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Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect

I bought this game while on vacation and played it for a few hours at a friend's house before bringing it home and my initial reaction was that it was an interesting RPG with a good story but the combat was a little limited and the squad members seemed unwieldy and useless.

When I got the game home I was a little wary of having to play the same parts over again so I chose a different character class and decided to take my time exploring the game rather than just going straight for the main missions.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the game plays differently for each character class and once you get past the first mission you are free to play any mission in any order you want.

I'm now well into the game and have a good grasp of the combat and squad systems and I have to say that this is the most engrossing game I have played in a long time. Also, my initial reaction to the combat system was completely wrong and I am now enjoying the game play just as much as the story.

There are some minor flaws with the game that other people seem to be harping on, but I haven't really noticed them and they don't interfere with my enjoyment of the game.

Pros:
Obviously the deep story and well conceived characters are major positives but I find that the strategic element of deciding what equipment to use and which squad members to bring along has become my favorite part of the game because they can greatly effect how well you do on certain missions and even what you can access during the missions.

Cons:
The simple squad commands and sub-standard AI are annoying in spots but they are manageable if you're careful with your squad. Frequent loading scenes are very minor inconveniences and usually don't effect you during combat. I haven't noticed any of the frame rate or draw rate flaws that others have reported and have noticed only one bug after 15 hours of playing. (One nitpick is that the elevators of the future are ungodly slow. It takes longer to go up one floor in an elevator than it does to warp across the entire galaxy!)

Final thoughts:
Although this game looks like a 3rd person shooter with some RPG elements thrown in, it is actually quite the opposite. I think many people are frustrated with the combat system because they are used to FPS games where all you need is the biggest gun and the best armor and you can plow through any obstacle. In Mass Effect, however, I find that you really need to bring the right squad members and the right equipment for each encounter. A mission that seems impossible with one set of squad mates can be a breeze with a different set. The same is true for ammunition types and other equipment. You need the right tools to do the job, just like any other RPG.

The most engaging video game since Oblivion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect is an incredible game, in my opinion. The storyline is deep and rich. While you can see how the game has RPG elements such as inventory and leveling-up, Bioware clearly focused more on action gameplay than the sometimes-tedious task of managing characters. I'm not going to spoil any of the plot here; I'll just say that I haven't enjoyed playing a 360 game this much since Oblivion. As a programmer, I also thought it was clever how the 3D engine uses a layer of noise (which they call "Film Effect") to soften edges. There are several places in the game which look very realistic as a result. I also think that the facial animations rival Half Life 2 in their realism.

I have only a few frustrations in Mass Effect. Once in a while I'll get my vehicle stuck in a ditch while exploring a planet. And, if I'm repeatedly getting my butt kicked during a battle, it becomes tiresome to watch the same pre-battle cinematic over and over. Thankfully, tapping "X" skips through most dialogue and cut-scenes.

All in all, I love this game. The world is huge, the story is immersive, the characters are interesting, and I'd recommend this game for everyone, especially those who favor RPG-style games.

Stop Reading and Buy It, NOW!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Tons of long reviews. So I'll keep this one short. Great, excellent! game, you feel sometimes like you're interacting with a movie. Great story, graphics, gameplay. This may be one of the best games yet to come out this year, or well maybe, ever.

The Galaxy Beckons

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect - Circa 2007

GOOD:
- A third person shooting and cover system similar to that of Gears of War or Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter 2 which is really a unique way to play a RPG. The Cover systems works well it also makes for a fun as well as a more realistic gameplay experience. While this system has its share of problems (its not as easy or streamline as Gears of War) it works well enough not to be a concern and bring something new to RPGs.
- A well thought out and well played story that rivals or bests that of Elder Scrolls, Resident Evil or any Final Fantasy game. The story itself is it told through dialog between yours and other characters, because of the choices of make during the story it has a "choose your own adventure" feel to it.
- Gorgeous graphics and nice animations, that look just as good as games like Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Assassins Creed.
- A great sound track that has the movie like quality of some of the great Sci-Fi Space movies from the past twenty years like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, and Dune.

