Post by Malum on Nov 27, 2007 12:22:49 GMT -5
Well, I've beat Mass Effect in 25 hours. I didn't do all of the side missions, but I plan on going back and wrapping those up before the final confrontation. I just got a little eager last night and couldn't help but send the Normandy off to battle.
I think I've played enough to set up a decent review though, so here it is:
-Character Creation-
When you start you are first asked to choose a background for your Shepard. You could have been born on space cruisers, a backwater colony, or on Earth. Then, you choose your “Psychological Profile”. Your Shepard is either the sole survivor of a massacre on the planet Akuze, a war hero for the Human Alliance, or known throughout the galaxy as something of a ruthless thug. This is about as deep as your background goes.
Then, you pick what class you are. I chose solider for my first time around because I wanted to start out simple. There are several other choices, including biotic adept, engineer, infiltrator, and others. If you got with soldier you will have few abilities beyond shooting up stuff and healing. I plan on going with adept next time around because it should give you a lot of cool biotic powers.
Finally we move on to the thing everyone was waiting for, your character’s appearance. You can choose from several different selections of hair style, eye shape, jaw bones, skin tone, complexion, and an assortment of other facial features. But even with the great selection, I must say I was disappointed. The hair and eye options are very limited when it comes to style and shape, and you can’t really make anybody you want. I tried to make myself but gave up, it’s just not as easy as the Sims 2, where just about anything is possible with a few downloads. But still, I doubt many people will come up with two Shepards who are exactly alike.
-Gameplay-
Combat
This is where it’s at. Mass Effect is, by far, the best shooter ever. I know it’s not first person, but really, there’s not much of a difference between over-the-shoulder shooting and from-the-eyes-of-the-killer shooting. I found Mass Effect far more realistic than Halo and Medal of Honor when it comes to combat. You can take cover behind crates and walls, you will then see your character leaning with his/her back against the wall, while you have a good view of what’s on the other side. All you need to do is press the fire button and Shepard will turn around and fire. Your enemies take cover to, so it can get pretty intense on the higher difficulty settings.
Mako
Another thing everyone was waiting for, the vehicle mini-game. The Mako is great fun to drive around, even if you’re just strolling along without any enemies. It has a turret on top which you control in case of enemy contact. Though, most of the time you’re just strolling through empty worlds searching for clues to ancient mysterious. But, I’ll go more into that on the Side Missions section.
The Mako has an awesome ability: it jumps. There are two jump jets on either side of the six-wheeled vehicle. You can use them quite often, and with great efficiency. They are extremely useful when hopping over enemy fire, though you will not need them if you fall off a cliff. The Mako cannot take falling damage. Which I saw as a fault. When scaling massive cliffs there is no adventure to it, because you know the worst that will happen is getting to a 90 degree angle, just about the only thing the Mako can drive up.
Still, I found this a great addition to the game, and hope to see more of the Mako, and other vehicles, in Mass Effect 2.
Conversations
The fabled Mass Effect conversation system. For once in an RPG you can hear your character talk when you select what he should say. For this reason, your choices aren’t exactly what Shepard is going to say, just the gist of it. Therefore, there’s always a nice surprise when he makes a snide comment or a particularly intelligent remark. Though sometimes he shoots off something you didn’t mean him to say, it’s pretty consistent with your desires for the most part.
When talking to other people I’ve noticed they seem to say the same things they would have said, had you chosen to say something else… if you get my meaning. I got stuck fighting a certain boss at one point, and had to redo my conversation with her every time I lost, which was very annoying after thirty minutes. Since I was so bored of hearing her say the same things, I began to choose different options. In the end, our conversation wasn’t very different.
I really don’t know what to think about the conversation system yet, now that I write about it. I guess I’m a little disappointed, but on the other hand I don’t know what could have been done to make it better. You still have a wide variety of options when dealing with people in intense situations and pinnacle moments, yet casual conversation could use a little work.
Side Missions
If anything could have made Mass Effect perfect it would have been better side missions. You can only discover a hidden pirate base and kill them all so many times before it becomes repetitive. There are only three types of structures you will encounter in the side missions while on those desolate planets. They are only different on the inside by the positioning of the crates and number or type of enemies. I simply got tired of searching every planet for ancient Prothean Ruins and crashed probes with clues left by a long-dead Matriarch. I think I’ve completely made ¾ of the side missions. I plan on going back and doing all of them. Maybe something interesting will happen. But it gets really boring roaming those deserts in the Mako.
