So I played all of the Mass Effect games on my Xbox 360 but am really wanting to go back and play them again. Should I play through them again on PC, (I own them all because of some sale) or should I just bring back my loud Xbox 360 and do it there. I'm just curious if the PC version is better or different in any way.

They're fine, if you have a decent PC they'll look a bit better than the Xbox 360 version, but there is no controller support for any of them.

This.

They are pretty well optimized and run well on my laptop which is a rarity.

They are actually far better on PC than on console once you get used to the keyboard and mouse controls. It is pretty funny but yes, Mass Effect a game literally made for a controller, does not support controllers on PC. That said the graphics are visibly better, cleaner framerate, better menu's, very stable to play (unless your PC is ancient), basically the whole enchilada it is just the best version of those games.

I've only played Mass Effect 2 on PC but it controlled quite well/ran well on a 2007 comp. I do own Mass Effect because Origin gave it away at some point but still haven't had any particular urge to play it.

I think it's better on the PC. You can use the numbers as shortcuts for your powers.

No standing around for the bullshit scanner on your ship in 3.

@alistercat: Mind blown. Game of the Year.

Is there any pack of the trilogy yet published on PC that actually has all the DLC included?

No controller support!? Are they mental?

Great.

Mass Effect 1 on the 360 is possibly the worst game I have ever played in terms of framerate, that game had even worse FPS problems than Unity, especially during the hivemind sections.

The PC versions are nicer because of better visuals, framerates (though I thought 2 & 3 on console were fine) and you have more hotkeys so less reliance on the action wheel.

Better.

The first game is best port because it was farmed out to another studio. The later games, which Bioware ported internally, have some dumb shit like multiple functions being tied to one keybinding, no shortcut keys to get to specific menus (in ME1 you can hit J for journal, m for map, etc), and some unintuitive menu navigation (for kb/m).

All three games run great though.

If you have Xpadder there are some good profiles you can download for Mass Effect. I'm hoping for remastered collection sometime soon as I'd rather play them on my TV but the PC versions run and look great.

So I hooked up my 360 and the fan is supper freaking loud, and that alone is making me not wanna play it that way. Thanks for the info guys. Downloading them now on PC and looking for some controller mods for it.

I think it's straight up insane that Mass Effect 3 doesn't have gamepad support. I had to Xpadder that shit, which made navigating the menus and all the evading reaper stuff a giant pain.

Jesus EA, make that shit mandatory for your PC ports, Battlefield is almost as bad. Even indie games have native gamepad support these days goddamnit...

@zojirushi: That was Bioware's concious decision, same with the first two Dragon Age games. They said they couldn't afford the time or the effort for ME3's controller support, for example. Link

I'd always figured that it was because the company felt the PC rpgs should be played in the 'purist' way but I guess not if the older games have the same reason as ME3's port.

DA Inquisition has controller support though (and so has the old Jade Empire), so there's hope for future Mass Effect universe titles.

I highly recommend the PC versions, even if you don't use any mods.

Once you get used to the controls, the games are much better. The biggest improvement is the reduced load times and the 60fps. I recommend cranking up AA settings outside of the game though.

They're the best versions of the game.

My mom and sister played them a shitload.

It is better on PC thanks to higher resolution, better framerate and mouse control. Especially ME1 that ran very poorly on 360 is more pleasant on PC. ME2 is not that much difference since it ran fine on 360 too. ME3 I have not played on PC.

If I didn't already own all of the DLC on 360 I would replay the trilogy on PC but I am not buying the DLC on PC as well. I only have ME1 because I found it for €3 and ME2 because they gave away it for free after people complained about DA2. There is no way to get the games with all DLC included. The ME Trilogy packs you can buy don't include DLC. Only way we'll ever see DLC packed in is on the PS4/XONE remake is it happens. ME1 comes with the first DLC included but that is it ME2 and 3 doesn't come with any DLC.

They look and play a lot better, twice the resolution double the frame rate

Better, shooting with a controller is for heathens.

Phenomenal. Mouse and Keyboard is BADASS for this type of game. Get it, play it, and don't look back! I recommend you bind your and your team-members' powers to the number keys and try to learn to use them without doing that pause-thing during combat.

ME1 is a bit sluggish compared to the other ones but it's still good.

I had major issues with Mass Effect 1's framerate even before PC gaming. I could not play that game on a console again.

Some of the mini games are different in the first game between PC and Console so that's kind of cool.

If you are a mouse person at all aiming is WAY better, I actually found myself plowing through sections on insanity on the PC version that took me forever on the 360 version because I could actually shoot assholes.

There is no all DLC pack though and you still have to buy the DLC using stupid Bioware points, which basically means spending however much money to buy BioWare points and then use the points to get the DLC, super dumb that it was never updated and if you don't want all of the DLC then sometimes you have to accept the loss of a few dollars or so. Costs around 40-50 dollars to get all of the DLC for ME2 and then the same again for ME3 by my count (Canadian) So basically an extra 100 bucks for all of the dlc.

Edit: Also personally I found the controls of the Mako in the pc version a little weird, I mastered that thing on the 360 but was just alright with it in the PC version, and that's coming from a hard core Mako defender.

Better than the console versions.

I played through 1,3 and a good chunk of 2 again this year. All of them run great. ME1 still has weird mechanics, I would advice to mainline it.

I'll never forget how shocked I was when I booted the game up and realized it doesn't support a controller.

ME1 maybe you could excuse for that shit because way back then controller support wasn't a given.

But the other two?

Among the greatest sins in modern game ports.

They are the best versions of the games by far. Just beware that none of them have controller support if you're into that kind of thing.

I didn't buy them because of the lack of controller support and the DLC is expensive and a pain in the ass to get. I'd love to play them on PC, however!

Here's hoping for a remastered edition on the current gen consoles with all of the DLC included.