Mass Effect is primarily a dramatic, interstellar RPG where your character and their crew fight to protect the galaxy from total destruction. It has wonderfully written characters whose tragic circumstances make the tough decisions they face all the more difficult. But between all the fights with genocidal robots and rogue Spectres, it’s also got some hilarious scenes and characters to cut the tension.
Every Mass Effect game had its share of comic relief, though the amount definitely increased as the series went on (one DLC for the third game in particular stands out for its funny moments). These ten scenes demonstrate the humor of the Mass Effect franchise, and have spawned in-jokes that the fandom still references today.
10
Meeting Illium’s Biotic God
The Most Powerful Volus In The Galaxy
Biotics are a powerful force in Mass Effect, with figures like Matriarch Benezia and Samara being famed for their skills. But neither compares to the force of nature that is the Biotic God, a volus Shepard can meet while on Illium. His real name is Niftu Cal, and he introduces himself as one of the most powerful beings in the universe, with biotic powers charged up by an illegal gas being stored nearby.
In reality, the only one Cal is a threat to is himself, as his powers are barely capable of keeping him upright. The drugs that supercharged his powers have also left him essentially drunk, losing his balance and struggling to form complete sentences. It’s fun to see him challenge the elite forces on the player’s squad, and sadists may enjoy seeing him die if he takes on enemy forces, but the volus can also be saved if Shepard knocks him over to keep him out of the fight.
9
Shepard’s Unwarranted Outburst Of Violence During The Player’s First Mission
Smacking A Scientist Right In The Face
Renegade options can often be brutal and violent, but many of them are also quite funny in a dark sort of way. One of the first renegade choices presented to the player in the series comes during their first mission on Eden Prime, where they are tasked with protecting the people of the human colony. A couple of scientists can be found taking shelter in a shack, and the player can speak to them to learn a bit about their situation.
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One of the scientists, Manuel, is experiencing something akin to a psychotic break, spouting words about the end of galactic civilization. Shepard can try to comfort the man, ignore him or, shockingly, punch him in the face. This is a wild response to a civilian reasonably freaking out, and comes out of nowhere in the interaction, which is part of what makes it so shocking and funny. The way Manuel crumples and goes unconscious contributes as well, and overall, this is a memorable start to a lifetime of renegade actions Shepard can take.
8
This Is My Favorite Shop On The Citadel
Tricking Merchants Into Offering A Discount
Looking instead at some paragon choices, a kindhearted Shepard can still make some rather odd decisions throughout the series. In the second game, when Shepard returns to the Citadel and explores Zakera Ward, they can frequent several shops in the area to pick up upgrades. Each shop has pretty high prices on their goods, though they provide a discount if Shepard convinces the store owner to give them one.
Paragon Shepard will offer a personal endorsement as a galactic hero in exchange for this discount. Though hilariously, Shepard provides the exact same contradictory endorsement to every shop in the area, claiming that it’s their “favorite shop on the Citadel.” This message will repeat whenever the player walks by the shop in question, and it’s very funny to hear the clip coming from multiple stores right next to one another at the same time.
7
Shepard’s Clone Saying “I Should Go”
Some Of The Citadel DLC’s Self-Aware Humor
Jumping ahead, Mass Effect 3 consolidates much of its humor to the Citadel DLC, which sees Shepard fighting an evil clone of themselves alongside all of their former companions. It’s a fun and outlandish romp that many consider the best part of the franchise, and it’s full of in-jokes and references to past games. One example comes when the diabolical clone Shepard leaves the real commander to die, stealing their iconic sign-off line, “I should go.”
Like many other jokes that the Citadel DLC would make about its own franchise, this started as a joke among fans after they noticed Shepard’s repetitive sign-off in the first game.
This is the phrase Shepard ends nearly every conversation with a companion with, making them sound a little robotic, as fans noted after the first two games. After the clone uses this line, the following scene sees Shepard realizing that they don’t like how it sounds, and trying to think of a new way to pronounce it, all while ignoring the eminenet danger they are in.
6
Not A Straw, An Emergency Induction Port
Tali’s Wonderful Way With Words
Sticking with Mass Effect 3, this next funny moment comes toward the ending of the main plot, right after the mission where Shepard assists Miranda on Horizon. It’s a tough mission full of fearsome Reaper foes and there’s a chance that Miranda could die during it, meaning that tensions are high after the mission’s conclusion. This is when Shepard may find Tali in the lounge, sitting by herself and getting incredibly drunk.