-Plot-
The plot of Mass Effect is really awesome. I love the character involved and I can’t get enough of the whole “ancient machines are trying to destroy life once again for unknown reasons” thing. Saren is great, I would really like to get to know him more, though the plot doesn’t allow for much conversation with him.
I’m going to tell you all the decisions I made, and what the outcomes were.
My Shepard was neutral-good. I didn’t always make the ethically right choice, and I didn’t always play by the rules. Think of Jolee Bindo from KotOR, if you will. I tend to play my characters like this often, because it seems to give them a more realistic touch. And somehow, I can’t see Shepard as being a saint. It’s probably his voice and the fact that he never smiles.
Love – I wanted my character to fall in love with Tali, the quarian. But my conversation choices with her were very limited. I don’t think that it’s an option in the game. So my second choice was Ashley. I found her kind of annoying at times, the fact that Bioware has a character who believes in God was very interesting for me, being a Christian. Most people think that there can’t be Christianity in sci-fi because aliens don’t fit into the bible. Well, who’s to say God didn’t create other people in his image? Anyway, I found this a very revolutionary step for video games. As with the option of a lesbian relationship (if you’re a female Shepard), Bioware is making strides.
But I digress. I eventually ended up with Liara because, well, Ashley died on Virmire.
Virmire – Before I go into the whole Ashley or Kaiden decision, let’s talk about Wrex. He’s a great character, basically Canderous Ordo from KotOR reincarnated. You discover that Saren has discovered a vaccine for the genophage, a disease which leaves all Krogans infertile. Wrex insists that you can’t destroy that base, you must get the vaccine so his people can repopulate their race. I don’t know if the game gives you the option to not blow it up, because my Shepard believed that he had to convince Wrex that stopping Saren was more important before deciding how to retrieve the vaccine. I ended up facing Wrex off with our guns at each other’s throats. I had a very high Charm skill and could have said “These aren’t your people”. But instead I chose to say “We can talk about this” and lower my weapon. Wrex still refused to lower his, and was shot in the back of the head by Ashley, who I threw a temper tantrum at. Stupid bitch.
While I hated how that turned out, I love how Bioware put so much emotion into the situation. You can’t help but feel sorry for Wrex, especially after hearing his backstory. The poor guy just wanted peace for Krogans. I really hope there’s a way to save him next time I go around.
Again, Bioware is making big strides. Finally a game that can almost make me cry. Not that forcing Zaalbar to kill Mission in KotOR didn’t almost make me cry.
So, with my friend dead and me pissed at Ashley, I continued on to Saren’s base. I chose to send Kaiden to work with the Salarian soldiers (who were really cool looking in their armor) because he is voiced by the same guy who did Carth, and I was more willing to risk his life than Ashley’s, despite how angry I was at her.
When it all comes down to it, you have a choice to save Ashley and a couple of your crewmen, or Kaiden and a bunch of the Salarians. I chose to save Kaiden, not because I like him more, but because I felt I would save more people in the process. You come to a confrontation with Saren, but I doubt anything you say affects the story. I tried it all but he wouldn’t budge. He was easy to take down though.
Citadel – The final battle at the Citadel. I must say, the space battle was totally awesome. We’re talking battle of Endor awesome. I really enjoy the cinematics, and only wish they could be longer. Still, I can’t complain about that.
I used my badass charming skills to make Saren realize Sovereign was controlling him. He shot himself in the head and the little blue light behind his eyes and jaw went out. I suddenly felt very sorry for him, despite everything that had happened. He really wasn’t so bad in the end. And you can’t blame him for being used like a puppet by the Reaper in the end.
When that chunk of Sovereign fell on Shepard I really thought he was dead. It would have made a great ending, and seemed like something Bioware would do. But alas, he’s alive.
Final Comments
After all is said and done, I give Mass Effect four stars. It’s probably the best RPG ever, but it loses that final star for being not everything we were lead to believe, and for having repetitive side missions. But the storyline, lore, characters, combat, and decision making is perfect. I think everyone will agree that Mass Effect is the first of what will be the most epic, emotional, and revolutionary RPG to hit the market for the first time and for a very long time.
Kudos Bioware.
