Mass Effect Infiltrator Review
To quickly quell everyone’s minds, Mass Effect Infiltrator is not an RPG. There is no special level-up system, no lengthy dialogue sessions, or shiny, big spaceships to fly around like in the other Mass Effect games.
Infiltrator is simply a cover-based shooter through and through, homing in on what I particularly thought was the weak link of the original Mass Effect games, the combat. Players can play through nine, quick and linear chapters that eventually grow boring thanks to some copy and paste combat encounters.
And Mass Effect Infiltrator’s poor combat system leads to an overall poor experience for the entire game. The controls are very, very fidgety and hard to execute. The game’s unique “tap to target” system allows players to simply tap a target when they enter the range of your equipped weapon, bringing up an aiming reticle while simultaneously firing your weapon automatically.
Thus, I never really felt like I was ever apart of the combat itself. I simply ran behind cover and tapped away at the enemies trying to kill me. A few taps later and either they or I were dead. I more so thought I was watching the game rather than playing it. I didn’t feel apart of it.
Further frustrating, player’s interactions with the game itself is a deal-breaker as well. Out of combat walking feels stiff, clumsy, or better yet, just plain awkward. In combat, you can supposedly swipe around the screen to switch between pieces of cover, but often times your swipes fail to register or they send you running in the wrong direction, straight into the middle of your firefight more often than not.
At the end of every encounter, players are scored based on how stylish their kills were, home long it took for you to finish the fight and how much health you lost. The higher your score, the more credits you earn. Credits can be used to unlock and upgrade weapons, armor and biotic powers.
While all of these unlock-able items are a nice touch, all rewards are used for the same thing and that same thing only, for killing stuff. The rewards lack any sense of identity.
The story that Infiltrator follows is nothing shockingly unique either, at least not for fans of the franchise. You are a Cerberus agent who goes by the name of Randall Ezno. After discovering the heinous experiments going on inside your Cerberus base, Ezno goes rouge in an effort to stop them.
Even though the game’s deficiencies far out way the few goods the game does bring to the table, none of those “goods” stand above the superfluous visuals the game is able to muster. The game is by far a visual masterpiece that takes its place among the other graphical giants on the App Store, offering games like Infinity Blade a real run for its money.
Closing Comments
Mass Effect Infiltrator is a passable third-person shooter that was ultimately a swing and a miss for EA. The game’s poorly handled combat mechanic –the tap to target system– was the big deathblow the game needed to go under. Furthermore, the weak plot and meager voice acting didn’t help the game out either.