Mass Effect - A very late reviewFollow

Mass Effect - A late review[b]

So, I've spent the weekend drinking humongous amounts of Caol Ila (expensive...) and playing Mass Effect. This is not to say that I've been drunk. I've been... slightly intoxicated for a very long period of time. 15 hours and then some to be exact. To beat Mass Effect, you will need about 15 hours not counting deaths and reloading. Counting deaths and reloading, I'd say you've got about 20 hours straight if you get as addicted as I got. And I have barely started on playing it through the second, third and possibly fourth time...

Because that's the thing, this game will get you immersed. It will drag you in and keep you at the chair. Once you've finished it once, you will "reroll" and start over with a different character. Why? Because in those 20 hours you won't see all the content by a very long shot. I've started three characters now, and I'm fairly certain I'll finish the game at least three times.

Allright, enough of the hype, let's get on with the review.

[b]Mass Effect - What is it?

Well, it's an RPG. Although somewhat innovative as such comes. I would almost classify it as an Action RPG like Diablo or Dungeon Siege if it hadn't been for the insanely immersive storyline, open gameplay and character interaction. This game has something for most people. The strategizer will enjoy immensely the tactics involved in a fight and group makeup and gear. The pure FPS shooter will also enjoy the game since just about every single enemy is dealt with in a manner similar to quite a few of the latest shooters. The pure RPG fan will ruin perfectly good pairs of pants when he realizes how many different relationships and storylines he can find within the Galaxy of Mass Effect. And like me, every story buff will be hooked from the first five minutes of gametime.

The game world is basically our galaxy, albeit quite a few years into the future. Man has struggled outwards in our own solar system and just so happened to find some Ruins on Mars. Hey presto, we find the key to FTL travel... (Faster Than Light for laymen and retards). Not only that, we've discovered that we're far from alone in the universe. When the game kicks off, we learn about quite a few races that humanity is in diplomatic and cooperative contact with.

More importantly, there's quite a few species and races that's not entirely cooperative.

So, who are you playing?

You are Shepard. You are restricted to the human species, but anything else is basically up to you. You are male or female depending on your preferences. The fun part? Class selection and character customization. I spent half an hour making sure my first character was as I wanted her before I started the game. What's your choices? Let's have a look at some of the classes.

Soldier:

Your basic Warrior or Fighter class. You will gain access to the heaviest armor in the game and will mostly be the class capable of dishing out the most massive amounts of conventional pain. You won't be restricted to any weapontypes, nor armor types. This is the easiest class to begin with if you haven't played much other RPGs and are used to the limitations imposed on more advanced classes. I personally played a Soldier through my first time...

Infiltrator:

This is the closest I could find to a "Rogue" or equivalent class in other games. Basically, you can use Sniper Rifles and Pistols. But your real strength lies in your technical skills. You can deplete enemy shields in short order, overheat their weaponry and stop them from using their own Tech and Biotic skills. Later on you will also be your group's healer. Okay, so it's not really like a Rogue but it's a very versatile kind of class. A midway between a healer, fighter and lockpicker...

Biotic:

So, you play a Mage and want to play something like it in Mass Effect. Well, Biotics come close. You will mostly be limited to pistols or even Shotguns, but you will also have quite a few tricks up your sleave. Creating small singularities that sucks up every enemy and loose items in the area? Or how about lifting an enemy from the ground and squeezing him to death with basically the power of your mind? There's all kinds of fun with Biotics, but be aware that you are fairly exposed if some big lad comes up to ya with a club. The force is strong with you, but he's got the muscles.

Hybrids and such:

The rest of the classes are mostly hybrids of the above. I wouldn't recommend those for a first-timer unless you have real experience with RPGs from before. For a newbie they can definitely get too advanced.

So, how do you play?

Well, did you ever play KotoR? It's kinda like KotoR yet not. You play as Shepard, all the time. You can't switch to other characters, ever. But you can bring some other characters with you. Two, to be exact, making your group Three strong at about all times. You watch Shepard from behind like a naughty peeping tom, third person like most RPGs. You run him/her around the world with your other two group members following you around or following your orders.

You interact with your environment and other characters quite simply by pressing E. Then you often get a few choices. If you are in a conversation you will find yourself with a wheel of reply choices. Basically, the left side is the choices you use to gain more in-depth information and the right side is where you just click yourself onwards in the conversation. One tip though, do train yourself a conversation skill. Charm or Intimidate, whichever way your character develops.

Ah, speaking of which. You will find that your choices throughout the game will make your character develop differently. There's basically two sides you can lean towards, Renegade or Paragon. The Dark and Light side of the force, if you've played the Star Wars RPGs. This will open up different types of training for your character, conversation wise. Paragons will be more comfortable with Charm, Renegades with Intimidate.

