An Alliance ship emerges in a vicious firestorm. Thousands of Reapers and the remaining united galactic forces battle against each other in the blackness that surrounds Earth. The biological beings are making one final push to avoid total annihilation at the will of their would be harvesters.
A Reaper opens its claws and reaches for a small Alliance ship. But stops short of destroying the vessel due to an ethereal sound that screeches through the minds of organic and synthetic beings alike.
The source of the sound approaches the battle. As it nears the beast's distinctive arachnid-like shape comes into view. Krogan, Human, Asari and Turian forces' jaws drop in astonishment. An organic Reaper has joined the fray. It is the Leviathan, a beast that is only spoken of in hush tones and whispers. A legend long forgotten as memories of the past erode.
The large creature entangles in a hotly contested confrontation with its inorganic replica, its claws tearing through the synthetic hull and devouring its inauthentic clone. The tide of the battle has turned.
This is exactly what I was expecting to see after playing through the Mass Effect 3: Leviathan DLC. But what I actually got was about 90 seconds worth of added dialogue in the game's anti-climatic final scene.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Leviathan DLC. I don't think it is the best Mass Effect DLC that honor still goes to the Shadow Broker's Lair. I thought it was a worthy inclusion to the game. This piece is going to have spoilers so if you want to avoid them and didn't heed the other warnings then turn back now. If you just want to check out the review click here.
So the Leviathan is a member of the alien race that created the artificial intelligence that would later create the Reapers. These organic reapers were like the gods of all forms of intelligent life in the galaxy. But their minions kept creating synthetics machines that would later rebel against their creators and cause wars and conflicts.
So these all-knowing god-like creatures make exactly the same mistake by creating this AI. The AI creates Harbinger, who in turn begins to harvest his organic counterparts. Our little AI buddy, basically calls them shortsighted and welcomes them to the battle. But we never get to see the Leviathan creatures attempting to get revenge. That is travesty for gamers.
I think deep down all Mass Effect players knew that the Reapers were modeled after some form of biological creature. So this revelation isn't too surprising. I kind of wish this storyline was included in the main narrative. Mostly what the DLC adds to the ending is more questions. If Leviathan can take down a Reaper, how did a whole race of these creatures fail in the original Reaper's harvest?
I was so disappointed in not seeing the Leviathan destroy some Reapers that when it came time to make the final choice I just shot at the AI and doomed all space-faring beings.
What did you think about how the Leviathan DLC affected Mass Effect 3's ending? Sound off in the comments.
Have you heard about the new animated movie "Mass Effect: Paragon Lost," that acts as a prequel to Mass Effect 3? Find out more about it here.
Watch the trailer below....