9 Polarising Levels That Almost Ruined Great Games

5. Defending Earth - Mass Effect 3

Have you had a reminder the end of Mass Effect 3 was terrible? Perhaps you've gone quite some time before anyone brought it up, it is 2015 after all. Anyway, just so no one ever forgets; The End Of Mass Effect 3 Was Terrible. Moving on - but not really - Bioware's final hours of the third Mass Effect were truly a strange experience. From building up your army comprised of various space aliens, tech and weaponry, it converged to a singular point on Earth, where a fairly small boxed-in area was essentially meant to represent you fighting a galaxy-wide invasion for as long as you could. Gameplay-wise it amounted to the developer doubling down on the gunfights present across the campaign (and sole focus of the multiplayer), something that was fine in small doses, but forced upon you for a good half hour? Well, perhaps the agonising feel of battling on for what felt like forever was intentional. The ending that came after all this is another story (and usually the focus of any Mass Effect 3-focussed conversation), but it was this choice to wrap up what had been such a well thought-out franchise stuffed with impactful moments and memorable characters... with a thoroughly bread n' butter firefight that outstayed its welcome after only a few minutes.