Mass Effect: Paragon Lost – Review

An untold chapter in the Mass Effect saga, following the early career of Alliance Marine, James Vega, as he leads a squad of elite special forces into battle against a mysterious alien threat known as The Collectors. Stationed at a colony in a remote star system, Vega and his troops must protect the inhabitants from an invasion of the deadly insectoid warriors determined to collect the population for unknown purposes. Soon after the attack, Vega’s commanding officer falls in battle, forcing the young officer to embrace the responsibility of leadership for the colony’s survival. Having idolized Earth’s greatest hero and warrior, Commander Shepard (the central character in the Mass Effect video games), the young and idealistic Vega must now make life and the death decisions that will effect not only the lives of his squad, but the lives of every person in the colony – all of whom he has sworn to protect…

If you’ve been reading reviews of this film and have said ‘well they just don’t understand because they haven’t played the games’, rest assured, I am a gamer and have thoroughly enjoyed the trilogy. There were a few references I picked up on that make me realize, fans of the game series will get the most from what “Paragon Lost”. For instance, The end of the movie may be set after the end of the third game. That would explain the Citadel being in orbit of Earth and Vega being in N7 armor. If the movie pays attention enough get the details of the individual guns right, it seems odd they would mess something like that up. For fans of the series, Vega is The New Guy. He first appeared in Mass Effect 3 and many players probably overlooked him in favor of long-time pals like Garrus and Liara. Stationed at a colony in a remote star system, Vega and his soldiers must protect civilians from ruthless invaders determined to capture the population for unknown purposes.

My biggest criticism? The animation is barely TV quality anime. Production I.G. is known for their work on “Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C.” and “Blood: The Last Vampire”. Color me surprised when I saw the final build not up to standards set by previous works of theirs. If the quality of the animation was above the vast mediocrity offered, “Paragon Lost” might have been an even more enjoyable viewing experience. Paragon Lost just can’t measure up to the quality of the games, and ends up being an unfortunate side note in the franchise. However, at the same time, the animators do a good job adapting the character designs of the aliens, and of James himself, to animation.

Some of the dialogue is cheesy, including masterbation references and dialgoue like, “Are you kidding me? Everyone wants to do the blue!” Again, on the flip side, we truly have A+ voice acting. The voice cast for this film is simply excellent. The voice acting includes such talent as Monical Rial (Shiro- Deadman Wonderland), Vic Mignogna (Ed Elric- Fullmetal Alchemist), Ling (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), and Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang- Fullmetal Alchemist) all turn in great performances in their roles. Freddie Prinze Jr. reprises his role as James from the games and even if some people give him a hard time about his abilities, I thought he did incredible. Mass Effect: Paragon Lost is a very average film which is a shame due to the hype surrounding it.