I did finish tutorial part. Had that first fight on exit. Got to first "city" (LOL city), roamed a bit and then uninstalled.

If you didn't like ME2, you won't like ME3. ME3 is like ME2 but the writing is even weaker and less consistent, and the game as a whole is sloppier and less polished.

One of the early lore/codex entries tells you where Harbinger is - *very minor spoiler* - its the main Reaper assaulting earth.  So its there, just not thrust in your face as much.

I actually think ME3 is probably the best of the series for the most part (not so much the end, I really think there will be a DLC expansion of the end).  The combat is especially more refined.  A lot more flanking, more emphasis on movement, elevations, different tactics for different units.  Less find one cover and pop up shoot pop up, etc.  Also the weapon/ modding system I think was really done properly.  Lots of choice, lots of mods, but easy to manage.  They got it right IMO.  Scanning/ exploration was okay.  I missed the vehicle scenes in earlier games, but not too badly.

Plot . .well you might find it corny and cliche, or you might find it moving.  It does suffer from trying to tie together a lot of the plot points from the previous games, and resolve characters plots rather than focus on its own unique story all the time . .but I think it was well done.  To me, I think ME3 had some of the humorous moments and some of the more poignant ones. So, since it made me have a much stronger emotional reaction than most games, I have to give it props. 

The multiplayer is a bit buggy, but quite playable most of the time.  Very focused on weapon/ skill unlocks.  You can get any of the full endings without doing it, so its not critical (there is one small scene that takes a very high warscore that most player will need a few rounds of multiplayer to achieve).  Seems like they're trying to do community events and the like to keep it lively.

Setting it up was a chore, origin is a bit of a pain, and there are some bugged quests/ dialogues (especially towards the end I had invisible characters in convos due to bugged camera angles, or people looking the wrong way).  Other than the setup, I felt it was pretty forgivable for something so complex, and I think a few patches should clear up the little issues.

So won't be everyone's cup of tea, especially if you hate ME2 style combat, or are so deeply involved with ME universe lore that the deviations will enrage you.  But to me it was a very good game, one that was definitely worth my time, and I'm sure I'll play again.

I've been following the events with that game.

Some of the things the developers are starting to consider "acceptable enough" in order to meet a deadline are just plain unbelievable. I mean there's this alien girl with a masked face. Fans are waiting to see what she looks like. What do they do? They pull a stock photo from Google, and poorly photoshop a few "elvish" features on her face. Note that her hands are supposed to be 3-fingered and very differently shaped than humans'. So what do they do to fix that? They just delete the model's outermost fingers!!! I don't know if even an amateurish production would dare to be so shamelessly cheap.

The endings differentiated by 3 different color palettes are even worse. Just look it up on Youtube or something. Anyway, the backlash over this and a dozen bigger issues is reaching DA2 levels, or worse. Speaking of which: apparently they had to discontinue a planned DLC for DA2, and won't be releasing a DA2 Ultimate Edition: no retailer is willing to put it on the shelves, so that's been canned too.

I really don't know how meaningful are the numbers of the online community. It's entirely possible that the casual gamers are more than enough to keep a big company's business alive. Yet such cheap production tricks almost seem like desperate moves from the outside, and could be the first, seemingly unnoticeable signs of a big company's eventual demise. Again this puts Stardock's efforts to redeem itself in a whole new light, despite any problems I might have with specific design choices. 

More like if you hate 3rd Person shooters you'll dislike it anyways. And if you're the sort of person that will rage at a star trek book for not having 100% proper cannon, etc then you might be disappointed at ME3 as well, since it squeezed out some of the earlier lore/plots to fit into the scope of a game that could be told in 40-50 hours.

If such things don't cause you to rage, then you're probably good to go.  To me, a few things I wish were different doesn't ruin an entire game.  A texture I don't like doesn't make the entire game a technical failure with horrible graphics or utter tripe only fit for the zombified masses, etc.

Its worth playing IMO.  More than a lot of games.  But if someone reading this is wondering if its worth their cash, try the demo, Its a pretty good representation of the combat and plot wise some of the weaker stuff in the game, so if you can handle the "bad bits" of the plot there, you'll probably be quite pleased with the full game.

