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Mass Effect: Day One

by 1337w422102

In my previous blog post , I voiced my dissatisfaction with the demo of Mass Effect 2 , which I assume misrepresents the full version of that game. Initial reactions But I also mentioned I would play the Mass Effect games regardless. True to my word, I started a Mass Effect 1 game, and if I wasn't typing this, I'd be playing it right now. I have the Steam version, and the store page mentions th...

In my previous blog post, I voiced my dissatisfaction with the demo of Mass Effect 2, which I assume misrepresents the full version of that game.

 Initial reactions  
But I also mentioned I would play the Mass Effect games regardless.  True to my word, I started a Mass Effect 1 game, and if I wasn't typing this, I'd be playing it right now.
     I have the Steam version, and the store page mentions that it "includes free additional content — face off against the horrific Batarians."  When I launched the game and checked the Downloadable Content menu, the "Bring Down The Sky" pack was nowhere to be found.  This page explains how to go about getting it, but be warned that there are apparently installation limits in place.  For free DLC.  (That's a little excessive, no?)  I've installed "Bring Down The Sky" but I haven't checked to see if my game recognizes that it's installed.  I'll do that later.

  Femshep in Mass Effect 2 Demo   I spent some time trying to make my character
Femshep in Mass Effect 1 look like the one I had made in the demo
of Mass Effect 2.  Not sure if I succeeded, but hey, close enough.  I still think her forehead is a little big and her neck seems freakishly long, but what do I know about female anatomy/proportions?  Character creation options in 1 are much more limited than in 2, but there is still plenty you can do to make your character look the way you want.
     Before taking the first mission, I walked around the Normandy, talking to as many characters as I could (a habit from my oldschool adventure game days) before heading down to Eden Prime to do a little ass-kicking.  In my last post, I mentioned that I find Shepard's death and resurrection an incredibly generic plot twist.  I still feel that way, but a friend told me that it's just part of the many Christ references you'll find associated to Shepard.  Which explains the name of the planet.
 Welcome to Eden Prime.       Visually, there's a lot going on.  There are plenty of effects that caught my eye: lighting, motion blur, reflections, stuff like that.  Even with the textures on medium and the resolution real low (hey, gotta get it to run on my laptop somehow), it still manages to not look like crap.  The film grain effect was promptly turned off.  It didn't add to the atmosphere and just got annoying.
     The Eden Prime mission serves as a handy tutorial.  There's also a section of the Codex with information on the PC version controls.  It plays well enough, the controls are remappable, and you can set up two sets of controls.  Very nice.  I did have some issues.  The game recognizes both of my mouse's thumb buttons as a single button, which kind of sucks.  The default squad command keys are mapped to the arrow keys, meaning you have to take your hand off your mouse each time you want to issue a command (if you decide to use the arrow keys instead of give orders from the pause screen).  I'll probably be in cover whenever I'm barking orders, so I guess it's not that big of a deal.  I wasn't sure what other keys to use for the command buttons.    I think I'll increase her boomstick skills.   The number keys are tied to the quickslots, F1 through F4 select weapons (I keep using skills when I mean to pull out a gun; I should probably just use my mouse scroll!), and other buttons near the WASD pad are already used.  Then again, using the spacebar to pause the game, you can issue your orders conveniently and easily, so I might just do that.
     Just a few more controls-related concerns before I move on.  The pause screen I just mentioned is triggered by holding down the spacebar.  I would have preferred to just be able to tap the spacebar to bring it up, then press it again to resume.  Furthermore, console-style hold-aiming and toggle-crouching is in place, and I don't think you can change them to hold-crouching and toggle-aiming, if that sort of thing is your bag.  The sniper rifle's scope's magnification level is toggled by pressing E (I'm getting Max Payne flashbacks...) and cycling through zoom levels while holding down the right mouse button.  I really would have liked to have been able to tap the RMB to bring up the scope and zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, but I can't really complain.  (I find myself looking through the scope and changing weapons with the scroll thinking I'll zoom in.  Durp!)  Oh, and the default grenade button is R, so I kept wasting 'nades trying to reload my guns after each encounter.  R was swiftly remapped.
 "It's cool.  I'll take a multivitamin.  I'll walk it off."     Like the demo of Mass Effect 2, I found the shooting to be rather mundane.  It didn't really feel exciting or thrilling and turned my sci-fi adventure on Eden Prime into another mind-numbing cover-based third person shooter.  Then again, I'm having hard time thinking of the last time I had a shooting experience that was satisfying ( Borderlands' humour and over-powered weapons, like Sledge's Shotgun or 300-damage corrosive ammo-regenerating revolvers?  I'm not sure).  Maybe I'm just crotchety.  Also, on the topic of the cover system: it is an automatic "walk up against object to snap into cover" sorta deal, like the first Kane & Lynch game.  Mass Effect 2 has an improved system in which you press a button to get into cover.   "My god, it's full of stars!"
     I was surprised to find humour in the game.  L. Jenkins being the first to die?  A groovy chick named Ash Williams?  It's subtle and not laugh-out-loud funny, so it doesn't detract from the game's serious atmosphere.  Though I do find Shepard's sarcastic I'M BAD lines to be more irritating than funny.
    I didn't get far enough for the story to get too interesting yet and since I just started, it's way too soon for the characters to develop or anything.  I'm intrigued, excited, and looking forward to finding out if the praise was justified.  I have a lot of hours ahead of me, and it's going to be a fun ride.