[HEADING=1]Rei plays Mass Effect[/HEADING]
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Mass Effect is the first chapter of Bioware's sci-fi action RPG trilogy. Taking on the role of Commander Shepard, the player embarks upon an epic quest to protect the galaxy from impending doom at the hands of an ancient intergalactic threat. Having come to the Mass Effect party late, I found myself playing this game for the first time only recently in order to become acquainted with the series before Mass Effect 3 arrives at the end of this year. With the passing of three years since this game was originally released, how does Mass Effect stand up today to the player only just being introduced to the Mass Effect trilogy?
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Mass Effect takes place in the year 2183 and is set across the Milky Way galaxy. In summary, about 40 years before the game's beginning, humanity made a critically important discovery while colonizing Mars that led to them discovering the Mass Relays, which allowed them to travel outside the Solar System and discover an intergalactic civilization and a host of new alien races such as the Asari, Turians, Krogans, and, of course, the Elcor. In the time since then, Humanity has attempted to try to carve out a place of power and influence in the galaxy, much to the annoyance of the more established races of the galaxy. Of course, the alien races have plenty of problems with each other as well, which is frequently mentioned throughout the game, usually in great detail. I could continue to describe the state of the Mass Effect galaxy, but all one really needs to know is that there is no shortage of in-game information about it. Creating a setting for a game rarely gets more in-depth than this.
Story-wise, the galaxy is, of course, in very serious danger, and, just as predictably, it is up to the player to make everything right. The main storyline of Mass Effect reveals the existence of a race of self-aware machines, known as the Reapers, preparing to come back and wipe out all galactic civilization. Despite the signs that an apocalypse is approaching, the galaxy is too wrapped up in its own disputes to rally and meet the coming danger. It falls to the player, as Commander Shepard, to undertake a dangerous quest to pursue a rogue agent, or Spectre, named Saren who is working towards unleashing the Reapers upon the galaxy once again. It is a manhunt, as well as a race against time, to find and deal with this rogue Spectre before he is able to achieve his goal.
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Although the main storyline might not be very innovative since it's the classic "save the world from doom" affair, this only really becomes a problem with games if it is badly done or not unique enough to be interesting. In this regard, Mass Effect manages to take this overused story formula and present it in a very compelling way. The setting seems to be the major reason for this, since, being an all-new universe, little in the game's world will be too familiar to the player. If this game had been set in the world of elves, dwarves, and magic, it probably would have bored me to sleep. Instead, Bioware managed to transplant this typical RPG story into a new setting and make it interesting enough to not feel too old or cliche. It may be relatively easy to figure out how things are going to turn out, but the story is presented well enough that this is an easily forgivable flaw. Mass Effect's story is a very well-done piece of writing, even if it maintains themes that long-time RPG player have certainly seen before.
Gameplay-wise, Mass Effect blends traditional RPG elements with a more action-oriented combat system. As an RPG, Mass Effect is, for the most part, familiar territory. The classic formula of going through dungeons, walking away with an absurd amount of items, and then returning to a shop to sell most of what you picked up is very much in play. There are also a large number of random planets to do side-quests on or just explore, though most of those quests are stand-alone missions that, while further helping to develop the game's setting, add little to nothing to the main story. Mass Effect is the kind of game where it feels like there are more side-quests than main quest content. It certainly can be fun to just roam around the galaxy solving problems, but considering the desperate urgency of the main story arc, it seems rather strange to go off to investigate some research facility or investigate an abandoned spaceship when the galaxy is heading towards annihilation.
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Probably the most notable new feature found in Mass Effect is how it deals with dialogue. Rather than using a more traditional system where you pick something from a long list of choices, Mass Effect uses something called a "conversation wheel" where you can choose usually three different dialogue options to advance a conversation or other options to learn more. The text next to the dialogue choices however is not what you character actually says, but an abbreviated version of it. That you aren't able to see exactly what you character will say until you are reading the subtitles might annoy or confuse some players, but considering that the structure of the conversation wheel is arranged so that heroic (Paragon) choices are on the top-right, neutral on the center-right, and ruthless (Renegade) on the bottom-right, you can at least have a pretty good idea.
