Had the mission to retake Omega been included on disc at Mass Effect 3's launch as an optional side mission like many of those in which you meet up with your old squadmates, folks would remember it fondly as one of the more challenging and exciting portions of the game. Coming in at three or four times the length of one of those missions, it's a beefy undertaking, and it would have stood out. And, of course, folks would have been happy to be able to spend more time with Aria, finally.
As it stands now, Omega the $15 DLC is still one for the books. It is epic and thrilling, and it features some of the more intense battles in the game. Playing on normal difficulty, I actually died a few times, and that almost never happens. As a challenge, it is a step up from most of Mass Effect 3 in the same way Lair of the Shadow Broker was to Mass Effect 2.
And, yes, it is nice to be around Aria more. Those of us who have read the books and comics have gotten to know her reasonably well, but it's better to see her in the flesh, as it were, even if she can sometimes be even harsher than your average renegade Shepard.
Also, we finally get our first look at a female Turian, and I found her strangely sexy. There is certainly a difference in the facial structure between males and females, and this lady's face is most certainly appealing. However, this Turian, Nyreen, has a personal arc that essentially goes nowhere and concludes at the end of the mission with a nonsensical and unnecessary heroic moment. BioWare clearly had no idea what to do with her, and that's a shame.
I'm about to get to my big complaint, but I first want to address a smaller one. Omega features no legitimate moral dilemmas. The entire appeal of Mass Effect is choice, but you don't get any that matter here.
Now, for the Big One.
In the end, Omega is just another battle in the fight against Cerberus, and I have a hard time imagining that's really what anybody wants now that we've seen the entire main story of the Mass Effect trilogy. Do we really need to fork over cash in order to fight for a few more resources that will help us out in the final battle with the Reapers over Earth? I don't think so.
Indeed, it costs $15, more than any other Mass Effect DLC to date. EA would justify the cost by saying it provides more content than previous packs, and that is true, in a sense. In terms of the time it will take you to complete Omega, you will put more into this than even Shadow Broker. Too, I can't imagine having Carrie-Ann Moss in a starring role is cheap.
But what's the point of this? Does it expand our understanding of the events of the Mass Effect saga? No. Does it tease us as to where the series is going? No. Does it give us any new lore to chew on? Not really, unless the fate of Omega is somehow particularly important to you when all spacefaring life is at stake.
In the grand scheme of things, this mission, which will run you a fourth of the cost you paid for the entire original game, seems like a trifling matter. It doesn't feel like it was really worth it, now, to have experienced it.
Again, had this battle been in the game at launch, I would have few complaints about it. It would have been perfectly fine to go through this while I was first experiencing Mass Effect 3. But its existence as a standalone DLC mission eight months after I saw how this story ended doesn't seem justified.
What we need now is content that expands our understanding of the greater Mass Effect story. Omega does not deliver that, and so I have a hard time recommending buying it unless you're about to play Mass Effect 3 for the first time.
3 out of 5
