Why the ending to Mass Effect 3 is actually awesome.

  When it comes to a sci-fi RPG video game series you can't get any more perfect than Bioware's Mass Effect Trilogy. Taking inspiration from almost every Science Fiction Movie and TV show there out there, this game series features elements that resemble Battlestar Galactica, Starwars, Firefly even Space Above and Beyond. not only are these game graphically superb, they contain a rich tapestry of lore that backs up an epic story line with diverse and amazing characters that make the journey of Mass Effect that more enjoyable. 

  The first Mass Effect game was released in 2007 and received massive amounts positive feedback, the game was awarded a 9.4 by IGN and won the Game Critics Awards' Best Role-Playing Game and many other for graphics, game play and soundtrack. 

  Mass Effect 2 was released in 2010 and received Best Game at the 2011 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards. The game was also given high praise for it extensive voice acting and interactive storytelling. it also featured the ability to transfer you saved data from the last game so that all of the choice you made in the first game had consequences in the sequels.

  Mass Effect 3 was released in 2012 and once again received high praise and was the quickest to produce due to it being the last chapter in the trilogy (or so we thought). But soon the game began receiving negative feed back on how they ended the game. This apparent controversy was so damning that Bioware had to add free extra content to the ending to make up for their "mistake". 

  To explain why Mass Effect 3's ending is actually genius you need to know the story of Mass Effect. 

  The term Mass Effect was explained by the game series' Project Director Casey Hudson: 

"Inside the game universe, mass effect is a newly discovered (for humans) physics phenomenon that has properties along the lines of other physics forces such as gravity and electromagnetism. It's what physicists in real life are currently calling "dark energy", as an explanation for the accelerating expansion of the universe — which has only recently been discovered and flies in the face of the previous notion that the universe’s expansion should be slowing down because of gravity."

In the year 2183 humanity is now a technologically advanced enough to travel the galaxy due to finding a beacon on Mars left behind by an ancient race called the Protheans. The discovery helped Humanity discover the Mass relays, giant space stations that slingshot ships across the galaxy.

  Even with great lengths that humnaity has come they're sti treated as a young race amongst the more experience races like The Asari, The Salarians and the Turians. In some cases Humanity have gone to war with them, this occurred with the Turians in what is now known as the "First Contact War" (Star Trek reference). There are many other races like The Volus, The Quarians and The warmongering Krogan, even with all of the differences they are all apart of The Alliance, a republic that is headed by a council of the three most experienced species and their elite soldiers known as Spectres (Jedi with guns). 

  The first Mass Effect begins on a starship named The SSV Normandy and Commander John/Jane Shepard are sent on mission to stop a rogue Turian spectre called Saren Arterius that is leading an army of sentient robots known as The Geth to bring the Galaxy and the Alliance to it knees. Whilst pursuing Saren Shepard gains new crew members most of them being alien like Garrus (Turian), Wrex (Krogan), Liara (Asari) and Tali (Quarian), all of them with own backgrounds and missions to complete and gain their loyalty. Soon Shepard learns that Saren is actually a puppet under the control of Sovereign, the vanguard of the ancient robotic race known as the Reapers. Soon its a race against time to stop Saren from taking the galaxy's hub The Citadel. Shepard and the crew of the Normandy defeat Saren and stop Sovereign from opening a wormhole and bringing the entire reaper armada through. Commander Shepard is hailed a hero and gets a human on the Alliance Council. 

  Mass Effect 2 is set two years after the events of ME1. Whilst on routine search for Geth stragglers the SSV Normandy is attacked by an unknown ship of colossal size. All of the original crew make it off the ship expect for Shepard, thought to be dead everyone moves on but actually Shepard's remains were picked up by a pro-Human paramilitary organization called Cerberus and they literally rebuild him from his remains which takes two whole years to perform. Cerberus informs Shepard that entire human colonies are going missing, they discover evidence pointing towards a species called Collectors (or Chigs). Shepard hesitantly teams up with Cerberus with suspicion due to their murky background, and because the Alliance have cut him loose he needs a new crew and ship. Garrus and Tali return to crew but the others ME1 characters do not and new characters like Miranda, Thane and Mordin join to fight the Collector threat. 

