Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC: All 4 Endings Reviewed [Xbox 360]
New endings give a greater sense of closure to a fantastic series and there is less to distract from the magnitude of your achievement.
For the last three months or so, fans of Bioware's Mass Effect series have been in a sort of limbo. Firstly the ending polarised fans, having a Marmite style Love it or Hate it effect, then Bioware announced that they would be treading hugely untested ground for our industry by changing the games ending due to fan feedback with free DLC. Some were ecstatic to hear that the ending would be fixed while many thought that changing the ending this way was setting a dangerous precedent for the integrity of stories in our industry. Whatever your opinion as a Mass Effect fan, the knowledge was there that the True Ending of the game was coming up on the horizon. Having now played through the four (yes there are four, more on that later) endings that the new Mass Effect Extended Cut DLC features my feelings are still mixed, but I am in no doubt that Bioware have crafted the best ending they could have without taking back the ending that had already set as canon. If you don't play this DLC your ending still stands, this new ending simply makes some small changes in order to fix plot holes, offers some extra info on the final choice you have to make and shows a little more of how your actions leave the galaxy. Warning: This review will have spoilers for Mass Effect 3's original ending, but will try and avoid spoiling the Extended Cut where possible. In order to access the DLC you will need to start playing a save from before *Spoilers* the attack on the Cerberus Base *Spoilers* and play through both that mission and the mission on earth. For most of that replay time your experience will remain unchanged. In fact, the first time I was aware that the DLC was actually running was during the sprint toward the beam with my squadmates. This DLC does offer an explanation as to why your squadmates from this section of the game are back on the Normandy when it leaves earth, as well as why the Normandy is leaving in the first place. I highly recommend taking your romantic interest in the game on this mission, as you will get some extra interactions with them for doing so. 
After that, the game remains largely the same until you reach the Catalyst, who this time offers some extra information on the options available to you as well as a greater sense of what the consequences will be for the choice you make. You also get a little flash of the result of a choice if you enquire more about it, which was a nice touch. As I mentioned before, there is a fourth option available at this point that wasn't there in the original game. *Spoilers* The fourth choice allows you to reject the three original endings, instead trusting the fleet to take down the reapers. From what I can tell, this will always result in defeat regardless of your EMS. Liara will appear in much the way the Prothean VI did in the first Mass Effect talking of your defeat and passing information to the next cycle. *Spoilers* Whilst I commend them for increasing the number of options available to the player, I feel that this fourth ending had the potential to be the most expansive with the most new content, but it instead felt rushed and incomplete. Taking into account your EMS could have made this the ideal ending. From this point, the three main endings are still largely the same at first. Each option gives you a near identical slideshow of paintings of people and races you have affected and the effects of your choices. The biggest difference between the new extended endings is the voice over explaining the future of the galaxy. You get a good feeling of how everyone feels about what you did and how different it would have been if you made one of the other choices. There is also an additional scene aboard the Normandy which felt like a great way to end the game, particularly when playing the Synthesis ending. While I am a little dissapointed we didn't get any new gameplay, I didn't really expect that in the first place. In short, the new endings do give a greater sense of closure to a fantastic series. The ending feels more planned and there is less to distract from the magnitude of your achievement. Whilst I would have rather they not used still paintings during the ending sequence, and I know the new ending won't fix every problem that every player had with the game, I feel that it does help us to feel like we all got to give a proper goodbye to the squad we stared down the end of existance with. Goodbye Normandy, Keelah se'lai. Have you played through the DLC? What did you think - share your thoughts below... You can follow all of our Mass Effect 3 coverage by heading over to our dedicated Mass Effect 3 hub-page, for game info, features, news and media. Previously:Mass Effect 3: 5 Reasons Extended Cut DLC Wont Make A Difference Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut Why Endings Matter Mass Effect 3 New Ending: What You Need To Know