Mass Effect

"Critical Mass! Sorry, I can't help myself"

I was a bit late to the KOTOR party. I didn't get around to it until after KOTOR II was released. Once I played it though, I was hooked. I became a believer in Bioware. KOTOR was so good that even with a new developer and a rushed production schedule, KOTOR II was good dispite largely just copying the original. So I was excited for Mass Effect. The more I read, the more excited I became. When that first review hit and was a unreservedly positive, I became more excited. When I got it…I was thrilled, but realized that some things were not as shiny as they appeared.

Massive Problems?

I want to start with the good, because let me make it very clear, Mass Effect is a very good game. It's done many things right and has created a compelling, even somewhat addicting presence. Perhaps the best thing that Bioware has done lies the world they have created. While it suffers a bit from the “fifteen minutes into the future” syndrome, it's largely explained and pretty minimal. Mass Effect has one of the most realistic science fiction settings I've ever seen. They've done this by creating a world that is both definitely advanced and yet still human. There's no utopia in Mass Effect, and there's no Dystopia either. It's a galaxy that has problems and people trying to solve those problems. Along the way you'll meet characters that suffer from all sorts of personal demons. People who have relationship troubles, are corrupt, are evil, and who are good. The people you'll meet run the gamut of personalities. The world is really shaped by these characters, well, them and the logbook. In the logbook you'll be able to find a novel's worth of information. A portion of it (the most important stuff, like the basic information on the “council races”) is fully voiced, but there's a wealth more that just needs to be read. Well, I should clarify, I needed to read it. You don't have to, it's all optional. I'm a gameplay first kind of guy, but the world of Mass Effect really gripped me and thouroughly enhanced my experience.

And speaking of gameplay, what can you expect from the RPG experts at Bioware!? A shooter. It's been said that Mass Effect is a 3PS/RPG hybrid, and I suppose that's true, but combat all but tosses aside the RPG elements. Gears of War this is not, but the gameplay will look very similar. Where the RPG elements come in are in the preparation and set-up to combat. Just like in most RPGs, you have equipment, and also like in most RPGs, you earn experience by defeating enemies that will level you up and allow you to learn new abilities. Leveling up is very customizable (just like KOTOR), but stats don't really seem to play any role in the game. HP goes up as you level and you're given anywhere from 1-3 ability points (less as your level gets higher). These allow you to learn various skills and improve your abilities with various weapons. The skills you know do play a big part in battle, so perhaps it doesn't throw all the RPG elements out.

What abilities are open to you depends on the character you're upgrading. Your teammates each have unique qualities for you to unlock. As for Shepherd, his/her abilities are determined at the beginning of the game in the character creation section. In this section, you're able to determine whether Shepherd will be male or female and the class he/she will be. Gender is almost irrelevant, the only thing it changes is which of the human compatriots you may hook up with in the romantic subplot. Class, on the other hand, is all consuming. All characters carry all four types of weapon, Pistol, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, and Assault Rifle. However, not all characters have training for all those weapons. For the computer players, not being trained just means that you won't be able to increase the damage for the weapon. For Shepherd, however, not having training means that he cannot zoom in with the weapon. As zooming is really the only way to know where your firing, not being able to do so makes you near worthless with that weapon. What class you are will determine what weapons your trained with. Additionally, the class will determine what special abilities you may have, like the functional Electronics skill or the cool and useful Biotic ability lift. Despite what some people have said, whatever class you pick, shooting is still going to be the primary way you kill things. Like 90% of the way. Whatever class you decide on, you're stuck with it for the play through, so choose carefully.

But only mentioning combat would do a disservice to Bioware and Mass Effect. Just like in the KOTOR games, violence is not the only answer. A good one, yes, one that you rely upon most of the time, yes, but not the only one. Shepherd is able to talk and converse with a huge amount of people. The new dialogue wheel allows you to progress as fast or as slow as you wish through the conversation, either gathering every last tidbit you can or getting what you need and moving on. Conversations are were the path you'll tread tends to be decided, either talking the person down or deciding just to blast them to kingdom come. What decisions you make can lead to different rewards as well as Paragon and Renegade points. While functionally similar to the Light Side/Dark Side aspect of KOTOR (or Open Palm/Closed Fist of Jade Empire), it's not quite as clear cut. Renegades aren't really bad guys, they're just a bit ruthless in there methods. They don't go to extraordinary lengths to save one or two lives if there's a whole to be thought of. But I digress. What you should take away here is that the conversational system in Mass Effect is the best the industry has ever seen, even if it doesn't live up to it's original claims.

