Mass Effect 3

I have waited years for this, the conclusion to an epic that has changed the gaming industry. I drove home and waited in the cold in shorts in a t-shirt for hours on the hope that they would have a spare copy of the collectors addition. Many jokes, and a minor case of pneumonia later, I finally had it. The item I have spoken so kindly about.

I came home that mourning, too tired to play, and slept for an hour or two. Most sleep I’ve gotten since I got this game. I dove into it with a passion, rivaled only by a starving man upon a buffet line, or an outcast chancing upon a new town. We ate little, my friend and I, determined to finish our digital quests before spring break. Slept little as well. The game brought out the best and worse in us, parading images of cooperation, allegiance against a common foe, and hope if done correctly. Deaths of old friends or entire races lost if we failed. I cried and laughed as the story drove closer and closer to a close, sharing jokes with characters I feel I’d known for years, and mourning the ones I could not save. We took breaks only for classes, surviving off the subway one would purchase one the way back or some instant ramen. Sleep was inconsequential to us in comparison to the goal, finish the battle years in the making.

                The battle finally dwindled to an end as once more you are faced with a choice. A choice that would shape the galaxy forever. I made my choice and sat and watched as the shock wave tore through the mass relays that link the systems, destroying not only the Reaper threat, but all means of interstellar travel. My Commander Shepard will never see her friends again. Asari, Quarian, Turian, Salarian, Krogan, all stranded, unable to communicate with each other. My Shepard will never hold his loved ones again, never see the white picket fence they talked so endearingly about, never build the house. I cried realizing there was no other option, not for me anyways. I’ve always brought my morals to the table when I play. It turned Mass Effect 3 into an epic for the ages and by far the best game I’ve ever played. Keela Sal’ai

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