A Technically Perfect game.............
I recently played Bioware's Dragon Age Origins and it has become my favorite RPG of all time. I had my own expectations in Mass Effect. Gotta say they were all met and even exceeded.
Mass Effect is technically perfect. As a game if you compared you just cannot choose between Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect and Star Wars Old Republic (all these bioware games). However Technically, Mass Effect (and definitely its sequel) blows these two games.
The game still has a minor glitch. Your character gets in the air when you bump any elevated object and you can't get back down. Only way is to reload a save. ME 2 should solve that.
Every level is perfectly constructed. The ships and planets are detailed in such a way you will feel this is a game based of a real story. Dialogs are also perfectly executed. The choices are well directed. The voice acting especially of Sheperd is amazingly well done. The Codex are interesting and not BORING like Dragon Age's codex.
The galaxy is the best aspect of this game - You really awestruck and feel like ogling at the solar systems especially our Solar System. You feel like reading all the details of all the planets and compare each one. For eg: the Temperature on each planet really gave you shivers sometimes thanking god that you are on earth and not on any other planet.
Graphics like i said are amazing and you never will feel there is lack of texture or anything especially if you have Fine Grain option on.
The gameplay elements are also good. Its like a Third Person Shooting RPG. You have assault rifle, shot gun, pistol and sniper. And you have your usual upgrades. This is an aspect which is similar in every Bioware game be its ME or Dragon Age. Just the presentation is different.
All these being said, this is not a Perfect 10 for me. Its technically perfect but it has its issues.
First off the game is a bit plastic. This may be due to the fact that the game is based of the future which we hardly know about. The future definitely will be different from Mass Effect depending on a lot of factors. This is an issue which i never found in Dragon Age. This may be probably because of my love for history and action adventure games like Prince Of Persia and God Of war.
Secondly, the side quests lack in variety. They all have the same following repetitive tasks:
1) Choose a Planet
2) Land on the planet
3) Search for resources to dig
4) Fight some geth or other preposterous looking creatures and kill them.
5) Get back to normandy (the best ship of the universe IMO).
Thirdly you can only have 3 Members in all. Why not 4 like Dragon Age. To think that i was disappointed with only 4 members in Dragon Age makes me sigh and smile when i play this game.
Also few things you have to blame yourself for ruining the gaming experience for you. I romanced liar t'soni a blue looking asari and it was very expensive. I lost Ashley Williams - a beautiful looking human.
They also say that if you carry over your saves it is difficult to change your love interest. If that is so, then there are two simple ways:
1) Either replay Mass Effect 1 (which can only be done by patient people or hardcore RPG fans, I somehow did for getting Ashley Williams)
2) Play Mass Effect 2 with a new save.
Overall, this is one of the best RPGs ever created. The aliens, planets, air ships and other characters and things are even better than Star Wars and Star Trek which is a huge achievement.
If you are not an hardcore RPG fan and hate Space Sci-fi games Avoid this game, you will find it plastic. But however if you are a hardcore RPG fan do give this game a try before Mass Effect 2.
Mass Effect 2 as everyone knows totally blows this game away, but Mass Effect on its own is a formidable game to start with.