Rank the Mass Effect Series

Prior to DLC releases for ME:A, I am going with:

ME1/ME2/ME:A/ME:3

I love all of the them and have played multiple PT's (onto the 4th for ME:A) but I find that ME3, for its true impact, is heavily dependent on the previous 2 entries while ME1, ME2, and ME:A can stand on their own.

I remember when Mass Effect came out in 2007 a few months after my son was born and I spent many o' night up at 2am immersed in that universe. Despite its combat limitations, it has the best story, tightest narrative development, and most atmospheric of the series. The look, the sound, the pacing, the reveals - it was like playing a Ridley Scott movie from the 80's.

Mass Effect 2 changed a lot as the colors of the universe were highlighted by an orange hue, you got to explore the Asari and Krogan main hubs, you got Aria, Omega, and Afterlife - it was like the sequel got directed by Tony Scott instead. It was "Mass Effect - The Fast Food Edition" as everything was in bite-size chunks that led to the next bite.

Mass Effect Andromeda is different from the series trilogy despite its references and that's not a bad thing. It tries things the series never tried (open world, jump jet) with hit-and-miss results but I've always appreciated the effort of BioWare to provide something different with each game. This one may move up depending on promised editions and potential DLC to expand on the stories loose-ends.

Mass Effect 3 had some of the most emotional moments in the series with the culmination of the Krogan and Quarian/Geth story arcs but I don't feel it was as a good as a stand-alone game as the other three. You could play it as BioWare filled in the blanks with stand-in characters but Wreav is no Wrex, Geth VI is not Legion, etc. To get the true emotional impact of the choices you made throughout the series you need to have played the series to that point otherwise its good and not great.