Mass Effect is one of the greatest RPG series ever made. Since 2007, fans have been willing to embark on a journey unlike any other. Traveling across the galaxy and seeing the exploits of Commander Shephard and the crew was nothing short of spectacular. However, with a series pedigree as that, some might actually argue that it is in fact overrated. Although in many ways one could also argue that the series is actually underrated, especially when compared to other bigger names.
As such here are the various ways that the Mass Effect series is an incredibly overrated franchise while in many ways being underrated as well.
10 Underrated: Amazing Story
To start with is the epic story that's been written for the Mass Effect series. Conceptualized by writers like Drew Karpyshyn responsible for Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic, the story is filled with a ton of lore. Filled to the brim with excellent storytelling as well as establishing the many races that have existed within the galaxy.
Of course, perhaps the greatest strength that the Mass Effect series has is the bonds that are made throughout the trilogy, or how every plot thread that occurs seems to weave itself in and out throughout the story. There is a reason why the story of Mass Effect has resonated with fans for so long.
9 Overrated: RPG Elements
This is one of the elements that has often been overlooked somewhat as the series continues on. Although the games have always had shooter elements into it, there have also been RPG elements littered throughout. Whether that's the alignment system or the class choices in all three games.
Nonetheless, the games seem to have lessened the RPG elements dramatically by the third game which is fairly disappointing to see.
8 Underrated: Dialogue
The dialogue in the series is an absolute high note for many people. Full of intelligent writing that can combine both the serious elements as well as the hilarious, it is what makes the story so special in the first place.
That's because one of the best things about Mass Effect is that the dialogue has layers upon layers to it. It helps to make the characters feel real most importantly, especially when their personal stories get involved.
7 Overrated: Stiff Animations
The animations that Mass Effect have is quite limited. Although it is often fine when it comes to a lot of action set pieces or certain cutscenes, it doesn't change the fact that the animations can look a little stiff at times.
Although with a game franchise this big, it could be a little forgiven in places. But it is still important to point out, for the same reason that it should've improved a little more as the games progressed.
6 Underrated: Reapers
The Reapers are an incredibly terrifying force to affect the Mass Effect universe. A highly advanced synthetic organic race, their main goal was to have a repeating cycle of endless purges. It is through this that the Reapers is pretty grand in scale.
As all three games had to deal with these forces and they seemed to be quite dauntless when compared to the rest of the characters. But it is perhaps through this that it allows everyone to sympathize with what the character goes through even more.
5 Overrated: Space Travel
For a game series that takes their viewers all across the milky way galaxy. The actual traveling of the Normandy itself has always been a little underwhelming. Since sometimes it either has the game going through planet to planet with a tracker or through the Normandy ship.
While this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it does bring the player directly into the points of the story, it would've been nice if Mass Effect was more intuitive with the space travel. Like direct space battles or something like that.
4 Underrated: Consequences
With a lot of games with choices, sometimes the choices given to the player are not exactly what they seem. As they at times can be inconsequential and can lead to a choice being only an illusion. However, the Mass Effect series is one of the few things that make it one of a kind.
As every decision the player makes can drastically change the story like how their allies die or if they wanted to leave someone alive. Everything is essentially in the palm of their hands.
3 Overrated: Resource Management
The resource management of the games has been fairly tedious. Although the games have established them to be fairly important and they have streamlined it as the games went on, it still has that tedious element to it that doesn't make it enjoyable in the slightest.
One of the biggest issues with resource management was how it tends to slow things down. Thankfully the games had a lot more content to it to let that not be too big of an issue.
2 Underrated: The Incredible Worldbuilding
This has been brought up numerous times throughout this article. But the worldbuilding of Mass Effect has always been excellent. As mentioned before, there are a bunch of races in the games that all play a role in the lore of the series. What's more, everything has been interweaved well with conflicts as brought up earlier.
But probably the greatest strength of the Mass Effect series was how the lore of everything really does seem to expand with each game. All of them have something telling to say and each has a new conflict that always seems to be brought up. But they all mesh together so well thanks to the worldbuilding in general.
1 Overrated: That Ending
Finally, the thing that can make the series seem overrated is easily the most talked about thing in the entire series. One that was so controversial that Bioware had to address it one way or another. That being the ending which initially seemed to be completely inconsequential.
Whether the player destroys the Reapers, combine with all synthetic life or essentially become controlling the Reapers, it doesn't equate to much as the endings all look the same. The only difference here is that the colors change. There is a reason why the endings have been this controversial for so long.