BAD:
- The learning curve is steep in this game and you will spend the first few hours learning how to play this game well. Although gamers who are use to playing First/Third Person Shooters (like Bioshock and Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter) may find it easier to play (they should start the game on hard). Gamers who like playing turn based RPGs (like Final Fantasy X and Blue Dragon) will have a hard time adjusting (they should play the game on normal or easy).
- Most side quest planets can be barren with little to do outside of the quest you came for and a scant few other item pickups scattered around, plus many structures/buildings you enter during these side missions are almost exactly the same.
- The inventory system that you use keep track of items as well as equip items on your character is not very streamline and can be annoying due to the fact that there is no way to organize your inventory in any real order and keeping track of more then a few items becomes something of a chore.
- This game has a more then a few loading sequences during gameplay that might upset impatient gamers.

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- The story of the game is mostly told through dialogs between yourself and other characters in the game, it should really be noted that your choices in responding to questions asked of you and your reactions to events unfolding around you is going to change the story of the game and attitudes of others around you. It should also be noted that during the games story you can make choices that either make your character into a brash loose cannon who cheats, steals and shoots first asks questions later or a by the book fighter or justice and freedom with moral values and willing to sacrifice personal wants for the good of others.
- A Sci-Fi RPG with lots of Third Person Shooter (Camera behind the player) elements. The games combat has quicker pacing then most RPGs like Final Fantasy XII or even Fable, although the over all combat is slower then more main stream First/Third Person Shooters like Halo or Lost Planet, the shooting aspect has an emphasis on shooting behind cover as well similar to games like Gears of War and Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter 2.
- You start will all the gun types your ever going to get in the game (pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle) you can of course get newer versions of these guns and later even add mods to modify the effects and stats of each gun type. Although the effectiveness of each gun type is really depends on your skill with that gun type (you upgrade your gun skills at your stat screen), you can of course use guns you have no training for which will result in much less effectiveness of using that gun type, so it would be wise to always try to use guns types your character class can (will be able to) upgrade. Note: Solider class is proficient in all gun types (can upgraded in all gun types).
- This game has lots of dialog/story, which plays a very big role in this game, which in turn will turn off gamers looking for fast paced action with little interruption.
- No multiplayer or online gameplay.
- Travel to many different worlds/solar systems through out the Milky Way galaxy (the galaxy you currently live in) with your own star ship the Normandy and its crew. During your missions you get to bring two of six other characters with you and these other characters (all six of them) can have their stats as well as equipment be chosen by you.

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox/PC)
- Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter 2 (360/PS3)
- Jade Empire (Xbox/PC)
- Gears of War (360/PC)
- Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (360/PS3/PC)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- To get all of this game's achievements your going to have to beat this game at least three time. You get an achievement for beating the game once as well as twice but to unlock the "Insanity" difficultly (which after beating the game on this difficultly you also get an achievement) your going to have to beat the game on Hard then Hardcore just to unlock that difficultly.
- In the limited collector's edition you will find an art and background story book "Galactic Codex" as well as a bonus DVD with the videos "The Making of Mass Effect" documentary /music (from the game)/360 dashboard themes and it all comes in a tin case.
- There is already a novel out called Mass Effect: Revelation, which has lots of background story for the game as well as the background for the characters you meet in the game Anderson and Saren.
- There is talk from Bioware about downloadable content coming on the way for Mass Effect.

Game of the Year? Possibly!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I can't say enough good things about Mass Effect. I have been following the development of this game and highly anticipating it since the beginning. Let's just say BIOWARE didn't dissapoint! The amount of time and effort put into the NPC development alone is worth buying the game. The characters, the storyline, and graphics are truly amazing. Some people are upset that this game doesn't have enough combat. Don't you people read reviews? The game was supposed to be that way! This a first person shooter/RPG hybrid. If you finished the game already the developers claim that we will only get to see 25% of the world at release. The rest to come later possibly eastereggs, or updates(this is from EGM magazine's write up in March). So, do yourself a favor and buy this game!

