While still very strong and visually impressive, didn’t quite stack up (and everything after was questionable at best).
Is it the best Mass Effect? No, not quite – as I said the first time I played it, Mass Effect has followed the same pattern as Star Wars: the original trilogy’s second episode was the high point and the third. But the bulk of its 50+ hours are the same, and on the whole it’s as much of a gut-punching, head-scratching continuation of the trilogy as ever.
Granted, the endings were revised to be both clearer and a bit more nuanced since – and they still aren’t all that good. Having finished Mass Effect 3 Legendary Edition, it’s hard to fathom why this excellent action role-playing game was quite so controversial when it came out in 2012.