Mass Effect

The Good
Many things could be said about this great game. Mass effect is the beginning of something big, a new videogame universe with many possibilities is now open, and it's just the beginning. The similarities with the Star Wars saga are clear, a Citadel with a council that rules the destiny of many worlds, different species with different culture and history really attractive to be known, political matters or special combat units trying to keep the order in the galaxy, but that's not all.

Mass Effect is something more than a videogame with some Star Wars references, it's much better than that. Mass effect is a new universe for the player, with a perfect argument that could be the script of any successfully science-fiction film. The story is deep and interesting from the beginning to its ending, and it's because you can change many things of that with your decisions. In this game was really necessary to talk a lot, explaining the main story as well as other aspects such as creatures, political matters and other things. The need to talk was the reason to make a perfect system in which you can say anything you want, with that the game is more than bearable and you don't have to watch how they talk during hours. You'll have to say what you want almost every time, and what you say will have an effect on your mission and progress. If this system would have never existed the game probably would be boring and tedious with hours of talking and the player would lost the interest on the main story.

Beside the deep story, Mass Effect is also good as a game. Gameplay is good, with a tactical group battle system which is not explosive and spectacular but it's ok. You'll need some time to know how it works and many more to know how the weapon system works, with many weapons, different kinds of ammo and other item upgrades. It's a little confusing at the beginning but when you know how to deal with it you'll have no problem.

Graphics are beautiful, every world of the main story has many details and cinematics are good too, which is something important because the whole game is like a movie. Graphics of the secondary planets are a little bit repetitive but they're ok. Facial expressions are good and that's a good point to remark because you can customize your character, with the possibility of being a female character. All the members of your crew are well done too. No matter what character you make or if you use the default one, he/she will be charismatic. We're not talking about one of those games in which the main character don't say a word (it doesn't matter if he's about to die, he won't say anything!), here, Shepard will talk with everybody as a specter and will take care of anything that you want actively. Every character has their own way to be, with different points of view and they will give you their opinion during the game. Beside that they have different skills which makes the game more tactical.

The RPG elements are obvious, it's an action game mixed with some occidental RPG elements. You will gain levels destroying your enemies and you can win some skills with that, different weapons, lots of secondary objectives and different things to do in the order that you want to do.

Sound's good, specially the voices. Voice acting is a good point of the game, and as I said it's important for a game in which talking is something priority. FX is on a par and music is epic and emotive. it's background music at the beginning and maybe you won't even notice it, but when you progress in the game it changes to much more epic and moving.

The Bad
Beside some technical bugs, we have many other things that could be much better. To start with, game duration is short, really short. If you don't want to play the side quests you'll finish the game sooner than you expected. The storyline is short and it's a game made to be played with patience and, overall, doing the secondary objects, because if you don't do that you won't enjoy the game as it should be. You can finish the game with all the secondary quests in 35 hours or so, probably 25 of them are just for secondary missions. Linking with that, secondary objectives aren't spectacular, some of them are boring and just a message will tell you what's happening, something like "with that shot you've killed the enemy, go tell your friend what you've done". We understand that we can't have a cinematic for every secondary mission but... there are many other ways to make them more attractive.

Exploring the planets is cool, the Mako is easy to use but some of them looks like the shame. It's difficult to make an amount of planets, but some of them could be even more singular. You can climb almost every mountain, but there are some planets which have lots of them, and to drive the Mako on those planets is a little irritating. Also, there are many planets and you won't be sure about which of them you've visited, and that's not a help if you're one of those players that want to see everything of a game,

Battles are good, but maybe some explosions could make them much more spectacular. Anyway it's possible that the essence of the game would change because of that, so, that's just an opinion. What's not an opinion is the fact that weapon system isn't the best ever. You'll gain many objects during your battle, and you have to stop just to see what you've taken, and you'll spent A LOT of time in your inventory administering it. You don't have to do it just for you, you have to do it for the rest of your squad, and sometimes you will rule out some items which are better than yours without knowing it. For example, you can't compare the weapon you've just taken with the weapon of a squad member which is on the Normandy because you decided not to carry him with you. A game like this need to resolve that problem.

Difficulty is strange, it's probably one of the few games that has an inverse difficulty. When you start you'll be killed a lot of times, and that's not because you don't know how to play (it could help too anyway), that's because you don't have heavy weapons or special ammo. When you've played some hours and finished some secondary missions you'll gain extra items and it's going to be really easy to kill all your enemies. You'll gain extra skills too, and it looks like the enemies has the same level all the game (which is not true at all, but that's what it looks when you're playing) and that's why the game is difficult at the beginning and easier as you progress.

The Bottom Line
Mass effect is the beginning of a important saga, which needs some improvements in some aspects and much more length on its main playable storyline, but good enough to be one of the best games in some years mixing tactical action with RPG elements. If you love science-fiction movies don't doubt about playing it, the story is attractive enough to caught you from the beginning, short but really intensive.

