate (rather big spoilers here) :
This is probably the best part of the game. F-ing great.
- The "galaxy at war" feeling is very well done. War Assets are a fun mechanic that make you feel every action matters.
- The FPS gameplay is more refined and more interesting than the previous iterations (which is nice, because there is really a crapload of fight in the game, far too much in my opinion). The challenge is good on hardcore.
- The good side of being too much like a movie and Shepard answering on his own, is that there is a strong narrative flow, and there is some awesome "broken hero" moment. Shepard really gets some depth here (just too bad not enough of it is due to the player's decisions).
- The overall plot is crap, BUT the mini-plots are very nice. Missions are varied and interesting and fitting well in the world.
- There is LOTS of dialogues from the companions, between themselves and during the missions. It makes the game feel more alive. Samely, the fact that the companions move from place to place is a nice idea that, again, makes it all feel more alive.
All in all, I'd say the game is somewhat disappointing, but somewhat great. There is a world of unexploited potential, which is an utter shame, but there is some golden moments.
"Hit or miss" is how I would define the game, as I don't know if I must bless them for the good parts, or curse them for ruining them with the bad ones.
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Wasn't really expecting something special.
James McMuscles Vega isn't as bad as I expected, but he isn't that amazing either and your pilot, Cortez, is kind of emo (or at least, he has barely talked about anything except his dead husband, if he had a lot more dialogue that wouldn't be so bad).
