I enjoyed it a lot but my suggestion would be to gut it out and finish Mass Effect then go on to Mass Effect 2 because it is better by leaps and bounds. If that doesn't grab you either, then I guess it just isn't for you.

I thought the story was what drove me to go through the game.  I did think though that there are many faults with the 1st game but it is such a awesome story and game that it overshadowed the flaws.  Keep at it for a little while longer I would say and then if your still not happy turn it off and sell it dude.

I liked the game alot because of the writing. It's one of the very very very few games where the writing isn't complete garbage. The Interface, even on the PC version, is honestly a clusterfuck. I don't think the battles are very tactical, like hoped them to be. But since the writing is interesting and the fighting gameplay still decent the game turns out to be fun, for me. So if you really care about the writing I would just drop ME, I don't think it's too gripping. Do you usually play RPGs or other kinds of text heavy games?

" I have always had trouble getting into older games that other people thought were great. I've picked up games like Gears and Half-Life way too late and never gotten into them.  I think I'll stick with ME until I reach around the 10 hour mark and if I'm still not enjoying it I'll just move on. From what I've heard on forums, the game takes up to 40 hours to complete and I'm not going to play a game I don't like for that long... "

" @outlawtotheend: It's certainly arguable as to whether or not Mass Effect starts slowly, but I suspect there may be a more tangible explanation for your dismay. Let me ask you a question: Are you particularly blown away with Mark Meer's interpretation of Commander Shepard? See… I, too, played Mass Effect well after its initial release and--several hours in--felt the same trepidation. Then, for the hell of it, I went back and created a female character. Literally, from that point on, I enjoyed the hell out it. And I'm definitely not alone. In fact, there was a brilliant editorial written on this very subject. I encourage anyone who found themselves unable to enjoy Mass Effect to read it immediately and consider the author's "plea." "

Yes.
 Wait, no!
 
 
 
Maybe.

Get off the Citadel and have command of the Normandy and it will get better. 

" Well it actually has a main game story which is more than you can say about ME2. Niether are particularly fun to play. But if you have the PC version, I imagine there are some good mods that make it more manageable. "

Does Mass Effect suck?

The first Mass Effect was a real love/hate game that rode solely on if you became engaged in the story.  The Mako segments, bland indoor settings (away from the Citadel), the ramshackle menu system, bugs and slowdowns were quite prevalent throughout the adventure 
 
There were a lot of gameplay issues that would turn off a lot of people if they did not want to know what would happen next.  A game similar to that  out recently would be Alpha Protocol.  If the espionage story does not grab you, the game's issues will not keel you interested. 
 
Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, is a damn great game all around.  The story is much more engaging, the gameplay was streamlined, and the issues were much more rare.

Mass Effect is legit. It amazes me how some games get praised for shittyness (crackdown, fallout) yet everyone dwells on ME bugs like they're killing children. I played through the game twice and the only problem/bug I had was the Mako gettting stuck  on a wall, and this only happened once (oh and popin.) The Mako isn't even that bad, its subjective, people don't like the limited aim so the game is bad? wtf. Story is one of the best, you just have to finish the game to get it all. Gameplay is good, menus were good, the wheel is used in all bioware games now so shit on that and you're shitting on console Dragon Age (also an amazing game.) Just play it, ignore all the bitching and i'm sure you'l' love it.

I didn't have a single problem with Mass Effect, in fact in many ways I felt it was superior to ME2.

The first few hours of Mass Effect almost turned me off about the game but I plaid more and the annoying mechanics become bearable and I could not stay away from the story.  

I enjoyed it from the beginning. I actually prefer the first to the second in many respects, I missed all the armour weapon variety/customisation from the first. The second was still amazing thought. It is certainly a game where I can see why people don't get into it. I did find the second play through of Mass Effect 1 more enjoyable by continuing my first character and being more powerful from the start, but that is a commitment if you are not feeling it after 4 hours.

I said it in my review of ME2 and I'll say it here: the first Mass Effect is kind of a technical mess in a lot of ways, but its story and characters are compelling. However, it comes together much better as a game and a cinematic experience in the sequel. 
 
Plus, if you just want to finish ME to get the story and have a character to import, you can do it in under ten hours easy. Put it on casual and just do the missions.

I actually found Mass Effect 1 to be a very middling experience. ME2 on the other hand is simply outstanding.

The original Mass Effect has many ups and downs but it's a game worth playing all the same.

I played for another couple of hours this morning and it's really picked up. I've now played for a little over six hours and the games got a lot more interesting in those couple of hours.  
 
I've got to grips with managing my squad, updating my character etc. and I think now I understand how to play the game properly I'm enjoying it a lot more.   
 
Also, thanks for the huge amount of comments that I got in such a short amount of time.

I played for another couple of hours this morning and it's really picked up. I've now played for a little over six hours and the games got a lot more interesting in those couple of hours.  
 
I've got to grips with managing my squad, updating my character etc. and I think now I understand how to play the game properly I'm enjoying it a lot more.   
 
Also, thanks for the huge amount of comments that I got in such a short amount of time.

