Mass Effect is a pretty good game...
Mass Effect is an action-RPG set in the distant alien rich future in which you play the role of Commander Shepard, an officer for the Systems Alliance Navy....
As in most RPG's before you start the game you are asked to create a character...Now you can either create a generic character if you want to jump in the game right away,or you can take the longer route and build your character for the ground up...You can choose to be male or female,and from there you pick your class...Your classes range from your standard Soldier,who specializes in gun combat and armor,to your Engineer,you is very handy with tech and upgrades,and your Adept who uses biotic abilities to lift and throw opponents.There are also variations that combine some of these classes.
From there you are thrown into the story where you find yourself aboard the Normandy,a highly advanced ship that soon becomes your home for most of the game.You are asked to check out an attack on a human colonized planet known as Eden Prime....and from there you are tasked to track down a rouge agent named Saren who is trying to revive a long dead machine race known as the Reapers that wiped out the galaxy centuries ago......This has you hopping from planet to planet in seach of clues to his whereabouts...You do get to visit alot of planets in this game,and you even get to drive on the surface in a not so stable vehicle known as the Maco, the main story planets are fun and varied,but besides them the other planets are very dull...You got your hot planets,your cold planets and your rocky planets....The coolest thing though is that you get to do a mission on the moon.....Take that Neil Armstrong..
What makes Biowares games so great is the level of interaction you have with the world around you..and this game really delivers on that front. Everyone had something to say,and the writing was top notch.... what makes it great is that instead of just picking what you say to them,your character will actually speak a variation of that...It really pulled me deeper into conversations knowing that my character could talk...Most of what you say to someone will either have a positve or negative reaction,and this will net you points in two catagories. Paragon for good and Renegade for bad,unlike Knights of the Old Republic where there was one bar, they each have a bar now...So you can tread that gray area if you choose...The main characters for the most part where a joy to get to know.Your partners in duty or crime are a variety of species ranging from the highly intelligent Asari ,to the big and mean Krogan..There are some you love and there are some you love to hate.I favored the Krogan,Wrex,I liked hearing his war stories and crap he would tell people..There are even some tensions that come between some of the characters..For example,the humans don't like having aliens on board there ship and you can stop it or side with them....Talking to each and finding out how diffrent they are from the next was great,you can even spark a romance with the ladies...getting to know a few of them well will open up sidequests too,so it pays to be chatty...
Gameplay for the most part is handled quite well,it plays like a shooter,with guns and with powers,point and shoot. Your powers are accessed by holding down the left bumper,while your array of guns is assigned to the right bumper...holding either will pause the action so you can cooardinate your tatics..I found myself using this alot when it came to tougher fights, it never really took me out of the combat,it was just good strategy...Most of the guns handled fine,the only one I had problems with was the sniper rifle,see, when you level up with certain classes you can dump points into guns to make them more accurate and do more damage...Not a big deal,until you get to the sniper rifle...if you dont dump some series points into it...it can be a real pain to aim this thing...I found that the powers were easy to use and some even fun to watch,throw was my favorite,have that thing powerd up enough and you can send a dude clear off the map...Endless enjoyment.....The only real complaint I had was that when the action really heated up the frame right tended to hitch more than I thought it would..and the Maco was very hard to get used to..A slight movement to the left or right had me skidding across the road...I did eventually get the handling down to where I was decent with it....The enimies that you will be pumping full of bullets and/or biotic powers are know as the Geth,a machine race who worship the Reapers ...Although sometimes you will fight humans and Krogans and even crazy electronic zombie things......
In conclusion,Mass Effect was a fun,engaging 40+ hour experience,it had a few problems...But they shouldn't keep from this game by any means.....
