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Omega

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3
4.17
39,832
24,306 (61%)
2-3h
Omega
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  • vikingbloodlustvikingbloodlust331,762
    03 Dec 2012
    13 5 1
    When BioWare announced their latest DLC offering for Mass Effect 3, entitled Omega, they touted it as the biggest players have seen in any Mass Effect game up to this point. Taking an average of 3-4 hours to see it from start to finish, adding two new enemies, and a few new ways to take down your foes, they have come through on this promise, but is bigger always better. In this case, sadly the answer is no, Omega may be the biggest DLC Mass Effect fans have seen, but it still manages to feel like an incomplete experience. Missing some great opportunities to bring some interesting backstory and the generally boring combat, and the spotty voice acting leave much to be desired from this offering.

    Since being forcibly removed from her position as kingpin leader of Omega by Cerberus, Aria T'loak, has been devising her plan to retake her throne of the asteroid of criminals, thugs, and bandits. Enlisting the help of Commander Shepard, Aria is ready to shoot her way back into power. Along the way you'll meet some new characters, such as Nyreen Kandros, the first female Turian Shepard has been introduced to in the series and Cerberus Gereral Oleg Petrovsky, the ingenious military strategist.

    Sadly, Omega doesn't live up to the story telling you've come to expect from the Mass Effect series. Aria herself is as one dimensional as she has always seemed, always angry and not afraid of making morally questionable decisions. She will always be pushing to test the limits of any paragon Sheppard, but to little consequence, if her decisions or opinions are opposed, she gets angry, grumbles a little and moves on. The addition of the new characters don't lend themselves to making the story anymore engaging either. Nyreen Kandros is a former associate of Aria's who split ways with her after no longer being able to tolerate the heavy-handed manner in which Aria decided to approach everything. Their relationship tends to feel a little too familiar and lacking dynamic. The is especially sad considering that this is the first female Turian introduced to the Mass Effect games. There is so much potential for fleshing out some interesting ideas revolving around this fact that are simply squandered; she is presented as a female of her species and it's left at that. Equally disappointing is in one of the new enemies, Adjutants. These reaper-born enemies are teased throughout the DLC to lead to some big revelation, but this build-up never goes anywhere.

    On top of all the missed opportunities to do interesting things with these introductions to the series, the voice acting doesn't is spotty at best and further drags down the story. Aria's line are among the most poorly done in the series. Carrie Ann Moss (of The Matrix fame), who voices Aria, reads a lot of her lines as if she's there only for the pay check. She only seems to have one tone during her conversations with Sheppard and in the moments where she's suppose to be making compelling and motivating speeches, she falls completely flat.

    On the gameplay side of things, you won't be finding a whole lot that's different from the main game. Most of your time will be spent fighting your way down narrow pathways, blasting the standard of Cerberus infantry. There are a couple of new additions to the enemy suite, but they do little to mix up experiences you've already had in Mass Effect 3. One of the new enemies is Rampart Mech, similar to the infantry mechs fought in Mass Effect 2, instead of health, they are comprised of armor. Only being effective at close range, they provide little challenge and only facilitate another form to pump rounds of ammo into. The aforementioned Adjutant is a reaper creature that acts in a very similar fashion to Banshee's, lobbing slow moving biotic orbs at you from long range, with the ability to quickly close the distance and do devastating melee damage. It's also mentioned several times that they convert anything they kill into more Adjutants, but that never comes into play throughout the game. There are also couple of new weapons and weapon mods that you will find along the way, but nothing that you'll be clamouring to use. Side-quests are also of little consequence in Omega, comprising only of minor fetch quests.

    Omega, despite its 3-4 hour play time fails to fully develop most of its most interesting ideas and characters. That coupled with the poor acting and the fact that the DLC is largely focused on it's weakest aspect, the action, makes for a pretty disappointing experience. This is all the more prevalent with the 1200 msp price-point. Unless you're compelled to consume everything Mass Effect, you're best off to avoid this offering, at least until there is a price drop.
    2.0
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    EarthboundXI disagree, quite liked this DLC, thought Carrie Ann Moss did a great job for the most part.

    Well, except for when she's making speeches, I agree on that. Not great. But when it's her just talking one of one, she does a great job.
    Posted by EarthboundX on 28 Dec 14 at 10:43
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