GameInformer: Why Mass Effect 3 Is Our Game Of The Year

In this video feature, Joe Juba, Kim Wallace, Bryan Vore, and Jeff Marchiafava discuss Game Informer's choice for the best game of 2012.

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

That game was absolutely horrible. I loved the second one. And now that the first one is on psn I might pick that up since everyone says that one was the best, but i still haven't finished me3 and quite frankly I don't want to....... cuz it's not fun.

Edit:

.... and it's not an rpg.

[Aloren]

It was great, esp after the extended cut. I'm glad it's getting some awards, some reactions were absolutely ridiculous.

[DOMination-]

I agree. The game was great. The last ten minutes weren't the greatest but hey, no game is perfect. People should really move on about moaning about the endings. Its been nearly a year.

[NeXXXuS]

i really just hated the ending. the extra ending was bittersweet but i liked that a lot more than what they originally gave for ending options.

[Awesome_Gamer]

Far Cry 3 and Max Payne 3 were better imo..

[Irishguy95]

It was great, the last 10 mins sucked(including the extended cut). The game was still great.

Although it certainly isn't even close to Goty. Imo. Better games out this year/ I think any publication that disagree's with that is a sham, actually, any publication that defended ME3's ending is a sham, Gaffers did call it right as Shanks below shows

[Godmars290]

ME1 might have been an RPG - I have yet to play it either but that was the word - but yes, ME2 is certainly more of a shooter.

Bring back planetary exploration, introduce some factions whom you can get on the right and wrong side of, or just some kind of ship combat with some kind of actually mod element, and then we can talk.

@DOMination-:
Its not just the last ten minutes. The game actually has several issues, signs that it was a rushed and lazy job like everything having to do with side-quest, is just the the ending is painfully notable.

[crazysammy]

It's too bad you didn't enjoy it as much as you did the rest of the series. Just remember GI is an opinion piece, and its opinion is that ME3 was game of the year.

I often equate the ending of ME3 to the ending of the TV show Lost. (No Spoilers) They left the ending open for interpretation because they knew they could never please everyone. What they did was leave it very foggy and let the viewer decide what happened.

You may not agree with the choice, but it is what they did. Bioware did the same with ME3. They were trying to be controversial, but at the same time trying to make an ending everyone could relate to.

Also I consider the entire game of ME3 to be the ending of the series, not just the last 15 minutes. It took the formula it made popular (Recruit team members and then win) and upped the ante. You were no longer recruiting people for a mission, but entire races for a war. I loved the game, and loved the finale.

Of course I am not trying to convince you that you should like it. It sucks you paid money and were disappointed with what you got. I just wanted to share that not everyone feels that way, and that is our opinion.

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

The ending wasn't my concern. As I stated before I didn't even finish the game. I haven't seen the ending. And I realize already that this is merely GI's opinion. This isn't my first time on the internet. I was just merely stating MY opinion..... and I pulled no punches.

[Hydralysk]

"What they did was leave it very foggy and let the viewer decide what happened."

My problem wasn't that I wasn't able to get my closure, my problem was that they contradicted their established plot in such obvious ways and then told us we were entitled brats when we asked for them to pay attention to their own writing.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Crazysammy has it right. It's an opinion. Personally, I enjoyed the entire series. The second being my favorite. I just hope they seriously do justice with the next entry.

[aliengmr]

This is kind of why the GOTY title is so worthless IMO. At the end of the day its just another opinion. One that completely ignores that many fans were outraged and that Bioware actually added content to remedy the situation. Pretty much admitting mistakes were made.

Regardless of whether you agree with the outrage or not, it was there and it was pretty hard to miss. It makes the GOTY title worthless to give it to a game that had that level of outrage.

I maintain that if the ending were just a matter of opinion, there would be no extended cut.

[Enemy]

The ending was my biggest gripe with the game, but a lot of really good games this generation have cringeworthy endings. Mass Effect 3 is far from horrible, and an improvement over the just-okay Mass Effect 2.

[linkenski]

I think it's the autodialogue that killed ME3 for me. But i wouldn't say it's a bad game at all. Just not as good as i expected.

I hope Bioware goes more RPG with ME4.

[googergieger]

Money, money, money, money....

MONEY!

[Daves]

No Money no Games.

Do you think people make games for charity?

No, the publishers do it to make money. The programmers, artist, designers, producers and audio guys to earn a living.

[googergieger]

What? Article is titled why Game Informer chose Mass Effect 3 for its GOTY. My answer to that was, money. I.E. they got paid off. Your reply makes absolutely no sense to what I said.

[Daves]

Fair enough. Yep, I look a bit of an idiot in misunderstanding your reason for typing 'money'.