  Cerberus rebuilds the Normandy and they travel into the Terminus system (outlaw space) to hunt the Collectors and save the colonies. It soon discovered that the Collectors are actually Protheans that were transformed by the Reapers. The Collector command centre can only be reached by going through the Omega 4 relay which allegedly destroys anything that goes through it, Shepard and the crew survive the trip through the relay and mount a mission take the Collector base and destroy it or control it pending on choice of ending. Before they leave the Reaper controlling The Collectors states the Reapers are coming purge the Galaxy or intelligent life. 

  Mass Effect 3 opens on Earth with Shepard being detained for working with Cerberus, but the Reaper threat is imminent and only Shepard has a chance at stopping them. Earth gets hit by the Reapers and Shepard is ordered to go to the council to get help for Earth and unite the races to fight the Reapers. With all out war on various planets Shepard comes across Cerberus on various occasions causing problems and killing innocent live in the name of humanity. Shepard and his new crew featuring characters from both ME1 and ME2 travel the galaxy to gather a force big enough to retake Earth. The crew learn of a weapon that can destroy the Reapers in one move, but to build it they need "The Catalyst" which is soon discovered to be the Citadel. The battle for Earth is waged on two fronts one on the ground and the other in space. 

Whilst an epic space battle ensue around Earth's orbit Shepard meets the ground forces and prepares the final push to reach the Citadel and activate "The Catalyst" and destroy the Reapers. Shepard manages to get into the Citadel but suffers serious injuries in the process, whilst trying to find the "The Catalyst" Shepard instead comes across a hologram that tells Shepard that the Reapers were built to bring order to the galaxy when the current species become too advanced in fear of them destroying themselves and the galaxy with them. The Hologram gives Shepard a choice to either destroy, control the Reapers either way (spoiler alert) Shepard dies. But if Shepard chooses to destroy the Reapers all of the races live and a clip at the end shows an old man telling a child the story of "The Shepard".

    Now that we've got an idea what Mass Effect is about we can now get onto the controversy. When ME3 came out we all knew it could possibly be the last one and their would be an epic conclusion that would tie all of the loose ends which is standard in most epic story telling. The premise of Mass Effect is about how the choices you make effect the future games, ME3 did manage to answer all of the vital questions but the ending apparently didn't. 

  Many fans complained that ME3's ending didn't give you a choice (or an option to live), but the ending couldn't have been more perfect. ME1 was about exploring the Galaxy and stopping an evil alien from conquering the Milky Way, ME2 was about being screwed over by the Alliance and fighting for those who have been forgotten in the dangerous side of the galaxy and ME3 is about full scale war with billions of casualties, and that every decision you make could change an outcome in a battle. 

  Mass Effect 3's ending does in fact give you a choice, the genius of this is both choices are the right choice. If you control the Reapers they will destroy the most advanced races but they will leave the galaxy intact for future generations, but if you destroy them then its completely unknown what will happen but that's point, you can save the other races so that they have the chance to learn from history and work together. This choice is only possible because Shepard proved that a species can put the Galaxy before themselves and make the right choices that save the most lives. 

  The ending to ME3 couldn't have been more well thought out and that simply because they had damn good writers that know how to take ethics and morals then add severe consequences to them. The Mass Effect series as a whole is by far one of the best Sci-fi RPG's to date. Being a badass commander with a an awesome ship and going round the galaxy shooting up synthetics aliens and then getting down and freaky with you fellow crew members (heh, heh). I personally believe that so many ME3 buyer were annoyed with the ending simply because they couldn't understand it and didn't take the time to try.