Monday, September 29, 2008

Review: Mass Effect


From the developers of one of the greatest Star Wars games, BioWare has given us yet another work of art in the form of a video game. I have been a gamer ever since I was able to pick up a controller and i can say with confidence that Mass Effect is one of the best games I have ever played. You start off the game as Commander Sherpard, customizing not only your appearance, gender, and class but you also choose how you were brought up and what defining role you played in various military battles. From there the fun begins as you get launched into an in depth and interactive story. The game has an innovative conversation system where when people talk to you you choose what point you want to get across to them from an easy to use menu. You can even choose your dialog before the person stops talking so the conversation will remain fluent. This and the amazing story line, filled with twists and turns, make the game one of the most immersive gaming experiences ive played thus far.

The combat takes shape in the Third-person shooter type and is very well structured, having you command two other party members of your choosing, issuing them orders like what skills to and weapons to use. This takes place in a menu that pauses the fight where you also choose what skills you would like to utilize. It has a variety of weapons, armor and skills that will make every fight fun and many since there are many difficulties to choose from so you can play the game with a challenge.

The progression of your character and of those in your squad is very unique to most RPGs. You can choose whether or not to talk to each character and learn about their history and background and even have intimate relations with them. The skills trees add a good amount of depth to the game and will make you strategically choose your squad members to help synergize your own skills.

Mass Effect graphics are extremely realistic having characters look and move as if they were real, beautiful and lush scenery and very cool skill effects. This brings me to the only bad point of this game that I could find and that is the occasional FPS drop and texture pop-ins.

With playing the majority of the optional side missions along with the main storyline this game can easily clock in at around 35-40 hours. With all of the bonus content and DLC you will want to play through this game again and again. I myself have played through it almost 3 times and I am always finding new things that I never found before. If you havent played this game by now and have an Xbox360 I recommend buying it, because trust me, it is worth your money.

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