I thought you were dissing ME3 and DLC etc.

Which you are in a round-a-bout way! I think its well deserved win. It's all subjective though.

It's my game of the year in that it's pretty much all I have played all year since going back to PC gaming.

[deafdani]

Really? Mass Effect 3 also happen to be my personal GOTY, very closely followed by Xenoblade Chronicles. And Bioware sure as shit didn't pay me a single cent to have this opinion.

So, why can't Game Informer have the same opinion as I do, and numerous other people do, without being labeled as sell outs? Simply because they actually write about videogames for a living?

Logic, what's that?

[googergieger]

It is a joke Daves and deafdani. Still more people disliked the game than liked it. Still the game was flawed beyond the ending. Still all the nine out of ten and perfect score reviews, have been and were unable to really justify that score. I mean ignoring the dialogue throughout that read like a James Cameron script writing for dummies mad lib book. Ignoring the then forced multiplayer for the best galactic readiness score. And ignoring one of the laziest and pulled out of nowhere endings ever. You have a game that was the end of a trilogy that should be judged accordingly. In which case Rachni should have been a huge problem. In which case the treatment of damn near every character in ME2 should have been a huge problem. In which case the forced one dimensional turn the few characters from the series that carried over throughout the three or two games should have been a huge problem. The nature of be nice in the conversation wheel equaled being romantically interested in people, while the other option was to just be indifferent or an a-hole should have also been a problem. The noticeably rushed product and half arsed attempt of a video game we got should have been a huge problem. Heck Mass Effect 2 being made a stand alone game, because it sure as heck is pointless in the trilogy because of ME3, should have been a huge problem. Mass Effect 3 being given game of the year from a magazine or a critic, is the equivalent of the latest Twilight winning the Oscars. Great for you, if you as a fan of Hollywood movies, considered that your personal favorite movie of the year. But people that should know better, should actually know better...

And as I have three bubbles, I guess that will be it for me. So have a good one. Good on you for enjoying the game. I sold it back within a week, and ended up playing other games myself. Until Bioware gives me better, I'll be done with them as well. Which is all you can do. Good on you for liking what they gave you though. I'm sure Dragon Age 3: We didn't learn our lesson with 2 and Mass Effect 4: Na seriously we didn't learn our lesson after our past three disasters, will be more of the same.

[Sketchy_Galore]

I wasn't as outraged by the game as most people but for me it was just.... there. I bought a digital copy, played through it, deleted it without bothering to download the extended cut ending even though it had been out for a while by that time. I thought the ending was alright, but then I thought the game was just alright. I couldnt point out one thing I hated about it but nothing in it really excited me, I just put it down to Mass effect fatigue after playing the first two. It was an alright time-passer of a game but not even close to a spot on my game of the year list.

[Shanks]

ROFL, the gaffers called it!
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

[aliengmr]

It is my opinion that much of the problems folks had with ME3, the ending or the entire game, had to do with being on a deadline. Not enough time and planning went into crafting the overall plot.

The extended cut was an acknowledgment that there were flaws. If they really believed in it, they wouldn't have done anything. They had most of the gaming media on their side and would have totally supported not changing a thing. But they went ahead and added to it.

It pretty clear the ending cinematic was rushed. That it was allowed to ship with it, was crazy.

I don't believe ME3 should receive low scores based on just the ending. But I don't think it should be rewarded for it either.

[KonaBro]

Currently going through the game for the first time and while it has had its moments here and there so far, no way would I give this GotY over The Walking Dead or Journey. It's just GI pandering for that sponsorship money like always.

[Lucreto]

I loved the game as it remined me of the Suikoden series.

[mistajeff]

Spoilers for ME3

The biggest let-down for me wasn't the ending. In fact, if the indoctrination theory turns out to be true, I think the ending could potentially be absolute genius.

What disappointed me was the way they slap the player in the face in regards to their past choices. Did you kill the rachni queen, or save her? Doesn't matter. That scene plays out the same, except if you killed her, they throw in a line about her being a reaper clone of a rachni. Did you revive Legion, or hand him back to cerberus? It doesn't matter, that scene plays out the same, except they throw in a line where shepard says "oh hey, aren't you that geth we recovered from that derelict reaper?" Did you give Anderson the council seat instead of Udina? Doesn't matter, Udina's the councilor regardless. Not every choice is handled this poorly, but a good chunk of the big ones are, and THAT'S what bothered me more than anything else.

