Mass Effect Reviews

Two more review sites are as impressed as the next guy, heaping praise on Mass Effect. GameShark gives it an A-.

Enemy behavior is often unpredictable, but not necessarily in a good way. Most foes are intelligent enough to utilize cover and aggressively engage your party. Self-preservation sits low on the priority list, however, with many enemies stupidly rushing into your gunfire. This sort of behavior should be expected of simple life forms, although you witness it from sentient beings like humans as well. Opponents are either wildly confrontational or docile. In rare situations, enemies will stand around lackadaisically until you begin shooting at point blank range. You just never really know when an enemy is going to press your for a fight or will go quietly. Even when an enemy aggressively counters your attacks, it usually isn’t too hard to win. Death comes as a consequence of silly mistakes rather than at the hand of a tough foe. Mass Effect features a few challenging boss battles, but for the most part the confrontations that frequently occur when traversing the galaxy aren’t too difficult.

It’s quite fine that the combat tends to lie on the easy side since blasting away Geth and other enemies rewards you with experience used to tailor your party. Shepard gains up to six companion characters in the course of his adventure, which all gain equal experience and level up at the same time. Six classes mix abilities and attributes related to three discipline areas: tech, biotics, and combat. Each class grants access to specific abilities in these disciplines and leveling up gives you points to enhance the power of those abilities. Gain enough levels and it’s possible to acquire a second class that expands your skill set. It’s a remarkably straightforward development system, but it works well.

WorthPlaying gives it a 9.5 and editor’s choice.

Most conversations contribute to your character’s development as a “paragon” (all-around good guy, Optimus Prime-like in a way) or a “renegade” (mercenary-like antihero). Conversations are very well-written, and they became a huge highlight of the game for me. I learned everything about my crew members, my ship’s engine systems, why some strangers are where they are it’s almost impossible for one to digest it all. The long talks also add to a journal, which records and details all of the tasks you have before you. And if you want, you can have a lot of stuff to do. When you’re not tracking down Saren, you’ll stumble across business conspiracies, get tasked with finding a group of missing troopers and even try to get the military to return the corpse of a dead space marine to her husband. Much like Oblivion, you could literally spend whole days doing nothing but side-quests. That’s a bit much for my plate, but it’s an RPG fan’s dream come true.

A big part of Mass Effect is spent exploring galaxies, and much of this is done through the Normandy’s galaxy map. When you access the map, you can zoom out to include most of the galaxy or zoom in on specific planets. The planets that deal with the main story are highlighted in blue, but you’re free to set your sights on any other worlds you want. Each one has a lot of detailed text, but you can also scan some and land on others. When you land, you get to control the Mako, a six-wheeled combat tank/buggy that has a machine gun turret. Control-wise, it feels a lot like the Warthog in Halo, which means it can be a bear to handle sometimes. I also wasn’t a fan of the turret’s stopping power. I spent a lot of time chipping away at armored vehicles, while they seemed to have the kind of armament to hack chunks off of my shield and destroy me with heavier fire. However, these are aliens you’re fighting, and the rule about aliens is that they have better stuff than you do. I guess I can live with that.

Mass Effect is at its most dynamic and most flawed when it’s you and two other squad members on foot. As more characters join you on your travels, you get the options to pick who to bring with you whenever you leave the ship. It’s also on the ground where you get to see the talents of you and your crew. Weapon-wise, you’ve got assault rifles, grenades, pistols, sniper rifles and shotguns. All of the weapons are upgradeable, via either buying better stuff in a shop or finding it in a locked crate or canister, which can be unlocked through a nifty button-pressing mini-game. Every enemy you take out gives you points to try and upgrade your character’s abilities (stronger melee attacks, more powerful healing, better tech skills, etc.)