I actually liked Mass Effect 1 more than Mass Effect 2. But that's because the first could actually be called an action-RPG and I like RPG's. Third person shooters is my least favorite type of games so I didn't like Mass Effect 2 as much as the first.

I actually really enjoy the dialogue system, It's the gameplay I had trouble getting into

"It's the gameplay I had trouble getting into "

ME1 was acceptable when it came out. But there wasn't much competition at the time. It doesn't suck, but it's not a triple-A game either.

I was late to the party as well but i just beat the game and i enjoyed it. My only complaints were the bugs(sometimes my ai partners were either retarded or just stood there staring at the enemy while i did all the work, or my favorite glitch, if my weapon overheated it would stay permanently overheated until i left the planet.) Oh and the item system was kinda of annoying to work through, by the end of the game i had 800 different pieces of armor and ammo upgrades i never used, a shitload of weapons that were downgrades and already had max money from selling all the crap, just thought they coulda had less random items everywhere and more upgrades. Also Male Shepard voice acting was terrible.
 
Other than that though it was a good game, im motivated to play the next one and bang the hell out of tali!

I would'nt personally say it sucks. I just disliked them.

Topic resolved. Finished the game today and loved it.

Quite the contrary actually.

" Topic resolved. Finished the game today and loved it. "

I found that once you got off the Citadel it kind of gets weird. I mean, there was something about the Citadel that made me want to just hang out there, though there was nothing to really do there. Once I left the Citadel, I felt a little bit weird (like a man floating out in space). There was much to do, but I didn't have a good point of reference, I kept getting quests over the intercom and I had no idea where I was really going. So my first play through I just stuck as closely to the main story as I could while only going exploring when I felt a little tired of pushing the story further. 
 
If you only play through the story, you will probably enjoy the game. There is a lot of mundane, monotonous side quests that have no effect on the story and are really just there to provide the player with something to do outside of the main story.  The mineral/gases collecting is pretty useless in Mass Effect. So if you hate driving the Mako, you're going to hate collecting that shit. My second playthrough I did everything in the game and by the end of it I hated myself for doing it. The mineral collecting is kind of like collecting all the flags in Assassin's Creed, only worse, because it's all over the galaxy.
 
Even in ME2, searching for minerals is fucking stupid. Why don't they just drop it. I understand they want to add the farming feeling to the game, but it's just too much. In ME2, they streamlined the inventory and leveling parts of the game that it just didn't feel like an RPG in that sense. I would have preferred if they refined the inventory system with categories and such, and given out exp at the end of fights, not missions. Couldn't we just find minerals at the ends of quests or something? That would have made for a lot more reason to play the side quests and at the same time not bore us all with scanning and probing random planets.

i played it from beginning to end and honestly didnt enjoy it.  i felt that the combat was off .. it all felt bad.

I don't know, I was totally into it right at the beginning. But it gets better and better as you go along.

Maybe you have no soul?
 
EVER THOUGHT OF THAT, SON OF SATAN?

It's my favorite game of all time. So no, it doesn't suck. To me.

The first game features: 

• Poor shooting mechanics
• Too much inventory disorganization
• Crazy amounts of frame rate drops with or without the film grain on
• The Mako portions

I've never really cared for it.

Mass Effect didn't grab me at first. I had it sitting in a drawer for ages after playing it for a little while and thinking it wasn't much chop. Then I dusted it off and plowed through it and loved it. I'm not saying this is what's going to happen for you, but I found once you push past the initial stages of the game it opens out and becomes really engrossing.

Again, guys, there's no need to keep commenting on this. I finished a couple of days ago and I ended up really enjoying it, as I said in one of my earlier comments. 
 
The topic has been resolved, Mass Effect does NOT suck.

It took me about four SECONDS to get drawn in.

About halfway through the game and i'm enjoying it TREMENDOUSLY. Love the characters, love the setting, love the missions, love the squad mechanics. My only qualm so far is the infrequent autosaves and that goddamn vehicle handling.

Yeah, it took me until I was almost halfway through to really get drawn in.

Mass Effect 2 is waaaaaay better than Mass Effect 1. 

Are you really questioning the game? Big RPG games are always really slow, i don't blame you, i got that way myself at the start, once i was out of Citadel, man the game got amazing and soon after i played ME1 i had to buy ME2 i could not wait to keep playing, i finish ME2 last week :( but there is no way i can buy ME3 is not even out!  
 
The game is awesome in my books :)

For god's sake, guys.  
I ALREADY settled this freaking debate in an earlier comment. I was slow to get into it but after a while it grew on me and I really liked it. The gameplay might have been it's weakest point but the dialogue system and depth to the game. My only real problem with it was that you can't go and play the rest of the side missions and DLC without starting over or loading an earlier save. 
 
Ok. So really, no more comments here, yeah? I'd probably delete the blog but I'd like to show off the 94 comments lol.

"I fucking hate it and want to kill it and every developer at BioWare with a chainsaw. My biggest problem was that I played it for about 5-6 hours, and half of that was me being lost in the Citadel (or anywhere for that matter,) and the rest was me being completely confused as to where to go with only the thought of, "If these guys are shooting me, I guess I'm in the right place." "