Mass Effect Reviews

  • MaHoNeY XMaHoNeY X125,822
    10 Aug 2009
    68 8 13
    One thing I would like to say about Mass effect is that I would classify it as what I like to call 'a Marmite game.' By this I mean that you will utterly love it or pretty much despise it. Despite this I have found in general most people love this game and play it through quite a few times rather than hate it.

    First of all I want to talk about the graphics and the appearance of the settings in the game. Places like the Citadel, Feros and Illos are utterly stunning with their rich and vibrant surroundings containing an huge amount of detail giving them a truly memorable and unique look making each one of them having its very own 'feel' to it. Whereas on the other side of the coin you have the unexplored open-plain planets that have no real storyline significance. They are numerous in amount and despite me being a huge fan of the game I cant help but think that they are all very similar in layout. With each of them having some sort of mountain to traverse, a element to find and not quite so often a base to destroy (which I would like to say all look identical.) Bioware are not ignorant of these slight hindrances and are looking to address them in ME2. The textures on the characters in particular look very good again each containing a large amount of detail to maintain the general look of the game. Another issue is the 'Film grain' which is a graphics option on the game menu. This let you turn on/off a small amount of fuzz that is on the screen and its function is to make the game appear more movie like. Personally I prefer this function turned off but you may find different, it's just about how you like your games to look.

    My second thing to look at is the combat system in Mass Effect. At the base of it you have the well-known aim an shoot idea in which you kill your enemies, but even this basic principle is built on which the player being able to modify their various weapons with ammo types and aids such as slower heat up time etc.The game also allows you to pause combat to use the equal deep and complex abilities. These range from being able to turn enemies against themselves to throwing them across the room in a ball of energy (although this can cause the odd glitch etc.) But all in all the combat is a very fun part of the game. smile

    Now the achievements in this game can be looked at in two ways. One being that they are great and keep you playing the game for quite a while. Or that they are far too time consuming and not good for a quick bulk of Gamerscore. On the first play through you will gain 500G easy but the remaining 500g will take you another 2-4 playthroughs depending on how you play. This is one aspect the does purely depend on the players preferences.

    The music of Mass Effect is pretty much my favourite part with it ranging from a sombre, quite piece of music in the background or in an emotional part of the story, to a loud epic piece in the finale or intense combat scene. And to be honest I don't think the game would be what it is today without the music.

    Something that I couldn't leave out of this review is the totally unique and engrossing speech and conversation system. This element to the game is perfect, it makes it feel like a real conversation with both you and the person you are talking to reacting in a lifelike manner to what is said. The conversation options are also very wide allowing the player to ask or say pretty much anything they can think of. This is a feature that you must at least see to really appreciate it.
    5.0
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    MaHoNeY XGot it back, :P
    Posted by MaHoNeY X on 29 Oct 10 at 10:37
    doc2084Avoid this extremly boring game! 80% boring Q&A,20% so-so gameplay.Great graphics are useless when a game is a snoozefest. Great voice acting is its only claim to fame! Blatant ripoff of Stargate Atlantis; Asgard, John Shepard-MGM should sue Bioware.
    Posted by doc2084 on 16 Jul 11 at 01:30
    MIL5Ygood review! go vegemite!
    Posted by MIL5Y on 11 Jul 12 at 08:41
  • SkinstakovicSkinstakovic620,116
    31 Jan 2010
    48 0 0
    I originally posted this on another site but thought it needed to come here. Also, was posted in Nov 2007.

    Overall, Mass Effect is proably the best game you will buy this year, even better than Halo 3 unless you are a serious multiplayer fanatic. The story line is gripping and the work that has gone into both main characters and general alien species, both visably and adding depth with history, is incredible. A reasonable length prologue and first location will introduce you to the game mechanics at a reasonable pace and the difficulty options make your first play through challenging enough for the most seasoned player, or not too challenging if you are a player new to squad based 3rd person games.

    The combat interface is a little difficult to get to grips with at first as ordering your squad mates to use special attacks and moves is a little time consuming on the circular overview, but when you have learnt to take cover and utilise all three players in your fire team, it makes for a very fun and open-ended way of picking off opponents. Have Shephard storm in with 2 other players in support with assult riffles blazing, or have someone cast offensive biotic attacks to stop an enemy from moving or firing his weapon and then throw an explosive device at him, the choice is yours every fight.

    The Galaxy map is huge, with close to a hundred planets and moons, although i was a little dissapointed you only got the option to land, on average, on just one location per system.

    The graphics are the best i have seen on the 360 bar none, and reminds me of a fussion between Gears of war (remember all the different weapons on their backs and the way you dash to and from cover), and Bioware's own SWKOTOR. This actually works very well and you will not be dissapointed visually at any point during your Mass Effect experience.

    The Mako missions was a little dissaponting as i expected more from them than just drive here, shoot a few mercs, drive somewhere else, board the Normandy; but using it as a way of getting players to 3rd person fire-fights was cleaver and rounded out the RPG factor as you never had that feeling of segregation you have with other RPGs in the past.

    The armour and weapon upgrade system is easy to use and expansive, and having the ability to change them out during the mission alows for maximum optimisation for every encounter. It also means you dont have to spend lots of time thinking about what loadout you will need, just change it as you arrive in the action!

    Picking your party will be one of the biggest choices you make, especially what role you want Shepard to play, and it will affect the way you play the game. Having a soldier based team you can blast your way through many a situation, but if you do not you will need to plan your fights as non soldiers will get wipped the floor with if you do not play to thier strenghs.

    Spend some points on the charm and intimidate skill trees, the extra dilogue options they release are some of the funniest things i have ever seen in a computer game and allow you to deal with situations in very different ways.

