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Worst game ever!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 8
Date: August 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First of all, if you're buying this game because you think there's nudity in it, DON'T! Because there is NO NUDITY! As for the game mechanics, they are absolutely atrocious. The storyline is sleep-inducing. The controls are almost impossible to get used to. The characters are as uninteresting as they could possibly be. PLEASE don't waste your money on this game!

Another Bioware Classic.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect is the latest in a long line of classic Role Playing Games from Bioware. Their previous games include Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic. Mass Effect is the first game in a planned trilogy of games, and Bioware has stated the intention of having your character carry over from one game to the next.

Pros:
- Great atmosphere: The music and visuals evoke memories of classic sci-fi films like Aliens and Blade Runner.
- Intriguing Story: The storyline and inter-character relationships were engaging, and the game presents some interesting moral decisions.
- Replayability: The variety of classes and choices offered can provide new experiences over multiple replays.
- Achievements: The unlockable Xbox Live achievements do more than just increase your gamerscore; they also unlock abilities in the game.

Cons:
- If you do not have a High Definition TV, the text can appear blurry and hard to read. I started playing Mass Effect on a 36' standard definition Sony Wega TV, and the text was small and blurry enough to cause eye strain (and I have 20/20 vision). While most of the game is voice acted, there are still large amounts of text to read. I was able to finish my first play-through in spite of the blurry text, but I credit Mass Effect with being my main motivation for upgrading to a HDTV. After upgrading to a HDTV, the game is even more beautiful, and the text is crystal clear.

Massive Letdown

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: March 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I had very high hopes for this game. I was a big fan of both Knights of the Old Republic games, and I think that Microsoft and Bioware really built this game up. Unfortunately, it really failed to live up to expectations. To be honest, the more I played it, the more frustrated and disappointed I became. Ultimately, I wasn't able to force myself to finish it.

I could write several pages critiquing the game. But I'm feeling a little too lazy for that right now. My biggest advice would be, if you buy this game, stick to the main plot. The side-quests are tedious and poorly-implemented, often relying simply on text pop-ups and involving very little (if any) meaningful "exploration" of the galaxy.

The game's high points would probably be the graphics (although it's plagued by inexcusable popping-in of textures, embarrassingly small numbers of character model variations, and a conspicuous absence of characters with any meaningful amount of hair), music, and the thoroughness of the sci-fi universe that they have envisioned.

These strengths are heavily outweighed, however, by an innovative but ultimately ill-conceived dialog system, shallow inventory system, laughable "decryption" mini-game, lackluster voice acting, painful vehicle control, cookie-cutter dungeons, a combat system that is a step-back from KOTOR, and, apparently, a total lack of vegetation anywhere in the galaxy.

In a holiday season with countless outstanding titles, there are MUCH better ways to spend your precious spare hours of free time...

One of the best games I've ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

When I first heard of this game, I had mixed feelings about it. KOTOR was a great game, but wasn't exactly one in my favorites list. Same with Jade Empire, so I had kind of medium expectations of the game. When it was released I decided to give it a chance, and bought the Limited Edition of the game.

At the very start, I was a little bored but as soon as I started playing on Eden Prime I was hooked. From that point through the rest of the game I was addicted to this game. I reached level 60 on my second play through and I can't wait for "Bring Down The Sky" to be released. The story itself is an amazing achievement.

I really enjoyed how the story plays out by your choice of multiple paths while in conversation, as well as being rewarded with EXP for choosing your paths. Another thing I enjoyed about the game is the gameplay itself.

Unlike KOTOR, its Action based, not turn based which really got my attention and helped made this game so fun, as well as the multiple side quests that can be done.

The only things about this game I did not like was not being able to skip cut scenes my second time through and the many glitches I encountered but other than those two I give this game a perfect 10.

One of the most incredible, immersive videogames ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect is an incredible leap forward in videogame interactivity and storytelling. The combination of storytelling, impressive visuals, film techniques, and intuitive interaction lifts Mass Effect to a whole new level.

