I recently picked up Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a rerelease of the Mass Effect trilogy, and decided to play through the three games, something I was excited to do since I’d never played the third game before. Upon glancing at the achievements, I noticed that there were achievements for completing the three games on its highest difficulty setting, Insanity. Since I’d have the option to switch difficulty midgame if I found it to be too challenging or unpleasant, I decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did as insanity difficulty made me appreciate the gameplay of the Mass Effect trilogy in a way that I didn’t before.
I should start by saying that I had played both Mass Effect 1 and 2 at their lowest difficulty in my youth, a practice that I wouldn’t shed until years later as well as playing the Soldier class which basically just meant that they’re a weapons expert. I was looking to change things up for this playthrough so, after some brief research, I settled on the Infiltrator class as they specialised in using a sniper rifle as well as some tech abilities. This decision was probably the right one for insanity difficulty as I’ll get onto in a bit.
Thankfully, Legendary Edition added the ability to do headshots in the first game, something that I greatly appreciated as a sniper. I remember fully expecting to be annihilated by regular enemies so I was surprised when things seemed pretty normal for a while. There were a few encounters that I struggled with but it proved to be much easier than I expected. However, the point of this article is to talk about my newfound appreciation for the gameplay and that comes down to the tactics HUD. I had remembered it from my earlier playthroughs but I don’t recall making active use of it, something which I’d argue is an impossibility on Insanity difficulty. By holding shift on the keyboard, time pauses and the weapons and abilities of the squad, both yourself and your companions, become available. My strategy focused heavily around burst damage, using my companions abilities to soften the enemy before I laid into them with sniper rifle headshots. This actually worked too well in some cases in the first game as a few bosses were defeated before they could do anything. The flaws of difficulty levels were apparent from time to time with the most egregious example being that enemy snipers could kill me in a single shot but, by the end of the game, I felt like I had a better handle over combat than ever before.
Mass Effect 2 changed up this dynamic well by introducing different forms of health that enemies had. Strong enemies would typically have three layers consisting of either a shield or barrier, armor and then regular health. Each health type had resistances and weaknesses to different weapons and abilities and necessitated that I balance my companions around breaking down these layers of defence. This addition also meant that I could no longer burst through bosses like I could in the first Mass Effect, something I was glad of since boss fights had often felt anticlimactic due to how fast they died. These longer fights also meant that character positioning became even more important and I found myself directing my companions to take cover at particular positions so that we could advance slowly and steadily across the battlefield, something I’d only briefly used in the first game for its intended purpose. This is also where I gained a newfound respect for my sniper rifle as my shields and health would often give out with even the most minor of concentrated fire. Therefore, popping out from cover to briefly take a shot before taking cover again was my best chance for survival. While I’m sure that there are people who use other weapons at this difficulty, it’s hard for me to imagine how one could use anything other than the sniper rifle. Mass Effect 3 was mostly a refinement of Mass Effect 2’s gameplay with one of the more significant changes being shield gates which prevented enemies with shields from dying from a single shot. This resulted in me focusing more on using abilities to wear down their defences before finishing them off with my sniper rifle but the gameplay was quite similar otherwise to Mass Effect 2.
I found myself shocked by how different the games felt once I engaged with the various elements that made up combat and the higher difficulty pushed me to try out different tactics from battle to battle, the basis for any good combat system as far as I’m concerned. There were still problems, don’t get me wrong. Even with my commands, there were times when my companions would wander out into the open and get gunned down by enemy fire. It ended up being a case where I felt I had to rely on myself for the most part and to consider my companions a bonus to my strategies. Regardless of the flaws, I still enjoyed my time with the Mass Effect trilogy but I confess to being surprised by how fulfilling the combat was and, while Insanity difficulty certainly isn’t perfect by any means, I do believe that the increased difficulty was a key part of allowing me to appreciate the gameplay.
Let me know your thoughts about all of this, what you think of the Mass Effect trilogy and its gameplay, what you think of its Insanity difficulty, whether a higher difficulty level has ever made you appreciate the gameplay even more, how you think difficulty levels should be handled in video games and any additional information you might have on the topic.
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