Mass Effect 3 - Editorial @ Press Start To Begin

Press Start To Begin has another article for Mass Effect 3 about Udina. He is usually the man most gamers hated, and the writer thinks he deserves better.

Every time I end up playing any video game, I find myself comparing it to the cinematic experience of Mass Effect. It’s not an obsession; I love games with great stories. Mass Effect not only had a great story, but the game mechanics gave the player a way interact with everyone in a personal way. I haven’t seen another game quite like it. It sets the bar pretty high, and that’s a great thing. So while I was comparing the story of Mass Effect with the story of another game I’m playing, Fallout 3, I ended up thinking about the characters I met along the way. That brought me to Councillor Udina.

Councillor Udina was one of the most interesting figures in the Mass Effect universe. He really was. Humanity was seen as an upstart race that needed to be put in its place. He stepped up into the role after his predecessor left. And that role was insanely complex. He had his finger in many pots, each of them ready to boil over.  Udina’s job was to protect humanity’s interests on a galactic scale. The player only saw a small fraction of Udina’s life. And within that small fraction, he was portrayed in one of the most unsympathetic lights imaginable. So yes, he was the one that everyone hated and wanted to kill. And yes, it wouldn’t be surprising if Udina was one of the most unpopular characters this side of Kai Lang.

This article will be arguing that Udina was treated rather unfairly in Mass Effect 3 during Priority: Citadel II. There was no way that Udina would have done what the writers claimed he would do. No way.