The Good
Mass Effect really propels certain elements of the Action-RPG to new heights. First off, the ability to create an avatar of either sex and any facial type and ethnicity is a welcome ability. Too many games make you play as the same old chiseled/effeminate white dude. Any variety is a very good thing.

The conversation aspects of the game couldn’t be discussed without talking about the plot and voice acting, so let me address all of them at once. This game is based around talking; the combat is really just a way to get to the next conversation, but these are conversations which I love, and couldn’t be happier with. Unlike most Western RPGs that involve a customizable main character, your hero will speak every line of dialogue (there are two voices for your character, one male, one female).

As is often the case with Bioware, the main character and the other characters are all well acted. The dialogue is pretty good, for the most part, and even minor characters have well thought out lines of dialogue, delivered with care. The thing that really sets all this apart from other RPGs is how you conduct conversations. Instead of dialogue trees, you have a wheel. Instead of full sentences, you have the gist of the intended remark. Select the appropriate part of the wheel (maybe it says “no way”) and you character will say “Absolutely not, there has to be another way.”

Luckily, the facial animations in-game are up to the task of conveying emotion, and every conversation has camera angles like those in a movie. You’ll want to listen to every line of dialogue. The plot of Mass Effect is satisfying, and once it gets going, you’ll be drawn into this new world that Bioware has created. You can act in both self-sacrificing (“paragon”) or reckless (“renegade”) ways, and both provide interesting results. This time around, they don’t have to Star Wars license to help support their game, but with th next game in the series, I can see the world of Mass Effect becoming more and more compelling.

As far as exploration and combat goes, I enjoyed the combat, leveling and “magic” (biotics) elements. There are plenty of ways to develop your three character party, and 6 characters to choose for each mission (along with your own character, Commander Shepard). Combat is difficult at first, but you quickly get used to it. It may not have to slick feel of Drake’s Fortune, but it serves the story section of the game well enough.

Again, the plotline of Mass Effect is extremely intriguing, and the fact that your character is always working to save the galaxy makes the game intriguing. You might be committing murders and other horrible acts, but your character will always feel that their actions are necessary. Controlling a dangerous, violent, short-fused vigilante is invigorating and terrifying. You’ll be surprised and frightened as your avatar calmly explains how she had to kill those innocent people. She’s saving the galaxy, after all.

The problem is, you’ll see how she could be right, every time. From a technical standpoint, Mass Effect succeeds and fails. The characters look amazing, the effects are pretty, and the world is fully realized and very detailed. This is a new world, a new galaxy, and you won’t have a problem believing in it.

The Bad
When I said that the combat was enjoyable, I didn’t mean it was great, just that I tolerated it in my odd way. Some parts of combat feel awkward (sniping!), and your teammates are pretty stupid. Why even bother with squad control if it doesn’t help in any way? Your teammates provide gunfire, healing and some biotic attacks, but they never rise past the level of barely adequate.

Even worse, Mass Effect “boasts” an entire galaxy to explore. Sadly, each system has maybe 3 or 4 planets that can actually be landed on. The rest are either blank (save a text description) or “scannable.” Most scans lead to the exciting discovery of different ores, gases or minerals. Wonderful.

Planetside, the average planet looks like a Brice 3D creation. No foliage, no rivers, no animals, nothing. You’ll pilot your space buggy (which is actually fun) to various locations, most of which provide you with anomalies or crashed space probes… for you to scan. From time to time, you’ll be ambushed by Geth (hive mind AI robots), giant underground worms, or space pirates, but for the most part, planets are very boring.

True, the game provides you with many side quests, mostly involving mining facilities, abandoned spacecraft, or science facilities, but each of these interiors looks the same, with only a few different enemies. Boredom eventually sets in. Finally, the inventory system could use some work. You’ll pick up a lot of weapons and items from enemies, but you do this automatically. Yes, you can break unwanted items into omni-gel (which allows you to hack items), but eventually this process will annoy you.

As I mentioned before, the graphics aren’t up to everything Mass Effect demands of them. Pretty they may be, but there are hideous (and slow) draw-ins when you enter a level. There are also elevators that take 3 to 4 minutes to get to their destination. Excuse me? Just give me a loading screen.

The Bottom Line
Mass Effect is hugely flawed. It has egregious load times, hugely boring planet exploration, and an infuriating inventory system. Yet at the same time, I have never been so invested in the outcome of a game. It also made me feel more strongly about my own decisions than any other game ever has. The characters in this game are so real (special thanks go to Keith David, who voices Captain Anderson), and your own character’s reaction to them is so believable, you won’t want to stop playing. Plus, the decisions Bioware asks you to make become meaningful and scary, quickly. Like I said before, this game gives you tough decisions, and shows you the brutal consequences of every single decision. Have fun saving the galaxy.

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!