For several years, fans had been begging BioWare and EA to remaster the Mass Effect trilogy. The long silences and few murmurs during this time period saw many give up hope, but this only made the announcement of the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition that much sweeter.
Sometimes, remasters are little more than a new coat of paint and make promises they cannot deliver on. Remasters find themselves in an odd spot where they don't go quite as far as a remake, but they are expected to be more than just a re-release too. If a remaster doesn't do much more than marginally improve the graphics, it can fall flat. That is absolutely not the case for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, though, as it is everything fans originally loved and then some.
Players once again step into the role of Commander Shepard in a galaxy set to be destroyed by the Reapers. The strengths and failings are already well-known by veterans of the series, while newcomers are encouraged to discover these for themselves, so there's not much more that needs to be said regarding its story. Companions are also loveable as ever, whether someone's favorite is Garrus, Liara, Wrex, Jack, and so on, and they all look sharper than ever.
Those who loved it will still love it, and those who have never experienced it won't find a better way to. Several story beats and Mass Effect companions connect more with some players than others, so overall, playing the trilogy for its story and worldbuilding alone is an easy recommendation. It's the type of game where players walk away with different feelings regarding certain aspects, and that remains true. However, what stands out isn't what the game already was, but how this collection of remasters truly took a series released between 2007 and 2012 and made it feel at home in 2021.
When looking at all there is to offer, there's no lack of quality or quantity, putting the whole series on an even higher pedestal than it is held today. The playtime of Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, and all of the related DLCs can easily put players into the hundreds of hours, but every ounce of sleep lost is worth it. This is because the quality of the content matches the quantity of it, and while there are differences in quality between the three games, the improvements across the board make them stand out from their original counterparts. BioWare does a lot of work to smooth out differences in character creation, weapon scaling, and more, but there are still elements that are trapped in the past.
For example, Mass Effect 1 is still a very clunky game. Despite all the touch-ups, Mako changes, and the like, it still is a game from 2007. Nothing short of a ground-up remake would be able to change that, but it doesn't need to go that far either. Mass Effect 1's clunkiness in movement, in controls, and even in the Mako are all parts that add charm to the game instead of removing it. At the same time, major changes including the cover system, the sprinting system, the weapon handling systems, and more all receive tweaks that subtly make the minute-to-minute gameplay more engaging. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition's version of ME1 is far better than the original, and it makes a 2007 game more enjoyable in 2021 without sacrificing any of the original charm—even if some of the clunkiness remains.
The graphical improvements in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 really take off, uninhibited by ME1's technical limitations. If the graphical overhauls for ME1 bring a game from 2007 to 2021, the improvements here make the games seem like 2021 releases with a particular aesthetic. Even if ME1 doesn't look as good in comparison to its sequel, the exact differences aren't night and day either. It's clear that all the small details were really put under a microscope for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, and it's in these titles that the benefits of the Legendary Edition are most clear. Whereas most remasters aim for a new coat of paint, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition redesigns the whole house.
This holds true thanks to a lot of the smaller changes too. The character creation is streamlined so that players look consistent across all three games, but it doesn't stop major changes to class or appearance between games either. Morality has been made more consistent, relieving some unnecessary stress in making choices in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, and in general, a lot of changes are made to shrink the sheer quality divide between ME1 and ME3.
Load times across the board are also improved, with the added option to skip elevator rides. This makes the game much more streamlined and moment-to-moment. While there are no specific next-gen improvements, the benefit of the PS5 hardware cannot be understated either. Load times in each game were never more than a few seconds, and the benefit of just backing out of the game and jumping back into it was quite refreshing. It cuts out a lot of menu frustration when the game can be brought up immediately instead of diving through the hub menu and then each game's menu.
The total inclusion of all Mass Effect DLC except Pinnacle Station only bolsters all of these upgrades, especially given how much is expertly packed into these remasters. There are bugs throughout the trilogy that persist or are new, of course, but the ones we experienced were never overwhelming or troublesome. For the most part, it seemed like a plethora of smaller things that should be expected of even the most polished releases. The game hard crashed on us once and one encounter had to be reloaded, but every other hiccup was a "blink and you'll miss it" situation.
Overall, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition advertised itself as taking the already-popular trilogy, bringing it to modern consoles, and giving it smart improvements. There's a lot that it does to improve the games without detracting from the core experience, and that says something. The first game is 13 years old and the third game is 9 years old at the time of this writing, and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition makes them feel much more current and recent. It's hard to imagine making the original trilogy any better, but these remasters definitely make them much more current.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Game Rant reviewed Mass Effect: Legendary Edition on the Neuron 4000D from Origin PC. Origin offers a variety of customizable PCs that can meet any gamers' needs. Read more about the Neuron here.