BioWare’s sci-fi action-RPG, Mass Effect 3, is launching in South Africa this week Friday, 9 March, for Xbox 360, PS3, and Windows PC.

Today the publisher lifted the international review embargo, and the internet is now bursting with official reviews of the final game in the first Mass Effect trilogy.

Mass Effect 3 completes the story of Commander Shepard, and as usual, decisions made in previous games in the series will have a direct impact on the player’s experience.

So far feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with the game holding a Metacritic score of 94/100. Here is what some leading publications have had to say so far:

Game Informer 10/10

As bleak as this story is, it’s offset by war sequences so large in scale and beautifully animated that you cannot help but look upon them in awe. Read more

Eurogamer 10/10

As with any game that dares to be ambitious, deconstruct Mass Effect 3 into its constituent parts and of course there are flaws, but taken as a whole this is arguably the first truly modern blockbuster, a game that transcends the genre boundaries of old and takes what it needs from across the gaming spectrum in order to finish its story in the most compelling, thrilling, heartbreaking way possible. Few gaming sagas come to a definitive close, but this one signs off in breathtaking style. Read more

Mass Effect 3

IGN 9.5/10

In many ways, Mass Effect 3 has set the bar even higher as the worthy conclusion to one of the finest stories ever told in gaming history, even if it’s still admittedly imperfect. Read more

Gametrailers 9.5/10

Improves many of the series’ individual elements, and provides finality to a saga in which numbers of us have invested dozens of hours. But despite this success, it’s unable to reward the effort and investment of players in the same way previous games did. Still, it handles its subject matter in a way that invites you to care, and the addition of multiplayer does add another dimension to the game. When all has been said and done, there’s a very good chance that you’ll feel something.

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Gamespot 9/10

A remarkably satisfying conclusion to a beloved trilogy, and a poignant and memorable role-playing action game in its own right. Read more

Mass Effect 3

Destructoid 8.5/10

The story is more fast-paced than anything BioWare has done before and still feels like it’s affording the player as much time as they need to explore and discover. While some niggling issues do persist in terms of controls, the storyline is supremely satisfying right up to its climax, which contains one of the most interesting moral dilemmas found in videogames (from a standpoint of long-term implications). Read more

Giant Bomb 4/5

Even though it has some interesting ideas, it’s hard to get excited about yet another take on wave-based survival, especially one that uses the occasionally-clumsy Mass Effect combat as its base. Once you start thinking about how most of the campaign’s side content either uses these same multiplayer levels or has you performing extremely basic retrieval tasks, it’s easy to start feeling slightly indignant about the whole thing…But only slightly. At the end of the day, Mass Effect 3 is a game for people who liked Mass Effect 2 so much that they absolutely need to see how it all ends. Despite claims to the contrary from the game’s publisher, I really don’t think newcomers will get much out of it at all. Read more

Videogamer 8/10

Here is a package that represents exceptional value. There’s little here to convert non-believers, but then this game is not for them. This is one for the fans, and few who buy it will be left unsatisfied by how the story – their story – ends. Read more

Mass Effect 3