Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC Review

AtomicGamer has chimed in on Mass Effect 3’s farewell DLC Citadel with their own glowing review, which argues the add-on includes some of the best writing in the series and awards it a 9 out of 10.

Of course, with all of these DLCs, the timeline becomes awkward because of the finality of Mass Effect 3’s ending and the fact that these DLCs are required to take place before that ending happens. For those who are still angry about the game’s ending and refuse to play any DLC because of it – or those who simply don’t think there’s any point once they know what happens at the end – I can’t really suggest any way for you to make sense of this Citadel DLC. These add-ons are really there to serve those of us who simply can’t get enough Mass Effect, and even if things are weird or out of order, some of us will take it any way we can get it.

But I was thinking about something. Knowing what I know about the game’s ending, I could almost suggest someone who hasn’t already beaten ME3 to simply get through the game to the point of starting the final mission, then simply refusing to launch it. Instead, go do all the DLC. Do Leviathan, then Omega, then Citadel. And stop. Just leave it there and never come back. Never defeat the Reapers. Never see the end to Shepard’s story. For some, that might actually be preferable to the game’s actual ending, even with the extra ending scenes BioWare eventually added in the free Extended Cut add-on. As much as I’ve said over the last year-plus that I actually don’t mind the ending to Mass Effect 3, that I found it a bit iffy but not nearly as rage-inducing as it seems the vast majority of players thought it was, maybe the Citadel DLC, which jam-packs five-plus hours of maximum entertainment into its $15 package, is just a better way to end the story. I’m still not entirely convinced, but I think this should be enough of a recommendation that if you haven’t had enough Mass Effect through all of this, and if you’re willing to run through a bit more, then this is easily the best paid DLC released for this game.

And maybe try to forget about the base game’s ending, if that suits you.