Review: Mass Effect

Genre: Role Playing Game / Third Person Shooter         

         How many times have you started a game and found yourself skipping through the walls of text popping up on screen. It’s not everyday we come across one that has a deeply engrossing plotline with its set own unique and very believable characters. Mass Effect combines fun strategic gameplay with a highly detailed and rich story that you won’t forget any time soon.

           

Gameplay

            In Mass Effect you play the role of Commander Sheppard, an agent who is entrusted with protecting and maintaining peace in the galaxy. You have your own space ship and can fly to and from different planets and star systems as you please. As you progress through the main story and side quests, you gain new weapons, armor, upgrades, and squad mates. The range of these items is fairly limited, with many of the same items looking exactly the same.

            With each new place to visit, there are new people to meet, many of which being of alien races. Each of the individuals you meet has their own personalities, and all of them are extremely well voice acted. When interacting with them, you have different choices for dialogue. One of the most entertaining parts of playing Mass Effect is deciding on how to communicate with others. For the most part, you can either decide to be nice, neutral or mean, yet the choice is not always clear. This dialogue system also changes your path in the main story, as you can decide how to do certain missions and handle situations.

            Combat in Mass Effect, which includes third person shooting and some a magic system, is decent, however, many other games have done better. In general, moving around can feel a bit clunky and aiming can be inaccurate at times. Also, in some parts, mostly when navigating planets, the vehicle you control has a very limited range of aim, making for some frustrating moments. In general though, combat is entertaining and is very fun at times.

Graphics

            The world of Mass Effect is what you would expect from a science fiction game, though it does feel distinct. Nearly all of the environments are well constructed and nice to look at, except for the barren planets you will visit. On a technical level, everything looks very sharp and clean. Effects such as explosions and certain magic attacks are fun to look at. Character animations are very smooth and realistic looking.

Conclusion

            Chances are, even if you never really cared about a game’s story or its characters, you will care about Mass Effect’s. After you win the first time, you most likely will want to play again just to see how else the story could have turned out.  With its decent combat paired with its amazing story telling and character interaction, Mass Effect it a very entertaining 20 – 30 hours you won't forget.  

Gameplay: 9.2

Graphics: 9.0

Lasting Appeal: 9.2

Overall: 9.4