It occurred to me as I was fooling around with Mass Effect 3 this week that I was, in the heat of the excitement, perhaps a bit hasty in glossing over some of the things that really ticked me off about this game.<br /><br />Don't get me wrongI stand by the high rating I gave it and I'm by no means suggesting the game was a percentage point or two away from perfection … but overall, it was darned close.<br /><br />Still, I wanted to address some of the things that I found particularly annoying in the hopes that we as video game <em>aficionados</em> can use our powers of persuasion to ensure the next Mass Effect franchise doesn't fall into the same traps:<strong><br /><br />Annoyance 1: Holy Crap I'm the Harbinger of Death!</strong><br /><br />OK. Really. Don't come near me. People around me have a tendency to die. Without giving away any spoilers, let's just say that Shepard's cohorts sure did have a tendency to pass away. One or two of them is fine … it can be a pretty traumatic thing when the story works well.<br /><br />But seriously, I felt like I was killing more people than the Reapers! Worse, some of the characters who die are the ones I've liked most from the very beginning.<strong><br /><br />Annoyance 2: Side-quests</strong><br /><br />There are a dizzying array of side-quests that are usually over in an instant and really don't add much to the overall experience … what makes it worse is that some of these side-quests can take an hour or more just to puzzle together. And without any hints to tell me where to go, I found myself wandering around the Citadel endlessly while searching for some specific place to be.<strong><br /><br />Annoyance 3: Cover, shoot, repeat</strong><br /><br />While the game did a pretty decent job of mixing it up a bit, by the third game Mass Effect's cover-and-shoot formula was starting to get a little dull. I found myself intentionally not taking cover simply to maintain the freedom to move around. Surprisingly, I found it to be quite enjoyable despite dying a little more often than necessary.<br /><br />I think in the next-gen consoles, we should at the very least see a little more diversity and creativity when it comes to these types of games.<strong><br /><br />Minor Annoyance: The Ending</strong><br /><br />I won't give anything away, but needless to say there's been a bit of an uproar over the ending, and perhaps rightfully so. Sometimes, I think video game creators try too hard to get cute with endings and end up fudging the whole process. It's OK to have a mildly clichéd conclusion … just look at HALO 3 for inspiration.<br /><br />OK. So there. A few annoyances addressed. We can move on now, and just in time for a slew of new games! Next up: Ninja Gaiden 3.
