Mass Effect Review/Retrospective

BioWare’s original Mass Effect has been put under the microscope for Endsights’ latest “Late to the Party” feature. The article covers the game’s strong points and its flaws, so is worth a read if you don’t mind the spoilers:

I was slightly disappointed that there was not more about Wrex, Liara, Ashley and Garrus to explore. It’s not actually a negative comment to make, because there was plenty included in the game itself, but the characters were so interesting to interact and get to know that I felt compelled to constantly go around the Normandy after every mission was complete, with the hopes that I’d be able to learn something new from these characters.

One thing that did stick out like a sore thumb is the character interaction wheel. While it was brilliant in its conceptual design replacing the full text of what your character would say with neat phrases or states of thought the implementation of moral choices via the wheel was awfully contrived. If memory serves me correctly, this is the same approach that BioWare has had for some years the top speech choice is the (good) choice, the middle being neutral, and the bottom one being the (evil) choice. Making binary choices in games has become more and more chic, but I’m not sure this approach is the right way to go about it. I believe in moral ambiguity I don’t believe that there is necessarily a hard and straight (right) and (wrong). Yet, in Mass Effect, BioWare seems to force moral certainty on everyone vis-a-vis the tremendous gap between the (good) and (evil) choices.

…

I have spent an extraordinary amount of time on the more ancillary bits of Mass Effect, but the main story is really the bread and butter of what makes Mass Effect tick. Each of the areas has something unique to offer from a narrative aspect. Feros introduces you to the Thorian controlled colonists, Noveria to secretive corporate thugs, Ilos to the last remnants of the Protheans, and Virmire to the Reapers. I think the real treat, however, was experiencing the Citadel, and the mystery behind the structure. When you first arrive, it is instantly the most gorgeous place you’ve visited in the game up into that point, and it was not surpassed after I completed the game. I was not prepared for how attached I was to the Citadel and its individual parts until the attack by the Geth and Sovereign ripped the living hell out of it. Seeing the Citadel in ruins, and the subsequent fighting on the outside of the Citadel Tower were some of the highest quality gameplay and experiential moments Mass Effect had to offer. During that time I forgot that my AI tag-team of Wrex and Garrus were glorified damage sponges who rarely followed commands, and just enjoyed the movement from cover to cover with Shepard, taking out the Geth and with deft shotgun blasts. The idea of fighting on the outside of the Citadel Tower is brilliant in and of itself, but the inspired design was impressive and showed that perhaps BioWare was the company to do a true shooter/RPG hybrid even if the prior content in Mass Effect still revealed a number of kinks that needed to be ironed out.