<img src=http://levelupnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Mass_Effect_PC1.jpg>
Before I get a lot of schtick for reviewing a game that came out three years ago, let me just explain why. First of all, a true measure of a game, along with its quality and content, is how it ages and lasts over time. A truly great game should be able to have the ability of a book, being all immersive and compelling each time it is experienced. If you want an example, simply play Portal. I'm being serious, every time I go through that game, even though I know all the motions, gives me the same experience of rebellion each time. Second of all, I wanted to know what the hell was so good of this series that it demanded sequels. Since the Mass Effect series has declared itself to be a trilogy, probably due to how popular the first game was, I decided to use my recently acquired birthday money, swallow my pride, and wade back into the mainstream title releasing behemoth known as the Xbox 360 marketplace and get a copy of the game for my judgment.
Mass Effect takes place in the 22nd century and humanity has finally made contact, along witih discovering alien technology allowing space travel to be possible. Of course, this is humanity we are talking about so we piss off some of the alien races by having our first reaction to their existance be either shooting or going through a juvenile "mine!" phase. Regardless, some form of peace is found and a Council of peacekeepers is established, all members being aliens obviously because they'd rather not have such an "unpredictable" species run things, and an Alliance is formed.
You role play in this universe as a human Commander by the last name of Shepard, the first name you fill in for yourself, who winds up becoming the first human member of the Council's enforcers, the Spectres. Of course, at the same time, some crisis occurs and you are sent in to, I know how cliche this sounds but... save the galaxy!! At Shepard's disposal, he's got access to his ship, the Normandy, a crew of some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy, and Seth Green (no, seriously, he voices the pilot).
The Role Playing aspect of this Action RPG is a bit of a mixed bag for me, mostly leaning on the good. First of all, there's the customization of your own personal Commander Shepard. Hair color, complexion, nose size, gender, you name it, it's all done with sliding bars like in most complex RPG character creators. Once that is done, you choose your Shepard's background and psychological proflie, which are limited to just things like "Earthborn Infant" "War Hero" or "Cold Merciless Asshole." The choices aren't bad but there's always the demand for a little more. Finally, you choose the Commander's battle class. The classes are a nice bit varied but the basic three are Soldier, Adept, and Engineer, others being hybrids. Soldier is your heavy armored gun toter, Adept is what is called in ME's universe as a biotic, or one who can manipulate Mass Effect Fields to bend physical laws. In short, Adept is your "mage." Engineer really needn't be explained other than he is also a hacker. So far, these elements are functional and pretty well executed.
The one bad element when it comes to the role playing aspect of Mass Effect for me was the dialogue. I had no problems with the five minute long monologues or how most conversations take place with no moving around or any coherent body language, but it was the dialogue choices that made things a bit iffy. In true Bioware RPG fashion, there is the appropriate mix of Friendly, Neutral, and Hostile dialogue choices in additiion to Persuade and Intimidate choices almost taken straight from Knights of the Old Republic, but the thing that made me a bit angry was that when you pick a dialogue choice, your character says the choice "in his own words." Would it make more sense to have a verbatim response choice so you have an idea to what Shepard will say? This aspect isn't exactly terrible but it sort of gives me the feeling of not really having full control of my character, and isn't that the goal of an RPG? On the other hand, the voice-acting of Commander Shepard is pretty good, so now I'm stuck on the fence... so I'll go onto something that has been a real bulls-eye of criticism for this game, the large amounts of text.
The center of text in Mass Effect is in the Codex, or as I like to call it, "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Mass Effect World." Everytime you examine an item or meet a new alien, a new entry in the Codex pops up, each one ranging in length between three to five paragraphs. The good news is the game doesn't force you to read it, hell there's even an opportunity to have it read to you. Also, for those who are interested in the game's cosmology, the Codex is very in-depth and interesting. The problem is that some information overlaps and gets a little redundant when the characters reiterate some of the information. Furthermore, the Codex gets very overwhelming around the last few hours of the game. So much so that I just read the stuff I was interested in and said "screw it" to the rest. Strike two to the text comes in the form of explanation of the planets you examine while flying around in the Normandy. True, for big fans of Science Fiction, the text can aid and make the Milky Way Galaxy a little more familiar, but as I said, it gets a little overwhelming over time. Since we've covered the RPG aspect of this Action RPG, let's move onto the action.