Through the use of Paragon or Renegade choices, the dialogue system is at the heart of roleplaying experience of Mass Effect. You may always be playing as Commander Shepard, a human military officer who is an emerging galactic hero seeking to deal with the Reaper threat, but that does not mean you do not have some degree of choice over how things turn out. The player may not really decide much in regards to the plot, but rather the personal character that Commander Shepard will have. In short, through dialogue you can choose to either be a heroic type who values life and tries to help people in distress or to be a ruthless jerk primarily interested in getting the job done no matter the cost. The more Paragon or Renegade choices you make, the higher your score goes, and so unlocking more dialogue options for your given path. Unfortunately, since some of the later Paragon/Renegade choices rely on having a very high score in one of those areas (as well as spending points you get upon leveling up in order to unlock those choices), it pretty much means that you play as either a Paragon or a Renegade rather than neutral or a good blend of the two. The morality system in Mass Effect may have its interesting moments, but it also hurts the game's replayability because once you have played a Paragon and a Renegade playthrough, you pretty much have seen everything.
Mass Effect's combat system however is rather different than one might expect to see in an RPG. Yes, you have a party consisting of Shepard and two others, but aside from being able to pause the game and give orders to your comrades to use abilities on specific enemies or themselves, Shepard is the only character that you control. I prefer it like this actually since it means less pausing every few seconds to micro-manage and more action. The fighting itself plays like a third person shooter where you run around shooting at things while remaining close to cover in case you need to hide behind it. I suppose it works out alright, though the cover system does not really work all that well. Also, there are several enemies that will kill you in only 1-2 hits, which can be more than a little frustrating because it's a game over if Shepard dies. The combat in Mass Effect is not terrible or even really that bad, but it certainly feels neglected compared to the story and setting.
Last but not least are the vehicle sections where you drive around on random planets to do side-quests or as part of the main storyline. Like the party combat system, the vehicle gameplay in Mass Effect is a mixed experience of the joys of blowing away enemies in an armored vehicle as well as the annoyances of trying to drive that vehicle over some really irritating geography found on most of the planets. There were more than a few places where I had to drive up a mountain in order to reach my destination, which was a very frustrating affair since sometimes that meant going up cliffs that are easy to slip and fall down off of, and so end up back where you started. As a whole, the gameplay to be found in Mass Effect has plenty of good, but there are enough minor issues to tarnish that experience and make it worse than it should be.
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Lastly, as is typical for a Bioware RPG, there is a considerable amount of effort put into creating and developing a wide variety of characters. You get six to join your party, each with their own extensive backstories that you are able to learn all about throughout the course of the game. Unlike Dragon Age: Origins however, where some characters (Alistair, Morrigan) were clearly given more attention than others (Sten, Oghren), your party members in Mass Effect are all given the same amount of attention. This was a pleasant surprise for me because it allowed me to get to know all of my party members quite well rather than only getting to know two or three of them while the rest seemed unremarkable in comparison. My favorites ended up being, surprise surprise, Garrus, Tali, and Wrex, which meant I was a little disappointed because I wasn?t able to romance any of them and instead had to make do with Liara/Kaidan. All in all though, the party members of Mass Effect are an interesting bunch that all contributed to the game in their own way, with no one character standing out too much nor another seeming too unimportant.
Outside of the party, the other NPC's that you run across in Mass Effect are all similarly well-done. It might only seem that way because of the sheer volume of dialogue that this game has, but for the most part it works out well. The galaxy is filled with interesting people, and you can find yourself enjoying that quality even in dislikable characters such as Ambassador Udina or the Citadel Councilors. On the evil-side of things, while it is the Reapers who are the real menace to the galaxy, it is Saren Arterius who steals the spotlight. At first he seemed like your typical angry murder-happy enemy, but later on he ended up becoming one of the most interesting game villains I have seen in a long time. The Reapers might be your usual "host of darkness" seeking to end life that you find in so many RPG's, but the importance that Saren plays in the plot ensures that the chief menace of Mass Effect ends up being more interesting than what was found in Dragon Age: Origins and many other games. As to be expected from a Bioware game, Mass Effect does not disappoint with its cast of characters, major and minor alike.
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Mass Effect pairs together excellent storytelling with gameplay that hampers what should be a wonderful experience all-around. The universe depicted in this game is unique and interesting, mixed with a good story and a cast of high-quality characters. The gameplay, though it has its moments of greatness, is of a lesser quality compared to the story it is paired with. Players who are able to forgive a few gameplay issues in favor of digging into an interesting and unique game setting are likely to enjoy Mass Effect. But for the player who relies more on gameplay than story in order to enjoy a game, Mass Effect will probably be much less appealing. However, since the decisions you make in Mass Effect carry over into Mass Effect 2, and probably will influence Mass Effect 3 as well, those who have a general interest in this series will at least want to play through this game in order to import their save games into the sequels and continue their adventure. Mass Effect may be a decent game by itself, but, depending upon how Mass Effect 3 turns out, it will probably end up being the weakest game in the trilogy. But if that is so, it would be weak not because it is a bad game, but because the sequels are that much better.
- Rei