    I dont want to spoil any of the game so my review ends here but in summery: Go and buy Mass Effect, it rocks, and i would say is reason enough to put the PS3 away and keep the 360 out for a long time. This would have been a full on 5 stars if not for the Mako sections. Infact, even though it has a few flaws it is still the best game i have played in a long time, and i'm changing my review to 5 stars

    Skins
  • kingrich06kingrich062,272,383
    25 Nov 2008
    54 26 6
    INTRO
    I knew by watching previews and reading reviews that this was a good game. I had high expectations for this game and it more or less fulfilled it nicely. I will try not to give any spoilers but there is a chance that I will reveal a few things that will not change your overall enjoyment of the game.

    Story and Content:
    The plot is very well done with a lot of background information given. The codex (the mass effect dictionary) when completed is a very good background reading material. You are a human (cant change races) space marine. You can choose your class or go with the default soldier. You mission begins with you landing on a human colony currently under attack. Your mission is to secure an alien artifact of great importance. The main story takes you on different worlds on different tasks. There is a lot of side quests built into this game and I mean a lot, I don’t know what the actual count is but somewhere over 50 quests. While some and simple and others require more work, the quests are unnecessary to finish the game. The story doesn’t branch out as much I thought it would.

    Game play:
    This is a shooter based game within a RPG style mold. You lead 2 computer controlled squad members. You get to equip them how you see fit. Eventually you will be able to add more members and choose the two you like to work with. Depending on you credits you can buy better equipment or just find them on missions. There are a lot of different combinations as you are able to use four different types of weapons, rifle, shotgun, pistol and sniper rifle. You do have secondary weapons like grenades. You can even choose weapon enhancements on the weapon and even the type of ammunition used. Each has an assortment of stats so you can mix and match to suit you needs. And on some missions you get access to the MAKO., it a rover with a cannon and mini-gun. You pretty much shoot anything that comes at you. The RPG aspect is that you level your character as well as those on your team. The skills you want to improve help you on you missions. The dialogue choices you make does change some of the dialogue in the game and even the cut scenes. Containers and other objects are littered everywhere, these usually contain equipment you can use. Some of these are locked, to unlock you just follow the sequences shown for the XYAB buttons.

    Graphics:
    Great graphics, the other races are very well done. The scenery on planets is a sight to see. When you are standing at a top of a mountain you do sense height. The cut scenes are like watching a CGI animated movie. What I do like is the detailed on the squad. If you change the type of armor, certain styles has a certain color. Not only see it those color patterns while walking around, they are shown on the CGI cut scenes. The weapons equipped are also shown equipped or unequipped. On you back left you have the sniper rifle and to the right your rifle, across you back waist your shotgun and you pistol is holstered. To enjoy your own ship, you should walk around. Everything from engineering to medical bay is eye candy. My favorite is the galaxy map at the navigation console.

    Sound and Music:
    Music score is great and not annoying. The score changes from scene to scene, area to area. For example the music in the background while in an unexplored mine system is almost like your in a suspense movie. The sounds are very well done. When you stop with your MAKO you do hear air brakes being released. The sniper rifle sounds like a sniper rifle. The background noises in a bar sound like a real bar. If you don’t see a bad guy but you can hear the hiss of a bullet passing by you knowing your being shot at.

    Difficulty:
    With multiple setting you can adjust it to your skill level and enjoy the game. Once you are used to playing the game and finish it once, you can always choose a harder setting to complete all the achievements. Overall this is not a hard game once you know what you are doing. And if you get stuck on one mission you can find another to gain a few levels are try again later.

    Final Thoughts:
    I wish the main story line was a bit longer. My first time finishing was about 25 hours. I really didn’t like the long load times for certain areas. A lot of time is spent waiting. Even just going from one deck of your ship to the other takes about 30-45 seconds. You do not take control of you spacecraft and get involved in some space dogfights. Some people might find this a so-so shooter and decent RPG but it blends it both nicely. And it does have a decent replay value.
    4.0
  • ZymoticZymotic1,194,728
    23 May 2011 25 Sep 2011
    23 2 2
    Almost perfect.

    The only thing holding this game back are a few small AI and Interface issues. Also the auto-saves are few and far between. The lack of an in-game instruction tutorials makes the learning curve much steeper then it needs to be. The first few levels you will be fumbling around the interface menus and dying in combat over silly things. Figuring out the difference between each weapon is something that still confuses me.

    The bad:

    The AI should have been polished before the game was shipped. Often times your team mates will fire blindly at a wall or get stuck unable to follow you. Other times they will switch weapons by themselves, bad news when you have your team mates back snipping and they pull out a pistol or shotgun.

    The good:

    The combat system is great after you get past the learning curve. The ability to pause the game and issue commands makes the game much more like a classic RPG than a 3rd person shooter. Also the ability to upgrade your weapons and armor reminds me of Deus Ex, one of my favorite games.

    The open ended game play is something missing from most games. And the fact that you get to decided how to handle almost any situation takes the replay value off the chart for a single-player game.

    The Story line and voice acting is something out of an A list Blockbuster rather than a video game. The voice cast is awesome and the story line will get you hooked and counting the days until the sequel.

    All in all this game is one of the best offerings on the 360.

    1-10 (1 being worst and 10 the best)

    Fun Factor- 9

    Graphics - 10 (The Citadel and vistas around the Mass Effect galaxy are amazing)

    Longevity/Replay Value - 10

    Audio - 10
    5.0
  • Wull ScottWull Scott498,485
    20 Jun 2011
    21 2 0
    I should hate Mass Effect. As I have previously mentioned in my reviews, I hate when a game rips off dialogue or story from film and/or television. Mass Effect is at its core a homage to every great science fiction epic ever, but somehow manages to maintain that distinct feeling of ACTUAL homage, rather than just cliché.

    Like most Bioware games, story is absolutely key to the game, so if you're here for anything else you might as well move right along! That's not to say that the gameplay is lacking in any way, but if you let yourself, you'll be completely dragged in by the story.

