Mass Effect: Paragon Lost

I'm more than just a mass effect fan. I'm a massive mass effect fan! I've probably played the trilogy through about 6 times by now. Time well spent. I saw this quite a while ago, but I will do my best to give my impressions. When this was going to come out, I was very excited about it! I get excited about any mass effect related news. I remember seeing all the synopses on the wiki, and the trailers, and getting quite hyped. After all, in Mass Effect 3, when we suddenly see Vega on the Normandy, we think 'who the hell is he'? And I'm gladthis movie came along to answer our questions - even though his backstory was explained in an okay way during the game. That said, he's probably the last ME character I'd choose to make a movie about. If this was a move 100% about Garrus or Wrex, I would probably have been so biased I'd give it 10/10 on everything. Story - 8 Okay, onto the review of the actual movie. I think that anyone who is not a mass effect fan would have difficulty understanding all the story and the significance of the collector threat. But Bioware is known for being particularly talented with narrative, and I think that they did do well to vary the kinds of action that went on, as well as not making it feel too dumb with fights for the sake of fights. What really got me was the choice Vega has to make at the end. It's why Bioware called the movie "Paragon Lost," because what he does is most certainly a renegade move. I like a bit of grey morality in my movies, and this is something that Bioware can sometimes do very effectively, such as in the end of the movie. I always play as a Renegade, and I'm glad to see Bioware turning renegade themselves. Art - 6 Having seen a lot of anime, I can't exactly say the art is brilliant. It's not bad. But seeing the 3D Vega translated into 2D was somewhat offputting. The explosions are average. The character design isn't particularly attractive, nor is it ugly. I mean, it would be wrong if they turned Vega into a bishonen, so I'm not complaining. Sound 8 The music isn't anything memorable, especially compared to the glorious ME3 and ME2 scores which will always remain on my ipod. But the voice acting, on the other hand, is very good. I don't really like watching anime in English, but the VA's did a really good job. This is probably because Bioware called in Funimation, who, in my opinion, do the best dubbing of any studio. Plus they got Vic Mignoga to be in it, which automatically makes me think higher of it. Think I recognised J Michael Tatum, too. They managed to make english language anime actually sound somewhat cool. Character 8 Bioware is good at characters when they really put their mind to it, but I think that in the space of 1hr30 they don't have the time or resources to flesh out any new characters so much. If it were a Bioware game, I would give it 10/10 on character. This perhaps suffered from having too many characters, such as there wasn't time to make them all good. A lot of the squad played on stereotypes and didn't really break from them. The Krogan acted like any Krogan ever. Enjoyment 7 Without having references to collectors, Krogan, Asari and Turians, I would probably see this like any generic sci fi anime. Without having played the games, I wouldn't be able to pick out anything particularly unique about it. There's nothing that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Nothing groundbreaking. I would say that you would only possibly enjoy this if you've played the games. I think it would be quite a waste of time to watch it without having the interest from the games. Overall 7 - I'd call this decent. It is an additional part of the mass effect world, and therefore it is worth watching any day. But it could have been a hell of a lot better if Bioware had decided to go out of their comfort zone and introduce some new themes, rather than just following the backstory Vega explains to us on the Normandy to the letter. It is by no means essential. If you'd rather go and watch the 5 minute scene from ME3 that Vega has explaining all this to Shepard, you will get exactly the same information than if you watch the entire movie.

With the recent release of the remastered Mass Effect trilogy, I couldn’t help but have Mass Effect on the mind once again. As any fan of the series would know, the biggest appeal to Mass Effect is the lovable cast of characters and the story that unveils with them by your side (minus the ME3 ending, we all know that could have been better). This reputation left 'Mass Effect: Paragon Lost' with some big shoes to fill. …& unfortunately, this movie is a far cry from what the Mass Effect trilogy has previously accomplished. Granted, not that you could even expect that level of story-telling afterseeing the choice of main character for this film. Out of all the characters that exist in the Mass Effect universe, they choose the most generic “bro” of them all - James Vega (give me a Garrus movie though & I’m all yours). Just as the MC is the most basic human space marine you could find, the story itself is nothing spectacular. Vega and co fight some Krogans, protect a colony from some Collectors, and reference Shephard a million times to possibly trick the viewer into into liking this movie. That’s about it. It’s a generic space action movie with weak dialogue and lackluster art that’s only standout feature is that it’s wrapped in a Mass Effect skin. Overall, 'Mass Effect: Paragon Lost' is a generic space action movie at best and a regrettable installment to the Mass Effect franchise at worst. If you - like me - have been back in the Mass Effect mood due to the recent game releases, then I say you’re better off just playing the games again than expecting this to satisfy your Mass Effect craving.

Mass effect is one of the most in depth gaming universes out there, and paragon lost certainly honors that heritage. To understand this anime you must play the games first or you will be lost. The anime builds on the background of James Vega, one of your companions from mass effect 3, playing the game you build a sense of comradery with him and he tells you one of his war stories, and paragon lost builds upon hist tale. It's one thing to hear it told in the game, but now you can watch it all unfold and truly understand the difficulty of his decision. Theanime throws you right into the action with no real background, so again to understand you must play the games. Not my personal favorite art style, they went with a more realistic appearance. Some things didn't make sense in the mass effect universe, such as how the alliance marines were using the a variation of the M-76 Revenant when the standard issue alliance assault rifle is the M-8 Avenger. But small details such as this can be overlooked and will really only annoy hardcore mass effect fans. The special features on the DVD were enjoyable if run of the mill, yknow the usual tour through the offices, and making of vids. All in all this is a very good anime to watch, if you enjoy the action genre, And a must for any hardcore fan.

"Out here, our choices affect not only our lives but the lives of all the people we've sworn to protect. We can only hope... we make the right ones." Firstly, Happy N7 Day commanders, we finally got our remastered trilogy! Secondly, this is so much more satisfying upon playing the game before and after, since it gives so much more depth to the character of James Vega. Exploring James' backstory only hinted at during the events of Mass Effect 3, it gives us the full-on explosive adventure full of loss and brutal decisions in typical Mass Effect fashion. Taking place in 2183 to start with a fantasticaction sequence on Fehl Prime before jumping forward 2 years to 2185 taking place at the same time as the final sequences from Mass Effect 2. Production I.G. (most known for Ghost in the Shell, FLCL, and that animated sequence from Kill Bill), gives their usual high levels of effort in terms of animation, CGI and 3D camera movements, popping with some beautifully horrifying details. In terms of the cast, well it's certainly a mixed bag. Freddie Prinze Jr. delivers a brilliantly heartfelt performance as Vega and the utterly chilling performance by Vic Mignogna as Messner. However, on the other end of the spectrum is the completely flat and dull performance by Monica "Jelly Bean" Rial as Treeya. Also, this film made the cardinal sin of recasting some of the main supporting cast of the games, with Dr. Liara T'Soni being the main offender as instead of the beautiful vocals of Ali Hillis, you are left with an incredibly disinterested performance by Jamie "False Accuser" Marchi. The film definitely benefits from the musical talents of one of the composers from the games, David Kates, bringing over the main themes from the games and giving them his own twist thanks to the combined efforts of him and Joshua Mosley. Topped off by the use of Warning Signs by The Anix to complete the experience. While Paragon Lost may not be perfect, it delivers a horrifying and heartwrenching story with such effort it's hard to stay mad at it, it hits all the right notes in a way only a true Mass Effect product could. "What kind of a question is that? You're speaking to a Krogan... We live for weapons."

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