I finished Mass Effect 3 this past Sunday. I played all three games in sequence, one right after the other, as one character, with a consistent role-playing mindset, and I only back-tracked the story once (and then just a couple minutes of story time) when I got ultra-fed up at the bullshit game mechanics at the end of ME2.

The first game was a bit tedious in its side quests but the game part (the shooting) was enjoyable enough and main story was solid and set the stage for the arc to play out.

The second game had the best side quests (loyalty missions for every squad member, all of them great little short stories) and propelled the main arc forward in a good way, but the shooting was poor.

The third game had the best gameplay and some interesting quests, but was mostly concerned with wrapping up the arc in grand fashion, which it did.

As games, I'd have to rate them ME3, ME1, ME2. As stories, ME2 followed closely by ME3, then ME1. But if you compare them to other games, I think they're lacking as games. The gameplay without the stories would be pretty crap. You might ask, why make them games at all? Why not just movies? 

I think there's value in the gameplay anyway, even though it's rather dull. Doing the missions lends weight to the storyline as you propel it forward. You become invested in the characters and their decisions. Because it's your Commander Shepard, wearing the face you chose, fighting the way you want to fight, saying the things you want her to say, it becomes much more personal.

BioWare, the company that makes these games and some other games like them, states its mission as, "[our] vision is to create, deliver, and evolve the most emotionally engaging games in the world." I think it's interesting that they don't emphasise gameplay in this statement, just emotion. I mean, they do a pretty good job with the emotions.

I just wish they'd pay a similar amount of attention to the game. More than once, especially in Mass Effect 3, a battle was stopped at a certain point in order for a scripted event to take place in lieu of defeating an enemy, and when that happens the emotion I feel is "jerked around."

So I'm on the fence about whether BioWare games are my thing or not. I can see the appeal. And maybe Dragon Age: Inquisition, with it's vast, open world, would appeal much more than the ultra-linear Mass Effect story. I guess we'll see.

Right now I'm playing Bayonetta. About which I'll have more to say later, I bet!