10 Video Games Everyone Loves To Hate (That Totally Don't Deserve It)

4. Mass Effect 3

The Consensus:"Too much action", "Why the f**k is there online multiplayer?!", "Worst.Ending.EVER"

The Truth: Talk about your mis-managed PR messaging. This is what happens when a multi-million dollar publisher realises the sales potential of a franchise like Mass Effect. As such, EA were adamant in the run-up to release that ME3 was "the perfect time to jump in", despite it wrapping up story threads that were hundreds of hours in the making.

The result was an action-heavy shooting gallery of an RPG that was essentially Gears of War in deep space, but the main issue came from parts of the core narrative being siphoned off as paid-for DLC. Indeed, Prothean character Javik (literally one of the most important characters in the entire mythology) was behind a paywall, as was the essential Leviathan DLC, which was required for the ending to make sense.

These days you can snatch up the entirety of Mass Effect 3 for a fraction of its launch price with the Extended Cut helping to flesh out even the DLC-less finale, but retrospectively, across the board you can feel the ramifications of a developer completely strangled by the whims of their publisher.

Following Mass Effect 3, a ton of Bioware's team justifiably departed (very telling, considering what they went through), but revisiting the game now that the dust has settled reveals a denouement to a franchise that's as deep as it is playable.

Oh, and the multiplayer is ACE.