    It is very hard to know where to start here... I suppose the first thing that leapt out at me was the music. Even before the character selection, the haunting, melancholy music used in the menu screen is amazing (and fits in amazingly when it is used near the end of the game). But the main theme which builds underneath the opening dialogue up to a fantastic establishing shot of Shepard - the character you just created - and the SSV Normandy is one of the most cinematic moments I've seen in a game. And in a good way! All the music is amazingly done and to my untrained ear, I can pick up the influence of Blade Runner and at one point Dune. I suppose the easiest way to put it is that, to me, the music sounds like what space is meant to sound like.

    The voice acting is similarly fantastic, both Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale as the male and female Shepards in particular deliver lines that have to be able to taken in a number of ways. This is because the dialogue system, which is very fluid and relatively realistic has the shortcut of using the exact same lines of dialogue for the "good", "bad" and "let's just get to the end of the conversation" interactions. This isn't a criticism; it is testament to the well written and excellently delivered dialogue. That being said, ALL the dialogue is well delivered and acted. And the cut scenes are meticulously directed. We'll just end there and say that the whole package looks and sounds amazing in an artistic sense.

    In a technical sense, things look a little more "choppy". The graphics are amazing with some genuinely attractive female models (I know how tragic it is, but I've spent about 300 hours with them! Tali the Quarian is the hottest, though, if you're asking...) and the vistas on most of the planets you visit are breathtaking. However, the loading of the detail textures can take quite some time and I found that really messed with my eyes. There were also a couple of points with some slowdown (understandable, though, with the amount of onscreen action).

    The sound effects in-game are very good as well, but to be completely honest, nothing particularly jumps out as being excellent, except for the sounds made by the Geth. The weapons sound solid and punchy, which is good enough for me. There also seems to be some issue with the volume and positioning of your squad members during the game where they seem very quiet and the sound coming from the wrong direction. But nothing that mars the game greatly.

    At this point there would usually be a big "but" when it came to gameplay... Not this time. While the combat would stand up fairly well in a game of its own, as part of an RPG it is absolutely outstanding. It plays similarly to Gears of War or Rainbow 6 Vegas, with cover being paramount and with an element of squad management. I say "element" because the squad element is very weak indeed and appears very sloppy.

    You can issue commands with the D-Pad, but there is rarely a vocal confirmation of what you've done, other than a "You got it!" from a team mate. To be honest, I couldn't remember what all the D-Pad directions did and some audio cue would have helped. A bit. Sadly your squadmates idea of tactics is to run side-to-side along your field of fire when in front of you, and constantly shoot you in the back if they are behind you. While there is no friendly damage, it is very annoying to have your sniper shot blocked by a team mate at the last second, or to be killed either because you assume that the incoming fire from behind is you friend and it's not, or because you leave cover to defend yourself from the incoming fire and it's only one of your friends. Complaint over. It is manageable and not as incredibly annoying as it sounds as long as you send them of to the enemy flanks, or position them to cover you while you flank. On the whole, though, combat is very easy indeed, and the game only truly comes into its own on the two hardest settings when all of a sudden you can see why the galaxy fear the Krogan and the Geth!

    Another major part of the gameplay is the Mako APC sections which are actually quite fun in general, bouncing over the scenery and blowing stuff up, but the targeting could have used a little tweaking. The gun fires from a turret on the dorsal of the Mako, so the pretty much can't shoot stuff that is too close because the shots go over their heads. A simple cursor turning red when you could fire (like in Half-Life 2) would remedy it. Also fighting thresher maws gets tired and frustrating very quickly, especially when you kill it, get the XP and it disappears only to reappear directly beneath you with quarter of its health returned. But again, it is nothing that is enough to detract from the game.

    My only real beef with the game was how the advertising campaign highlit choices and making serious decisions (even the demo video in the game - do they still call it "Attract Mode"? I'm so old...) showing two of the major colonies that appear in the game under attack and Shepard having to choose to let one be overrun. As it stands there are no real subtle game changing choices they are all very much "Save This Character or Save THIS character" and the game ends pretty much the way no matter what you do. There may be deeper implications in the sequels, but I felt slightly misled by the advertising.

    All in all, though, Mass Effect is a true epic of a game with a strong, clear narrative and excellent gameplay. A completely outstanding game that can be justified being called an "event".
    4.0
  • HWNDarksideHWNDarkside957,228
    31 Jul 2009
    36 19 3
    A truly great game marred by a few niggling flaws that will hopefully be ironed out in the sequel.

    I stayed away from Mass Effect until now because of the commitment needed to unlock the full gamerscore but with the sequel looming I put my life on hold fired it up.

    Let's get the niggles out of the way first.

    Frame-rate - things have a tendancy to get a bit stuttery even when not much is going on

    Lifts - you will spend a lot of time going up and down in lifts - in real-time! In Lifts No One Can Here You Scream!!

    Exploration - hundreds of planets to explore, a great shame then the derelict spaceships, mining facilities, mercenary hideaways and colonies are all duplicated so many times it becomes very obvious they are the same.

    I have to say these pi$$ed me off on my first playthrough - but I became more forgiving with each playthrough.

    With that off my chest let's get down to business - this is one of the best RPGs I've played. Equalling KOTOR and a smidge behind Fallout 3.

    I'm not going into the story here, but needless to say it's probably the best of any game I've played. The cut scenes/dialogues between characters are incredibley well written and presented. It is a thing of great beauty IMO.

    Multiple playthroughs are a must to experience all Mass Effect has to offer. As the amount of time necessary to complete the game almost stopped me playing it here's a mini-guide to give you an idea what to expect

    Starting as Solider class (for the best guns and armour!)

    1st playthrough - Normal - Ashley & Liara ally achievements, completing every mission the game has to offer - 40 hours

    2nd playthrough - Hardcore - Garrus & Kaiden ally achievements, completing everything until they unlock - 30 hours

    3rd playthrough - Insane - using Garrus & Kaiden again - no side missions at all, Level 60 achieved - 12 hours

    New character - Adept to spam the Biotic achievements

    4th playthough - Casual - Wrex & Tali ally achievements completing everything until they unlock (didn't need to finish the game here) - 15 hours

    New character - Engineer to spam the Tech achievements

    5th playthrough - Casual - Ashley & Wrex - no side missions at all - final Tech achievments unlocked around 8 hours

    So around 110 hours in total - but to be fair it never really felt like a chore - which is as good a compliment you can pay any game!