I'll probably get it once the entire trilogy can be found in the bargain bin or something. I had fun with ME1 and would like to continue the story, but what I hear about 2 and 3 makes playing them a low priority.

What was your problem with Megaton? That is was very small to be called a city? Because I would agree with that, Most of them feel more like outposts for a town than an actual town. Arefu, Bigtown, and Canturbury Commons were even worse. But this is in part a development problem (can spend a lot of time making towns bigger, but unless it has a function it will just seem like filler) that fallout 1&2 had as well (vault city had like what, 20 buildings? Most of them just filler), and in part a setting 'problem'. The capitol wasteland being what it is, it can't really sustain large populations. Although you have to wonder how all those raiders survive, and how they haven't wiped everyone else of the map already.

Anyway, probably can't change your mind about this game so I won't try. Let it suffice to say I had a lot of fun with it once I installed a bunch of mods that made the game harder, more realistic, and added lots of content. Navigating through ghoul infested subways became quite scary, but still preferable to fighting through hordes of super mutants and raiders downtown. In the surrounding wastelands the danger might not be lurking behind every corner, but with all the added monsters and npc's, every journey was an adventure. Getting back to Megaton afterwards really felt like coming home...

Might take a look at New Vegas once I'm done with my current games. The mods for that should have matured nicely by now..

Aside from a differently-colored Crucible beam, yes.

Indeed, Kotor II had the story potential and mechanics to be better than the original Kotor. It was Lucas Arts own fault for rushing it the way they did that so killed the implementation. At least some of the missing stuff was able to get added with mods. I doubt the "Revised Ending" that Bioware/EA is now doing will really do it justice.

Indeed the game itself was pretty good despite being shorter than 1, and 2. They didn't spare the sarcasm, or comedy in the right places. I got to punch al jalani again lol. EDI's wise cracks got funnier. Jarik was refreshing especially with Wrex "Wrex- I like my Salarian liver "raw"!... Glares from the Salarian troops surrounding him. Jarik- "Salarian Liver was a prothean delicacy in my cycle".. Even more Glares from the Salarians LOL!

I am starting to see how it is possible that Shepard himself could have been indoctrinated since ME 2, and this is all a part of the reaper plan (its all a dream Shepard).

Funny how the paragon ending is blue. I would have loved to hear him mock Harbinger by saying "assuming control" before throwing the switch. That ending itself wouldn't have been crap if it was only one of many outcomes, but all the outcomes were identical no matter which path you chose. Like goafan said i hope the revised endings change. At least according to your reputation, paragon, or renegade choices.

Peoples expectations of "eye candy" are very high. Peoples expectations of game play itself are very low. Which pretty much sums up damn near every 3rd, or FPS. They may think its good game play to gun, or beat down hordes of AI enemy's, but I mean how freaking hard can it be to point a targeting reticule, and click? Or in the case of DA2.. Walkity, walkity, walk... Stabity, stabity, stab. Maybe you will find an RPG plot in there somewhere in the dialog that made no sense. Maybe you wont. I found the game pointless. Just like damn near every other 3rd, or FPS.

The mass effect series at least "tries" to make you use your head, but this is an exception not the rule of 1st, or 3rd person shooters. Grand Theft Auto 4 is another exception because it is a parody, and makes a mockery of 1st/3rd person shooters. There is no story, and there is no plot. Its not meant to make any sense. You shoot, and blow crap up pretty much "because you can". Least Rockstar made NO secret of that lol.

Hehe ... new DLC for each ending perhaps?

watch it be "buy this DLC to watch the cinematic epilogue!!"  5 dollars for a cutscene?

Ending don't make sence, I think that what major people wasn't happy, or so I thought.

Unskippable cutscenes, like Savepoints in other games, are just a cheap trick to extend a game's duration, since nowadays everyone logs the playing time and the PR machine has to b**t you about those 30+ hours, 40+ hours etc.

Making them skippable would be ONE LINE of code. They purposefully make them unskippable. I hate being treated like an idiot. I may well be one, but still I hate being treated as such.

 I think Bioware is going down. Not today, not the day after tomorrow, but it IS going down. I'm preordering Legend of Grimrock today, BTW. I will actively support the indie developers from now on.