The combat system is different than most RPGs though. It's basically a third-person shooter. You have four weapons at your disposal at all times. A pistol, shotgun, assault rifle and sniper rifle. Your proficiency with the various weapons determine which you should be using. Don't bother with the Sniper Rifle if you don't have the skill. It might be funny until you get your face rearranged by a Geth projectile. You will have the option of pausing the game to give orders to your compatriots or change their weapons. If you ignore them, they'll just fight as they see fit which mostly isn't too badly. I do wonder about their weapon choices at times, though.

You will also be able to use the environment to your advantage. There's always some sort of cover Shepard can use and shoot from. And there seems to be an inordinate amount of explosive items scattered around the world. If you have a cluster of enemies around, look for one of these. Laughter ensues if you got a decent aim. You will also be able to position and order your teammates around. want a particular area covered, no problem. Want a particular enemy downed? No problem there either. Just don't pick a weakling character to solo a bossfight...

All classes have skills unique to them. As you gain experience by doing quests of a hundred different varieties or merely slaughters your way to a higher level, you will get skill points. These can be put into several different categories depending on your level. Distribute them amongst weapon skills, survival skills, technical skills or biotic skills. Even conversational skills as I've already mentioned. Later on you will gain access to more specialized sub-classes which allows you to really focus on one thing. A Soldier Spectre with Commando sub-class makes for one hell of a punch in the face, let me tell ya. However, this was a digression.

Each of the skills you gain access to through the skillpoint allocations can be used in combat. Hotkey them, and you have access to them at all times. Beware the cooldowns on them, however. There's no point wasting a really powerful combat skill on a single Geth Shock Trooper when you can spot a huge cluster of enemies on your radar, just a minute further into the enemy base.

Ah, enemy bases. Where do you find these things? well, just follow the storyline(s). Either you can just plow straight through the game, following the main storyline, or you can allow yourself to be diverted. I vote the latter, since this allows you to really see the game. There's an enormous amount of clusters, with a differing amount of systems within, each of which have several planets of interest. Either planets you will just Survey or planets you will land on and explore.

And landing is sooo much fun. Mostly you drop in your Mako vehicle. It's a six-wheeled monster with a turret chaingun and cannon. And you can't topple it. Seriously, I spent half and hour scouring the planet I was on trying to find a mountaintop that could defeat it, all in vain. You will drive around, following notes on your map. You can find anything from random tidbits and fun items to enemy strongholds which promise loot or experience.

And you'll frequently be sent out on such runs by your bosses. It's optional to do them, but it will definitely mean alot for your character.

Some planets which are bigger storyline planets are more complex. They usually have both Mako exploratory/combat sequences and normal "leggin' it" style sequences. And the storylines themselves are huge. Allright, I got to start drooling about the storyline again, indulge me if you will.

Mass Effect - The story

The story starts with you being evaluated for the position of Spectre. Special Tactics and Recon. No human has ever been a Spectre before, and it is an honor to just be considered. This is because Spectres are basically above the law. Spectres decide what they wish to investigate, and the manner in which they do it. They answer only to one single authority and that is the Council. Formally not the rulers of any race, they still are the greatest political power in the galaxy.

Another Spectre is evaluating you by following you out on missions. Or mission, as it turns out. A simple cargo pickup turns into the beginning of an epic journey. Your Spectre companion dies at the hand of a traitor to the Council and a race of Synthetic AIs have emerged after 300 years of silence. Alone, each of these events are greater than most. Together they are the greatest threat the galaxy has faced for many years. And that is just the weak beginning of an adventure that will go past anything you've experienced so far...

As you go through the game it goes from Epic to Gargantuan. And it just keeps climbing effortlessly until you are the Galaxys' one and only hope.

The twists and turns throughout the story will keep you immersed all the time. The game doesn't have any dead spots or filler areas that I could find and you are always aware of your main objectives. Stop the annihilation of all life in the Galaxy. You will also have personal storylines. You will become involved with the characters of your crew and they will become involved with you. Intimately so, depending on your choices during the game. It's quite possibly the very first time I've ever indulged in Lesbian Sex with an alien. The sex also being a telepathic melding which trancends anything that Spock could ever achieve.

And just to keep you interested, the story will twist as well as build. You will uncover truths and be more and more compelled to finish your mission. Just to provide you with a tiny spoiler: Your enemy might not be the greatest enemy after all, nor might your enemy be your enemy by choice... Perspective is a *****, after all.

One thing to notice while you play: The devs have really made a believable world. Every single thing you see in the game can be explained and believed in. You will learn about cultures and aliens. About technology and history. If you are so inclined, you can spend hours upon hours doing little but learning about the Galaxy and the developers of this game has not been lazy.