I think I've played enough to set up a decent review though, so here it is:
Contents
-Character Creation-
- Gameplay-
Combat
Mako
Conversations
Side Missions
<SPOILERS>-Plot-</SPOILERS>
-Final Comments-
-Character Creation-
- Gameplay-
Combat
Mako
Conversations
Side Missions
<SPOILERS>-Plot-</SPOILERS>
-Final Comments-
-Character Creation-
When you start you are first asked to choose a background for your Shepard. You could have been born on space cruisers, a backwater colony, or on Earth. Then, you choose your “Psychological Profile”. Your Shepard is either the sole survivor of a massacre on the planet Akuze, a war hero for the Human Alliance, or known throughout the galaxy as something of a ruthless thug. This is about as deep as your background goes.
Then, you pick what class you are. I chose solider for my first time around because I wanted to start out simple. There are several other choices, including biotic adept, engineer, infiltrator, and others. If you got with soldier you will have few abilities beyond shooting up stuff and healing. I plan on going with adept next time around because it should give you a lot of cool biotic powers.
Finally we move on to the thing everyone was waiting for, your character’s appearance. You can choose from several different selections of hair style, eye shape, jaw bones, skin tone, complexion, and an assortment of other facial features. But even with the great selection, I must say I was disappointed. The hair and eye options are very limited when it comes to style and shape, and you can’t really make anybody you want. I tried to make myself but gave up, it’s just not as easy as the Sims 2, where just about anything is possible with a few downloads. But still, I doubt many people will come up with two Shepards who are exactly alike.
-Gameplay-
Combat
This is where it’s at. Mass Effect is, by far, the best shooter ever. I know it’s not first person, but really, there’s not much of a difference between over-the-shoulder shooting and from-the-eyes-of-the-killer shooting. I found Mass Effect far more realistic than Halo and Medal of Honor when it comes to combat. You can take cover behind crates and walls, you will then see your character leaning with his/her back against the wall, while you have a good view of what’s on the other side. All you need to do is press the fire button and Shepard will turn around and fire. Your enemies take cover to, so it can get pretty intense on the higher difficulty settings.
Mako
Another thing everyone was waiting for, the vehicle mini-game. The Mako is great fun to drive around, even if you’re just strolling along without any enemies. It has a turret on top which you control in case of enemy contact. Though, most of the time you’re just strolling through empty worlds searching for clues to ancient mysterious. But, I’ll go more into that on the Side Missions section.
The Mako has an awesome ability: it jumps. There are two jump jets on either side of the six-wheeled vehicle. You can use them quite often, and with great efficiency. They are extremely useful when hopping over enemy fire, though you will not need them if you fall off a cliff. The Mako cannot take falling damage. Which I saw as a fault. When scaling massive cliffs there is no adventure to it, because you know the worst that will happen is getting to a 90 degree angle, just about the only thing the Mako can drive up.
Still, I found this a great addition to the game, and hope to see more of the Mako, and other vehicles, in Mass Effect 2.
Conversations
The fabled Mass Effect conversation system. For once in an RPG you can hear your character talk when you select what he should say. For this reason, your choices aren’t exactly what Shepard is going to say, just the gist of it. Therefore, there’s always a nice surprise when he makes a snide comment or a particularly intelligent remark. Though sometimes he shoots off something you didn’t mean him to say, it’s pretty consistent with your desires for the most part.
When talking to other people I’ve noticed they seem to say the same things they would have said, had you chosen to say something else… if you get my meaning. I got stuck fighting a certain boss at one point, and had to redo my conversation with her every time I lost, which was very annoying after thirty minutes. Since I was so bored of hearing her say the same things, I began to choose different options. In the end, our conversation wasn’t very different.
I really don’t know what to think about the conversation system yet, now that I write about it. I guess I’m a little disappointed, but on the other hand I don’t know what could have been done to make it better. You still have a wide variety of options when dealing with people in intense situations and pinnacle moments, yet casual conversation could use a little work.
Side Missions
If anything could have made Mass Effect perfect it would have been better side missions. You can only discover a hidden pirate base and kill them all so many times before it becomes repetitive. There are only three types of structures you will encounter in the side missions while on those desolate planets. They are only different on the inside by the positioning of the crates and number or type of enemies. I simply got tired of searching every planet for ancient Prothean Ruins and crashed probes with clues left by a long-dead Matriarch. I think I’ve completely made ¾ of the side missions. I plan on going back and doing all of them. Maybe something interesting will happen. But it gets really boring roaming those deserts in the Mako.