Pros:
Stunning graphics (even my wife who hates games was in awe)!
In-depth and engaging storyline
Amazing NPC dialogue
A wonderful mix of combat and roleplaying.

Cons: (all very, very minor)
Occasional shuttering of graphics
I wish the game were longer
You have to turn the sound up high to hear the dialogue only to get blasted out of the room during combat ;)

Stellar game with richly complex story, brought down by only a few, yet critical flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The graphics to Mass Effect are so utterly seamless as to almost pass for real, no matter how crazy or convoluted you make your custom character. The graphics play like a movie, of high CG quality, and this even extends into the action.

Much like Knights of the Old Republic, the game spans multiple planets, with dozens of side-quests and things to do, to upgrade your character and squadmates, and even upgrade your weapons and armor. The action is in real-time, so it plays like an RPG and a third-person shooter.

The combat is highly realistic, and taking cover is often a wise, though unlike Gears of War, not a necessary choice.

Without revealing anything, the story itself is very rich, complex, and thought-provoking. The structure of it seems to resemble The Matrix, but no worries it's much better, and not nearly as confusing or complex.

Rather than easily praise every little thing, I have to point out the flaws. They are enough, for me, to bring this flawless game down a whole star.

For one, the side quests. As has been the complaint in many negative reviews of Halo, virtually every side-quest uses the exact same four or five maps of underground complexes or research stations or mines, and the planet surfaces are exactly the same, just different colors, and rockier than the Rocky Mountains, so driving across them is HELL.
Side-quests are all pretty much the same... land on some uninhabited world rockier than an asteroid, explore some anamolies (which turn out to be crashed probes or corpses to pick up for special things or side-quests involving collecting artifacts) and debris, or some other thing to check out, then go to the enemy base or outpost and kill all the baddies or do whatever to complete the mission. Then go back to the Normandy and continue on your way.

Also, the Mako. The Mako is the ground vehicle you steal from a company and use the entire game when not on foot. The controls are abysmal, as the forward acceleration and reverse acceleration are not set buttons, but rather are relative to which direction you're facing. This means if you've turned yourself around and want to back out of a tight spot, you need to go FORWARD instead of BACK. This is no big deal, but confusing, in safe situations, but when under heavy fire, it can mean the difference between escape and being pounded to dust. It also makes strafing extremely difficult unless you have plenty of open space to go straight ahead in. And there is almost NEVER plenty of open space to go straight through.
You're guaranteed to flip the Mako over or get it stuck in virtually any and all level that they attach boosters to it which provide a very brief jump to it which works very well to get you loose.

Lastly, some of the bosses, and certain spots in missions, are terribly unbalanced. Most notably, the Matriarch Benezia. She has with her an Asari commando team, with biotics. Even on the easiest difficulty, with the targeting system on High, her biotic team is nearly invincible to a Soldier, as they use their biotic techniques to literally push you onto the ground for 3-5 seconds (may not seem like much, but in the heat of battle, it's fatal), and empty not only bullets but rockets at you. And their AI is either brilliant or retarded, as they rush at you, try to stand behind your team, and directly attack you without letting you use cover, or taking any for themselves.

As well as this, there is a side mission in which you must destroy assault drones. Even on easiest difficulty, as above, when entering one of the final rooms, it is flooded with more than a dozen Rocket drones, which fire rockets straight at you and your team. They are in a big open room. You are entering from a hallway. You are in the chokepoint. You are dead. There is no way to get around this that I have found save for sacrificing your teammates to lure them in, and exploit the chokepoint to have them stream in one by one for you to kill in the other room.

Aside from those difficulties and problems, the story is absolutely solid, and completely interesting, with even more data to collect and review than even Knights of the Old Republic.

I have no life..