Which is actually a funny thing to say considering that each element on its own is really not so great an advance, more of a slight evolutionary step that still has its own flaws. The story feels so much like Knights of the Old Republic that I wondered at times if I was really playing a new game. I could name the SF movie from the past 30 years (mostly Star Wars) that inspired nearly every line of dialog. The gameplay mechanics are almost identical to both KOTOR and Jade Empire, with plenty of meaningless side quests to take up my time and give me minimal additional XP. The visuals, while beautiful and obviously painstakingly created, are jittery and susceptible to pop-in from the very beginning of the game.

However, the evolutionary step forward in each individual element leads to a truly remarkable creation. Sure, the dialog's derivative of far more popular SF, but I really cared about the people who were speaking it in this game. Sure the game plays out very much like KOTOR and Jade Empire, but those were outstanding games too. By the time I finished this game, I was thrilled with the heroic stand I was able to take, and I was truly saddened by the characters who died along the way toward this conclusion. Extremely few games have made me care this much.

The bonus content on the limited edition set is good. You get a couple small books (which I actually haven't even read yet), a making-of DVD with some fun interviews, and a ton of gamer pics and dashboard themes. It's worth it if you're a fan of this genre / company / game, but probably not for the casual player who isn't too invested.

Overall, this game is a truly remarkable experience, and they can't put out Mass Effect 2 soon enough.

Mass Effect: Limited Edition

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I will simply say this game is awesome! It's intensly epic and if you're a fan of the RPG format, this is a must play. There are naturally some comparisons being made to the two Knights of the Old Republic video games. I think these comparisons are very appropriate because the general game design is a fairly similar, though I'm sure many Star Wars fans are disappointed to not see laser swords in this game. Anyway, both games are very epic in scale, however, I think Mass Effect improved and built on from some areas.

Now anyone who plays RPG styled games HAS to realize that the screen view offers quite a bit design limitations. For example you're not going to have super high-detailed characters that look life-like all the time, though Mass Effect does a damn good job. People have to remember you're not seeing things through a first person view, so those who complain that it's not as "detailed" need to get over themselves, I grew up with Diablo, which I still think has a pretty good design. The screen interface to me is one of the most important, however, Mass Effect is a little hard to figure out at first. Such as when you want to change weapons quickly or use your special abilities. After having gone through the game, I realize now that it is by far the absolutely most logical control development for the user to interface with the screen.

Everything is in 3rd person view so the user is sitting sort of "far away" in perspective, aside from video sequences of course. Despite this, I think the graphic design is very well done. I see people complain about things not being "Next Gen" on a Next Gen console, seriously, what do these people expect to see? Graphic design wise Mass Effect is probably comparable to Half Life 2, and really, is that such a bad thing? I'd rather have developers spend their time developing a really epic game with an awesome story line than spend all their time amping up the graphics to the point where systems can't process all the detail so they have to shorten the game to compensate for data overflow. Which, is something I will complain about in Halo 3, because it was far too short, despite how beautifully designed the game was.

Another thing that was really interesting was the weapon designs. You get new weapons as the game goes on, but they're energy based weapons so you have unlimited ammo. I thought this was a really interesting way to treat the weapons, granted I enjoyed the unlimited ammo because running out of ammo in a game really sucks. You basically have access to all the weapons from the start of the game, but you have to put points into being trained on them to actually get good at using them. If you don't have access to build up points for the Sniper Rifle your character will always be really bad at using that weapon, but each character has the ability to build up at least one of the options!

The real part to focus on in Mass Effect is the highly original world and engrossing story line! You're thrust into a future universe of humanity where we have contact with other alien cultures and we are trying to work our way into the politics of the situation. I would say the story line is somewhat influenced by Carl Sagan's "Contact" because it starts with teh discovery of something called a Mass Relay, which can send vehicles far into distant reaches very quickly... yeah, kind of like "Contact, but this takes place long after that initial contact. I found the story-line very intelligent and very well thought out, to the point where it's believable in that situation. I haven't played through that many excellent Science Fiction RPG's, but this is probably my favorite as much as I liked Knights of the Old Republic. The story line does have a serious shock ending that I really didn't predict in the least, whereas I found Knights of the Old Republic II's story line slightly predictable.

