In my opinion Mass Effect is a must buy game for anyone with an XBox 360 or at least anyone who likes or enjoys RPG's. Mass Effect is built on a foundation of a great story and apart from the main storyline and missions the game gives you plenty of hours of side missions. Your character is put into a huge world where there is a rogue agent that threatens the world and all beings are fighting for the respect of each other.
You play as a character named Commander Shepard. An interesting part of this game is the character customization. You can change his/her appearance, what there childhood was like, what there military background was like, you can a change what powers/abilities your character has, and during the game you can choose what your character says which effects what other characters say to you, think of you, and also changes some of the missions that you can recieve as well as other missions endings.
In this game there are many races of alien species which are all unique. The character models of the aliens are amazing and the voice acting in this game is tremendous (some of the best I have ever heard in a game) and it gives each civilization and character there own personality and characteristics which makes it seem like every individual being has a story.
The combat has a very interesting twist where you and your companions each have there own set of powers that can damage enemy shields, lift them high into the air, throw them back into the wall, knock them unconsious, overheat enemy weapons, and so on. This feature allows battles to be much more interesting and fun than usual gunfights and can really help you get out of an intense battle alive.
While Mass Effect has its good points it also has its bad. There are some instances where the textures of a planets surface take an extra second or two to load and sometimes your friendly A.I. will get stuck behind and object which can get annoying but those are little problems.
Overall Mass Effect looks great graphically, the character models are excellent as well as the voice acting, it has a great story, and has a new fun combat system. Its little problems aren't enough to keep me from giving this game 5 stars. Can't wait for Mass Effect 2.
