Ok, this is probably one of the most heavily hyped games for 2007, with a pedigree that is impeccable. From the game wizards over at Bioware, known most famously for Knights of the Old Republic (to be known as KOTR from here on in). Mass effect puts you into the boots of an Earth Alliance Marine named Commander Shepard onboard the newly commissioned light frigate, the Normandy. In this reality humanity has taken to the stars after leaps and bounds made after technology found on Mars accelerated scientific knowledge and enabled first contact with dozens of other species. All of these species share a similar bond of having reversed engineered much of their technology from the same enigmatic alien race that abruptly went extinct 50,000 years previous. From this new technology FTL has been achieved, artificial gravity realized, and as an unexpected result a new type of human has emerged; the biotic user. Biotics are at first glance telekinesis, but is in fact a form of 'mass compression' derived from a mineral known as 'Element Zero' in the user's blood stream. These new technologies and abilities have garnered the attention of the three most powerful racings in the galaxy, and has let to both acceptance and distrust of humans. Being the 'new kid on the block' humanity has an up hill fight for acceptance from the older races who make up a form of galactic United Nations, located onboard an ancient space station built by the same extinct race, yet still fully functional. However, not even the ancient leaders of the council know of the threat that is building just beyond the veil.
THE GOOD
Wow, where to begin? Well, like KOTR you can choose what kind on game play you want. If you are a marksman then you can be a soldier, if you like 'magic' then you can use biotics, or several other classes that are a mix of Tech, combat, and biotic abilities. Along those lines the player can customize their own back-story, mental profile, even gender and appearance to such exquisite detail that the mind boggles at the possibilities. The voice acting also brings the story to life as many famous actors, including: Seth Green, Marina Sirtis, Keith David, and Lance Hendrickson to name a few. Everyone comes off very natural without the 'forced' sound normally heard in many games and is perfectly synced with the character that is speaking. This is only the window dressing of the game though, as environments are vast, technology has a distinctive look, the story is solid, and the freedom of exploration is amazing.
Combat in this has been greatly improved from KOTR. No longer does your odds of hitting a target follow the D&D rules system of random probability, but instead requires your real life aiming skills. At your disposal is a selection of firearms neatly stowed on the back of you team; including Assault Rifles, pistols, shotguns, and Sniper rifles that can be quickly swapped when under fire. Combat is done in real time and squad members will take cover to avoid incoming fire. Weapons can be customized to do damage against varied types of opponents, have increased damage, firing rates, accuracy, stability, and poisoning effects. The possibilities are quite endless on how you can have your team fight, and is limited only by the skill of the player. Added to this is the ability to fight at some points in a six-wheeled ATV armed with a turreted machine gun and cannon. Basically take a moon buggy and breed it with an Abrams tank and that is the Mako ATV. Frankly, I'd love one over my car.
Each of the Alien races have unique appearances and personalities that aren't just knock-offs of the Mos Eisley Cantina. Beings such as the Asari; the beautiful all female, blue skin, semi-aquatic, millennial lived race who is known for their wisdom and biotic skill, to the armored, humped-back, multicentury lived, monitor lizard from heck Krogan known for their direct methods and foul tempers and all the races in between. Each has a naturally evolved feeling and their own unique traits that range from the humorous to the chilling and will always surprise you.
Brought back to the series is the good/evil personality traits, but changed is that your ruthless actions are not nullified by your noble deeds. You can choose to be as cruel and heartless or as honorable and noble as you wish, or a balance in between. Based on how you play, characters will react to you differently and the plot shifts accordingly as you plummet towards evil or become the savior of the galaxy.
THE BAD
Loading screens. Frankly, I really hate them and they are rather prevalent here whenever you change location or engage in an FTL jump. Running from place to place can also get rather tedious as some of the maps are huge and generally never have a direct path from point A to point B.
While not a bad thing, the complexity of the game can be daunting to those who are new at RPG type games. Since much of the game is open and lets you choose how you wish to proceed one can get just overwhelmed with the possibilities. It does, however make for some very deep game play.
Unfortunately the game doesn't quite live up to some of the promises that they were hyping for the game. Such as being able to take control of other squad members, or being able to place your team members where you'd like. Also you are unable to upgrade the Normandy or your Mako ATV. Little things, but also little disappointments.
THE UGLY
Well, first off there is a scene where the player has an implied 'relationship' with one of the before mentioned blue skin female aliens. This is only found, however, when playing through as a more ruthless like character and is available to both the male and female player genders. While language is rather tame, they do say a few things not fit for young ears. Lastly there are a few scenes when a few NPC's are impaled on mechanical spikes by a race of androids and will shortly there-after be revived as a form of Techno-zombie (thanks goodness for the shotgun).
Conclusion: MUST BUY!!!...... ahem, sorry about that. It's a great game and will easily eat up 40-60 hours on the first time through and double to triple that if one tries for all the achievements.
