Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360)

Pros: Fantastic story-telling before the end. Great pace of combat, beautiful graphics, awesome integration of side quests. The game tied in multiple characters and plot lines from the first two games in the series to such a degree it was inspiring.

Cons: Worst ending in a video game in my 20 years as a gamer. It is as though the last ten minutes were hi-jacked by a child with crayons. After 30+ hours of game-play the player has their control yanked from them to choose from three cliche endings.

Summary: I was a long-time fan of the series, so much so I had played the first two games seven times through so I might maximize the different character choices. To have put in so much time was clearly foolish. At the very end of this game, all those choices come to mean very little in the variations of the end. It is as though Bioware were to say to the player, "I see from all your work you wanted this to end another way, but it's my game. I'm taking my ball and going home."

A number of fans have felt crushed by it, and truthfully I wish I had left this last game to my imagination and never played it. It has brought me to the conclusion not only to boycott Bioware, but to seriously re-think the amount of time of my own life I have squandered with video games in general.

Do Not Buy This Game.