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An Epic Adventure with Some Faults

by aaron_g on May 5, 2011
4 out of 5 starsScore: 80/100

Mass Effect, a unique world and story created for BioWare exclusive to the Xbox 360 and PC. 

In Mass Effect you play as the main protagonist,  Commander Shepard. When the game begins you can create you own customized character or you can choose to play with the default pre-made character. The customizing elements are well thought out and let you take full control of your characters full appearance, from sex, body look, hair style, and a whole bunch of other things. 

The story involves Commander Shepard, a plethora of character that join you on your journey, and the other characters you encounter as you travel across space through Mass Effect relays . The story begins with you aboard the Normandy. The Normandy is a Human Navy Alliance Vessel. You start the game out by having to go to a human colony where a distress signal has just been picked up by Humans that are in charge of the colony. Once Shepard embarks he end up on a path that will take him all over the universe and discovering things that the humans were not supposed to know or do. The story in Mass Effect is one of the best in awhile and is unique and makes you want to keep playing. I was blown away by some of the turns and plot developments. The story is the strongest aspect of the game. Also, with the promise of more Mass Effect games to come, it gets you excited to see where the story will ultimately end up leading.

The game does have its faults as well. And the biggest is the slow done of the game with there is a lot going on. The game is very visual, so when there is a light of fire-fight and enemies using their own abilities the game tends to slow down and start to really  chug along. This happened several times while playing the game and it can mess the player up if you are not expecting the game to do that. It is a very annoying problem, that just has to be dealt with and taken with a grain of salt. 

Another problem I encountered with the game was the auto-saving. Mass Effect just did not seem to do it enough. I found myself many times having to save every time I would enter a new area because I did not want to die and have to go all the way back to my auto-save which could have been 40 minutes ago and have to replay a ton of game. So, to avoid that I would save all the time, which is a hassle and takes a lot of time to go through all the menus and what not.

Overall, even with the few problems I had with Mass Effect the game was really enjoyable. There is so much to do from side quest, to loot, to improving relationships with your team. It was one of the funniest gaming experiences I have had in awhile and was one of the best BioWare games I have ever played. I was wowed by the games visuals, story, and fighting mechanics. I would highly recommended this game to anyone who loves Role-playing games and playing around with the decisions you make. Mass Effect is fantastic, but just misses perfection thanks to a few annoying problems. 

Note: This is a port of my review from an site when the game was released.  


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