<img src=http://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/mass_effect_securom.jpg>
"Do ya feel lucky punk?"
In an attempt to get away from turn-based combat in some of their other titles, Bioware has attempted to mix together third-person shooting action into this game. For the most part, the combat works, but there are quite a bit of problems with it. Depending on your class, you have access to different kinds of guns, giving the game a nice bit of variety. Since I played the game as a Vanguard (Soldier and Adept mix) I had training in pistols and shotguns, yet for some reason I always had an Assault Rifle and Sniper Rifle on me that I couldn't use, leading to some unnecessary micromanagement. Speaking of micromanagement, that is something that gets a little tedious in the combat of Mass Effect. You have to mind the stats of your guns, damage, accuracy, and how many shots it can fire before it overheats, and those play a little more into your performance than actual gunplay. On the bright side, you obtain weapon mods which can upgrade certain guns, and special forms of ammo that work well against certain enemies. The problem with this system comes up whenever you find weapons that are better than the ones you have equipped to your squad (you and two NPCs you pick). When this happens you go through the somewhat boring process of re-equipping the weapons, selling the old ones, make sure the upgrades are compatible, etc.
As for the actual gunplay in Mass Effect, its mostly functional, but what breaks it is the enemy AI. It took me around twenty deaths in Normal difficulty to realize this but the enemy AI when it comes to combat is set to at least three pre-coordinated battle patterns that do not adapt to your squad's tactics. The result of which can be two enemy NPCs walking right past your entire squad to take cover behind you and firing. There was also a situation where I couldn't continue because there was one enemy left, and he was on the other side of the room hiding behind a crate doing nothing. The difficulty curve that comes up with Mass Effect then isn't so much outsmarting the AI tactically as it is using several buffs and hammering away. As a result, the fighting gets a little barbaric and a bit aggravating. So much so that I broke my first guideline to when buying and playing a game, changing the difficulty level to something below Normal, which in this case was Casual. Casual is basically the difficulty where you really have to mess up to die, otherwise the gunfights are easy. This nasty difficulty curve thankfully is assuaged by the game having a New Game + feature so I'll say its about even. On the other hand of the gameplay of Mass Effect is the sections where you ride on a planet's surface in the Normandy's ground rover, the Mako. When it comes down to it, these sections are in a great need of polish. The car controls like a quadruple amputee trying to fly a plane with his mouth and there's not a whole lot to do on the planets other than survey for minerals which is part of the game's artificially lengthening "collect 60 of X" side missions. There are combat sections in the Mako that are enjoyable but there are only about three and are made irritating by the aforementioned steering problems.
The graphics in the 360 version of Mass Effect are a bit messed up. I say this because there was more than one moment in the game where I saw an entire environment rendering itself which really gives me the impression that the game rushes when it should take a few deep breaths and go a bit slower during the loading screens. On the other hand, the music is not bad, not necessarily John William's material but not bad. The story is well written and paced, which is pretty good otherwise I wouldn't have played this game. The overly hyped Romance section of the game where you get a chance to have sex with a special someone, despite being visually teasing, is done in a fairly mature manner, though I kinda wish there was more of a build up to it. There's no flirtation, no kissing, and no real romantic development are a few complaints I have. The last complaint I have about the game is that it is surprisingly short. In the RPGs I've played, a speed run should take roughly thirty in-game hours. My first run of Mass Effect, Collection and Fetch based Side Quests ignored, took only roughly thirteen hours. The average player might not find such a complaint with a short game, but for me, it's a bit of a betrayal.
In short, despite a few areas of polish, uncanny social interaction, a little too much text, a somewhat disappointing game length and dodgy yet functional gunplay, Mass Effect is a definate buy for owners of a 360 or a PC that can handle it. Sure I had a lot to criticize but the game's presentation helps lessen the blows somewhat. Now I have to get ready for the sequel. Thanks for reading.
