Mass Effect

The Good
Until the mid-80s role-playing games were the domain of personal computers. The classics of the genre were deep and immersive, but also cumbersome and dry. During the 8-bit and 16-bit age, a new breed of RPGs conquered the market. Console role-playing games, or CRPGs, were predominantly of Asian production and instead of endless ASCII dungeons, statistics and complicated character management they featured simple game mechanics enriched by memorably cinematic plots and characters. While overlooked by the Western market at first, by now CRPGs have overtaken a seizable niche which during the late 80s until well into the mid-90s ousted classic PC RPGs.

Enter BioWare, formerly Black Isle Studios. Their 1998 masterpiece Baldur's Gate bridged the gap between CRPGs and classic PC RPGs. This development reached its pinnacle with Knights of the Old Republic, a game featuring the well-tested and flexible D&D rules and the prestigious Star Wars franchise to tell an epic tale.

Taking the best of two worlds, certain concessions to the CRPG formula were made - instead of an explorable, open game world more linear areas began to take foot even in Western RPGs. In BioWare's case this culminated in Jade Empire, a game featuring a severely reduced character system, action-based combat and an even smaller and more linear world than KotOR before it.

With Mass Effect BioWare seems to have found back to some of the classic genre's old strengths. While the character system is completely skill-based rather than relying on stats describing the player in-game, it still allows for variance, further aided by an elaborate dialogue system and the customisation of the main characters' outward appearances. Plot decisions, mostly determined through dialogue options, alter the story slightly at key points. Rather than forcing players to listen to their characters repeat their dialogue choices, Mass Effect instead allows them to pick from a condensed list of paraphrases at any time during conversations to determine their characters' reactions. The result is a natural flow of conversation which makes players want to listen to everything said - no small feat for such a talk-heavy game.

Combat in Mass Effect is still action-based but thanks to customisable team members, tactical game pauses and a cover system the game is less of a button-masher than Jade Empire was. Since it plays in the far future melee plays a very minor role in the confrontations. All characters' gear can be upgraded through an increasing amount of upgrade slots. Further seasoning battles are biotic skills, comparable to magic spells, which in Mass Effect take the form of telekinetic powers. Thanks to the character classes it is, however, possible to take an approach more geared towards brute physical force or the sly manipulation of the ever-present technology.

The story puts players in the space boots of a human keeper of the peace in a multi-cultural alien society which hasn't acknowledged humanity's full social rights too long ago and still fights with prejudices against it. The opportunities for conflict in the uneasy congregation of civilizations living off the technological ruins of an ancient race called Protheans are diverse. To delve deeper into the Mass Effect universe's rich background, an in-game encyclopaedia with spoken entries reveals much of the encountered alien races and their common history. Commander Shepard, the player character's unchangeable last name by which he or she is constantly addressed, takes up the mantle of Spectre, a high governmental agent operating outside the legal system to enforce the will of the Council. Such authority is soon needed as a renegade Spectre called Saren appears to have forged an alliance with the Geth, ruthless machine beings bent on destroying biological life using the same eerie threat that wiped out the mysterious Protheans aeons ago.

Like KotOR, Mass Effect assigns players their own spaceship and crew with which they can explore a variety of worlds, either discovering their own little missions or carrying out the orders of the Council and other government officials. The game universe is significantly larger than in KotOR but consists mostly of barren planets with little to find on them. The game's main plot evolves over a series of main missions, each leading players closer to Saren and the forces he's intending to unleash. The game makes good use of its detailed character models and cinematic dialogues and cut scenes to tell a mature science fiction story about prejudice, life's purpose in the universe and a person's impact on it.

The Bad
Mass Effect does a lot of things right and a whole lot of things better than its predecessor Jade Empire. Although also a good game, Jade Empire's simple game mechanics and linearity took away from its role-playing experience. Mass Effect enhances many areas which fell short in Jade Empire but still maintains some of its problems.

The main plot is comparably short for an RPG and can be solved in well under thirty hours, making it even shorter than 40+ hours epics like KotOR. Side missions enhance the game experience only slightly as the assignments tend to be rather generic missions taking place at even more generic locations. While a good deal of systems and their planets can be visited, few are truly worth the players' time. Basically a nice gimmick, the Mako vehicle which players can drive on planet surfaces controls like a bumpy iron lump to which gravity seems to be only a suggestion, not a law. The DLCs aren't too satisfying, either. While the first, Bringing Down The Sky, added a new in-game alien race and was free for PC users to download, the recently released Pinnacle Station DLC requires them to pay five dollars for a mere two to three hours of additional content falling way short of the original program's depth.

