While there are way fewer squad-mates than in ME2, they offer many skills to choose from and match to your personal tastes. Almost all companions are potential ‘love interests', to the point where it seems this feature was a priority when deciding on the cast. Sadly, there's no Krogan party member this time.

Being the trilogy's finale, Mass Effect 3 offers resolutions and follow-ups to various story arcs from previous games. Some of them are an impressive display of storytelling and attention to player choice, while others are somewhat lacklustre, with near-identical replacement characters showing up to take the place of those who did not survive. Still, the sheer amount of effort put into creating a coherent player-affected narrative between the three games warrants respect.

However, it's impossible to defend some plot points, especially Cerberus' ridiculous omnipresence and Shepard's unexplainable plan to stop the Reapers. The contrivances felt in ME2 are back in force, as the game often ignores previously established concepts or forces players to helplessly watch certain events.

Gameplay-wise, Mass Effect 3 is basically the same as ME2, but more polished in every way. The action part feels better than ever with gunplay easily on par with contemporary shooters and a variety of characters' abilities introducing another layer to the combat dynamic. All the classes have been changed and rebalanced, encouraging players to try out new builds and allowing for vastly different playstyles.

In addition, Shepard is now much less restricted when it comes to loadout, as every class is able to use every weapon. Weapons can also be customised by modifying them with various components, such as extended magazines or accuracy-improving scopes. These welcome changes allow for some very interesting and fun combinations of guns and abilities.