May 15

Written by: Brian Wray
5/15/2008 12:26 PM

Game: Mass Effect Reviewed by: Brian Wray		I think we're gonna need a bigger boot, Commander. In the plethora of quality games that was released during the last holiday season, many gamers had to choose which games to play and which to set aside for later. This was my situation as I spent days moving cubes around energy barriers looking for cake and taking out terrorist gamblers all the while Mass Effect sat in my cabinet waiting for its chance to shine. Only now have I removed the game from the shadows and trust it into the spotlight for it to display its glory.
Mass Effect is a role playing game created by one of the best RPG developers in the business, a small Canadian company called BioWare. BioWare has been responsible for some of the most memorable RPG west of Japan. Their resume of games read like a top 10 list with titles such as Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. Mass Effect could be considered their pinnacle (so far). To ensure a story of epic proportion that can rival Hollywood blockbusters, BioWare got bestselling author Drew Karpyshyn to write the script for the game. The universe of Mass Effect takes place in the year 2183. It has been several decades since humans have discovered ancient alien technology that has unlocked the vastness of the galaxy. This technology was called the Mass Effect. The device is basically a transporter that can send a ship from one end of the galaxy to the other in just seconds. Using this device, humans were able to travel to the Citadel, the galactic version of the United Nations (just with real power as opposed to the virtual power of the UN). The Citadel is controlled by the Council which in turn controls everything that occurs in the galaxy. The Council is responsible for galactic peace and to that end, have created an elite order of agents with special privileges called Specters.
In Mass Effect players take on the role of Commander Shepard and must lead a crew of mixed species and classes to stop a rogue Specter from unleashing a deadly enemy and destroying all advanced organic life in the galaxy (for reference, the game is still located in the Milky Way). When the game first starts, you will need to create a character. The game is somewhat limited in character creation choices as it will allow only human males or females to be created. Once the choice of gender has been selected, players can either choose to accept a pre-defined character or create a new avatar. The game allows full facial customization, but not height or body build. No short fatties allowed in the Alliance military. After selecting a name, the next choice is class of character. The game offers six different classes; Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel, and Vanguard. Each class will vary in its specialization in either firepower, technology or biotics (think magic) or a combination of the three.                    Once the game actually did start, I was amazed by the extensive lush universe that was presented. The main quest is filled with exotic locations that will provide plenty of eye candy.  It is unfortunate that these superb environments only extend to the main quest, as the side quests did not get the same attention to detail or uniqueness and will quickly appear repetitive and bland in contrast. The character close-ups are phenomenal. When talking to another character, it is possible to read his/hers/its every expression. The illusion is so strong that I had a tendency to forget that I was playing a game and not watching something on the sci-fi channel (I only knew this was the case as I do not have cableTV).
Conversations with non-player characters will be presented via a conversation wheel. The wheel does not dictate what your character will say, but the tone he/she will say it with. This system allows for a more dynamic and natural sounding conversation. The choice of tone will not really affect the outcome of the game, but will affect  the outcome of  each conversation and the amount of information you receive from the other character. Your choice of tone can allow you to avoid many confrontations. Each conversation will be brought to life by incredibly talented voice actors. Each sentence uttered in the game is voiced by professional actors including such stars as Seth Green, Keith David and Lance Henriksen.
			Combat in Mass Effect is very different from standard role playing game in that it's presented in real time from a 3rd person perspective similar to the look and feel that is used by popular shooter games such as Gears of War and Army of Two. This has confused a lot of people into thinking that Mass Effect was just another shooter. Trust me, this game is not a shooter. The outcome of each battle will not be determined by strafing and shooting skills. The chances to actually hit on screen enemies are more related to the type of weapon used, the upgrades applied to the weapon and the character's skill with that weapon. If a character attempts to use a gun that they are untrained for, they will miss more time than not, even if the enemy is right in front of them.
Another important part of combat is using the skills of all team members. The interface in Mass Effect does a great job of allowing weapons and skill changes a very easy task, even for all team members. When in combat, the player needs only press and hold the left bumper to bring up the menu for weapons. The circular menu will be divided into three equal parts, one section for each character. Each section will contain all the weapons available to that character (trained or untrained so pay attention). You need only move over a weapon and press the A button to select it. You can change weapons for all team members at the same time. The same is true for the skills menu, but you will be using the right bumper to make the selection. The combat system works wonderfully, once you get used to it. But be warned, it can feel a bit cumbersome at first. Take time to learn how to choose your skills and the skills of your teammates and you will soon be barreling through a room full of enemies with ease (relatively speaking of course). As the game progresses, the party will gain experience points for various activities like completing mission, killing enemies, talking to people and/or locating items. Once a pre-defined level of experience points has been obtained, the character will gain a level and be provided with skill points. These points can be used to improved skills. This is always a though choice, should the points be spent to improve the acc accuracy with a weapon or use it to improve charm skills to allow more conversation options.
The proper use of character skill points is extremely important to gain the maximum enjoyment of the game. Another nice thing is that all party character level up at the same time, even if they are not used. This is important as the enemies scale in level to the current level of the player, so if a particular  character is used only for specific missions they would not be very effective in battle if they are 15 levels behind everyone else.
It's hard to find fault with a game that is so close to perfection, but perfection it is not. There are plenty of small thing that stop Mass Effect from being a perfect game. One thing that was kind of annoying was the constant texture pop-ins. Many times while starting a conversation, I watched as each texture was applied to the character in front of me until it was fully textured. This same process happens each time you enter a new area in the game. It does not reduce the fun of the game, just a little distracting at first. Also the game battles can become a bit hectic at times causing a frame-drop. I did not find any occasion where this frame-drop was actually distracting (unlike in BlackSite). More of an issue was the side quests. As I mentioned before, the side quests are a letdown when compared to the main quest. BioWare could have made less side quests for better quality side quests. Another drawback it the steep learning curve, the tutorials do not help much. The fact remains that Mass Effect demands time and effort to fully learn and enjoy. To be honest, I had most fun with the game on my second run through, this after having already spend 45 hours to complete it the first time. That is another plus for the game, once you finish it you have the option to replay the game,  at a harder level hopefully, while maintaining your current level and items. The second around, you will have more options to solve each mission and will make new discoveries. I would recommend this game to any fan of role playing games, any sci-fi fan , to anyone that wants to experience an epic story and is not afraid to spend a lot of time discovering all this game has to offer. I would not recommend this game to fans of shooters. One more time, just to make sure everyone understands. Repeat after me… Mass Effect is not a shooter. I can tell you honestly that I am now anticipating Mass Effect 2 and 3 on a level that would be par with Fallout 3, and for those that know how much I love the Fallout series, that is the highest recommendation I could possibly give a game. -Brian William Wray ps/ if you liked Mass Effect, make sure you read Drew Karpyshyn novel based on the Mass Effect universe called Mass Effect: Revelation. This book tells the story leading up to the events in the game. Be warned thou, it is a page turner that will not allow you to set it down.

Copyright ©2008 Brian Wray

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