    Roll on Mass Effect 2 - but please, no more lifts!
    5.0
  • joedahoc93joedahoc93103,959
    10 Jul 2013
    11 1 4
    This is a short review and I apologize for that but there are so many ways to skin a cat.

    Where have the times gone? I first picked up Mass Effect in January of 2008. I've always been a "final frontier" sort of guy. I always loved things involving space. From Star Wars to obscure paper backs written in the 80's. Roots buried even deeper when I started playing RPG's back in my old PC days (back when my PC was considered powerful). So the game seemed like a perfect combination of what I was all about. And indeed it was. Initially I started the game not knowing what to expect, and was blown away by the final product. I loved the combat, the dialogue, the cut-scenes and even the music. The game is so full of life that it just makes me sad to where the series has gone today.

    Gameplay: From what I hear most peoples complaints are in this area. I'm not sure what people are complaining about. The combat and gunplay are both fluid. Sure at lower levels it isn't recommended to complete the game on hardcore. But at higher levels you become a force to be reckoned with. I felt like a boss playing through the game on hardcore difficultly (though I have not completed yet due to lack of time). The funny thing is: I prefer playing as a biotic. People seem to vent their frustrations at this particular class. Which is why Bioware deemed it necessary to give Mass Effect 2 a complete makeover as far as combat was concerned. You got to control your ship across the Galaxy to do side missions that had nothing to do with the main storyline, and they are in fact easy to overlook. A solid run through of a all side missions and codex searching is easily a 25+ hour long adventure.

    Graphics and Sound: Terrific. The game was one of the first game to be released on the Xbox 360, but I still play it to this day from time to time. The game works well and it plants the seed for it's great sequels. This game remains of the best looking to date. Don't believe me? Go back and play that game again and you'll realize that game holds up. The dialogue is taken care of by it's very talented voice crew. Jennifer Hale give one of the best female protagonist performances of all time. I recommend you play through the game as a renegade female. While Mark Meer gives a more paragon centered performance.

    Overview: If you haven't played this game yet, go play this game. Mass Effect 2 & 3 cannot be appreciated enough without the game that started it all. This is a short review and I apologize for that. But there are so many ways to skin a cat.
    5.0
  • AidenkaelAidenkael226,653
    01 Jun 2012
    12 5 0
    Taken from my website aidenreviews.webs.com


    Mass Effect is one of the best games of the seventh generation. When it was released it shattered the reality of what role playing games were supposed to be with the decisions you make in this game ultimately affecting Mass Effect 3 (released 2012). A single player game, it offers 50+ hours of entertainment easily, with almost 100 different side missions in addition to the main story line.



    Story:

    The story follows Commander Shepard, a human who is charged with the task of tracking down a rogue SPECTRE. The main story alone takes you through 4 worlds, space stations, and even your own ship to command (the Normandy). Along the way you discover what happened to the Protheons, a race of sentient beings who are thought to have built the Mass Relays, and the Citadel (the hub of galactic society). You can also recruit different crew members (7 in total) with different abilities to take with you on missions (although you can have 7 members in your crew, you can only take two on a mission). A very nice addition to the main story is the romance sub plot, which allows you to smooze a lady (or gentlemen) of your choice (human or alien). Like I said above, every decision you make in this storyline effects Mass Effect 2 & 3.



    Side Quests:

    There are almost 100 different side quests you can embark on, most taking place on an uncharted world. The variety is not the greatest with most being something along of the lines of "go here kill this", or "go here and find this", but the dialogue makes each mission seem fresh. For achievement hunters, you will get well acquainted with these side missions as you will need to play most of them at least 4 times for the full 1200 gamerscore.



    Sound:

    The dialogue in this game really sets it apart from most other RPG's. Instead of choosing from a list of things to say, you pick from a wheel of up to six different things, each with a different tone to it. Choosing a bottom right option usually makes you seem like a prick, while choosing a top left usually makes you seem like you actually have a heart. In addition, the Left side of the wheel advances your conversation to the end, while the right side usually provides more information. The music is another great aspect, with an all original score composed for the game.

    External image


    Graphics:

    The graphics look great running in 1080i High Def, with very fast rendering and not many jagged edges. There is a limit to the amount of things that this game allows to be on screen at once and that causes some odd glitches at times, but not enough to bother you very much.



    Pros:

    +Huge worlds

    +Almost 100 side missions

    +Fantastic storyline



    Cons:

    -Some odd glitches that are few and far between
    4.0
  • OmegaRob3rtOmegaRob3rt44,768
    29 Sep 2011 29 Sep 2011
    9 4 1
    As Commander Shepard you start off on the Normandy, a top-of-the-range spaceship created for reconnaissance missions, currently on a route to Eden Prime. You are introduced to some of the game's main characters- Joker, Kaiden and Nihlus- a Turian Spectre. After a short conversation you are given several options as to what you say. The dialogue is a key element in Mass Effect- the things you choose to say affect the way the game plays out. Will you be a hero and choose the paragon options, or decide to become the ultimate badass with the renegade conversation options? It's completely up to you. You could, for example, agree with Joker not trusting Nihlus giving you paragon points or decide to tell him to shut up, therefore earning some renegade points.

