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Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 158 Location: Australia
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:34 am Post subject: Mass Effect Review
Welcome to another one of my game reviews, this time I am reviewing Mass Effect. I heard allot about this game before I brought it, many positive reviews along with nothing but praise for the many facets of game play and detail of the game. Now I bet you're wondering was this game really as good as the various game sites have been suggesting. Does it really stack up as one of the best games of the year for the 360? Well the answer is...Hell Yeah. As soon as I brought this baby I was pumped to play it, I'm not really ever pumped for a game I might be excited to start it but never as much as Mass Effect. I put it in the console right away and the game was all and more then I expected and could have hoped for.
Story
You're are the heroic Commander Shepard who is known as one of the best alliance officers going around, at the start of the game you get to either stick with the default Shepard or fill in your own background, first name and even choose whether or not you're a male or female, now I found this to be quite a great feature as usually you're restricted to the character that has been put into the game and have to have the background details of the character either unknown or being what the game wants it to be, but in ME you can choose who and how he/she has became who he/she is to this day. You start off with a basic tutorial mission to get you understanding the game and the controls, it was nicely done a much better tutorial level that I have seen in a few other games. Once you're past this the real story begins as you find out a rogue Turian Spectre named Saren (Basically officers that are above the law) has decided to go after all organic beings in the universe, starting with the humans first successful colony in Eden Prime.
You're then introduced to your crew one by one in various mini missions that will later on allow you to choose 2 out of your end total of 6 crew members to accompany you into the various missions, this is quite a good feature as you can swap then around and get different combos going and really see which combo is the best for your style of game play, whether it be focusing on biotic powers or full out attack. When you're promoted to a human Spectre the game takes a grand turn all for the better, with such an intriguing and detailed storyline to keep you playing and if you talk to enough different characters you will get even more background information and details about the storyline which not only fill you in to even more depth but fill in gaps and give you extra information about things you do not understand which is one of ME's strong points.
Design
The graphics in this game are nothing short of excellent, when you're first introduced to the Citadel the real HQ of the universe you will be astounded at the detail and the vast space that this game offers you, and this is the first real level you're able to explore to it's fullest and there is allot to explore and do if you're willing too. All the different types of alien creatures are designed to perfection with many of them looking as if they could be real beings, the detail that is into the different races is great and really gives the game that extra something. Plus with the Codex in your main menu you are able to read up on not only the details of the races you have discovered but also their back story, details of their civilizations and cultures and so much more. The detail that has gone into creating this world will leave those who dare to look for it all speechless, you can tell Bioware went all out on creating a game they believed in and it shows. Moving onto the design of the vast amount of planets you can explore and venture upon, when I say vast I mean HUGE the amount of planets you are able to visit that aren't in the main storyline itself is amazing, I made sure to go through all the planets to see what they were like and although some buildings on the planets are quite the same as other buildings on other planets in terms of layouts, the different types of climates and weather on the planet itself is spectacular.
Sound
Like many other games in this type of genre such as the Halo series the score for this game is perfect, at one point within the game a shocking event will occur that will bring the crew down to their lowest point in the game and when you're exploring your ship (As you must do to get more information and talk to your crew) a piece played within the game that although the moment was a sad event the piece itself fit the scene so perfectly that it even had me moved even if it was a game. This doesn't stop though as the different pieces of music in the game are all great and fit the different moments and scenes perfectly. The sound within game play itself is good also, the weapons sound great and really put off a great noise in battles, not only that but most character conversations, be it cut scene or in the much hyped up real time character interaction feature are great. Not only is the voice acting in nearly all parts spot on but they give life and attitude to the characters that really make you find ones you will love and ones you will hate, all depending on who you are. Although at some points during battle your crew members will try and point out things but over the noise of your enemy and gunfire it is sometimes hard to hear them let alone understand what they are saying and this may leave you at a ? in some areas as they have actually tried to tell you where to go or what to do next, but in most cases it won't matter.
Game play
Once you have you crew on board of your newly acquired ship of your own the Normandy the game picks up, the missions and planets within the main storyline themselves are great. Although before going into much more, the storyline does take time to finish but I quite surprised the game came to an end as quickly as it did, now here me out although the game ahs hours of game play there are not that many main missions about 6-7 all up, but involved in those missions are many side missions that don't effect the main storyline and allot of sub plot missions that all in all help you to finish your main mission objective, time flies when you're having fun is the saying and this game hits that for six. Another great feature of game play is ability to become a renegade commander or the normal hero or subsequent good guy, it's a typical good cop bad cop scenario and if your charisma and renegade stats have been updated to it's full capacity you will find many new conversational ways of ending feuds either by being good and talking it out or going from words to gun fights in the space of a few seconds.
