The good 👍
- It's possible to start game no on insanity difficulty, which saves one whole run for the achievement
- Companion pathfinding is greatly improved over ME2
- Combat is superior to ME2 in every aspect, especially in terms of power combinations
- Companions have way more interactions, both on the missions and on the Normandy
- Addition of weapon mods, which add depth to weapon customization, without need for resource grinding for crafting (like in DA: Inquisition)
- A lot more freedom when it comes to movements - dodging, running between covers, moving up/down ladders

The bad 👎
- Game can randomly crash for no reason, especially during the start-up when EA app is opening
- Reapers chase are just annoying, good there are mods for that
- It's really obvious some background animated objects are rendered in 30FPS. Those nightmare pigeons on the Citadel for example
- Ending where they threw some content to plug plot holes (like Normandy landing to pick up crew, and reapers kindly wait for them to leave) still feels awkward
- Journal is a bit messy and doesn't have much in terms of useful update. Like we can already have the object, and it will still show "travel there and look for". Mods do fix that, but better journal should be in vanilla game

Conclusion:

This is a great end to the trilogy, minus the ending. Gameplay is improved a lot over ME2. Feeling of urgency when we fly around, scrambling to make a device that could defeat the Reapers. Sadly, all the nice hints that show plot connections to dark energy from ME2 or Illusive Man being crazy from whole ME3 gets kind of threw out of the window, and we get Deus Ex ending. Pick a color, decide on fate of the galaxy. Would be better if the choice we make is more connected to what we did in game. Not only to how many war assets we accumulater over time.

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Details

📘 Story ☐ Bare-bone ☐ Average ☑ Good

☑ Interesting lore ☑ Well written NPCs After Shepard blew up a relay to slow the Reapers down in ME2, we're grounded after avoiding martial court. People still don't believe in Reapers, everything is covered up as much as possible. Geth attacked Citadel in ME1. Collectors were bad guys in ME2. And when earth military realizes Shepard was right, it's already too late. Thankfully, our pal Liara was digging through Prothean archives on Mars. She found a blueprint for a dark energy device, that was built by the Protheans to defeat the Reapers. Sadly, they run out of time, and were missing a Catalyst. We are sent on a mission to look for the Catalyst, and unite the galaxy to fight the Reapers. Instead of allowing fights between krogans, asari, salarians, geth, quarians etc. to continue.

🔄 Gameplay loop ☐ Boring ☐ Average ☑ Good	There is only the "core crew" left. Liara, Garrus, Tali. Plus Vega, Prothean and 2 characters that could be spoilers to mention. There are no companion missions per se, we can hang out with people but not chase quest for them. Which makes the game paced better, it doesn't feel like one long "help me Shepard" side mission. There are optional missions to scan a system and retrieve items, or do some short N7 missions. But the main focus is on the priority missions.
🪄 Abilities ☐ Basics (walk, jump etc.) ☐ Magic / powers ☑ Advanced combat	☑ Skill tree Combat from ME2 has an additional layer of combinations. Either technology or biotic. Priming the target with one power, and releasing the combo with another leads to an explosion that damages nearby enemies, and can set them on fire / freeze them / throw them in the air. Cover system is improved, with ability to move between covers fluidly. Shepard also learned how to jump across and climb ladders, which adds more depth to otherwise "flat" combat behind cover. We can now go to higher ground, and aim for enemies that would be hard to hit otherwise. Abilities are the same as in ME2, with a similar skill tree. Only difference is that now ability upgrade 4-6 gives a choice between two versions. E.g. incinerate ability can deal more damage per shot *or* bump up our clip size. Throw can seek 2 targets *or* hit a single target with more strength. It allows customizing our play style a tiny bit more.
🎮 Controls ☐ Clunky and stiff ☐ Adequate ☑ Fluid and enjoyable	They are better than in ME2. Bug with camera lock on aim is gone. Moving around the battlefield is more fluid. Active pause is snappy and companions don't require micromanagement to navigate the environment.
📇 Inventory and menus ☑ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Over complicated	There is no inventory. We can upgrade weapons on Normandy station, and weapon loadout/ mods are set before the mission. Menus are easy to navigate and not overloaded. Only issue is with journal, that could have more updates on our quest progress. Not only information we get quest to find a relic, and then info it was completed after we deliver.
🥊 Combat 🏹 ☐ Boring and generic ☐ Average ☑ Good ☐ Great	☑Well designed weapons Improved in a good way over ME2. Weapon mod addition to make gunfight more "personal", power combinations for this satisfying pop when enemies fly away in biotic explosion, new enemy types to force us to move around the map more. Not just camp behind the cover for the whole encounter. In general, we will fight Cerberus and Reapers. Cerberus has a mix of foot soldiers, engineers, snipers, agile assassins and heavy mechs. While reapers transform abducted races into foot soldiers. Turians as foot soldiers that can boost batarians armor. Rachni as walking cannons. Asari as a creepy teleporting nightmare that can one hit kill if they get too close.
🤖 Game AI ☐ Brain dead ☐ Really basic ☐ Average ☑ Smart and responsive	Like I mentioned, both our companions and enemies are smarter. Enemies have specific roles - to flush us out of cover, to break our shields, to kill us from up close, to limit our movement around. It makes the gunfight a bit more strategic than simple sticking to cover in ME2.

💸 Microtransactions ☑ None ☐ Skins ☐ "Time-savers" ☐ Direct purchase ☐ Custom currency (gems etc.)	🏆 Achievements ☐ None ☐ Story progression ☐ Few collectibles / easy to get ☑ Grindy collectibles / hard to get ☐ Require multiple playthroughs	💾 Save system ☐ No saves ☐ No saves, progress carries over ☐ One checkpoint, too rare ☑ One checkpoint, frequent ☑ Manual saves
📊 Performance ☐ Can run on potato ☑ Medium requirements ☐ High requirements ☐ Too low for what is visible on screen ☐ Optimization disaster	🌌 Graphic ☐ May look good 10 years ago, but not now ☐ Blurry textures / geometry problems ☐ Average ☑ Good ☐ Beautiful	🔊 Sound ☐ Nothing to remember ☑ Good voice acting ☑ Good weapons & effects ☑ Good OST ☑ Music flows well with the action
🦚 Customization options ☐ Resolution, volume only ☐ Basic graphic settings ☑ Advanced graphic settings ☐ Adjustable HUD ☐ Accessibility options	🧭 Map ☑ No map ☐ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Minimap ☐ Fast travel	Details: - I did give a lot points to the music, but it is deserving it. It fits well into loss-filled game, with uplifting hero moments here and there.