    On Eden Prime you are instantly thrown into combat with Kaiden and Ashley by your side. Combat in Mass Effect is split into two wheels- the weapon wheel and the power wheel. Based on the situation, you might decide to bring up a pistol or assault rifle whereas a long range firefight would require a sniper rifle. You can use the power wheel to select an ability like lift, which causes the enemy to drift helplessly through the air as you shoot them. The class you choose at the beginning of the game changes the weapons and powers available to your character. The cover system works quite well, allowing you to regain health and shoot around corners when there's a break in fire. However you have to lean against a piece of cover for a second before the game realises what you want to do, which can be frustrating during battles. With a bit of practice it should come more easily to players. Health regenerates slowly by itself but the use of medi-gel (Mass Effect equivalent to health packs) can bring your health back to a safe level. Your shields (shown by the blue squares to the right of your health) must be depleted before your health can be damaged and this is also the case for enemies. Using overload can disrupt their shields, allowing you to take them down faster.

    By searching around an environment, killing enemies and purchasing from shops, you can aquire new weapons, ammo powers and armour which alter the damage done by your weapons and damage recieved in order to improve your combat skills. There are hundreds of options available and the stats of each are shown when equipping them. Whilst I liked the fact there were so many choices, lots of the weapons looked very similar and your inventory can become clustered with ammo powers if you aren't organised. This isn't too much of a problem as long as you remember to sell the things you don't need or convert them to omni-gel (which can be used for hacking doors and supply boxes). You can level up after killing enough enemies which gives you points which you can use to upgrade various powers and abilties of your choosing.

    The story of Mass Effect is brilliant. At certain parts of the game the assumptions you made are upended and the story takes a whole new twist. The characters have unique and interesting personalities which are aided by some of the most amazing voice acting you will find in an Xbox game. The codex is a glossary of Mass Effect terminology and background information on every topic, many of which are narrated by Neil Ross.

    Graphically it's not brilliant but it still looks beautiful. Vast arrays of planets and cityscapes loom in the distance of every location. Great attention to detail is shown on the models of every species. The audio is another highlight of the game, most of which is truly awe-inspiring and makes the game feel like a movie.

    If you want to play Mass Effect 2, I really recommend playing this first. The second game seems much more epic when you experience the story first hand and explains a lot of the smaller details. You can also import your Mass Effect character into the second game which gives you several bonuses and lets you keep your appearance.

    If you aren't sure what game to get next, you have no reason not to try Mass Effect. It doesn't cost much nowadays and offers certaintly one of the greatest storylines you can find on the Xbox.
    4.0
  • Le Schwab 117Le Schwab 117133,399
    11 Mar 2017
    5 2 0
    Mass Effect 1 is one of my favorite games to play because it sets up this wonderful world of alien planets and characters. Since a lot of games are becoming backwards compatible, I downloaded Mass Effect 1 and decided to give the game another play-through and see how it played on the Xbox One. I also chose to play the game as a female Shepard because I usually always played as a male Shepard. I wanted to see what differences there were between the two sexes.

    http://www.gamingwithdepression.com/mass-effect-1-xbox-one-r...

    Of course, the best things that I like about Mass Effect are the story and the characters. These two things really make the game. Mass Effect has such a unique and memorable story that any player can understand. However, there are some little pieces of side information that full walkthrough players will enjoy as well. The game has its own codex, which provides a ton of information on the aliens and planets in the galaxy.

    The characters also shine in this game. Each character is unique and has their own special story. The player also has to make some crucial decisions that will effect whether or not a character will live or die. I always liked how if you mess something up in this game, that it has ramifications. Characters die, and they stay dead.

    The gameplay is also really solid. I played as a biotic adept who specializes in using singularity and pistols, and the combat was always enjoyable. It is always fun to trap a ton of enemies in a mass effect field and throw them into space with the throw ability.

    The gun play is solid. I had to remember that this game was released in 2007, so it’s obviously not up to par compared to new generation games. I also liked how there was no ammo in the game. It was a unique take on a shooter because all shooter games seem to have some sort of ammo pick up. Instead, Mass Effect uses a over-heating mechanic that is actually explained in the game’s lore. I used various upgrades to make my pistol release almost zero heat, and have amazing accuracy.

    I think that the biggest issue that stood out was the framerate drops during big biotic battles. I played as a biotic, so I was always spamming warp, singularity, and throw. Sometimes, this caused the game to stutter and slow down the game. This was worse when facing biotic enemies.

    Just like the Xbox 360 game, the film grain is absolutely terrible. I turned that off as soon as possible.

    Overall, Mass Effect 1 on Xbox One is still great. The framerate does suffer a bit, but it doesn’t take away from the amazing story and characters.

    Final Grade

    A
    5.0
  • Paradigm42Paradigm4237,156
    15 Feb 2014
    9 7 7
    The Good:
    Story
    The best part of Mass Effect is the story. The story is absolutely amazing. It has depth, clarity, and no matter what order you play the different worlds, it is always coherent. That being said the best way to experience the story is to keep the subtitles off and not skip through the dialog. I played the game with subtitles the first four playthroughs. The fifth I was really looking for a different experience since I was bored to tears at this point, and I played the game without subtitles. I realized I missed so much of the story reading through the subtitles.
    The Enemy AI
    The AI in this game is phenomenal. The higher the difficulty setting, the smarter the AI gets; although, at the easiest setting it is pretty damn good. When I played through on insanity I kept remarking, "Wow, this AI is so awesome."
    Leveling
    The leveling system is very rewarding. You definitely can tell when you level in the attributes you spend your points on.
    Variety of Combat
    Let me be clear here and say that this is NOT pertaining to the variety of enemies. However, playing every job type, I can say that each is equally powerful and interesting. Most games I feel like the soldier class is completely overpowered. The mage class is generally second class unless it's a party system. In Mass Effect, though, the mage class, which are the biotic abilities in this game, are super powerful. Kinda funny story actually, my first playthrough I didn't even realize I could hit the RB to pull up different abilities.
    The Mako
    Most awesome vehicle ever...It's like driving an all-terrain vehicle with the moon-bounce cheat on Tony Hawk turned on.

