Mass Effect Review

Game: Mass Effect
Year (s):  2007
Company:  dev.  BioWare, Demiurge
            pub.  EA, Microsoft Game Studios
Engine:  Unreal Engine 3
Type:  RPG Shooter (third-person)
What I Paid:  $15 on Steam on sale

Game Time:  25 hours first playthrough, did about everything


Plot

Every fifty-thousand years, a race of ancient robotic beings rampage through the galaxy and obliterate all sentient life.  Well, it's that time again, and it's just you and your ragtag team flying around trying to stop the bad guy from bringing the robots back.


General Comments

Following the main plot, this game comes off as pretty cinematic.  The graphics look good, the plot is to save the galaxy, and the score underlines it all.  This is probably about as much dialogue as there is action.

Side quests are a little repetitive, but right when you're about to say, "I'm not doing any more" ... you've completed all of them.

There is an inventory system and currency.  I found so much stuff just killing enemies, I never bought anything.  The shop system is a little awkward.

Every dialogue has mean, neutral, or friendly options.  Different decisions make no real difference in plot, so though that alone doesn't encourage additional playthroughs.


Audio

Voice acting includes Seth Green (Robot Chicken) and Ketih David (Gargoyles).  The music is good, too.  It may have just been my speaker settings, but for whatever reason, the dialogue was always really quiet and everything else was loud.  Maxing the volume to hear what's going on, then cutting it during combat, was very annoying.


Combat

There are three main  approaches to combat: soldier (tanking), biotic powers, tech powers, and hybrids of these.  Tech and Biotic powers are completely separate trees, one focuses on throwing enemies around, the other on things like healing your shields.

If you stop moving, accuracy improves!  If you crouch, it gets even better.  In Mass Effect, every weapon has infinite ammo.  However, if you hold down the fire button, your weapon will overheat, and you will have to wait for it to cool off to shoot anything.

Down-Loadable Content (DLC)
I have played neither, but two DLC expansions exist.  Bring Down the Sky introduces a next alien species that must be fought.  Pinnacle Station revolves around a gladiator/tournament plot.


Final Thoughts
This game was a pretty heavy on the dialogue, but it was fun.  And, oh, how many shooters have a sex scene?  This one does! 

Mass Effect 2 was released in 2010, picking up where the first game leaves off.  An interesting innovation allows players the option of imprinting save files from the first game to the second.  If a player does so, decisions made in the first game contribute to what happens in the second game. 

Mass Effect 3 is planned to be released in late 2011.