Critical Mass

A good segueway into what the problems I have with Mass Effect is to talk about progression. Again, Mass Effect took the KOTOR route by giving you a few options to start with and then turning you loose. After you've done 2 of the 3 story missions, a fourth will open up. These can be done in any order you wish, though after completing them you'll move onto the final series of missions. Besides these story missions, there are dozens of sidequests to be completed. And here's where it starts to rub me. The story missions are very well done and I could play another dozen of them just fine, but the sidequests tend to be generic and repetitive, and worst of all, generally involve the Mako (more on that later). Adding to this is that there are FAR more sidequests than actual gameplay. My first playthrough I did probably about a third of the sidequests and finished the game in 15 hours. When I actually did all the sidequests (on my third playthrough) it was about 30 hours. Now, I love having a multitude of sidequests, but I like having well crafted story missions more.

But perhaps I wouldn't have minded the sidequest focus if not for the Mako. The Mako is an all-terrain vehicle that plays a prominent role in both the story missions and the side quests. This is unfortunate, because nearly everything about the Mako is horrible. Certainly, it can do a lot of damage with it's main cannon and it can take a lot more punishment, but it controls terribly and doesn't always shoot where it's supposed to. Furthermore, the terrain that you're forced to traverse in the side quests is often times huge mountains that are so steep that simply getting around becomes a chore. The story missions don't suffer as much from this, but the control and aiming issues are still present. Additionally, repairing the Mako forces you to stop everything and sit still. You can still take damage from enemies that are present, and the whole process cannot be canceled even if you've already healed to full. It's just a chore and not fun to do. Every time I saw the Mako I got sad, and I was always relieved when the end finally came.

There are additional issues, though none are really major. The fact that single stray rockets can kill you I found to be really irritating (combined with the long gaps between auto-saves), and there were a couple of times where the game just froze on me. Also, the choices you make, while they give you renegade and paragon points, have no far reaching impact. While each decision may have significant consequences, only twice do these consequences extend beyond that specific instance. Even the ending is only determined by a couple of choices made right at the end. How much of a paragon or a renegade you are doesn't matter.Also, while on normal the cover system provided me with some excellent firefights, on higher difficulties, I found myself completely ignoring the system. Enemies would simply charge me and force me into the atrocious close-quarters combat (it's horrible, seriously, the guns were meant to be shot)

The Final Law of Mass

Pros
+++ Character creation and deep conversations allow for lots of replay.
+++ Excellent conversation system gives the game deep gameplay OUTSIDE of battle
+++ Engaging World that really feels alive
++ While not Traditional RPG gameplay, has a solid battle system on normal levels

Cons

--- The Mako
--- Short even with everything, Shorter if you just play the main game
--- Sidequests are largely repetitive and shallow
-- Some technical flaws
-- All these deep conversations, but no real lasting effects

What Mass Effect gets right, it gets REALLY right. The world is amazing, the way you talk to the world is equally amazing. But rare are the cases where I think, “oh, if they only tweaked this”. It's usually just “wow, that was wrong”. Whether it was the terrible mako sections or just the fact that all the gear just scales, I think Bioware made a lot of mistakes this time around. In the end, they've still created a great gaming experience, and if you own a 360, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. It's a great shooting RPG experience. Ironically, while this was touted as an RPG, it's the RPG fans that may be dismayed. Shooter fans are sure to find a solid game that may be a bit deeper than what they're used to. RPG fans may be a bit dismayed at the way battle actually unfolds, though. In the end, I have to heartily recommend it to any gamer.

8.5/10 (GFaqs score 9/10)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/28/08

Game Release: Mass Effect (Limited Edition) (US, 11/20/07)