So here we are on the eve of the launch of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which is of course, a Remaster (Not a Remake!) of the original trilogy. As a long time fan of the series with multiple Legendary difficulty clears of each game under my belt, I thought it would be fun to rank every game in the series. Now I know most fans have very strong opinions on why THEIR favorite game is the best and blah blah blah who the hell am I to suggest otherwise? However, I am going to try to be as objective as I possibly can in an article ranking things according to my own personal preference… Talk about an exercise in futility, amirite? So with all that out of the way, let’s get started!

6. Mass Effect Andromeda (Launch)

What? #6? THERE ARE ONLY 4 GAMES!!!! Okay hear me out on this, for the two most divisive games in the series I have decided to split them up into 2 categories: The game at launch (that is to say with no patches and DLC) and the game in its current, pre-remaster state. Why only 2 games and not all of them? Mainly because these 2 games in particular felt incomplete and rushed at launch, and actually NEED the DLC to work. While the other 2 games had DLC that added some cool stuff and new characters, the DLC wasn’t necessary-even though it was usually bundled in anyway. The patches and DLC for these games absolutely transforms them. They feel like completely different games. Additionally, there are many people who played at launch, were seriously upset and disappointed, and never picked the games up again. I want them to know that I think their opinions are more-or-less correct, but the games have gotten better since then.

So anyway, the bottom of the list should come as no surprise to anyone. Mass Effect: Andromeda at launch was a largely unplayable shit-show of a game. There were numerous bugs and glitches, many of which were game-breaking even during the course of simple normal play(and took quite a while to fix to boot)… and don’t get me started on the facial expressions. *shudders*

If you want a quick laugh you can check out the video compilation we made of some of the glitches below/

@itsdemboys
Watch until the end for the glitches! ##glitch ##glitchy ##funny ##videogame ##gamer ##masseffect ##masseffectandromeda ##meme ##comedy
♬ original sound - It’s DemBoys

I’d say being virtually unplayable at worst and the stuff cringe compilations are made of at best lands the Mass Effect: Andromeda launch version very far behind the rest in the overall running.

5. Mass Effect 3 (Launch)

Sadly even the finished version doesn’t fix this in a satisfying way.

While certainly nowhere near as bad as Andromeda at launch (I mean, at least you could play ME:3 when it first hit the shelves) this one still had its problems that held it back big time compared to the other two. While not particularly glitchy, this entry in the series still feels rushed out the doors big time and it suffered greatly for it. I say that it “feels rushed” because despite actually releasing a year after it was supposed to, they still had to cut large amounts of planned content from the game, much of which was added later as DLC, which we will get to later.

Seriously having to hop onto the EA website to do this was such BS.

One of the other major issues this game suffered from was the whole “Galactic Readiness” system at the game’s core. On the surface it seems okay, all your decisions in the trilogy contribute to the galactic readiness score, the higher it is,, the better your chances of fighting off the Reaper invasion. The problem though, is that in order to make full use of your points you have to either play multi-player or use a boring browser based mini-game(not really a game, but we’ll call it that for lack of a better term) on EA’s website. I can’t help but feel like if they had just not bothered with the multiplayer mode (THAT could have been DLC) and integrating that mini-game they would have had time to work more on the single-player campaign.

Then there’s the ever maligned ending. It is just 100% super anti-climactic. There’s no proper final boss fight. Just Marauder Shields trying desperately with all of his common enemy might to finish you off and save you from the disappointment to follow truly he is the real hero… Alas, if you manage to get past this paragon of mediocrity all that awaits you after this long journey is a simple 3-way split choice… a choice which at the time of launch really only affected the color of the laser beam being shot. All of those other hard decisions you had to make, who lives, who dies, who you ally with and who you don’t. All of that amounts to nothing.

