Mass Effect truly delivers a remarkable and unique experience that everyone will enjoy.
Mass Effect takes place in the year 2183. You play as Commander Shephard, as a male or female, as you try to help stop and take down a traitor in the galaxy who is trying to unleash a destructive force that will wipe out the galaxy and human life forever. The story here is real good and isn't cliched like some of the other space based games, and is also one of the best I've seen for an RPG yet. It'll take approximately 13-15 hours to complete this journey, and since there are so many sidequests and other things to do, it'll last at least another 20 to 30 hours. When first beginning the game you're able to choose a few options about how your character lived their earlier years, and these choices will effect how some people may react to you later on in the game, and since there are mulitple combinations, it's also good to see changes to each playthrough.
The combat here is one of the major highpoints, and is usually fast paced and addicting. Also at the start you're able to choose what type of fighting based ways your character will use during the game, from weapons to biotics, which are like the powers that are in other RPGs, and tech, which is used to hack doors, containers, etc. All 3 are great to use, and you have the ability to combine 2 at a time to use it for maximum combat supremacy, and they are fun to combine. Weapons range from Pistols to Shotguns, Assault Rifles, and Sniper Rifles, each has its own different ups and downs, and you also have the ability to add an upgrade to each one for damage, cooldown rate, etc. The combat here is great, although it does copy some mechanics from other games, it still does a very worthy job.
The graphics here are also amazing, and it's very easy to make out things, and the worlds, characters, and space all looks so spectacular. The only problem I had with this is that it took a few seconds for everything to load up in the game during a cutscene or the first time on a planet, and everything would be dull and then turn into crisp graphics like they were supposed to be, and it happened quite a few times throughout the game. The sound is also real good, and the space ships and planets sound great, and so does the voice acting, which is done good here, and even includes some Hollywood actors as well, and each character sounds and looks believable.
The only 3 flaws I had in this game was that it took a few seconds to load up sometimes, the framerate was bad when there was more than 7 characters up close on the screen, and the game was a little harder to jump into at the beginning, because of a slow start.
Despite these shortcomings, this game was simply amazing. With awesome and addictive combat and gameplay, a very good story, crisp and clear graphics and sounds, some memorable characters and moments, and much, much more make this a very revolutionary game of our time, and everyone should experience it at least once. The sequel is coming out soon and it looks like it's going to be better than ever, and will hopefully outlive this to be a very worthy game to the series. Anyways, play this game. You will not be disappointed. A perfect 10 out of 10.
-horrorboy