Mass Effect 3 Single Player - Beware Many Spoilers

           This being the first post on the blog, I thought it would be very appropriate to hit the most controversial topic in gaming to this day, Mass Effect 3. I feel that with all these disputes over the ending of the game, many have forgotten about the rest of the game, and not just the last 5 minutes, which honestly are not all that bad.
         
Starting with the beginning of the game, many will notice that the faces have changed quite a bit from two. These changes work in some areas, and are very bad in others. Throughout the game, however, you will grow used to the changes in faces. The thing about the beginning of the game is that it opens up the player to the immense amount of emotion that the game immerses the player in. I can think of many moments in this game where shedding tears would not be uncalled for. It is the end of a trilogy, of course.
             Now I have heard many arguments that are for and against certain areas of game play in both 1 and 2, and Bioware addresses this issue beautifully. They manage to find a middle ground between both RPG and combat. Shepard now has access to more skills, and different variations of armor, while keeping the same combat system as ME2 in place. This makes a great combo of action and strategy.
             The biggest change i notice in ME3 is the change in difficulty. While many games like Fable and The Elder Scrolls are known to get easier as sequels develop, ME3 proves so be a significant challenge compared to ME2, because of the introduction of many enemies like the Brute and the Banshee.  Combat is fun and exhilarating with these new challenges that the game presents. Especially on higher difficulties.
             Returning to the story, the greatest issue that people have with this game is the ending. With its  plot holes,  confusing climax, and non diverse ending sequences, it proved to be a quite disappointing ending. With all this negativity about the ending however, I would like to inset some positive comments into the situation. For one, I thought the music at the end with both the fate of Anderson, and the Reapers was amazing. I had never been moved that much by music before in my life. At those moments, I truly felt that the trilogy was coming to a close. That's not so easy to do when you have spent many years developing a story from complete scratch.
            Aside from the music, unfortunately the rest of the ending was quite confusing. Many players were left puzzled with what the ending had exactly entailed. All mass relays were destroyed, but aren't they supposed to destroy all life in the system? How exactly did Shepard survive is the citadel was destroyed? What happened to all the forces that fought against the Reapers in space, and on earth? It seems that Bioware created more questions than they answered by the end of the game.
              Mass Effect 3, despite the ending, is a game worth playing. Seeing your favorite characters return from the previous games just feels very rewarding, and except for the ending, many different things can happen based on choices from previous games. The relationships and emotions in the game make the player truly feel part of the story, and with a game like Mass Effect, thats all that truly matters.