Spend some extra time looking around in the game. It's well worth the effort.

Your allies:

The allies you will gather throughout the game seems to be almost a cross-section of the species in the galaxy. There aren't too many exceptions and you can understand the exceptions you find. There are pure Soldier allies and pure Biotic/Techie allies. There are hybrids and otherwise. From this, you will be able to put together a perfect group depending on your playstyle. Do you want massive firepower? Soldier groupmembers at your side will devastate your enemies. Do you want more utility? Bring along a Techie and a Biotic and deal with the bullet barrage yourself.

The interesting part, though, is the character interaction. In between (and during) each major storyline in the game you will be able to advance the relationship you have with each character. Each character will have issues of their own and you will be able to help them with it. I know, it's not exactly new. But it really lends more depth to a game which already have that in spades.

And as I said, it's the first game I know of in which you can have lesbian sex. Seriously guys, that alone is a huge blinking "win" neon sign in a review.

Downsides to the game:

There's gotta be downsides to a game. There's not a single perfect game out in existence and I wholly disapprove of anyone who claims otherwise. Granted, in alot of cases it is merely nitpicking or perspective which can be used against a game. In this case... I am strained to find the problems. Hmmph... Let's list a couple of luxury problems:

1. I would have liked to see a better class description when you create your character. You aren't entirely sure what neither a biotic nor a techie is capable of when you start the game.
2. Slightly better tutorials. You will spend some time getting used to some of the quirks of both the combat system and the tactical system. Especially since you are trying to work these things out in the middle of firefights.
3. Inventory and character gearing. You will end up with a metric fuckton of weapons, armor and weapon ammo/improvement mods. And it's just a little too much to keep organized when you think about all the characters you have available and geared. The numbering system (I, II, VI, VIII and so on) helps, but it's not enough when there's umphteen different weapon/armor manufacturers. I would welcome a way to "inspect" your inactive characters during your adventure to figure out whether or not something should be sold or broken down.

And this is basically what I could think of. None of the above are problems unless you make them into problems.

Music and Audio:

This is one of the greatest things about this game. The music is infinitely malleable by circumstance. Whatever you are doing, the ambience music is incredible apt and you will hardly notice it. But when you do, it's to make you grin. The voice acting is great. Every single conversation in the game is given voice, including your own. I mean, since when have your own character had a voice in a game? That alone is almost groundbreaking, and that they have really pulled it off mood and character development wise is awe inspiring.

The weapon/combat sounds are... good. I don't really have much to say about them. They might be able to be improved, but I don't see a need for it. Sounds otherwise are definitely good. Walking, jumping, landing, scuffling, sliding, breaking, sitting, standing, stretching... It's all good...

Graphics:

This actually amazed me. Compared to the system requirements, I expected less. The facial animation and model detail is really impressive. I haven't seen as expressive characters since Half-Life 2, and even HL2 has been surpassed due to the reactions given by these characters. Crooked smiles and grins, frowns and scowls. Even furtive glances out of the corner of their eyes... And the most impressive part is that the Alien Races also have the same articulation.

Outside of characters though, the graphics are generic. For an RPG, they are very good but pure FPS gamers might even see the environments as slightly shoddy compared to what they are used to. But seriously, you can't get Doom 3/Quake 4/F.E.A.R/HL2/Crysis graphics in a so massive RPG as this. I am personally very impressed with the graphics in this game. Especially considering it's age from when it came out on consoles.

Summary of the review:

It's out for PC, so why haven't you ran out and bought it yet? It's the single best RPG I've played since... since the last Bioware game I've played! Seriously, these guys are the best RPG devs in existence and deserve some massive love from all gamers. Excellent action, bloody ingenious storyline, lesbian sex (see how I snuck that one in here too? It's awesome...), believable worlds and aliens.

This game gets a 10 out of 10 from me. And I am something of a computer RPG connoseiur.

Now if Bioware can only finish KotoR 3 so they can get started on Mass Effect 2!

Very well written review and I agree 100%. This review belongs in a magazine.

Im kinda pissed, i got an 8800GT and still cant play it a a decent FPS.

I dont think its the cards fault, ive heard it runs fairly well for how it looks, for some reason i just cant run it decently despite meeting the recommended reqs.

sucks to be me i guess.

Run 2 of em, that's what I do .
I have yet to find a game that really stresses em out. (Call of duty 4 does sometimes but only when the smoke grenades bug out and just sit there for the rest of the match pushing out smoke)

i know, its really irritating, since i can play CoD4 on like, max settings at 1440x900, but i cant play ME at the bare minimum settings.

i would have put more work into trying to get it to work, but the 10ish gigs it was taking up i would rather use to play some other games i couldnt play as good before.