10 Iconic Moments That Defined Mass Effect As A Series

7. The Reaper Invasion

Mass Effect 3 may not have been a perfect end to the trilogy, but its introduction is good at creating tension, dread and a sense of hopelessness by showing the Reapers attacking mankind's home planet almost unchallenged. There's just so much death crammed into the first 15 minutes, with the hopelessness of the situation being perfectly summed up by Shepard helping a little boy onto a transport, only to see it get blasted out of the sky a few moments later. The Reapers have always been portrayed as a formidable, intimidating force, and it's nowhere more evident than right here. The immediacy of the attack is what's most shocking being that pretty much every player assumed the incoming attack would be an endgame event. Instead all that Shepard can do is get the hell out of there, regroup and try to form alliances so that Earth and the rest of the galaxy doesn't fall into their hands.