Mass Effect is the latest game from Bioware, and lives up to there legendary RPG standards...just...(full review inside)
Id like to put down how I Score games (this is important if you want to understand why my score is so 'low'):
1 - Utter rubbish
2 - Utter rubbish
3 - rubbish
4 - average
5 - Good
6 - Pretty good
7 - Great
8 - Greater than 7
9 - Awesome
10 - so great ill never review a game that's this good...period.
So, as you may or may not know, i love bioware. They made the Bauldurs Gate series, the Knights of the Old republic AND Neverwinter Nights...oh and Jade Empire...but we wont talk about that disappointment. Now Mass Effect is there latest game, but does it REALLY live up to the standards? We shall find out.
GRAPHICS
Graphically Mass Effect is great. The character models look realistic, they move realistically, the environments although occasionally bland and linear do look really nice and fit in well with the feel of the game. The two best parts of the graphics have to be the effects and the conversations. The 'magic' in mass effect looks really, really good. Its has a awesome reality bending look for all of the adept magic, for example if you cast Barrier parts of your character will start to phase out whilst the energy is swirling around him/her. The conversations are also fantastic. You can tell how the character is feeling by the emotions shown on there face. It is the first game i have seen that has proper moving eyes. Eyes that show exactly how a character is feeling which adds so much immersion its unreal. You can also see just how good the graphics are in conversations because its a close up, and once you have see Wrex, your jaw will drop...he is possibly the best looking alien ever constructed.
However all of this does come at a cost. A very HIGH cost. There are constant slow downs and drops in the FPS. It wouldn't be a problem if there was only a few here and there but you manage to get them everywhere, even when there's nothing there. Along with this is the texture pop ins. You can constantly see texture pop in during the cutscenes, conversations, during gameplay ect. Its really rather jarring. You have a great looking game that only look great after you see how bad it could look. Its like saying "heres how i used to look, here how i look now...i just like showing off my awesomeness by showing how crappy i looked before hand in comparison. All of this takes away the immersion that Bioware tried so hard to put in in the first place which is a real shame.
SOUND
Mass Effects sound track is very impressive. Its all a sci-fi space music type thing. It fits in really well and although its really good, it never gets in the way. Its feels like its content on staying in the background and giving you a discrete listening pleasure. The sound effects are also to a good standard. All the explosions sound good, the guns sound high tech and powerful and the disturbance in the universe caused by magic sounds awesome as well. My one problem with the effects has to be the fact that all guns of the same type sound the same. So 1 rifle will sound identical to the next. It would be nice to have some variety but how it stands, its pretty good. Finally, theres the voice acting. Which in all honesty is done superbly. Although everyone speaks English and not some awesome alien language that is translated the actors do a good job of making each race sound unique. The merchant jelly fish things (cant remember there names) speak in a mystical sort of tone and refer to themselves as This One. For example "This one want you to get something." It sounds cool and makes you wonder what they really are. The Turians all sound stuck up, the Asari sound like they are all mighty women of the universe filled with knowledge of eternity whilst the Krogan sound like your emotionally devoid bounty hunters...until you get to know them. Overall, sound is very well done.
GAMEPLAY
Now we are at the make and break part of any game. Mass Effect is a mix of 3rd Person action and RP. Bioware have tried such a thing before on a game called Jade Empire. It didn't work very well then but luckily it works pretty well now. You aim your gun at an emey and shoot like say in Gears of War then you gain exp to level up and you select what attribute you want to improve to unlock new skills, abilities etc. This is really indepth and depending on what you pick really determines how you play. If you pick intidation for example on the first level you unlock a hole new convo with certain characters and gain more exp and items to start with.
Like most RPG's you get to pick a class. The classes are VERY restricted. You cant give an adept heavy amour for example. But it gives a totally unique experience when playing through as each class. There are 3 pure classes and 3 hybrid. Hybrids are a mix of to pure's to make a entirely new playing style. You also get to redesign your characters face to how you want it. Its in depth but could have been done better by adding more options.
Combat is generally fast paced and rather challenging. Using cover is implemented well and your team mates are smart enough to do the same thing. However your team mates are very limited to what you can order them to do. You have no direct control over them and they do often just run infront of your gun and die due to cross fire. Overall however, the RPG mix mentioned earlier and the averagre team bsaed mechanic make the combat enjoyable.
Story is what mass effect is all about. I wont tell you the details, but i will say that it is good. The twist is fantastic...if you get into the story you may feel slightly upset when the choice twist occurs...i no i did. With the main story comes SIDE MISSIONS!! These are very bland, boring and take you to the same bland boring planets to kill something or find someone. Its not very interesting but if you want the achievements, be prepared to do all them...and theres hundreds...
Finally, there is character interaction. You cannot talk to comrades during a mission, but once your back on your ship you can learn about characters and there dark mysterious past as well as get them to change there personality. The more you do this the more the story gets you...i advise it because its interesting and give you some interesting missions to do.
OVERALL
Mass Effect is a good looking game hindered by flaws but gameplay does make up for it. If you enjoy a great story with average combat i would recommend. However dont buy if your looking for a solid 3rd person shooter or a pure RPG...you may leave disapointed. If you have a mythical PC i would recomend it over the xbox version...but whatever.
6.5/10