Mass Effect 3 DLC: 5 Things We’re Hoping For In The Final Update

4. Bosses

ME1€™s primary antagonist was Saren, ME2 had both Harbinger and ultimately the Illusive Man, and ME3 has Kai Lang. Of these four enemies, only two might be said to have a satisfying showdown against Shepard €“ Saren and the Illusive Man (to an extent). So what went wrong with the others? Harbinger seemed a strong and competent foe in ME2, especially for those who downloaded the Arrival DLC. In ME3 he arrived with the other reapers, and then became to all intents and purposes anonymous. There€™s no banter, no final confrontation €“ he€™s just lost in the crowd. Now, I€™m not one of those who measure games in terms of how many boss fights they deliver, and simply throwing in a boss fight against Harbinger in a way that was inconsistent with the plot would be a mistake. However, the character deserved a more climactic ending than the one we received, so let€™s hope Bioware have been saving him up to play a key role within this final DLC. If so, many problems (such as ME2€™s lack of relevance to the plot of the overall trilogy) would be diminished. Currently, ME3 feels as if you spend 90% of the time fighting against Cerebus, with the reaper invasion of the galaxy a secondary inconvenience. Bioware already made us hate Harbinger in ME2 €“ give us the satisfaction of killing him directly in ME3. Bioware€™s handling of Kai Lang in ME3, on the other hand, has exactly the opposite problem. He€™s not a competent antagonist by any means; rather, he€™s an enemy we repeatedly beat with ease throughout the game who inexplicably bests us in cut-scenes over and over again. This is a frustrating device, and one almost feels compelled to shout at the screen during moments where Shepard uncharacteristically allows Kai Lang to completely dominate him while making little or no effort to stop it. Furthermore, the character is supremely bland - almost no time is spent in developing his back-story, and we know very little about him, or his motivations. In fact he exists simply to move the plot forwards. Now, there€™s no way to take the character out of the game, but Bioware could dedicate a portion of the DLC to fleshing out his personality and abilities enough that we both hate and respect him by the end of the title, and the final climatic showdown against him would therefore actually have a degree of emotional resonance with us. At the moment, such resonance is sorely lacking and our final victory over him (again during a cut-scene) feels hollow.