Mass Effect and you

[Kif]

If Mass Effect 2 gets good reviews I will likely buy it. However, I completely skipped out on Mass Effect 1, I was raiding in WoW and it's all just a crazy memory, time flew by and I missed the game essentially.

Upon searching I find a lot of mixed reviews about the Mass Effect, this is not helping me in my decision to buy it so I put it to you, the hopefully honest unbias gaming public. Is Mass Effect 1 worth owning regardless of whether I get ME2 or should I only get it if I get ME2? And if I were to get it should I get it on my PC or the XBox 360? I would prefer PC but if the port is rubbish I'd rather have it on XBox.

Update :
Okay, I'm convinced I'll get it... I played WoW for years so I can live with repetative being its only flaw.

Thanks all for the advice

Now wait for my Sims 3 and you thread. *just kidding*

Update update:
Damn you all, I bought it and spent the entire weekend playing it now I'm stuck in work when I want to be playing it some more!

I only have some small issues on niggly things. The locations on non main mission planets (mines, bases) are all pretty much the same. It would have been nice to have more hubs like earth & Tera Nova but I've not finished the storyline yet so I have just the Citadel, Noveria and Feros there may be more or maybe they are saving them for 2 & 3. Lastly the dialogue choices seem disconnected from the actual conversation, like I died and did a conversation with different choices but the script and result worked our exactly the same (apart from the dying) or sometimes it'll be in the form of a question but when that conversation choice is clicked it'll be said as a statement.

Other than that, love it, thanks.

 

[GodsOneMistake]

YES you need to buy the game. It is a perfect ten, I have yet to figure out what people are talking about when they trash the game.

 

[oliveira8]

The port of Mass Effect for the PC is good. But it has SecuROM or had...

Also yeah Mass Effect is a great game, but you should buy ME if you going for ME2 if not you going to spend half of the game not understanding whats going on.

 

[WrongSprite]

Mixed reviews?? I thought they were all great?

Anyway, most people on here will recommend it to you, its a classy game.

 

[WolfThomas]

Mass Effect was better on the PC, less loading times, better mako controls and better hacking minigame.

I loved it and I pretty much just played through as the generic main guy the offered you immediately.

 

[phoenix352]

YES you need to buy the game. It is a perfect ten, I have yet to figure out what people are talking about when they trash the game.

Spoiler: may contain spoiling for people who want to play the game...maybe

i actually don't know how you can give that game a 10. i played it it was a "meh" game i give it max 7.5/10 the combat was pretty lame the A.I was sorta horrible most of the time they either stay out in the open and shoot or run into things.the story itself wasn't half bad i kinda liked it even but the endless dialogs kinda bored me at about the middle of the game. the famous "sex" scene in this game is pure rubbish you see about half a second worth of ass and some kissing/cuddling nothing special. i went for the alien cuz the human female annoyed the hell out of me.at the very end of the game some places became confusing as "bad word".
the vehicle sections were amusing at 1st but got repetitive and very annoying after about 2 of them. the whole landing on a planet to check it out didn't appeal to me at all.
IMO this is a ok game but nothing close to being perfect =/

 

[Kif]

Mixed reviews?? I thought they were all great

I did pick up a trend where the negative reviews seem to state that it's boring.

 

[latenightapplepie]

If you are likely to buy ME 2, buy ME 1. It's a great game and it will make the experience of ME 2 much better. Seriously, imagine not knowing what went down in Halo 1 and only play with Halo 2 and 3 - you'd be confused to the point where you didn't care about the story anymore. Now this isn't so tragic with the Halo games, but the Mass Effect games are strongly story-driven (ME 1 was), and so it would be Hamlet-level tragic to become disinterested in the story.

 

[Wayne Insane]

I didn't like it that much.I thought it was pretty repeditive once it really got going (i.e. giving you the freedom to check out the whole Galaxy).Actually , all the time I was playing it I was thinkin how KOTOR was very similar but so much better.

 

[rated pg]

If Mass Effect 2 gets good reviews I will likely buy it. However, I completely skipped out on Mass Effect 1, I was raiding in WoW and it's all just a crazy memory, time flew by and I missed the game essentially.