Overall the game still feels limited when it comes to character development and exploration. Almost all skills players can learn never affect the game world outside of combat. Although many equipment items and upgrades can be discovered, the game can't hide that there are only a handful of item categories and most differences between items are only gradual.

The main story is linear in spite of several choices players can make along the way and quickly leads up to the finale. Although Mass Effect's story is original and full of its own flavour, some elements feel slightly clichéd, such as the order of the Spectre's with their biotic talents under the control of a world-spanning council and the sinister villain and his horde of faceless henchmen. Even though the game doesn't come with a clear-cut good/evil system to evaluate players' deeds, BioWare hasn't fully emancipated itself yet from some Star Wars-inspired genre conventions - ironically introduced by themselves.

The Bottom Line
Mass Effect innovates while retracing its genre's roots. Its serious and mature plot full of dry, realistic but not uninteresting characters and colourful universe appeals to science fiction lovers both of the Star Wars and Star Trek persuasion. While being somewhat limited in scope and freedom, its plot entertains on a high level. All in all, the game isn't a perfect balance between depth and accessibility yet. Old school RPG lovers will criticise its lack of scope in terms of game time and mechanics while CRPG players may find it too dry and tactical. However, as part one of a sci-fi trilogy set in a rich universe, this first in the Mass Effect franchise holds a lot of promise.

The Good
I've played Mass Effect a couple years after it came out and already made a significant splash on the RPG community. Although largely considered one of the best games of 2008 and heartily recommended by each and every one of my friends and associates I didn't really know what to expect from this game. I haven't been a fan of other space RPGs (such as the highly acclaimed Knights of the Old Republic; coupled with intense feelings after playing the fantastic Fallout 3, I wasn't really expecting a genre-redefining game. Let me settle this right here and now: I was totally blown away. Mass Effect is by and large the best game I've played in years.

To start with, the game exhibits top-notch production values. The sheer scope is mind-boggling; not since Star Control II have I experienced a game of such breadth and scope, taking care and time to ease the player into a massive game universe with diverse alien species, each of which has its own history and cultural baggage that bears in ever-so-subtle ways on the progression of the game. From the militaristic but sentimental Krogan through the ancient, misunderstood Asari, the short-lived but brilliant Salarians and down to the exceedingly original Hanar the Mass Effect universe is teeming with life. The amount of dedicated work necessary to bring such a complicated game universe to life is simply beyond my comprehension. The game shines with a coherent, compelling narrative that guides you through the various settings the game has to offer while providing ample opportunities for various side-quests, as with any good RPG.

Mass effect is absolutely beautiful, so beautiful I spent most of my first hours of gameplay just wondering around and gawking slack-jawed at the awesome intensity of the visuals. Everything from the impossibly detailed character models (particularly the aliens) through the sleek, futuristic yet serene Citadel to the marvelous planetside scenery is sheer bliss to look at (and this is a two year-old game, mind -- an eternity in 3D engine time!). I do not make the comparison to Star Control II lightly; that game also featured space exploration coupled with combat and surface exploration, and it seems the Mass Effect designers definitely took a cue from Star Control II in providing detailed planetary descriptions and semi-random surface generation for surface exploration. All said and done, the game is technically as impressive as I've ever seen.

Sonically Mass Effect is equally impressive, with a compelling score by Sam Hulick and brilliant voice acting that, at its best, shines with terrific contributions by the likes of Seth Green and Armin Shimerman (Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space 9); at it's worst it's merely decent -- production values that are light-years ahead of most games and which truly herald an age where such aspects of games aren't treated as low-priority.

Finally, the control system works quite well, the characters are easy to control and even vehicle movement makes sense. This is a major improvement over the occasionally choppy control system in other contemporary first-person RPGs, such as Fallout 3.

The Bad
I have few issues with Mass Effect. The first two are quite trivial; first and foremost, inventory management is significantly less developed than it ought to be. It's hard to tell which items are improved over others, it's quite easy to "lose" upgrades in unequipped weapons if you don't read the instruction boxes carefully, it's almost impossible to track how close you are to the 150-item limit and you'll often find yourself having to dispose of important weapons or upgrades instead of the crappy Lance assault rifle you've been carrying since the beginning of the game because you just didn't expect it to matter.

