I know you’re upset about the end of Mass Effect 3.
Admittedly, most people were not satisfied with some of the aspects of how single-player game ended — the story, the choices, or in my case, the lack of an end boss (Marauder Shields not withstanding).
But did BioWare deliver on its advertised promises?
Director of Communications Marjorie Stephens from the Northern Indiana office of the Better Business Bureau believes BioWare did not.
The claim boils down to semantics, as it often does with advertising issues. Stephens writes in a blog on the BBB’s website that statements like the one found at the top of the Mass Effect 3 story page, “Experience the beginning, middle, and end of an emotional story unlike any other, where the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome,” are false because of the use of the word “completely.”
The statement, as she claims, is absolute: either the outcome is changed or it’s not. Mass Effect 3 players that are in protest against the game would contest that there are only 3 different outcomes with very little significant change between any of them — far from a “complete” change as the advertising statement denotes.
Of course, proponents of the game can testify that there are actually 17 different endings to the game depending on a multitude of choices, but the only thing “completely shaped” by those choices is the player’s perception — most of whom were left with the impression of “what the @#$% just happened?”
Thankfully for BioWare, the only thing the BBB can do is file a report on the customer complaints. There are no legal ramifications, but it does leave a spot on BioWare’s record for anyone that happens to use the BBB as a source for video game reviews.
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