4. Mass Effect

Solidly in the middle of the pack is the original Mass Effect. Some of you might be like “WHAAAT?!” because I’ve put it behind the finalized version of Andromeda but please hear me out. I will definitely say it’s all down to preference at this point. If I’m being honest this game could rank much higher for me if not for one simple fact: It REALLY shows its age. I say this as someone who is generally happy playing games much older than this one. Some games age like a fine wine, this game aged like milk.

The Mako is the real villain of the first game.

Let me break down everything that holds this game back first. The combat is really clunky. Some entire gun-types are completely un-usable at lower levels. Most of the classes play more or less the same. The loading screens are lengthy at best. The exploration is a real pain in the ass, involving large spans of hilly, difficult to traverse terrain with nothing much to do. Also when I was playing through it recently I gotta say it crashed maybe a half a dozen times, causing me to lose tons of progress. Which reminds me… The auto-save is trash. Seriously, it halts gameplay for what feels like a full minute, but that’s not so bad since the auto save kicks in only a handful of times while playing. Now THAT is bad, because it kicks in enough that you might be fooled into thinking you’re okay, but if you die on a mission or the game bugs out and crashes you might end up having to repeat hours of gameplay.

If you forget to manually save you’ll want to do this at least a dozen times when the game stops working or you die only to realize you hadn’t saved in 5 hours.

All that being said, the game definitely has its strengths too. It easily has the best story out of any of the games, and the coolest main villain. Also let me say that it’s not just the main plot that’s amazing either. The narrative style, dialogue, side quests, and character development are all top notch. Then there’s the overall atmosphere. This game, much more than any others in the series, has a really cool vibe to it that’s almost a mix between Star-Trek and Lovecraftian horror. It’s a brand new galaxy and there’s so much to explore and so many new things to learn about. The characters that are introduced are excellent and well fleshed-out for the most part, although sometimes the dialogue trees when you choose to talk to them can feel like the bad kind of over-exposition. Just word vomiting about their species and civilization. That being said I could listen to Garrus tell cop stories all day.Another thing I actually enjoyed(that many others seemed to hate) Were the MAKO missions on the main worlds. I had some real fun with those.

Despite how annoying exploring with the Mako could be, the actual mission segments were some of my favorite parts of the game.

Ultimately this game is the most RPG-like of them all, it does an excellent job laying the foundation for everything to follow, and would honestly be my favorite in the series if not for the few things that hold it back… but for me they hold it back big time. Even with the incredibly enjoyable story that kicks off one of the best adventures in all of gaming, and all the cool lore and galaxy-building that I usually go for big time, this is the game I have played the least of the main trilogy, and every time I start to wonder why and try firing it up and immediately after the first combat I find myself going “Oh yeah…” The good news for me is that they’ve apparently rebalanced this new game the most in the upcoming Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, judging by the list of changes they’ve mentioned already this game could easily jump to my #1 slot.

3. Mass Effect Andromeda (Finished)

Despite how terrible this game was at launch, many of the glitches and bugs are now fixed, and what’s left is a game with a solid enough stand-alone story (second best in the series after 1 in my personal opinion) and the most fun gameplay of the entire series. While there are still some things that hold it back, it does still feel rushed in many places and not all of the characters are as fleshed out as fans of the trilogy may like, it’s still decent overall. If you’re really interested in reading about it in more detail you can check my article: Mass Effect: Andromeda Doesn’t Suck!

2. Mass Effect 2

Here it is, the game that seems to make most people’s #1 slot, and I can totally see why. It is arguably the most well-rounded game in the series and probably the only game that actually has nothing wrong with it and no major issues. Everything about this game is solid. The gameplay set the standard for the rest of the series. The combat was reworked to be smoother and more action oriented, the classes all feel drastically different with unique abilities, and they switched from more free-exploration based world building to a more hub-oriented mission based system that really helps pacing. On top of that the character development in ME:2 is probably the most solid in the series, since it benefits from the groundwork laid by the first game and isn’t encumbered by the need to deal with tons of different character outcomes and bring everything to a close like the third game.

