We Want to Continue the Fight! - By Anderson Ofiyai

“Mass Effect 4 leaves Shepard behind” – By Eddie Makuch

I remember holding my Xbox controller in disbelief, as I watched the end credits roll on what I felt was an unsatisfying ending to Mass Effect 3. Never did I imagine that I would be left doing the same thing after playing their DLC, which promised answers for the fans previous outrage. The truth was that Commander Shepard is gone. In recent news, it’s even been confirmed that he won’t be coming back either with talks of a new Mass Effect circulating. 

With such a promising franchise on the rise, Mass Effect was looking to be a top contender in the industry for games to come. However, their somewhat abrupt and disappointed ending to their latest game, not only left fans angry but also brought into question the direction of the company’s future. The problem wasn’t killing off Commander Shepard; it was how they went about doing it.

The thing that made mass effect great was the ability players had to carry through with the decisions they made through each of the games.  In my opinion, this is what drew many of the fans to the game in the first place, or what kept them loyal throughout the years. The magic moment would have been being able to see all those decisions ultimately come to a conclusion for Commander Shepard and his fight against the Reapers. However, despite this promise of choice, there really didn’t seem to be one at all. No matter what the player did throughout their 5 year play through with Shepard, it seemed to all end the same. The most important factor to the games story was merely an illusion, and they surely picked a shoddy time to drop the ball.

Why let such an iconic persona in the gaming world of late, end in such an unfavorable way? It’s unclear what happened and there probably won’t be an answer for many of the questions that fans may have. Perhaps there were time restraints, issues with working in all the choices into making endings that make sense, who knows. What is painfully obvious is that the fans aren’t happy with Mass Effect 3, and that will play a large role in who may even be interested in buying the next installment in the franchise. It’s hard investing so much into a story that leaves you ultimately disappointed, but sadly in some cases that’s simply the result.

Kudos to Mass Effect and Bio Ware for being able to bring enjoy ability to the gaming community, but I think I speak for many when I say the fight still isn’t over. Give Shepard another chance.