Frozen. Suspended in midair, the enemies softly drifted in a pool of blue electronic webs, granting Commander Shepard a few yearned breaths after excessive bombardment and blood.

Yes, since the dawn of Tuesday, the threat of utter oblivion of the human race fell in the hands of gamers around the world with “Mass Effect 3.”

As I have stated in a previous column on Feb. 22, video games hold my passion with a tight grasp. As I returned home to Springfield for spring break, an hour after I had walked in the door into the arms of my family, my passion took hold of me.

Instead of enacting in the chores that fellow students have to worry about, like packing to escape to some sickeningly relaxing beach or preparing to travel across the country to immerse bare hands in hard labor to build homes, I decided to honor the break in a different fashion.

I found that one of my older brothers had himself been consumed by a world of stars and strife in a brutal war against a deadly foe and, after seeing my eyes glaze and my mouth drool over the beautiful chaos captured in a sparkly charming high resolution, he passed the reins.

I departed his game, in which he had accumulated about 15 hours of play into the seductive suspense of a galaxy far away, and began my own journey.

I realized immediately that this third installment, while embodying the allure of a compelling narrative, retained its prowess of obliterating any chance of a dull moment. This reflects the ability of “Mass Effect 3” to eclipse other adventures in the gaming universe to hook its claws into the avid gamer.

Right beside the “M” for Mature rating, the label should read “CAUTION: This epic end-tale to the trilogy will enslave your hands and mind without any assurances to let go until you finish the chronicle that launched in 2007.”

This rare triumph in sensational sci-fi bridges the hard hours of service to the previous installments, as past gameplay carries over to each increasingly complex interface, like topping a dense mountain to reach great heights.

Evolving from each conversation to every knuckle-biting decision, all minute details matter in the progression of the story, and the fate of all inhabitants in the vast valleys of space lie within the perspiring hands of the gamer.

To accommodate everyone who shares my loath of spoilers, I will not reveal the twists and turns I have seen, but I will say that familiar faces entice the hunger of gamers for a third time, but they may not remain within your retinas for long.

Faces, new and old, join to fight the foe that fixates only on destruction and death.

BioWare, the games developer, cuts no corners when delivering a product that will consume the masses with an addictively striking storyline captured in glamorous graphics, and provides other facets of obsessive play, like a four-player co-op granting options of a variety of races and classes.

With traces of heart-riveting complements of sound and vision like the “Dead Space” series, and remnants of historically enthralling stories like “Star Trek,” this game turns heads and grapples on to one’s bones.

Rachel Rodgers a junior journalism major.

She can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com.