Game Review: Mass Effect

DISCLAIMER: I should have put this up on all my game reviews. I am not a journalist. I have not desire to be a journalist. These are just regular reviews from a 30 year old gamer from the golden age of gaming.

I was re-reading the blog and realized we have a lot more entries criticizing games than we do praising games. Well, I wanted to alleviate all of five of our readers’ concerns that we might be some secret government conspiracy that hates games by posting a review that greatly praises a game. Therefore, I will give my review of a game I consider great, Mass Effect.

I consider this game great for one reason; I did not want to put the controller down when I played it. I forcefully had to tell myself to stop playing.

The game is set in the future. How far? Around 150 years. You play the role of Sheppard, a certified badass. I am not sure how else you could put it, but Sheppard kicks ass, even more so if you choose the “jerk” route.

Character customization is limited, yet fits nicely in the story. You select if you are a male or a female. You have a choice between six classes, Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel, and Vanguard. It is pretty much your basic Fighter (Solider), Wizard (Adept), and Tech/Rogue (Engineer). Plus, there are three classes that are a mixture of the two main classes.

Each class has its own skill-set. For example, I chose Vanguard. I was able to use pistols and shotguns as well as use some of the Adept abilities, like “fling the poor bastard in the air and watch him fly away while you shoot it with your pistol.” Good times!

A nice addition was the background of your character. You can choose between spacer, colonist, or earthborn as your place of origin. Each has its own background. In addition, you get to select a distinguishing background occurrence, sole survivor, ruthless soldier, or war hero. Again, this affects the story and gives it replay value.

The story is awesome, and very complex. I was surprised how the story appeals to the older game generation. It deals with subjects such as racism, imperialism, and good vs. evil, with all of the gray areas in-between.

The voice-acting is phenomenal, very nicely done. BIOWARE is known for this. Who am I kidding? BIOWARE is fantastic game developer. Of course, I am an RPG dork so I am expected to say this.
The dialogue in the game uses a “tree” formula which branches off into different dialogue options. Depending on your actions, it will also place you on the road to “Paragon” (good guy) or “Renegade” (sarcastic guy). However, you will find out that you can never be pure good or evil because some of the “Renegade” options are just too damned fun.

Good god, this sounds like an actual game review.

There is sex in the game!

The graphics are great.

Combat takes a little getting used to. If you are a COD4 fan or Halo3, you will want to play it as a first person shooter. Do yourself a favor and remember this is a role playing game. Something is to be said for strategy. With that said, the only frustrating thing in the game is the different menus during battles. You will become accustomed to it, but it does take time.

The development of the supporting cast is fantastic as well. BIOWARE put a lot of care into characters like Garrus, my main man Wrex, and Ashley Williams. I let Kaidan die because he needs to grow a set.

I could write more, but just take my word for it…buy this game. 5 out of 5 or 10 out of 10 or whatever. One of my favorite games of all time. I am looking forward to the next two.