Mass Effect review

The latest game I've played has been like a revelation for me! I am a science fiction fan, and also a fan of role-playing games, and guess what game has both of those elements? Mass Effect was created by BioWare, the same guys that made Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and most recently, Dragon Age: Origins (and Mass Effect 2) After I realized how much I had played Mass Effect (I beat the game THREE TIMES and then this morning I caught myself about a third of the way through the fourth) I knew that it was it. Mass Effect was totally the game I've always been looking for. When I bought it, it sounded vaguely familiar, and for a month after I got it (caught it on sale for $14.99 by-the-way :p I wish I could catch Mass Effect 2 on sale for even $34.99) it was just like every other game I buy, I spend up to $20 and get a game that sits on my virtual shelf until I decide it's taking up too much space and delete it (only to be downloaded again a week later)

Well, anyways, the thing about Mass Effect that I really enjoy is the fact that you play it once, and you are like "heh that was pretty good" then you play it a second time and alter the settings just a tad bit, and then you find yourself thinking, "I don't remember this part!" and then a few familiar things happen, then you get some crazy achievement, and you go like "wow how did I not get that achievement the first time!" This is obviously, though, a feature that most role-playing games have, called re-playability.

Another great thing is the controls. You can assign abilities to certain hot-keys, and it's got a quick-save feature! Plus it has an instant pause you can use during combat to assess the situation a little bit, and you can also switch weapons and use abilities from that screen. One annoying thing is the automatic cover system. You'll want to be careful when walking up close to walls and things or you'll turn around and duck... while your enemy is in a critical position and it'll just take 3 shots to down him, and now you are stuck up against this stupid wall! The cover is sometimes useful when you are facing a ton of enemies, your shields go down or your weapon overheats so you take cover and use some first aid or wait for your weapon/tech/biotic abilities to recharge. It would be a lot better if there was a hotkey to do this though, instead of automatic.



My absolute favorite part of this game was definitely the storyline! Drew Karpyshyn was even good enough to write books that extend the storyline for you and really make you feel like part of the action! I don't want to give you too many details on the storyline, to avoid spoilers and mad people, but I will say that it's an awesome storyline. You can start out as a male or female, you can select your background (but that only changes one sidequest and gives you a couple extra renegade/paragon points) and you can select your class. The class part is the best, I first played as a soldier... that was pretty fun, then I played as an infiltrator, that was ALSO pretty fun, but I couldn't use assault rifle/shotgun :( (you can after unlocking an achievement like making 250 kills with a shotgun or assault rifle, the same with sniper rifle) My favorite, was the sentinel. It combines biotic and tech powers, so no weapons (unless you get that achievement I mentioned above) but biotic/tech is like pwnage!

Mass Effect was a great game, AWESOME voice acting (well female shepherd was awesome, but male shepherd was kind of dull. Everything else was also pretty good but I didn't hear it during EVERY single conversation so I can't put my finger on anything else.) great storyline, great re-playability. The graphics weren't exactly up to par, but the biotic/tech animations were still some pretty great stuff! I give Mass Effect a 9.5!