While Mass Effect 2 is pretty all around great. These guys are what it’s really all about.

Realistically the character development is the only thing this game does best though, and that’s why it doesn’t get 1st place for me. While it does nothing poorly, for me it doesn’t quite reach the heights that other games do. There simply isn’t much that it’s THE BEST at. ME1 has a better story, Andromeda has better combat, ME3 has arguably better overall gameplay.

This game is solid, reliable, and does everything well, but it isn’t the best at anything, and that’s the only thing that keeps it from the #1 slot.

Process of Elimination Says 1st Place Goes To Mass Effect 3 (Finished + DLC)

So here we are. Mass Effect 3 with it’s full regimen of much needed DLC and updates is my number 1 game in the series. While at this stage not everything has been 100% fixed, the game still feels more substantial and now has some seriously important key things that weren’t there at launch. There are two DLC packs that are absolutely essential in my opinion, and a third that adds TONS of crew interactions.

The essential additions are the From Ashes and Leviathan packs. The former adds a bonus mission that unlocks the additional character Javik, a stasis-preserved living member of the long extinct Prothean race. Naturally this makes him a lore gold mine. Unlocking him is the only way to find out the actual details of Prothean civilization and their conflicts with the reapers. Also he’s amusing… a bit of an asshole, but we’ll chalk it up to him finding out he’s the last living member of his species.

Our boy’s just going through some things right now.

The second of the essential DLC packs, Leviathan, unlocks a seriously cool mission that is very heavily influenced by the work of HP Lovecraft, mainly The Call of Cthulhu. The reward for completing this is that it is literally the only way to find out about the Reapers’ origins and motives. Kinda a big thing to leave out at launch. They’re only like, the main enemy of the entire series.

See, there’s that Lovecraftian horror popping up again.

As for the third, not quite as essential but still very much worth it DLC pack, I am talking of course about Citadel. Honestly the story mission it adds isn’t as satisfying as the other two, but it’s still pretty entertaining. Also it adds a few new gameplay modes that are a fun way to kill a bit of time, but the main thing that this expansion brings to the table is monumental amounts of character interactions with all the crew-mates. Which I felt were severely lacking at launch. The reward for completing the main mission of this DLC is you get to throw a HUGE party at Shepard’s swanky new apartment and see everyone actually cut loose for a change.

This hilarious and surreal bit alone was worth the price of the DLC for me.

While there are other DLC packs available I really do feel that the three mentioned above add all the core components of what was missing in the game at launch. Another positive you can add in this game’s favor (which was always there, but sadly it’s not significant enough to boost the launch version higher than 5th place) is that it has the best gameplay and combat of the original trilogy.

While they did at least try to fix the ending, it was still far too little, far too late.

That being said, the game does have a few minor problems that were never fully fixed. The ending is still disappointing despite the tweaks, although they patched it so you can get enough Galactic Readiness Points to unlock all three endings without playing the annoying minigames, which is another plus. Also there’s an ending where Shepard survives, making what was originally supposed to be the “bad” ending into the “best” ending imo. Still it’s a bit bland… what I like to do actually, is when I beat the final mission I ignore the parts of the ending I don’t like, hop back on to the game and play through the Citadel DLC pretending it takes place chronologically after the end, once Shepard’s recovered and things have settled down.

Seriously, wouldn’t you rather have this be the ending?

To sum it up, with the DLC added ME3 now has many of the core elements that felt lacking at launch. These include massive essential additions to the story and lore, as well as more opportunities for character development and a slightly improved ending. These added elements, plus the core gameplay, which is in my opinion the best, and the most polished of the original trilogy, propel it to the top of the list. One of the main things I’m looking forward to with the launch of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is that many players who have never bothered to buy the third game’s DLC will now have an opportunity to get the full experience that they should have had at launch.

Well, there you have it, sorry for being my usual long winded self. Feel free to cuss me out in the comments and tell me what a damn fool I am and how wrong all of my opinions are.