User blog comment:4Ferelden/Mook showdown - ME adversaries vs. other games!/@comment-5379655-20130507055745/@comment-204.10.222.10-20130507163225

Uh, I might be able to plug that lore-hole up a bit so that its only a little leaky. Almost every weapon you mentioned, aside from the Arc Pistol, is PARTICLE based, just like every form of blaster in the Starwarsaverse. Though it is relativly miniscule, they still generate a kinetic impact on a target and since the point of a particle beam is to focus particles on a tiny spot, that kinetic impact is still capable of overwhelming a shield that is focusing all of it's processing power on such a tiny area.