-Plot-
The plot of Mass Effect is really awesome. I love the character involved and I can’t get enough of the whole “ancient machines are trying to destroy life once again for unknown reasons” thing. Saren is great, I would really like to get to know him more, though the plot doesn’t allow for much conversation with him.
I’m going to tell you all the decisions I made, and what the outcomes were.
My Shepard was neutral-good. I didn’t always make the ethically right choice, and I didn’t always play by the rules. Think of Jolee Bindo from KotOR, if you will. I tend to play my characters like this often, because it seems to give them a more realistic touch. And somehow, I can’t see Shepard as being a saint. It’s probably his voice and the fact that he never smiles.
Love – I wanted my character to fall in love with Tali, the quarian. But my conversation choices with her were very limited. I don’t think that it’s an option in the game. So my second choice was Ashley. I found her kind of annoying at times, the fact that Bioware has a character who believes in God was very interesting for me, being a Christian. Most people think that there can’t be Christianity in sci-fi because aliens don’t fit into the bible. Well, who’s to say God didn’t create other people in his image? Anyway, I found this a very revolutionary step for video games. As with the option of a lesbian relationship (if you’re a female Shepard), Bioware is making strides.
But I digress. I eventually ended up with Liara because, well, Ashley died on Virmire.
Virmire – Before I go into the whole Ashley or Kaiden decision, let’s talk about Wrex. He’s a great character, basically Canderous Ordo from KotOR reincarnated. You discover that Saren has discovered a vaccine for the genophage, a disease which leaves all Krogans infertile. Wrex insists that you can’t destroy that base, you must get the vaccine so his people can repopulate their race. I don’t know if the game gives you the option to not blow it up, because my Shepard believed that he had to convince Wrex that stopping Saren was more important before deciding how to retrieve the vaccine. I ended up facing Wrex off with our guns at each other’s throats. I had a very high Charm skill and could have said “These aren’t your people”. But instead I chose to say “We can talk about this” and lower my weapon. Wrex still refused to lower his, and was shot in the back of the head by Ashley, who I threw a temper tantrum at. Stupid bitch.
While I hated how that turned out, I love how Bioware put so much emotion into the situation. You can’t help but feel sorry for Wrex, especially after hearing his backstory. The poor guy just wanted peace for Krogans. I really hope there’s a way to save him next time I go around.
Again, Bioware is making big strides. Finally a game that can almost make me cry. Not that forcing Zaalbar to kill Mission in KotOR didn’t almost make me cry.
So, with my friend dead and me pissed at Ashley, I continued on to Saren’s base. I chose to send Kaiden to work with the Salarian soldiers (who were really cool looking in their armor) because he is voiced by the same guy who did Carth, and I was more willing to risk his life than Ashley’s, despite how angry I was at her.
When it all comes down to it, you have a choice to save Ashley and a couple of your crewmen, or Kaiden and a bunch of the Salarians. I chose to save Kaiden, not because I like him more, but because I felt I would save more people in the process. You come to a confrontation with Saren, but I doubt anything you say affects the story. I tried it all but he wouldn’t budge. He was easy to take down though.
Citadel – The final battle at the Citadel. I must say, the space battle was totally awesome. We’re talking battle of Endor awesome. I really enjoy the cinematics, and only wish they could be longer. Still, I can’t complain about that.
I used my badass charming skills to make Saren realize Sovereign was controlling him. He shot himself in the head and the little blue light behind his eyes and jaw went out. I suddenly felt very sorry for him, despite everything that had happened. He really wasn’t so bad in the end. And you can’t blame him for being used like a puppet by the Reaper in the end.
When that chunk of Sovereign fell on Shepard I really thought he was dead. It would have made a great ending, and seemed like something Bioware would do. But alas, he’s alive.
Final Comments
After all is said and done, I give Mass Effect four stars. It’s probably the best RPG ever, but it loses that final star for being not everything we were lead to believe, and for having repetitive side missions. But the storyline, lore, characters, combat, and decision making is perfect. I think everyone will agree that Mass Effect is the first of what will be the most epic, emotional, and revolutionary RPG to hit the market for the first time and for a very long time.
Kudos Bioware.
