Mass Effect 3: From Ashes DLC Reviews

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Written by BuckGB on March 18th, 2012

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As Mass Effect DLC goes, From Ashes isn't as spectacular or impactful as ME2's Lair of the Shadow Broker; it's more a carbon copy of Kasumi Stolen Memory, the companion DLC for ME2's thief character, Kasumi Goto. Just like Kasumi and Zaeed, Javik is recruitable as a party member in ME3 once you've played this DLC, and to get the most out of him, you'll want to use him enough in the full game to hear all his banter. So if you're just about to start ME3, are planning on an extended secondary playthrough, or are fanatical enough to want to know every single piece of fiction in the Mass Effect universe, From Ashes is a worthy download. Otherwise, what you're really getting is just a quickie companion side-mission with a bonus history lesson.

Spesh-Edition owners will get this for free, but the rest of us have been a bit shafted. The additions are enticing, but they're also insulting. If you're the kind of person who's easily enraged, steer well clear of this cheeky cash-grab.

But the mission to defreeze Javik is short, and you can beat it easily within about half an hour. If you're looking for a chunk of content as substantial as Mass Effect 2's Lair of the Shadow Broker you'll probably come away disappointed, and Javik doesn't really dramatically affect anything about the Mass Effect 3 campaign; there's just a slightly bigger gap in the character selection screen if you don't have him in your party. He definitely adds some flavour to the overall experience, but From Ashes is hardly a must-have addition to Mass Effect 3.

But that's almost the problem: this volume of content doesn't grow on trees and knowing it was purposefully denied to those that bought the game, just so it could be sold back to them later, is galling. In the end it's likely to have a negative effect on anyone considering future downloadable content for Mass Effect 3, whether it's made from scratch or not.

So at the end of the day, you have to appreciate how good a character Javik is, but when you drop $60 for a 30 hour campaign, it just doesn't seem to add up to get only another 60-90 minutes when you drop another $10 and so I just don't see this DLC being worth the price considering how little it really affects the game overall. DLC stands for Downloadable Content.so where's the freakin' content?!

From Ashes is easily the best character-centric DLC the series has to offer. Unlike Kasumi or Zaeed in Mass Effect 2, Javik is a persistent personality, his integration a lot smoother and substantial. With that said, From Ashes is clearly at aimed at those who want to dig deeper in to the rich sci-fi universe. If you're only in it for an extra mission, forking out £7.99 is steep by anyone's standards.

On the same day as dropping $100 on the full retail game, From Ashes asks players to dish out an additional $15 for a 20 30 minute mission that is mediocre at best, some costumes, an interesting companion and a couple of conversation encounters. Considering you can pick up any one of the aforementioned Mass Effect 2 DLCs for the same price, it appears to be nothing more than a lazy cash grab. Sure long-time Mass Effect fans might dig the extra insight into the long lost forerunners of the galaxy but for everyone else, it's probably safe to hold off on this one until it is on sale.

In addition to the short mission and the interesting (and surprisingly not exploitative) squadmate, you get a new assault rifle, an extra outfit for each squadmate, and two achievements. Ten bucks is a bit of a hefty price tag for From Ashes; $5 would have been more reasonable, especially in light of its immediate appearance on the Marketplace. I cannot in good conscience recommend it to all players, but for the diehard ME fans among you, it's worth picking up.

My problem with From Ashes is that it seems like poor value for new customers. 800 Points for one N7 mission and a character, no matter how revelatory he may be, seems like a tall order. I just don't think that the value proposition makes sense. At 400 points, sure, but 800 is too much to ask. If you've already got a code with your edition of the game, it's worthwhile content. If you don't, maybe look up the information elsewhere it's not worth that much of your money.

So in summation, before you lay down 10 smackeroos on this bit of content, take a good long look in the mirror and decide whether or not you're a Mass Effect fanatic. If you're just buying this DLC just for the mission because you remember how awesome Mass Effect 2'²s Lair of the Shadow Broker was, you're going to be disappointed. But, if you're buying it to preserve a kickass piece of Mass Effect lore, or to help augment your second, third, and fourth playthroughs, you will enjoy From Ashes.

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