    The Bad:
    Bugs
    My first playthrough I didn't run into any bugs. However, on subsequent playthroughs I ran into them occasionally. I would get stuck in spots for no reason. The game would get stuck in loading screens. Overall, an annoyance.
    The Graphics
    The graphics weren't bad for their time especially the technical details, but I think I have seen better character modeling in some PS2 games.


    The Ugly:
    Achievements
    SO...INCREDIBLY.....GRINDING. For originally being an Xbox 360 exclusive, I expected the achievements would be designed with some thoughtfulness. Achievements should add to the experience of the game. In Mass Effect, though, I did not get the full experience of the game by way of achievement completion. Making it to 100% of this game is PAINFUL. One of my last achievements was to get the Asari Ally. My first attempt I played through completely, and the achievement didn't pop. So, I had to playthrough ALL the missions and assignments AGAIN. This game is a strong 5 without consideration of the achievements.
    4.0
  • OjotangoOjotango217,807
    30 Jan 2013
    12 15 9
    Spoiler free. Here I intend on taking a more critical approach to the game than most, as much is said about how great the game is and how beautiful it looks, with many of its flaws being swept under the mat. Therefore the story is of little consequence here and is mentioned only in passing. There are plenty of synopses and screenshots available elsewhere for your delectation. I am also not taking in to account the age of the game, as that should not affect a review, in my opinion.

    Before we get started, so you know my pedigree, here’s how I’ve fared: I’ve pumped at least 40 hours into each of three characters – one tech, one biotic, and one soldier. I played to paragon with the first, renegade with the second, and whatever I felt like with the third. I have obtained all achievements and played both DLCs. I have not, at the time of writing, played either Mass Effect 2 or 3, so cannot comment on how decisions affect subsequent games, or problems therein.


    What they chose to call us is irrelevant. We simply... are.” (Characters)
    Inhabiting the world of Mass Effect are numerous persons of various race - all eager to have you do their bidding and listen to their bigotry and whining. This is something that the game has done exceptionally well. It is impossible not to be impressed by the rich tapestry of scum, drama queens and good folk that wander the corridors of power and lounge around in the bars (or, in the case of two members of your crew, spend the entire game sitting at a table doing exactly zip.) You really get a sense of the undercurrent that races are struggling to get on with one another and that political unrest is prevalent. The only thing that annoyed me about talking to people is the way they turn their head and then walk away when you’ve finished talking to them. That’s probably just me, though.

    The six beings that make up your main team are an interesting lot with varying backgrounds that you can delve into should you wish. All have their own skill set which may be of use to you out in the field, with the exception of Kaidan, who’s so useless he makes Louis from Left 4 Dead look like Rambo. He spent most of the time he was in my party splayed out on the floor.


    I can bludgeon pretty hard.” (Skills)
    Depending on which class you choose you have a list of various skills that you can learn. Updating your character (and comrades in arms) is pretty standard stuff – points are awarded for levelling up, and can be spent on any skill in your repertoire. The amount of skill points earned decreases as you get to higher levels, and you’ll never have enough for everything, so you have to put some thought into what you upgrade and when. The skills you upgrade can then unlock usable talents in battle, generally chosen via wheel selection. Annoyingly, as you unlock more skills the ones you already have change position in the wheel for some unfathomable reason. Your most used skill can be hot-keyed, though, so you’ll at least know where one of them is.

    Early on in the game a councillor will inform you that “Spectres are not trained, but chosen” this is never more obvious than in the pretty much entire lack of any tutorial. You get taught to crouch, and there the lessons end. You may never crouch again. Since I played the games-on-demand version of the game I didn’t have the aid of a manual, which - one would hope - would contain at least basic information on how to use the various skills at your command. Instead I was left on my own, and as a result I’m still not entirely sure why running is sometimes an option, but mostly is not.

    Amongst your usable abilities are ‘Charm’ and ‘Intimidate’: two skills that can be used to persuade people during conversation. Intimidate works very well for the most part, with Commander Shepard sometimes pulling out weapons and slamming people up against walls to make a point. Charm, however, doesn’t work so well. Often people who have seemingly deeply held beliefs will instantly change their mind because you asked them nicely. It just doesn’t really work.


    Enemies everywhere!” (Combat)
    Before leaving the ship you will be asked to select 2 of your six companions. It’s fairly important which ones you choose, as pick a pair not suited for where you’re off to and you may struggle – you will almost always want someone trained as a soldier, as despite the game’s best efforts to introduce biotics and techs, combat is mainly built around the shooting of guns. Lifting people up and throwing them about is all good fun, but to dispense with enemies quickly and efficiently you can’t beat good old fashioned weaponry.

    One problem that all six of your comrades suffer, however, is line of sight. If there is a wall between them and the enemy they will happily blast endlessly into it until kingdom come. Should you make the mistake of standing between them and an enemy, the same fate befalls the back of your head. Thankfully friendly fire is not a thing in the Mass Effect universe, or I doubt anyone would live long enough to complete the game. They’ll also stand in your way a fair amount of the time, and are real buggers for stealing the best cover spots. Thankfully you can literally tell them where to go, as long as there aren’t any boxes in their way. They’re not too great at traversing obstacles on their own. While talking of cover, in fact, it should be noted that there is no button for it – it is automatic - which means that if you’re shooting forwards and step too close to a wall on your left, you will take ‘cover’ against that left-hand wall, even though you’re not firing in that direction. This can get quite annoying, and I wish there were an option for turning auto cover off.


