I haven't gotten far enough into Mass Effect to verify whether or not blue hearts fly up over their heads, but I'll let you know. What I do think is complete comedy, however, is the buzz and "controversies" this created. When there's a romantic scene in a novel, you don't hear a concerned parent outcry.
It's always a shame when a powerful story gets overshadowed by something petty and titillating. I'm sure this parallel has been drawn before, but this epic game amounts to an insanely entertaining choose-your-own-adventure book. The combat is fun, the spellcasting is innovative, but the real power and charm in this game is in choosing who you begin as and who you become, rather than grinding mobz and getting better and phatter lewt (Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that). It's eerily like life, except that in real life I don't actually look like a bulky red-haired Thom Yorke with a five o'clock shadow.
How awesome is this? H3 heatmaps at Bungie 
. They must have read my mind, because as I was scrolling through the various maps, I was thinking, "Sure, but the kills and the deaths would take place at variable ranges. Where's that map, Bungie?" Not only can you sort it by deaths & kills on each map by way of a drop arrow, you can also specify the method of death (Beam Rifle, Needler, Flag, Falling, Warthog Gunner / Warthog Driver, et cetera).
It was at least moderately surprising to me to find that the sniper deaths occur in the same spots where snipers camp stand. This is the same reason that I zoom in & out neurotically, and why that paranoia has made me world's worst sniper, constantly afraid of being counter-snope. Oh, that, and my terrible aim.