Seems like a good time to talk about the real time talk feature, this feature delivered on all Bioware talked it up to be not only doe sit gives you various options to not only get information but also end situations as I have said before these options can effect different situations and during the final stretch of the game it effects your crew and in the end how the game ends. ME has your typical upgrade system you get points for killing creatures, solving side missions, finding objects and missions in the based storylines these level up your crew and allow you to add on attribute points to their health, strength and different types of areas, kind of like the feature in the Tony Hawk games where you can choose to level up one skill or a various of different skills. Also the range of weaponry in this game along with the upgrades that can be found and brought for them is great and you can really edit your crew to have the type of character you feel fits best...and get weapons that can blow the crap out of your enemies while doing it.
Two main things did bug me though, one was the loading now I really liked the way ME tries to cover loading times with trips in a slow moving elevator, decontamination when entering your ship etc. But I found it really annoying and slow as times that really cut the game in parts, the elevator rides can be at an utmost of 30-40 seconds and can get you down as you come from a huge battle. The second being the most annoying, your only vehicle the Mako a buggy type deal with allot of firepower to deal with enemies drives terribly, in the main storyline it is easy and forgivable enough. But when trying to venture other planets by climbing up mountains on some planets the Mako is almost impossible to use, finding it hard to climb hills and sometimes after minutes of actually making it up the mountain it can lose it's footing and slide all the way back done again. I would have liked either terrain easier to get around or give the Mako more grunt, but like I said this really only effect those who want to travel to the other planets and only on a few of them.
Lasting Appeal
The storyline within in this game alone will take you around about 12-18 hours depending on your skill level, it is a good amount of game play value for those gamers who just like to finish the main storyline of a game and say they have finished the game without really tapping into the full potential this game has to offer. For those who want to finish most of the game off there is about another 10 hours of game play, with all the side missions, planets and collectables on different planets it will take allot of time to complete them all. I did all the side missions i had available apart from one I received right before my final battle, not only that but I visited every planet to see just how great this game was, all in all I ended my game with a time of 33 hours. As I said I did go very in depth with the game since I like to get the most out of a game that I have paid for.
Although I have been quite positive in this review the side missions themselves can be quite repetitive, most side missions involve nearly the same type of solving talk to a certain person, travel to a planet and do what they asked, talk to them again. It's the same basic repetition over and over, although the side mission storylines are quite good and you will feel that most of the side storylines themselves could be made into games or a large mission within this one most are quite simple and quick to finish, while some take allot of effort and patience when collecting various objects and killing various enemies. As I said before the stations and caves on planets are basically the same layout each time, sometimes different enemies will lurk inside but let’s face it once you have entered one mine shaft, base or bailing each other one you enter will have the same basic layout and you will know where to go quite easily. With so many side missions for the gamer who wants to finish as much as he can and allot of accomplishments to acquire there is quite allot here for anyone, plus with the ending determining whether or not you are a good or renegade type of commander it craves for you to play again to see the other endings that are there to check out.
Conclusion
Mass Effect is undoubtedly one of the best 360 games I have played if not the best, this game has so much detail located within it about the massive galaxy around you and it's inhabitants for those who want to find it leveling the amount of detail I have seen in any game for putting in so much effort to make this feel like a real world you're playing in. Along with the creative and again detailed events in the storyline along with some cliff hanging moments and unsuspecting twists this is a game that cannot be put down.
For those unaware Mass Effect is the first in a trilogy of games, if you had any love for Halo at all or even are a fan of shooters I recommend checking this out on the 360 you will not be disappointing and when you're done you will be wishing the sequel was out now so you could paw your way through that aswell.
Story : 9.8
Presentation : 9.5
Sound : 9.2
Game play : 9.5
Lasting Appeal : 9.6
I ended up just getting Assassins Creed, but I still plan to get this someday. Everybody says it's good. I'm the kind of person who likes to get the most out of the games I play too, so I should enjoy all of the side missions it has to offer _________________ This is the end of my post.
It's one of the best looking games I've seen for the 360. I also love being able to climb just about anything. _________________ This is the end of my post.
Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 158 Location: Australia
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:55 am Post subject:
Now that you're on the climbing, the thing I like about it is the fact he climbs so naturally as if in real life. Some games allow climbing but i have never seen them climb in such a natural realistic way.
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