Next: the hacking/decrypting/surveying minigames are too easy, not nearly varied enough and too random to be effective (I've occasionally failed cracking open an easy crate because the block arrangement was nearly impossible to navigate, whereas a hard-to-decrypt weapons locker merely required a few careless keystrokes).

The bigger issue, though, is the inconsistent depth experienced throughout the game; whereas at first it seems the game world contains infinite possibilities for research and exploration, this sensation doesn't last past the first two or three quest assignments. Although huge and exciting, the main storyline becomes increasingly linear as it approaches endgame; this is admittedly a problem shared by most major RPGs, with very rare games managing to provide comparable breadth towards the end of the game as at the beginning. This is perhaps the one point in which Mass Effect falls just short of truly succeeding Star Control II as the ultimate space opera. Don't get me wrong, the game is never boring, it's just that your choices towards the end of the game are significantly constrained in contrast with the sheer expanse earlier on.

The Bottom Line
The best space opera I've played since Star Control II, as innovative and impressive in breadth and scope. As a huge SC2 fan, that's probably the biggest compliment I could pay this game. Play it, you will not be disappointed!

The Good
Mass Effect, for the Xbox 360, is the latest game from Bioware. Planned as a trilogy many fans are already clambering that this is the studio’s best game. But with KOTOR, Jade Empire, and Baldur’s Gate under their belts, can this be possible?

The year is 2183, and humanity has made great strides in the universe. Yet to the older and more advanced species, humans are still considered children. They are brash and impatient. And are not treated like they belong. Yet trouble is brewing, an ancient threat is coming, when it does it will wipe out all life in the galaxy. It is time for humanity to prove their worth to the galactic community.

In Mass Effect you play as Commander Shepherd, whom is fully customizable, from the basics male\female, to very small details like visible scars. You also get to choose his\her back story.(This feature is kind of similar to that in Arcanum.-MM-) And as in the Bioware tradition you can play the character any way you want. Which will have a noticeable change in the game as a whole NOT just the ending as in so many other games.

The game begins with a simple but crucial mission. Shepherd, is tasked with recovering an artifact from an alien world, recently colonized by humans, he will be joined by a Spectre. They are an elite force of agents that a responsible for any number tasks. They answer only to the council. They are given free range to finish a mission by whatever means necessary.

Something goes terribly wrong and, the mission is compromised. It seems that a Spectre, called Saren, has gone rouge. Shepherd must now finish the mission, or what is left of it anyway. It is here when Shepherd comes into contact with a beacon. It sends strange images into his mind, he sees death, destruction, the end to all life in the galaxy.

Shepherd is named a Spectre, the first human to get the honor. Shepherd’s ultimate goal is to track down Saren, and stop his deadly machinations, before it is too late.

Your main point of extraction or “hub” if you will, is, The Citadel. Which is a huge spaceport/city. It was built long ago, by whom or what no one knows for certain. It is a home away from home for all the different species of the galaxy. And is maintained by the mysterious, “keepers”. The Citadel is large and beautiful, with tons on details and graphical tricks possible only on the Xbox 360.

And there are two main part of it. The topside area is reserved for dignitaries, wealthy socialites and the lot. The lower area or “wards” are for the working class. With breathtaking port views of space. (The top area has an artificial view of blue skies.-MM-) As well as shops and bars.

From here you can travel to distant worlds. Aside from the main quests, there are tons of secondary tasks to undertake. From a galactic survey, taking readings from worlds to find what if any resources they have. To fighting space-pirates, and battling Thresher Maws. Which are gigantic sand worm type creatures.

Not all the worlds in Mass Effect can be explored. There would simply be to many for that, furthermore, just as in our solar system, many of the planets are just gas giants, or made of a thin lair of ice. Speaking or our system, you can travel to our own system!

For the planets that you can land on, there are two ways to explore them. Via, “The Mako”, an all terrain vehicle. You can also fight in The Mako, it fires a machine gun, and has missiles. And you can explore on foot. However some planets are to dangerous to stay out on for extended periods. They may be too hot or too cold, or any other number of things. The emphasis on exploration and discovery are somewhat reminiscent if the Dreamcast game, “Skies Of Arcadia”.

