'Mass Effect 3' Ending: Did BioWare Rip Off Another Game For ME3 Finale? 'It's Like They Gave Up' Says Fans

Fans of the Mass Effect franchise may have found another reason to be angry about the trilogy's ending. The conclusion that has created so much controversy may, in fact, be imitating the final moments of another series.

Deus Ex, an action role-playing franchise released over a decade ago, shared the same array of options at the end of the game. The Control, Synthesis, and Destroy choices as an ending sequence were already present in this franchise before Mass Effect was even released.

The game is also reliant on the idea of forming alliances and making hefty decisions that impact the overall story line, much like the heavily debated space-themed shooter.

Also,' Deus Ex' and 'Deus Ex: Invisible War' had the SAME exact kind of endings, one user posted in a Gamespot forum.

Some players argue that this similarity works to BioWare's advantage, while others label the final fragment of the franchise as a rip-off.

There are obvious problems with the ending that people have brought up on the Internet, it being a giant 'Deus Ex Machina,' a user posted on the Mass Effect 3 forum on gaming website Giant Bomb.

When discussing the alleged copied ending, one player posting in a G4 gaming message board pointed out that this type of ending could have made sense for the series.

But one of my real questions is did anyone really expect something drastically different from what we got? the user questioned, after acknowledging that the ending is similar to 'Deus Ex Machina.' While this whole idea of choices having consequences was what 'Mass Effect' intended to be known for, the writing in the 'Mass Effect' games has been nothing more than passable...

Some gamers have come to use 'Deus Ex Machina' as an adjective to describe BioWare's latest release, with one player compared the story-line breaks in the two series.

I like what BioWare did here...My gripe with it though is that it is a complete Deus Ex Machina' and is full of holes...It's like they gave up and thought lets copy the last bits of MGS4 and cross it with the end of 'Deus Ex,' a fan posted in a Gamest.co.uk forum.

This is one of the Web-based theories to surface from fans who have played the game. Last week, some members of the gaming community were astounded to discover that the ending could have completely gone over their heads. The indoctrination theory suggests that Commander Shepherd's final decision determines whether or not the protagonist joined the Reapers or resisted their influence.

BioWare recently released an open letter to their fan base, saying that they are in the process of making modifications to appease their fans. The letter says that players will hear more about this in April.