    You have the right to remain silent. I wish to God you'd exercise it.“ (Sound)
    The voice acting is pretty much flawless, and the script has been exceptionally thought out – not just the words people say, but the way that they say them. Different alien races have different ways of expressing themselves and they all add a real depth to the world and a feeling that things were happening long before you joined the story. The sheer amount of conversation possible is superb, and changes from playthrough to playthrough providing you take different characters with you. A nice touch is the lift segments - whenever you get into a lift you will either hear a news report on something you’ve had a hand in recently, or your two crew members will have a spot of banter or discuss the missions. However, the problem here is that some of the lifts take ages, you use them fairly often, and you can’t skip it. I dread to think how much time I have spent in virtual lifts, but it’s multiple actual hours. Regardless, the only real quibble I have with the voicebank is that during fire-fights there are several things people shout, but there are two phrases people will yell the most – “I will destroy you,” and “enemies everywhere!” I daren’t think how many times I’ve heard both.
    Music in the game does its job perfectly – in that it is mainly in the background, and that’s where it stays. There aren’t any outstanding pieces, but also they won’t get on your nerves and seem repetitive. It gives a good feel of the space nature of the game, but you won’t rush out and buy the soundtrack like you might with, say, Deus Ex.


    You will be pleased I think! Very good things I have – you will see!” (Items)
    Each of your squad mates, along with your good self, have slots for four guns, armour, and sometimes grenades and bio/tech enhancers. Most with their own upgrade slots. There’s nothing too odd here – it’s pretty standard stuff. Each of the main mission planets will have venders, and there’s a guy on your ship who’ll get items for you. Money, as always with this type of game is skewed – you will be begging for it at the beginning and rolling in ludicrous amounts of it by the end. As you level up you will earn more from each mission and each enemy killed. Cash flow could have been made tighter by only rewarding credits for killing people or completing missions, but it’s a small niggle. The other option for getting rid of items you don’t require is to reduce them to Omni-Gel. This gel is a required element for fixing the Mako, and can optionally be used to break into weapons cabinets, etc. should you mess up/not be bothered with hacking them. The annoying thing here is that there is no easy way to turn everything into gel. It’s fine with weapons as they’re conveniently situated in the menu, but the enhancers are tucked away, and after you’ve turned one into gel the selector returns to the top of the list. So if you want to keep your first twelve items and reduce the rest you will have a lot of menu scrolling to do. Also, the items change order as you’re reducing them, so if you’re not careful you’ll get rid of something you wanted to keep, and in fact the button to reduce things changes between X and Y depending on where you are in the menus. Additionally, you need to have a character with you that can use the objects. If you want to reduce a biotic enhancer to gel, but don’t have anyone with you that can wear one, you won’t be able to get to it in the menus.


    Stupid machine!” (Exploration)
    During your tenure as commander of the Normandy you will land on and explore many different worlds. The Mako is the supposedly unflippable all-terrain vehicle that you use to run about in. Its controls are bonkers. Also, as with most of the game there is no tutorial, so halfway through my second playthrough I discovered that it has a scope which is exceptionally useful. It would also be helpful to know from the off that you have to stop everything to fix the damn thing – no driving, no shooting, nothing – just fixing. For the record I did manage to flip it properly onto its roof once and instead of righting the Mako the game instead decided to invert the rest of the world, so I was driving on the ceiling until I got out again. Thankfully over time you will get used to the Mako - in the same way you get used to a bad smell - but when you really need to reverse urgently the thing will decide to turn around on you instead.

    On top of that, for getting around there is no quick button to bring the map up, which, considering how much you use it, is unforgivable. Commander Shepard has got a tiny radar on your HUD, as does the Mako (although with a bigger area), but that doesn’t really help when you have a large section of planet to explore, or you just want to see the bigger picture.

    The different planets you visit are fantastic and each different from the next - from ice plains to lava lakes to mountainous regions and everything in between. Buildings, however - not so much. Pretty much every building is a copy and paste of a basic layout, with boxes and other containers in a slightly different position. It’s a real shame there couldn’t be more variety in the constructions, but at least this negates the use of the map after a while, as you’ll know the layout of a strange dwelling by heart before you even open the door.


    Message coming in… Patching you through.” (A word on autosave)
    Do not rely on the autosave. It will save when you land on a planet, and when you return to the Normandy. That is pretty much it. If you die and have to start from the beginning of the world, then fair enough - be more careful. However: glitches! Once I drove to my destination after a good length of time exploring, only to find nothing there. Getting out of the Mako suddenly a building appeared around me and I was stuck halfway through a wall, unable to get back into the Mako (which was jammed on some stairs anyway) and slowly dying from the toxic atmosphere (despite being inside.) Having then to restart from the drop zone is more than annoying. There are several other ways you can be screwed over by not having a recent manual save – game freezes for a start (I was playing the games-on-demand version on a brand new 360, so refuse to believe it was anything other than the game itself crashing) which has happened upwards of ten times to me. Also, on occasion Commander Shepard will just stop and not be able to move other than rotating in a circle. Once or twice crouching (oh, thank god for the tutorial!) got me out of this, but several times I had to reload a save. But by far the most annoying glitch is when you (or a team-mate) uses biotic skills that are heavily powered up, or a gun fitted with high-level high-explosive rounds. The simple fact is that they become too powerful for the game and you will launch someone through the walls, ceiling or floor, where they will remain. Again, on occasion it’s possible to dislodge them with a well placed grenade - or in fact you can just forget about them and leave them there, but there are sections of the game where you must clear out all enemies to continue, and when it happens then it’s another reload.


    I’m in the middle of 9 things… All of them annoying.” (Achievements)
    Even the most die-hard Mass Effect fan would have to agree that the achievement list is unimaginative. There are many great opportunities for decent achievements (for example by saving so many civilians in a certain situation, or for keeping the Mako airbourne for a given amount of time, or punching enough people in the face during conversations) but all of them are missed. I spent a good deal of time saying to myself “There should have been an achievement for that.” Instead you have to grind out 150 kills with each of the four weapons (it doesn’t seem like much until you pick up the sniper rifle), use all the skills 75 times, and play through the game at least three times for the 6 character ones. The fact is, if you are going for achievements from the off it could well detract from the joy of the game, as you’ll feel you have to take certain characters with you, instead of who you want, and react a certain way to situations to either be a good or bad Shepard. It’s not until a third or even fourth playthrough that you can actually relax and do everything how you want to.


