Mass Effect

This is a Review of the Mass Effect Disc out of the recently released Mass Effect Trilogy for the PS3. You can purchase the single game off PSN for your convince.

Mass Effect was originally released in 2007 for the Xbox 360 and PC. After 5 years and 2 sequels it has finally been released on the PS3. The story begins about Commander Shepard sitting looking through a window BLAH BLAH BLAH, look this is a review for those who probably already played the sequels on the PS3 and are debating whether to go back and enjoy the first game for the first time.

Lets get the basics out of the way. The PS3 version is essentially the same game as the 360 version including one of two DLC that was released. The story is still fantastic and arguably the best out of the franchise but side missions are hit and miss, mostly miss. Out of the 20+ hours it can take to beat the game you will spend half of it roaming barren planets, doing Quick Time Events to obtain minerals/artifacts/loot/etc, and raiding complexes. But even with the lows, the highs completely make up for it. The combat is serviceable but it is 5 years old and is feels completely different than the sequels, it can be quite annoying but once you getting better weapons and your team is leveled up you begin to destroy all your enemies....at this point it becomes boring and mundane as you shoot everything in your path to reach the next story beat.

The game is really about dialogue and the story, compared to the sequels you will easily spend more time in conversations. Since it was the first game it explains a lot about the universe, about the aliens and civilizations that are now new to you. When you first play you didn't know what a turian, asari or volus was so the game encourages you to explore the universe through dialogue and talking with the NPCs. Also most missions can be solved through dialogue and with a high enough Paragon/Renegade rating, can avoid combat. It is a Bioware game and you should expect that. The dialogue and story are why you should play this game, if that doesn't interest you, STOP reading and DON'T buy the game.

Now for those who have made it this far, I love this game and have played the 360 version many times, I don't remember as many bugs, scripting problems, and other issues in several playthroughs of the 360 version as I had in the one playthrough of the PS3 version. Tons of audio problems, bad syncing, characters that are supposed to be talking but aren't on screen, etc. During the final confrontation, when the sound effects cuts out and I'm left looking at explosions and 2 characters talking, it takes you out of the moment. The game never broke for me and I found most of these problems entertaining, but I have beat the game before many times so it didn't bother me as much; if it had been my first time playing the game, it would've broken the experience for me at some point. Other bad things are what felt like terrible load times, pausing the game often to save the game instead of doing a small icon in the corner and saving in the background (something the 360 version did).

Verdict: I still believe this is a game that should be experienced especially if you enjoyed the sequels. The game is completely playable and gets the job done but I know for a fact that the 360 version was an overall better experience, I can not vouch for the PC version although. If you have access to other platforms, probably go that route. The game is about the story, dialogue, characters and building your Shepard from the ground up, the way it was meant to be. If that interests you, it is well worth your time.