Upon searching I find a lot of mixed reviews about the Mass Effect, this is not helping me in my decision to buy it so I put it to you, the hopefully honest unbias gaming public. Is Mass Effect 1 worth owning regardless of whether I get ME2 or should I only get it if I get ME2? And if I were to get it should I get it on my PC or the XBox 360? I would prefer PC but if the port is rubbish I'd rather have it on XBox.

It is the single greatest game this generation, and a contender for best game of all time. The combat wasn't incredibly in depth, but it was fun and easy to get into. The story and universe was very diverse and unique, and incredibly well written...there's a lot of dialogue but when it's this well written with such excellent voice acting it's easy to understand why.

Also the sheer amount of gameplay you get for your money is amazing (exploring all the dialogue options helps to unlock new worlds to visit) and means you'll be playing it until ME2 comes out. The ability to port over your character and to replay ME1 while keeping all your gear and XP to go back for more is an excellent feature as well (I had a max level character on the PC version before my hard drive fried itself).

As for PC vs 360, the PC version handles a bit better and graphics and load times are fairly comparable (though if you do the install on the 360 I imagine that would speed it up). I would avoid the PC version because of SecuROM, but either way they should be fairly similar price and quality wise.

 

[herr.Didi]

If you liked titles like Kotor 1 &2, you will definitely love Mass Effect.
The dialog in the game is really good, and the story(although it has a cliffhanger ending) is very good, complex Universe, and the characters in the game have strong personalities(wrex!!!)
And, most of all, those dudes at Bioware announced that you can port your character from ME1 into ME2, thus the choices you made in ME1 remain in ME2.
My advice is: if you're gonna play ME2, you will play ME3 for sure(it's a trilogy), so go ahead and play ME1, to start things like you're supposed to.

Edit: Plus, Seth Green is a character in the game!

 

[WrongSprite]

Mixed reviews?? I thought they were all great

I did pick up a trend where the negative reviews seem to state that it's boring.

Boring is the last thing it is =]

The gunfights are pretty exciting. I like the way it seamlessly moves from walking around a city to gunfights aswell, it's amazing.

Great storyline to keep you hooked aswell.

 

[Vrex360]

Mass Effect is simply amazing.

There you made me restrict the complexity of my emotions.

 

[Slash Dementia]

It's one of my favorite 360 games. I can't find that many flaws (besides the elevator rides), I even liked the Mako. I'd say that at the price it's at, it's a steal. They have the two-disc edition which contains the DLC which I think is a great add-on. Or you can get the PC and get the DLC for free.

 

[Calax]

Mixed reviews?? I thought they were all great

I did pick up a trend where the negative reviews seem to state that it's boring.

The big thing about Mass Effect is that it's sidequests are all some of the most repetative things in the world. They have literally a hundred planets but they're all geometric nightmares to navigate and the sidequests have the same five basic layouts for their locations that you need to appear at.

But the main quest is great and bring down the sky is awesome too.

 

[Kif]

Mixed reviews?

Is that your final answer? [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/masseffect?q=mass%20effect]

Awesome link, I'm gonna book mark that site, thanks

 

[Jandau]

As others have said, it's a great game.

On the subject of it being boring or repetitive, that depends. The further away you get from the main quest and into optional content, there does appear a certain amount of repetition and tedium.

Basically, the main quest locations are fun, varied and tell a great story. Side quests are ok, but nothing spectacular, optional exploration can get boring but the only benefit from it is the extra money from Artifacts and Minerals you can recover, or some extra XP from non-quest locations.

If you stick to the main story and do minimal exploration (just the sidequests and points of interest on maps) the game gets neither boring or particularly repetitive.

 

[Zacharine]

The different planet-based sidequests can be a bit of a bother (go to planet X in system Y, find bunker, kill everyone inside), but luckily you can skip all of them. Only the few main quests are actually required to complete the game. However, some of the sidequests are quite good.

Also, let's not forget the detailen encyclopedia entries regarding the tech, culture, politics, history and tactics/strategy of the different races, ship classes, space battle etc. They are a great extra in my mind. Personally though I love if the presented world is consistent and such background info is given without thrusting it into your face.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Not a perfect game, but definitely worth a play or two. Especially at it's current price. Go to Best Buy, it's $15, and that has the add-on with it too. Give it a whirl, it's very enjoyable.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

Also, bear in mind that there will be some way in which ME1 save files interact with ME2, according to Bioware.