Mass Effect really shines in my book. I was one of the lucky few to pick up the Limited Edition version and it comes with a bonus disc, which I haven't watched yet, but I will add to this review when I see it. It also comes with an added booklet with extra information about the historical time-line, which I thought was a really cool game addition.

As anyone can see, this game is VERY highly rated by users and I personally have no complaints about this game whatsoever. I found it to be challenging and intriguing. I don't have a lot of time to play games and this thing kept me occupied for two months (I do spend most of my day at work and only can play like an hour or two a night). Most games I can beat pretty quickly, but the grand scale took me as long as Knights of the Old Republic. Seriously, get this game!

A great game that you must play, but skip the Limited Edition

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

There are plenty of reviews hailing the excellence of Mass Effect, and so there is little point in providing yet another review of the game itself - on a scale of 1 to 10, it deserves a score on the higher end of between an 8 and a 9 - its an awesome game and while it isn't perfect, there is no comparable experience on any system.

That said, unless you love seeing concept art or have extraordinary passion for BioWare, then avoid the Limited Edition. The LE comes in a tin box that is tough to get in and out of - your discs are actually enclosed in a carboard case that is really kind of cheap (much like the Halo LE). The extra content disc is not terribly special or original, has little real substance, and some of it is available for download Free on Xbox Live Marketplace or on the internet. The Codex book that comes with it is again nice to have, but the same information, with sound, graphics, and text, is available in-game (and frankly much more rewarding experienced that way). Finally, while you do get some gamer pics and themes, none of them are so special that you'd feel satisfied actually paying for them.

[...]

You'll certainly get your money's worth.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

There certainly is a lot to keep busy with in Mass Effect. My first play-through was right around 40 hours. Exploring all of the various planets is pretty fun, thought it has the slight potential to become repetitive after a while.

The narrative was very well-written. Towards the end there I found the story to be very engrossing.

There are a few annoying issues with the UI and the inventory system. I think the developers gave each item two or three levels of skin detail. At first, they load all of the lowest quality skins, then the higher quality ones. This is a good technique to have a lot of detailed skins on-screen at one time, but the drawback is that quite often you can watch the skins draw onto the characters and environments. It isn't a problem at all, but it can be distracting at times. The inventory system was the source of greatest frustration for me. Toward the end, I spent about 10 minutes after each mission selling unneeded items to the store guy. It doesn't allow you to sell multiples of an item; if you have four of an unwanted item, you have to sell each individually. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it can be annoying if you have a lot to sell.

Overall, a terrific game. If you liked Knights of the Old Republic, then you will probably like Mass Effect.

A lot of bang for your buck.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The game has some frame rate and texture pop-in issues, but this is more of an engine problem. Even with these problems, the game provides a hundred hours of enjoyment.

a few points

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I m about couple days into the Mass Effect. Just a few points I like to point out base my previous RPG games exp. Overall it's a great game, Sci-fi is definitely my kind of stuff.

I hope Bioware can see this post when they develop their next one.

1. Inventory management needs improvement, player cannot sort inventories like armor, weapon, or upgrade by any criteria like name, cost, effectiveness. With 150 items one can hold, this gets frustrated. I rely on go to a merchant (or requistion officer to see how many items I have) because there is no inventory management)

2. It's not neccessary to show the entire list of armors when I'm try to arm Garrus (the Turian Agent). I really don't need to see all Human armors I have, cuz Garrus cannot wear them anyway.

3. Upgrade can be pain too, currently I have to press X button twice to do a simple upgrade. One for Weapon upgrade and one for ammo upgrde. Because there are two slots.

I would like to thank Bioware to create such a fantastic game and I'm looking forward to the next one.

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