Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 is an action role-playing game in which the player takes control of Commander Shepard from a third-person perspective. Shepard's gender, appearance, military background, combat training, and first name are determined by the player before the game begins. If the player has a completed saved game from Mass Effect 2, the character from that game can be imported. By importing an old character, decisions from prior Mass Effect titles are carried over, which impacts the plot of Mass Effect 3.

Similar to previous installments in the series, the player is able to choose from six different character classes that each have their own unique set of skills. For example, the Infiltrator class is proficient in stealth and sniping abilities whereas biotics-inclined classes possess psychokinetic powers. By completing assignments and quests, the player is rewarded with experience points. Once enough points are earned, Shepard levels up, which allows for the unlocking or upgrading of skills along a tree.

The Mass Effect trilogy is set within the Milky Way galaxy during the 22nd century, where interstellar travel is possible through the use of mass transit devices called mass relays, a technology believed to have been built by an extinct alien race known as the Protheans. A conglomerate body of governments known as the Citadel Council controls a large percentage of the galaxy and is responsible for maintaining law and order among races of the galactic community. Races that belong to the Citadel Council include humans, Asari, Salarians and Turians. Other alien races include the warlike reptilian Krogan, the nomadic environmental suited Quarians, and their wayward creations, a race of networked artificial intelligences known as the Geth.

Mass Effect 3 begins in 2186, six months after the events of Mass Effect 2. The galactic community lives in fear of an invasion by Reapers, a highly advanced machine race of synthetic-organic starships that are believed to eradicate all organic civilization every 50,000 years. Meanwhile, the krogan face extinction because of the genophage, a genetic mutation developed by the Salarians and deployed by the Turians as a bioweapon to contain the Krogan; the Quarians prepare to retake their homeworld from the Geth; and the human supremacist terrorist organization Cerberus is regrouping after a temporary alliance with Commander Shepard to defeat the Collectors, indoctrinated and genetically modified remnants of the Prothean race who were abducting human colonies. Shepard has been relieved of duty and is confined on Earth, awaiting court-martial by the Systems Alliance.

Mass Effect 3 was developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts (EA). Similar to previous installments in the series, the game was directed by Casey Hudson, who originally created the franchise along with BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka. It was the first game in the franchise without the involvement of Microsoft Game Studios, the original publisher of the first two titles and BioWare's long-time partner.

Early stages of development on Mass Effect 3 began before Mass Effect 2 was released. Because Mass Effect 3 was designed for consoles that were nearing the end of their lifespans, BioWare focused more on optimizing gameplay and storytelling than pushing the technology forward. Throughout the design process, the company referenced critical feedback to help guide their creative decisions, an approach they also utilized for Mass Effect 2. For example, many fans complained that role-playing systems in Mass Effect 2 were oversimplified, so BioWare added back more character customization options. Another major strategy was to make Mass Effect 3 more user-friendly for new players, something that BioWare felt they did a bad job of in Mass Effect 2.

Upon release, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Mass Effect 3 received "universal acclaim" while the Windows and Wii U versions received "generally favorable reviews" from video game publications, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game finished with scores of 93 out of 100, making Mass Effect 3 the highest-rated game of 2012 on both systems.

Critics felt that Mass Effect 3 was a satisfying conclusion to the Mass Effect trilogy. In a perfect review for Eurogamer, Dan Whitehead praised the game for providing a definitive close to the saga instead of something more ambiguous or open-ended. Writing for Game Informer, Andrew Reiner proclaimed that BioWare had created one of the most "intricately crafted" stories in the history of video gaming. Tom Francis of PC Gamer (US) remarked that the finale was a "mixed bag", but ultimately praised its scale and emotional impact, which he felt was more satisfying than its main plot.

In the years following its release, Mass Effect 3 has received retrospective attention, with much of it focusing on the ending controversy. For example, a 2017 article by James Davenport of PC Gamer opined that the game's ending received an "inordinate" amount of criticism, and while he agreed that the ending was "problematic", he also noted that fixating on the ending could distract players from other aspects of the game. In 2018, Lucy O'Brien of IGN posited that BioWare's cooperative response to "Retake Mass Effect" contributed to a paradigm shift in how consumers influence video game developers. She ultimately concluded that the movement "helped lift up the velvet rope that once stood between gamer and game-maker." Wes Fenlon of PC Gamer suggested that the popularity of the game's multiplayer mode helped popularize loot boxes, "the worst monetization gimmick of the 2010s" in his opinion, and made it a mainstream feature in the video game industry.

Despite the controversies surrounding the game, some publications have cited Mass Effect 3 as one of the greatest video games of all time and as one of the best or most important games of the 2010s. In November 2012, the game was included in Time's list of the top 100 video games of all time, and in 2018, it was named among the greatest games of all time by Game Informer. By 2019, Mass Effect 3 was ranked as one of the best video games of the 2010s by VG247, Forbes, and Den of Geek. That same year, Eurogamer listed the character Mordin's final scene as one of their favorite moments of the decade. Mass Effect 3 was also identified by VentureBeat as one of the defining games of the 2010s due to the "firestorm of fans, press, and developers converging into an absolute mess of internet culture" over its ending, and its multiplayer mode, which ultimately became an unexpected monetary success.