The beginning to this trilogy is filled with countless flaws but remains one of my all time favorite games.
First and foremost it must be mentioned that Mass Effect is one of my favourite games. The RPG elements are cumbersome and the shooting was always mediocre at best, but the journey through this space-faring adventure mystery kept me hooked. This is made possible through a well
designed dialogue tree, lots of interesting races and characters and a very well paced story that consistently pulled you through to the end. Mass Effect 2 had a central story line that took a backseat to the loyalty missions of your squad members and although it was a fantastic build up to Mass Effect 3, it was never the twisting and mysterious journey that Mass Effect was.
But it must also be said that if you've played Mass Effect 2, then Mass Effect is definitely ruined. The game's primary explosive twists that, in my experience, left me gaping in its sci-fi splendour, is basically common knowledge in Mass Effect 2, so it's now very hard to recommend Mass Effect unless you are a hardcore fan.
Although the adventures through the universe of Mass Effect remains a delight, it can't be helped feeling a chore at times thanks to the less than spectacular gameplay, when they were decent enough to get you through the story, now they suddenly make this game a whole more unacceptable. A list of these problems was accumulated by Bioware and nearly all of them resolved in Mass Effect 2, and its possible a list is somewhere on the internet, but now I will only mention what Mass Effect may have done better.
Mass Effect did RPG a little more RPG like. IF you enjoy micromanaging, deleting, selling and buying discovered items then its all here but be warned, the inventory is disgracefully laid out and the amount of redundant items can leave you tired and confused. Here the combat is a little more free-form and more intuitive to your control, but the cover system is nearly never-used, the allies and enemy A.I is atrocious, some biotic powers are OP, making this a very simple shoot them up that never causes you to think hard.
Mass Effect had the advantage of being the first Mass Effect game, and here learning about these new races and the intricate relationships between them was fun and engrossing. If you've played Mass Effect 2, that element is gone. The art style of the first game, although fantastic is nowhere as refined and developed as Mass Effect 2, despite being extremely similar due to a slightly dated graphics engine and the missing little touches of nuance that would bring this world into its own.
This game is not for everyone. If you've never played a Mass Effect game before, then this is a great place to start mainly for the story and the universe. If you've played Mass Effect 2, then Mass Effect is not recommended unless you're a hardcore fan of this universe (I know I am). If you don't like Mass Effect, then definitely try out the much improved Mass Effect 2.