Having finally gotten around
to playing it, I’ve got to wonder who asked for this? As has been said by many
a person: A mystery is only interesting so long as no definitive answer is
given. There are many reasons for this ranging from just guessing about what’s
at the end to fans coming up with their own answers, which have the unfortunate
tendency to be better than what we’re actually given. But someone must have
been asking for Bioware to spill the beans on the last few mysteries of the
MEverse, so here’s Mass Effect 3:
Leviathan.
The story behind this one is
actually fairly good and is rooted within the series’ mythos. During the events
of 2, there was mention of the
Leviathan of Dis. Leviathan was said to be the corpse of a genetically
engineered starship found and taken by the Batarian Hegemony. The
not-entirely-dead Leviathan was revealed to be a Reaper, and crippled the
Hegemony’s defences for their invasion.
Turns out however, that’s
not all to this story.
The Systems Alliance begins
to find evidence of Reaper existence long before they were supposed to have
been created, and questions begin to arise surrounding just what “killed” Leviathan
to begin with. With time running out Shepard’s team must uncover the final
mysteries behind the god-squid.
If you’ve not already
guessed it, most of the appeal of this DLC is the story which has a great setup
but a less than stellar payoff. Without giving anything away, it’s hard to pin
down exactly what is missing from the Leviathan
DLC. You can tell it’s well developed, the timing is great and the plot
interesting but you can’t feel that there should be so much more to this.
The actual reveal all comes
at the last minute in a delivery which doesn’t feel remotely as grand or
glorious as it should. Hints don’t develop over time so rather than having the
player build up their understand gradually all the answers are dumped all at
once. A comparative experience would be like reading a murder mystery, but
rather than having the characters find out clues over time almost everything is
told in the final chapter. There’s some interesting things you’re shown on the
side, moral choices, character discussions – all that great stuff; but you only
get into the real meat of the DLC in one final conversation.
Another issue is this really
feels tacked on. Previous DLC for 2
like Overlord and Shadow Broker didn’t have the fact they
were effectively side-missions detract from the enjoyment found in them. They,
while important, were side stories which didn’t have earth-shattering reveals
linked into them. You could do them at any time, which makes them feel all the
less pressing and it’s the same here. Only now not only do you have
earth-shattering reveals to take into account but the finale for the entire
series is within sight. It regulates this to being effectively a brief
sidequest when it should be so much more.
The same really goes for the
underwater sections which were heavily advertised in all the promotional
material. You’re down beneath the surface for mere minutes then you shoot back
to the surface. Also the fact he/she doesn’t get the bends while surfacing at
the speed he/she does means we can probably add Aquaman powers to Shepard’s
list of abilities. Story and seabed mission aside however, I can happily say
that the rest of the gameplay is up to standard. DLC is always a chance to do
something different, and Leviathan breaks
the usual status quo as much as you’d expect.
Almost as soon as you start
the usual thing of “go to quest-giver, shoot people/find object/scan planet, return
to quest giver” is quickly shaken up. You’re forced to hunt through a lab of
research notes, evidence and samples in a detective operation almost
reminiscent of L.A. Noir. Bioware
actually really seems to like using this as this is the third Mass Effect DLC it’s shown up in. The
combat sequences are similarly well made, avoiding corridor gunfights in favour
of more open areas with some genuinely interesting locales. One of the standout
areas which comes to mind is when you’re exploring a mining colony which had
gone to hell, and had some creepy moments which had me thinking “this is what Dead Space should have been”.
Perhaps the only flaw in
this is that one point has a situation which is effectively a rehash of the drone
escorts and “pizza delivery” objectives introduced to multiplayer in the Earth and Rebellion DLC. This might have been done due to a lack of time but
that doesn’t detract from the feeling that someone got lazy while making this.
To top this off there are
new War Assets, guns, mods and planets to view on your galaxy map which while
nice additions are nothing truly outstanding. The real bonus actually comes in
the form of the voices. Atop of having as good a vocal talent as we’ve come to
expect from Mass Effect for the new
NPCs, the main cast was on hand for this DLC. This is a first as there’s new Normandy
With both its strengths and
flaws, Mass Effect 3: Leviathan is just
about worth getting. You’ll likely end up feeling disappointed with the answers
it gives and its additions to the canon, but the settings, presentation and
fully voiced characters might offset feelings of negativity. If you felt that
the DLC from Mass Effect 2 like Kasumi – Stolen Memory, Arrival and Lair of the Shadow Broker had been worth
your money you’d do well to get this one. Just don’t expect it to be completely
perfect.
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Mass Effect and all related characters and media are owned by Bioware.
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