Mass Effect’s Multi-Game Legacy

One of the things about Mass Effect that intrigues me is that the saved game from the 1st and 2nd games carries decisions with you into the 3rd game:

The story of the trilogy defies simplification, not least because it unfolds differently depending on player choice. Governments fall, friends and enemies are made, whole races live or die by your decisions, so that by the third game, loading a save from the first two radically changes the world you wake up to in ME3.

The article continues:

At times, the whole thing is so ludicrously filmic it nearly ceases to be a game at all. Sure, there is shooting to be done, and skulls to crack, and characters to level up and equip, but it all feels almost like a list of chores. The gameplay’s not bad – in fact, it’s excellent, overflowing with achingly cool combat tricks and nifty level design – but when it stands between the player and a story this compelling it’s very tempting to set the difficulty as low as it goes, race through each mission and sit back with that popcorn to watch the movie.