Future Rahu Reviews:
Dante's Inferno
God of War III
Heavy Rain
Mass Effect 2
Before I get a lot of schtick for reviewing a game that came out three years ago, let me just explain why. First of all, a true measure of a game, along with its quality and content, is how it ages and lasts over time. A truly great game should be able to have the ability of a book, being all immersive and compelling each time it is experienced. If you want an example, simply play Portal. I'm being serious, every time I go through that game, even though I know all the motions, gives me the same experience of rebellion each time. Second of all, I wanted to know what the hell was so good of this series that it demanded sequels. Since the Mass Effect series has declared itself to be a trilogy, probably due to how popular the first game was, I decided to use my recently acquired birthday money, swallow my pride, and wade back into the mainstream title releasing behemoth known as the Xbox 360 marketplace and get a copy of the game for my judgment.
Mass Effect takes place in the 22nd century and humanity has finally made contact, along witih discovering alien technology allowing space travel to be possible. Of course, this is humanity we are talking about so we piss off some of the alien races by having our first reaction to their existance be either shooting or going through a juvenile "mine!" phase. Regardless, some form of peace is found and a Council of peacekeepers is established, all members being aliens obviously because they'd rather not have such an "unpredictable" species run things, and an Alliance is formed.
You role play in this universe as a human Commander by the last name of Shepard, the first name you fill in for yourself, who winds up becoming the first human member of the Council's enforcers, the Spectres. Of course, at the same time, some crisis occurs and you are sent in to, I know how cliche this sounds but... save the galaxy!! At Shepard's disposal, he's got access to his ship, the Normandy, a crew of some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy, and Seth Green (no, seriously, he voices the pilot).
The Role Playing aspect of this Action RPG is a bit of a mixed bag for me, mostly leaning on the good. First of all, there's the customization of your own personal Commander Shepard. Hair color, complexion, nose size, gender, you name it, it's all done with sliding bars like in most complex RPG character creators. Once that is done, you choose your Shepard's background and psychological proflie, which are limited to just things like "Earthborn Infant" "War Hero" or "Cold Merciless Asshole." The choices aren't bad but there's always the demand for a little more. Finally, you choose the Commander's battle class. The classes are a nice bit varied but the basic three are Soldier, Adept, and Engineer, others being hybrids. Soldier is your heavy armored gun toter, Adept is what is called in ME's universe as a biotic, or one who can manipulate Mass Effect Fields to bend physical laws. In short, Adept is your "mage." Engineer really needn't be explained other than he is also a hacker. So far, these elements are functional and pretty well executed.
The one bad element when it comes to the role playing aspect of Mass Effect for me was the dialogue. I had no problems with the five minute long monologues or how most conversations take place with no moving around or any coherent body language, but it was the dialogue choices that made things a bit iffy. In true Bioware RPG fashion, there is the appropriate mix of Friendly, Neutral, and Hostile dialogue choices in additiion to Persuade and Intimidate choices almost taken straight from Knights of the Old Republic, but the thing that made me a bit angry was that when you pick a dialogue choice, your character says the choice "in his own words." Would it make more sense to have a verbatim response choice so you have an idea to what Shepard will say? This aspect isn't exactly terrible but it sort of gives me the feeling of not really having full control of my character, and isn't that the goal of an RPG? On the other hand, the voice-acting of Commander Shepard is pretty good, so now I'm stuck on the fence... so I'll go onto something that has been a real bulls-eye of criticism for this game, the large amounts of text.
The center of text in Mass Effect is in the Codex, or as I like to call it, "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Mass Effect World." Everytime you examine an item or meet a new alien, a new entry in the Codex pops up, each one ranging in length between three to five paragraphs. The good news is the game doesn't force you to read it, hell there's even an opportunity to have it read to you. Also, for those who are interested in the game's cosmology, the Codex is very in-depth and interesting. The problem is that some information overlaps and gets a little redundant when the characters reiterate some of the information. Furthermore, the Codex gets very overwhelming around the last few hours of the game. So much so that I just read the stuff I was interested in and said "screw it" to the rest. Strike two to the text comes in the form of explanation of the planets you examine while flying around in the Normandy. True, for big fans of Science Fiction, the text can aid and make the Milky Way Galaxy a little more familiar, but as I said, it gets a little overwhelming over time. Since we've covered the RPG aspect of this Action RPG, let's move onto the action.