    Do you need something else?” (DLC)
    There are two download packs for Mass Effect. The first, “Bring Down the Sky” is another fairly standard mission which introduces another race into the world who, I gather, become more prominent in later games. If you’re enjoying the rest of the game, you can’t go wrong here. The second piece of DLC – Pinnacle Station - is a slightly different affair, being of a more challenge orientated style. Many people seem to not like it, but I really don’t think it was all that bad. You have various situations (capture, survival, etc.) and need to come top of the in-game leaderboards for all of them. One good thing about this content is that if you ramp up the difficulty it gets really challenging. Whereas the rest of the game can become a bit of a cakewalk on the hardest setting as you near level 60, Pinnacle Station remains a challenge. It’s just a shame there are no friend’s leaderboards, or even a co-op mode. Both DLC packs can be played more or less anytime in the midst of the main storyline and both help level up your character.


    Alright, see ya!” (In closing)
    The game has flaws, it really does. There’s just no way I can give it 5 stars because of them, regardless of how much thought has gone in to everything. Most of the bugs are lottery-like in nature, and I imagine it is entirely possible to run through the game and not see glitch one. That did not happen to me. The lack of a tutorial, pretty much useless autosave, bizarre menu systems and various random glitches mount up and do detract from the gameplay to varying extents. If it were most other games with the amount of flaws that I came across there would be no chance that I would endure them and finish the game, but the story, characters, ludicrously deep codex, dialogue and visuals are all fantastic and go really quite some way to pulling it out of the wreckage. It’s easy to see the potential of the series from this first instalment – and I hope that Mass Effect 2 has confronted a lot of the issues present here.

    I’m torn between giving it 3 and 4 stars. 3 stars is, I think, fair. If it were just the badly thought out menus, horrible vehicle, and other in game odd decisions it would be four stars easily. If it were just the random glitches, and everything in game was great, it would be also easily be four stars, but the combination of it all together drags it down. It will annoy you in places, probably, and it will waste some of your time certainly, but you will keep coming back to it regardless.

    However, I have decided that I will give it four, and that score in spite of all the problems I encountered is testament to just how well the rest of the game works. I have to admit that the game grew on me, and I just don’t think I would have poured 150+ hours into a three star game, nor would I play a sequel to it, but I am intrigued by where the story will go, and I want to see what happens to the people I’ve met and how the decisions I’ve made affect the future.

    Call it 3 ½ stars, but add or subtract half a star depending on how much glitches get to you. I learnt to deal with them over time.

    I will be playing Mass Effect 2, but not immediately. I need a rest from the world first.
    3.5
  • LessrOf2WeevilsLessrOf2Weevils87,081
    17 Oct 2010
    2 7 4
    A fun RPG from Bioware - the folks that brought us the brilliant Knights of the Old Republic. I'm not a big RPG fan but the real-time, cover based, combat makes this one an exception. You play space soldier John (or Jane) Shepard out to save the galaxy from a new, alien, threat. The universe of the game is deep and populated by a variety of well defined species, several of which you have fighting with you in your rag-tag band. There's plenty of options for classes and abilities as you level up, but none of them are too overwhelming. These abilities are fairly well balanced giving no clear "best" way to play the game.

    You will also find an abundance of different weapons, armour and upgrades. The shear volume of these upgrades seems initially overwhelming until you realize that most of it is crap and will never be used - something that is a bit annoying. In fact, once you realize what the good weapons and armour are - allowing you to sell the rest making tons of cash - the game become incredibly easy as you and your squad mow down your less well equipped enemy. Even on the insane setting, the difficulty curve is a bit backwards with the first quarter of the game being the hardest, and the rest being a cake walk.

    The story itself is reasonably compelling and well told with solid voice acting and character animation. Though skippable, the dialogue scenes can get a bit long. You do have some ability to steer the story in different directions through your actions, so be careful what you skip. Overall, a solid, fun, game that should get me picking up Mass Effect 2.

    Story: 5
    Interface: 3
    Game Play: 4
    Challenge: 4
    Fun: 4

    Overall: 8.5/10
    4.0
  • bfg metalheadbfg metalhead166,805
    01 Jun 2009
    10 16 3
    So mass efect, where do I start with this amazing example of a sci-fi rpg?

    Ok even though I have bigged up the game so to speak I cannot deny the game has some faults such as a few of the gliches and the short story. One of the most anoying faults is the games tendancy to freeze when moving in and out of colony structures on the explorable planets and the lack of a regular auto-saver means you can lose quite a lot of data which as you can imagine is VERY ANOYINGangry. Another quite irritating glitch is when using the map screen on the Normandy you can fall into it and you cannot get out.

    Allright, now I have got the faults out of the way I can get onto the good things about the game such as the amazing story.The story unwinds the way you want so mostly you can never have the same experience on different playthrough and add to that the paragon/renagade choices you have a truely massive choice. Plus the paramore side quest means to get the achieviment you have to treat liara or ashley or kadian differently so it sways the story and you learn things about their past or their race.

    The combat system is very well balanced and the weapon and armor choice is wide and varied with shotguns,assault rifles,pistols and snipers ranging from the basic "I models" all the way up to the prototype specter equipment the mod's you can equip on your guns and armor means you have many choices of your combat style like enhanced shield's and poisonous rounds and many many more.The cover system actually works quite well as in most games they are really poor such as gta 4 and saints row 2.The enimies are quite fair and level up at the same pace as you and as long as you use your abilites properly you will succeed.

    the graphics in the game are a little grainy which is a little bit of a shame but for the most part you don't notice it, the NPC faceposeing is done well and they feel very real and you genuinely feel for them.There are sex scenes in the game,there was a big contrivercy over them even though they are no big deal.My personal favorate feature of the game is it's great soundtrack which I find fits the mass efect universe pefectly.

    Overall this game is great but it is not perfect for all as it can be a little confusing at times but the good things in the game far outway the bad
    so if you hav'nt got a copy of this game I advise you pick one up as they are quite cheap.
    5.0
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