ea Mass Effect 3 ships 3.5 million

[Muhammad Farrukh]

EA confirms first-week worldwide shipment total for trilogy-capping role-playing game;

developer cofounder calls it "the best game BioWare has ever made."

If Mass Effect 3 turns out to be Commander Shepard's final game outing, at least the series protagonist is going out with a bang. Electronic Arts today announced that the BioWare-developed sci-fi action role-playing game--which debuted in North America on Tuesday--has already shipped more than 3.5 million units worldwide.

In a statement congratulating the developers who worked on the game, BioWare cofounder Ray Muzyka put the game on a pedestal above the company's efforts, such as the Dragon Age series and December's Star Wars: The Old Republic. "We are all incredibly proud of Casey Hudson and the teams in Edmonton and Montreal for delivering the best game BioWare has ever made," Muzyka said.

Mass Effect 3 is the final entry in the RPG trilogy, but it's not necessarily the final game in the series. It follows Commander Shepard and a crew of teammates as they battle invading Reapers on Earth and in space.

GameSpot

[gkl]

Nice. Even though the very beginning was a bit of a letdown for me and it has some weird design decisions, I'm loving it!

That DLC was bull**** for the price EA charged though...

[Muhammad Farrukh]

That DLC was bull**** for the price EA charged though...

Really? I haven't played it yet, but some of my friends on 360 and PS were praising it.

[Reacon]

7 hours in and I think it's not worth continuing.

The previous two games I went into and spent over 8 hrs in single playsessions. The sheer intensity of the plot, the twists and characters, and depth in them was amazing. The beginning of ME2 was honestly a very creative way to transition from ME1 and add the major plot twist that was Cerberus. All of the characters had their own unique motives, pasts, and personalities.

All of this is missing in ME3. The only thing I really like in it are the characters from previous games, that retain a fraction of their original attitude. The old characters lack the magic they used to have, and the new ones are shallow and unintelligent.

The writing caters to the type of player that wants every dialogue option to be the "right" option. That type of person that wants to be cast into some super hero's body that always has the best comebacks and puts everyone rightfully in their place.

Yet somehow this superhero is torn by remose that was unsuccessfully conveyed onto the player. The result is Shepard, who is supposed to be the player (since it's a ROLL PLAYING GAME, after all), constantly feels regret in leaving earth, when the player has conflicting feelings to the person they're supposed to be. Because, of course, the player knows that what they're doing is a thousand times more important than a hopeless battle for Earth that cannot be swayed by a single ground soldier.

Giving Shepard his own thoughts and narrowing the dialogue options really brings this game in to even less of an RPG, and more of a shooter with a decent story and universe. Closer to an on rails experience.

I used to be an avid fan of the series, and honestly, I don't feel like I'm missing much by quitting this one.

[compl3x]

There was no doubt this was going to be a huge money spinner for them. It's a good series with a lot of fans.

Now, bioware, EA, deal with Dragon Age. We'll forget number 2 if you make a great number 3.

[JaredFrost]

..

I agree, I've completed the game, and Mass Effect 3 falls short of the greatness of the previous two, this one felt very small, with very little choice.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

Nice. Even though the very beginning was a bit of a letdown for me and it has some weird design decisions, I'm loving it!

That DLC was bull**** for the price EA charged though...

I feel like it is worth it alone for his lines on the different races, the salarian one is the best. I did agree with the start being bad. I think it would have been awesome to control him through a trial.

[Gerowen]

So far I'm loving it, and I thought the opening was awesome.

My wife cried when the ships that the little boy was riding in got blown up.

[gkl]

I feel like it is worth it alone for his lines on the different races, the salarian one is the best.

That line was pretty awesome, I can agree with you there. Especially the way he said it. But still, it's more expensive than Kasumi and the mission itself is pretty meh. It's kinda like Zaeed but that one was available for free.