<img src=http://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/mass_effect_securom.jpg>
"Do ya feel lucky punk?"
In an attempt to get away from turn-based combat in some of their other titles, Bioware has attempted to mix together third-person shooting action into this game. For the most part, the combat works, but there are quite a bit of problems with it. Depending on your class, you have access to different kinds of guns, giving the game a nice bit of variety. Since I played the game as a Vanguard (Soldier and Adept mix) I had training in pistols and shotguns, yet for some reason I always had an Assault Rifle and Sniper Rifle on me that I couldn't use, leading to some unnecessary micromanagement. Speaking of micromanagement, that is something that gets a little tedious in the combat of Mass Effect. You have to mind the stats of your guns, damage, accuracy, and how many shots it can fire before it overheats, and those play a little more into your performance than actual gunplay. On the bright side, you obtain weapon mods which can upgrade certain guns, and special forms of ammo that work well against certain enemies. The problem with this system comes up whenever you find weapons that are better than the ones you have equipped to your squad (you and two NPCs you pick). When this happens you go through the somewhat boring process of re-equipping the weapons, selling the old ones, make sure the upgrades are compatible, etc.
As for the actual gunplay in Mass Effect, its mostly functional, but what breaks it is the enemy AI. It took me around twenty deaths in Normal difficulty to realize this but the enemy AI when it comes to combat is set to at least three pre-coordinated battle patterns that do not adapt to your squad's tactics. The result of which can be two enemy NPCs walking right past your entire squad to take cover behind you and firing. There was also a situation where I couldn't continue because there was one enemy left, and he was on the other side of the room hiding behind a crate doing nothing. The difficulty curve that comes up with Mass Effect then isn't so much outsmarting the AI tactically as it is using several buffs and hammering away. As a result, the fighting gets a little barbaric and a bit aggravating. So much so that I broke my first guideline to when buying and playing a game, changing the difficulty level to something below Normal, which in this case was Casual. Casual is basically the difficulty where you really have to mess up to die, otherwise the gunfights are easy. This nasty difficulty curve thankfully is assuaged by the game having a New Game + feature so I'll say its about even. On the other hand of the gameplay of Mass Effect is the sections where you ride on a planet's surface in the Normandy's ground rover, the Mako. When it comes down to it, these sections are in a great need of polish. The car controls like a quadruple amputee trying to fly a plane with his mouth and there's not a whole lot to do on the planets other than survey for minerals which is part of the game's artificially lengthening "collect 60 of X" side missions. There are combat sections in the Mako that are enjoyable but there are only about three and are made irritating by the aforementioned steering problems.
The graphics in the 360 version of Mass Effect are a bit messed up. I say this because there was more than one moment in the game where I saw an entire environment rendering itself which really gives me the impression that the game rushes when it should take a few deep breaths and go a bit slower during the loading screens. On the other hand, the music is not bad, not necessarily John William's material but not bad. The story is well written and paced, which is pretty good otherwise I wouldn't have played this game. The overly hyped Romance section of the game where you get a chance to have sex with a special someone, despite being visually teasing, is done in a fairly mature manner, though I kinda wish there was more of a build up to it. There's no flirtation, no kissing, and no real romantic development are a few complaints I have. The last complaint I have about the game is that it is surprisingly short. In the RPGs I've played, a speed run should take roughly thirty in-game hours. My first run of Mass Effect, Collection and Fetch based Side Quests ignored, took only roughly thirteen hours. The average player might not find such a complaint with a short game, but for me, it's a bit of a betrayal.
In short, despite a few areas of polish, uncanny social interaction, a little too much text, a somewhat disappointing game length and dodgy yet functional gunplay, Mass Effect is a definate buy for owners of a 360 or a PC that can handle it. Sure I had a lot to criticize but the game's presentation helps lessen the blows somewhat. Now I have to get ready for the sequel. Thanks for reading.
Future Rahu Reviews:
Dante's Inferno
God of War III
Heavy Rain
Mass Effect 2