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Tali’s drunken rant about Miranda, her frustrations with her exosuit, and the need for an “emergency induction port” (straw) to drink makes for a simultaneously funny and sad conversation, especially if the mission caused Miranda to perish. It’s the chance to see Tali, who didn’t get much screen time with Miranda as a character in the second game, mourn the loss of this companion, or just to talk about all she’s been through.
5
Pressing A Button Over And Over On Sur’Kesh
Annoying The Salarians To No End
During the course of Mass Effect 3, players will have the chance to visit Sur’Kesh, homeworld of the salarians and the site where Mordin Solus is working to cure the genophage. The salarian facility is a tense and cold place in the heart of this lush world, and the presence of Shepard, their crew, and Urdnot Wrex already causes a bit of a culture shock. But the player can make this meeting even more awkward by repeatedly pressing a mysterious button the salarians ask them not to.
Even as a nearby scientist tells you to leave the button alone and mocks your obsession, you can continue to press it until their frustration builds high enough that they snap. It’s then that they reveal that the button is to activate a “feces analyzer,” and you have been scanning poop each time you press it. This funny moment gets a bit of a reprieve in the Citadel DLC, where Shepard can have a similar interaction with a casino worker and an interactive waterfall, evidently a “hanar toilet.”
4
Garrus Is Always Busy With Calibrations
An Unintentionally Hilarious Bit Of Repeated Dialogue
This next one may not have been intentionally funny at first, but the team at Bioware embraced the clunkiness as the series went on. Garrus is a fan-favorite companion who can join Shepard in every game in the series, one of only two companions to do so. But he occasionally suffers from a lack of dialogue, especially in Mass Effect 2, where his personal story is woefully short.
Once all of Garrus’ unique dialogue is experienced, he will default to one singular line as a way to dismiss player requests to speak, saying that he’s got to take care of some calibrations on the ship’s main gun. Every companion has a throwaway line to dismiss the player once their dialogue is expended, but this one was probably heard more than any other as players hoped to speak with their favorite turian. Later entries in the series would see Garrus made fun of by the other squadmates for his fixation on calibrations, and even he seems aware that he spends a comical amount of time tuning up a gun that hardly sees any use.
3
Shepard’s Awful Dance Moves
The Galaxy’s Worst Dancer
Shepard is a stand-in for the player, and thus, most of their character traits are entirely open to change. But there’s one thing players cannot alter, and that is the fact that Shepard is terrible at dancing. Their moves, if they can be called that, are the same throughout all three games: a combination of stiff arm movements, lackluster steps back and forth, and a distant, emotionless gaze straight ahead.
It’s almost unnerving to see amidst the more normal, lively dances that happen in bars and clubs around the galaxy. Shepard’s dancing is so awful that it can scare off an asari dancer in Mass Effect 2, and their moves become the focus of the crew’s ridicule during part of the Citadel DLC. Shepard is good at a lot of things, but dancing is not one of them.
2
Meeting Blasto On Set
Javik Stars In A Film Beside This Hanar Spectre
Blasto is a character in the Mass Effect franchise that exists almost purely for comedic effect. They are a fictional character in an in-universe movie franchise about a hanar spectre that doesn’t play by the rules, the polite mannerisms of the hanar contrasting with a bad-cop persona. Advertisements for Blasto’s movies can be found all around the second and third games, and in the Citadel DLC, the player can even star in one alongside one of their crewmates.
That crewmate is Javik, the Prothean soldier recently released from stasis, who doesn’t have a firm grasp on Blasto or movies in general. It isn’t until the two of you are in the midst of a scene in Blasto’s new movie that he realizes how much of a farce it all is, and it’s funny to see him immediately lose all respect for the project. It’s also great to see how Shepard reacts to a faux Spectre, stealing valor in real time during the biggest war in galactic history.
1
Shepard, Shepard, Shepard
Wrex And Grunt Master The Art Of Conversation
The final entry on this list is also from the Citadel DLC, specifically the party that takes place at its end. This party sees every living crew member come together in Shepard’s apartment, and is full of hilarious interactions that could honestly all be included here. But the standout moment comes when Wrex and Grunt, the two krogan crew members, enter a “conversation” with their commander.
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Neither says anything besides the commander’s name, just saying “Shepard” over and over while the commander grows more and more confused. It’s another reference to a commonly used sign-off when dialogue with these characters ends, as they say the commander’s name every time they part ways. The scene is shot with strange camera angles and zooms, and has great comedic timing to satirize Mass Effect‘s own simplistic way of having characters greet or leave one another.
Mass Effect Trilogy
- Released
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November 6, 2012
- ESRB
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t
- Developer(s)
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BioWare
- Publisher(s)
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Microsoft
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 3