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

..ever since I bought this mass effect. Not that I didn't have a life before, having immersed myself in classic rpgs like the nes legend of zelda, dragon warrior, metroid; the snes final fantasy III, chrono trigger; playstation's final fantasy and castlevania sotn; and gamecube's metroid prime and resident evil 4. But this game probably tops them off. Not only is it revolutionary, with its realistic dialogue-driven cgi cut scenes, it's also very fun. The combat takes some getting used to, especially the sniper rifle (unsteady hand, with massive recoil), but as you progress, your accuracy with sniping will improve if you choose to allocate your level-up talent points to this attribute. Plus you gain access to special skills (like assassination, carnage, improved shields, decryption ability, etc). Some people say the combat scheme is a cheap imitation of gears of war. I beat gears of war (albeit normal difficulty) but personally I think mass effect is better.

Probably the best feature is your ability to choose to be a good samaritan or evildoer, based on your dialogue responses. In one case, you can choose to provide politically correct responses to a brash reporter, or you can smack her down to the floor. In other cases, you can select to either kill your friend or foe, or resolve peacefully.

I've had to save and replay various scenese just to see what the different outcomes would be. If there's one problem with this game, it's that you don't have enough save slots.

Also, although I admit some of the side missions may be boring, they are an excellent chance to acquire experience points and more powerful weapons and armor.

The storyline is rock solid. Bio ware seems to have combined elements from different sci-fi shows, like star wars, star trek (minus transporter room), battlestar galactica, starship troopers, and firefly and merged them into this excellent dialogue-driven / first person shooter interactive movie.

Great RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have to say this is one of the most fun RPG's I've played since Oblivion was released. This game is very expansive, with multiple side missions to keep you occupied for well over 15 hours. And once it's done, you can play it all over again. In fact, you have to in order to unlock all the achievements for your gamerscore.

The game is well thought out. The story line is straightforward and understandable, and the ability to find out the history of some characters adds a good amount of realism to them. I enjoyed being able to investigate many of the problems, or characters, or situations that you come across so that you can make an informed decision about how to tackle the problem. The graphics are awesome for the Xbox 360, and the voice acting and mannerisms of the characters are spot on.

I would say that the only negative to the game is that once you finish the main storyline, you cannot continue playing with that character. Unlike Oblivion, where you were free to continue playing the game until you completed it to your hearts desire, in Mass Effect you must complete the side quests before you finish the main story or thats it.

All in all, this game is a lot of fun, and I plan on playing through it at least another time, if not 2 more, just to try out all the different skills, and try taking a different approach to the situations.

A really fun game that nicely showcases Xbox 360's abilities

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect is a lot of fun to play. That's the most important reason to own it. They have done some cool things with the normal shooter scenario, to make things interesting. The depth of customization, both physically and psychologically, that you can do to your character, is amazing, and it continues throughout the whole game. The level of detail in the characters, textures, and environments, is a great showcase for what the Xbox 360 can do. The enemy AI is really very challenging, and can at times be frustrating, but that just means that in the end when you finally do kill those 2 assassins, that you really do feel victorious. The way that you get to develop and use your magic skills in this game, is really well thought out. I like how you get to explore all different parts of the galaxy in space ships, that is way cool. If you own a Xbox 360, then you need to get this game.

One final comment that I can think of, which is a little room for improvement. When you are doing magic, you have to hold down the R1 bumper the whole time that you are setting it up for your whole squad. If you accidentally let off the R1 bumper then time unfreezes which could be disastrous. Holding down the R1 bumper while doing other stuff with the buttons and controller, can be challenging if you play for a long time like I do. I think I would rather see the R1 bumper used like a toggle-switch for this function. i.e. click it once to freeze time, choose and aim your magic, then click it again to unfreeze and cast.

Excellent!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect is absolutely phenomenal. When played in full, the game is over 25 hours and is all voice acted, no more reading what your character will say and then reading a response from others. They've finally found ways to perfect RPG's, starting with Mass Effect.

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