The Cycle Repeats

In Mass Effect 2, we learned a lot about the Prothean race, the beings that took the Reapers head on in the last cycle and fell to the wayside from their robotic onslaught. They then went extinct after their last resort, cryogenic sleeping pods, malfunctioned due to power failure. But what if one was to miraculously survive?

The Mass Effect 3: From Ashes DLC answers that question, and just like Liara, my reactions were very similar in that they were along the lines of “Oh my God, a real life Prothean! Amazing!” Javik, a Prothean general who was supposed to usher in a new cycle of dominance for his race, is now the last of his kind after his pod is discovered by colonists on Eden Prime, always a hot bed for Prothean activity in the Mass Effect universe. And his story and added dynamic to the team fits in very well after you rescue him from Cerberus, who are after him for their own nefarious means.

The problem with the DLC though mainly revolves around the price. You paying $10 (800 Microsoft Points) for literally only an hour of content in terms of missions and maybe an extra half hour worth of unique conversations aboard the Normandy and CItadel just seems really steep. The pack also features some new costumes for your other squad mates, but with no difference in terms of bonus attributes from the armor that ships with the game, it’s all just cosmetic. So really, I just can’t help but keep thinking to myself that is this is just another ploy to squeeze a few more dollars out of the players.

The way Javik is worked into the story and how he plays just like any of the other characters with his own unique powers and abilities is very well done. But it just seems like this DLC pack was cobbled together. And now that Bioware has decided to step into the multiplayer realm, to include a DLC pack without any sort of multiplayer content at all should irritate a lot of folks who have really embraced the mode, even if Mass Effect will forever be seen more as a single player experience.

So at the end of the day, you have to appreciate how good a character Javik is, but when you drop $60 for a 30 hour campaign, it just doesn’t seem to add up to get only another 60-90 minutes when you drop another $10 and so I just don’t see this DLC being worth the price considering how little it really affects the game overall. DLC stands for Downloadable Content…so where’s the freakin’ content?!

SUMMARY: This is a great story and new character, but he should have just been included in the game in the first place, not a $10 Day 1 add-on.

• THE GOOD: Dynamic new character that fleshes out your roster
• THE BAD: $10 for an hour worth of content, next time EA and Bioware should buy us dinner first
• THE UGLY: The Prothean redefines the term ‘four-eyes’

SCORE: 5.0

Mass Effect 3: From Ashes DLC is available on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Primary version reviewed was on Xbox 360.