[animegamingnerd]

also how it pretty much if you think of it the ending also made the point of collectors completely pointless

[mistajeff]

yeah, the collectors only really made sense in karpyshyn's original story arc, where the purpose of the reapers was to combat the spread of dark energy. since shepard fucked up their plan by stopping sovereign, and since they were desperate for a new reaper to help their cause, they had to use the collectors to begin construction for them in a last-ditch effort. but since bioware abandoned the dark energy plot, it makes substantially less sense.

[Rupee]

Eeeeeeeexactly. This^^^

[linkenski]

But the choice at the ending would've been wether you would sacrifice the entire human race to fix the problem, or kill the reapers and let the dark energy spread. It would have been bad too.

[SageHonor]

I didnt' think the game as a whole was that good

[Daves]

After spending a couple of hundred hours in MP... I have just started an Insanity play through.

I love this game. They have removed the bits that used to annoy... driving around on planets > scanning for resources (even worse).

They removed a little RPG I agree, but it's still a beautiful RPG / action game. (PC)

[Pintheshadows]

For me ME3 felt more like a standalone game than the ending to a trilogy. It seemed like a much loved TV show (Red Dwarf) that had been gone for a while. When it returned it was seemingly going for a new audience, despite the old audience waiting in anticipation.

Choices made in previous games became unimportant, the intriguing Cerberus became pantomime villains, the Collectors were meaningless, and they shoved a Prothean in (presumably so people who started with 3 knew what a Prothean was). Even though it featured the familiar characters I thought it felt oddly detached from 1 and 2. I did still enjoy it up to London, which I found to be underwhelming after the likes of Cerberus's assault on the Citadel.

I've had my say on the ending before. I'm not entitled. I paid for the game and expected something coherent. I got a Deus Ex Machina and alot of canon-contradicting nonsense. Our money helps pay the writer's wages so it should of been a lot better.

Saying all that, as an action game it was solid, but it hardly lit my world on fire.

[MacDonagh]

Y'know what?

I don't even care anymore.

If you're all honest with yourself and take the ending out of the equation; you'd see that the game has some serious flaws.

Besides, every game journalist gave ME3 stellar scores. Do you really think that they are going to try and ignore a "perfect game" like ME3?

Whatever. I'm through with Mass Effect.

[palaeomerus]

I enjoyed XCOM: Enemy Unknown quite a bit more than I did Mass Effect III.

[Pintheshadows]

Good pick. I find it hard to choose but due to its emergent gameplay and fresh take on the FPS genre i'd go with Far Cry 3 I think. Although Borderlands 2, Dragon's Dogma, Dishonored, Rainbow Moon and Max Payne 3 all deserve mentions as well.

[medman]

I've played alot of games this year, and of what I have played Mass Effect 3 is my favorite experience by far. I haven't played every game, so I can't say if there has been a better game out there, but to me there is little fault to be found with ME3 overall. ME1 was the reason I bought a 360 early in it's life cycle, along with the original gears of war. The Mass Effect series is by far my favorite trilogy in the history of my gaming experience, which is quite extensive and includes a plethora of consoles through the years, including the ps3 and 360 this gen. Mass Effect 3 has so many little moments of discovery and surprising character interaction for those of us who invested the time into the series over the years and have affection for the galaxy and characters Bioware has created. I found myself laughing at many interactions between characters. The writing is brilliant and there are many moments to be found in the game for those who take the time to explore. For example, the conversation between Garrus and James outside Liara's room when they are trading war stories back and forth all while insulting each other (in jest). There are many moments, some emotional, I will never forget. On one of my many playthroughs, one of my favorites (Tali) commits suicide because of my choices. I love Liara. I love Tali. That outcome shocked me. I genuinely felt bad and felt the loss of one of my favorites. For a game to elicit emotion and real empathy for so many gamers is a credit to what Bioware has created. That is the legacy the game will leave with me and with millions of others. Ten years from now, I will still remember some of these moments. That is good videogame design. That is a good trilogy.

[jakmckratos]

Reason#1:Because we enjoy pissing everyone off.

Reason#2:There are no other good reasons

[Nac]

I did enjoy 95% of ME3, but even then, Journey is the best thing released this year.

[NirvanaInChains]

That game sucked so much balls that i stopped playing mid game. Only finished it a month or two later for the lame story. waste of time.

[InTheLab]

The last 3rd of the game was shit and the entire game conveniently wrapped up a 200 year war and a 1k year plague in the span of 2 weeks. Forget about the ending. The whole game was a mess aside from the shooting.

I'm sure this is just a way to convince readers that these people know what they're talking about after almost all critics glanced over how shit the ending was, and how they defended it for months.

There's no way in hell ME3 is better than Farcry 3 or Dishonored...

[Megaton]

Game was ok. Could have and should have been much better. The last couple hours were the worst of the entire franchise. I'd rather spend that time riding elevators on the Citadel.