Well, Mass Effect, certainly has a great story. But many an RPG has been killed, in my mind anyhow, by bland and uninteresting characters. Mass Effect excels here as well. Each and every character that can join your party is unique, and has their own personality. From fellow solider and potential love interest, Ashley Williams, to the badass mercenary, Urdnot Wrex.

And as in previous Bioware titles, you can converse with your crew and learn more about them, and can often help them if not in a quest, then you can help them in other ways. And yes there is a romance subplot. And yes there is a sex scene, but it is done very tastefully and not at all the filthy thing some, jackass “news” channels try to make it out to be.

There is also a part that the fate of two main characters is in the balance. You cannot save them both, so the loss of one feels more real.( I have not been this moved by the death of a game character since Phantasy Star IV-MM-)

The supporting characters are also handled well. This is often overlooked in RPGS. Captain Anderson, and “Joker” in particular come to mind.

The conversations are laid out a bit differently than in most RPGS. Firstly all the dialog choices are displayed on a ring, And the conversations all flow more naturally. And as we have come to expect from Bioware, the dialog is incredibly well written.

Parties are formed of three members. For exploration, and eventually combat.

The combat system is Mass Effect, is refined and great fun. It plays basically like a squad based tactical game, Rainbow Six, for example. When I first read about it I was dumbstruck. But once you get into the game and start using the system, you will wonder how you ever played any other.

You directly control Shepherd, and indirectly control your other squad members. The A.I. does the rest. You can fire your weapons, pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and sniper rifles. Each weapon has it’s own strengths and weakness. Furthermore some classes can only master certain types of guns. There are also various grenade types. As well as Biotics. This is basically the games magic system, mixed with bio-mods from Deus Ex. Only the Adept class can utilize these. They can be quite fun to play with particularly the levitate ability. This allows you to lift and project enemies.

You can heal, give orders to your squad via the D-pad. And use Powers. Not unlike those seen in KOTOR, powers are learned by leveling up. They range from rapid fire, to projectile shields, and the like. Each class has a unique set of these, and using them can often get you out of a tight spot.

I briefly mentioned the alignment system earlier. Now I will explain it in more detail. In Mass Effect, there is Paragon, or Renegade. Someone whom is Paragon follows procedure, and does things by the book. A Renegade on the other hand believes that any means are justified to get to job done. Unlike most games with a morality system, that, of Mass Effect does not just change the ending. It also changes how others react to you, including party members. Some quests may not be offered to you if you are a renegade for example. Yet most quests have both a Paragon and a Renegade resolution.

Mass Effect is easily above par in the graphics and audio departments. The visuals are absolutely stunning. From the realistic character designs, their real-time facial expressions every human and alien looks real. The lighting effects have to be seen to be believed.

And the areas will blow you away! From the beautiful alien architecture of, The Citadel, to quiet glory of Earth’s moon, with a stunning view of planet Earth to boot. All the alien planets have unique look. Some have an Earth like beauty, while others will have you in awe of their alien majesty. Now this is eye-candy!

The music is Mass Effect, has a very spacey feel to it. I enjoyed it very much. From the wonderful title theme. To the adrenaline pumping battle music. Especially the end boss music.

The voice-acting is superb as we have come to expect from Bioware. I would say that is Hollywood quality, but I fell that it even surpasses that. This is simply some of the best voice acting I have ever heard.

Great sci-fi sound effects as well. From bop-guns, to space ships, it’s all good.

The Bad
I almost want to put: NOTHING, in the “bad” section. Of course that would not be entirely true so here goes.

The targeting system is battle can feel off at times. One part in particular, where you have to be careful not to hurt any civilians, if you want the Paragon bonus. The auto-target always tried to target the innocents, that was quite frustrating.

This game has lots of untapped potential. I realise that when making a game, the designers cannot fit in EVERYTHING, but a lot of the game had me wanting more. Of course there will be sequels. For example some space-ship combat would have been nice.

The Bottom Line
Mass Effect is a killer app for the Xbox 360. I would list is as a reason to own one. And in answer to my earlier question: Is Mass Effect, Bioware’s best game?(You didn’t just skip to this part did you?-MM-) This reviewer can answer an ecstatic, yes!