Reviews: Mass Effect

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Mass Effect

BioWare
Category: Gaming
Subcategory: Xbox
Price: $59.99
Average Rating:
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(5 Votes)
Description:

'Mass Effect' sets the course for future thrillers Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook What's this? By Brett Molina, USA TODAY It's fitting that BioWare tackle deep-space drama, considering its experience in the genre. Four years after wowing RPG fans with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the developer composes its own intergalactic opus with the highly-ambitious Mass Effect. As a role-playing game, Mass Effect arguably sets the template future titles should follow. As an action shooter, it struggles through bouts of inconsistency. SCREENSHOTS: Peek inside the game The anchor of Mass Effect is an unbelievably deep sci-fi story. As Commander Shepard, you must thwart an ancient machine race's attempt to render the universe extinct. What's most impressive is the boundless amounts of information on the universe. You could spend hours just reading the codex, an in-game encyclopedia, on the history of Mass Effect's planets, technology and alien species. Combine this with character interactions and you begin to grasp a complete understanding of each being's actions and rationales, something unheard of in most games. Most scenes play out like a blockbuster film, except you control your character's dialogue. A wheel appears at the bottom with a series of comments to choose. If you prefer to act brash, you select curt responses. You can also opt for a diplomatic role and choose more neutral replies. Your response will then influence future interactions with these characters as you advance in the game. Mass Effect begins with the option to play as Shepard or create and customize your own character. You choose between six classes: Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Vanguard and Sentinel. Each class varies based on three skills: Combat, Tech and Biotic. For example, Adepts have impressive Biotic skills, or the ability to manipulate objects in the environment. Engineers are tech experts capable of short-circuiting enemy weapons and hacking computer systems. As with most RPGs, you'll gain experience as you interact and explore your surroundings. As reward, you receive experience points you can use to upgrade your specific skill set and unlock additional powers. Throughout the game, you'll access an easy to navigate mission computer, where you can gather info on new missions, modify weapons and armor as well as manage your skill sets. Mass Effect's presentation compliments the story wonderfully, with intricately detailed landscapes and an epic score. Lifelike facial expressions and convincing voice acting help sell some of the game's more intense story moments. Finding cover plays a huge role in the combat. You can also issue orders to the other two members of your party through basic squad commands like 'target' or 'take cover.' Unfortunately, the action on the battlefield doesn't reach the high bar set by the RPG elements. The biggest issue is the frustrating artificial intelligence. Often, allies cluster next to you unless ordered or stand right in your line of sight. Also, in a game where finding cover is crucial, your allies don't feel like they need it, resulting in frequent deaths. The inconsistencies spill over

Member Reviews

  • Beach2_max30
    judy_mottl, Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:58:49 UTC.
    1st review

    Sci-fi at its best.

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  • Photo_user_blank_big
    nhdesigns07, Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:21:42 UTC.

    Really good game. Graphics are great; plus the movements are fluid. Actually I overlooked the game until I rented it to try it. Worth the purchase.

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  • Troy_choke_max30
    JeffEmon, Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:11:20 UTC.

    Sorry to rain on your parade, but this game did not work for me that well. I have the attention span of a gerbil and I played for must have been ten hours and all i did was talk, a guy at work said that after twenty hours of game play you actually get to play it, but I can't seem to pull myself together and do that. Maybe one day...

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  • Wrath-art-arthas_max30
    Morachnus, Fri, 09 May 2008 19:03:55 UTC.

    This is frankly, one of the best games I have ever played. Hit has Action, Adventure, Role Playing, a great and well defined story, beautiful graphics, and very good AI programming. If you liked Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, or that type of game, then this is for you for sure. What drew myself and others to the game was the large amount of character customization at the begining and the interactive nature of the menus and the awesome gear included in the game. Also, the ability to re-play a character once the game is beaten on a harder difficulty and be able to keep all the gear aquired in the last run through the game is genious. Not to mention the solid story that didn't have holes in it and stuck to the path set out in the begining all the way to the end. But this didn't get a 5 star from me because the game could have had more planets (the galaxy was only half discoverable), and it excluded a major species from the story...the Batarians. (I think they are in a downloadable content package, but that cost Markeplace Points...bad idea microsoft.) Other than that EPIC game. A must play for everyone.

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  • Me_max30
    Nuadin, Sat, 17 May 2008 05:15:05 UTC.

    My biggest issue to this game is when I compare it to the KOTOR games also made by Bioware. I know this game was kind of a way to venture out of the Starcraft theme while keeping the same sort of gameplay. So when I think of Mass Effect, my mind then turns to KOTOR, I personally think KOTOR is the better game (RPG-wise) but that does not mean Mass Effect didn't rank up there on great games.

    The game is for the most part, an RPG... and about making your own character (From rebel to over-achiever aka. Good or bad/Chaos or Order) your own.

    STORYLINE: Wow, that is all I can say. If they can do one thing right, they can do storyline. Everything has a background, and the game has already started up a basis for future Mass Effect games. Now we know the people (Aliens) we know the world, now let's see what they can do sort of thing. The world comes to you like if it was your own, you take it in and next thing you know you are apart of it. The Main Storyline has its ups and downs but overall a good one none the less.

    Gameplay: Is this a FPS or an RPG? Haha. They tried to combine the style of a FPS with the RPG, and it turned out amazingly well. But if this game was a FPS....I'd be highly disappointed. Given that it's an RPG, I'm impressed. So...Let's talk about the ride. That Mako is definitely fun to drive around in (Its a land based vehicle use to drive over rough terrain on other worlds) You can boost into the air, shoot missle, shoot a machine gun....make nice maneuvers. On the downside however, they made the vehicle's movement the exact same as the character's movement, using the same layout.... this makes it hard to "drive backwards" You can go straight back but making sharp turns while going backwards is nearly impossible (I like to drive in reverse, what can I say) Not only that but you could be very "Cheap" with the vehicle, seeing as how the AI wasn't very wise and would always shoot for the front of the vehicle, you could always hide the front in terrain and shoot with the back end showing, you could hit them but the couldn't hit you.

    Overall though, great game, if you like RPGs that is.

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