Mass Effect Review

May 12th, 2009

Mass Effect is an action science fiction RPG developed by Bioware.  The title has amazing visuals and fantastic gameplay, to go along with a deep and sometimes-emotional storyline which engrosses the player into the Mass Effect universe, making it quite easy lose track of time and space.

Bioware has been long known for the amazing RPG’s they have produced over the years including my previous favorite, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Mass Effect puts you in the space boots of Commander Shepard. The game is named after the mass relays, originally designed by the technically advanced yet extinct Prothean race set in the story, who can shoot space ships clear across the galaxy, making for easy travel throughout the game. This is what made the humans able to explore more of our own Milky Way galaxy. Shepard is enrolled with the Alliance Military and is lucky enough to have a chance at being a Spectre. Spectres are known for being the elite unit of the Council and have the ability to complete the mission without having to obey the Council’s laws. The Council is a government body made up of 3 officials, all three being aliens. What is unique about Shepard is that he becomes the first Human Spectre ever, thus becoming in an instant celebrity. He becomes a Spectre because another Spectre, Saren, is secretly commanding an army of AI robots called Geth. Throughout the whole game you will be visiting different planets with completely different settings during the chase of uncovering Saren’s master plot of reincarnating the Reapers, an almost myth like AI that the Geth worship as gods. There will be planets with never-ending snowstorms, extremely volcanic activity, lush vegetation, and even barren wastelands and deserts all with their unique environment and enemies. 

As the game begins, you will be prompted to choose a class for your custom Shepard. You have the choices of Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Vanguard, and Sentinel classes. The first three are the main classes while the last three are simply different hybrid mixes of the first three. Soldier class involves using a wide variety of firearms and heavy armor. Engineers main weapon is an omnitool, which can do such things as hack enemy AI’s and overload enemy shields.  Adepts main weapon is an implant in their mind, which can manipulate mass effect fields do deal damage such as lifting masses of enemies off the floor and hurling them at high speed. Along your journey you will have earned the loyalty of many other characters, both alien and human, that will be willing to serve on your space ship as your crew. While leveling up your character, you will eventually gain skills and abilities for your character’s class. At any time in the heat of battle you can pause the firefight and bring up the ability menu by pressing RB, and then assign each character a certain ability.

Another key element in this game is multiple play troughs, due partly to the achievements.   Achievements in this game are very unique because not only do they give a gamer score, they also can unlock gamer pictures.  But more importantly every achievement unlocked does something to enhance the game somehow. While earning ally achievements, certain skills recharge time will decrease, and certain skills will be made available to any new Shepard you create for new play troughs. For example, if you complete the majority of the game with Ashley, the Soldier character, and unlock her achievement, your damage reduction will be improved by 10%. Similarly, if you get to register 150 kills with the Sniper Rifle, that Sniper Rifle tree can be chosen for any new characters created.  However, only one skill can be chosen with every Shepard created. This game definitely benefits the gamer that puts a lot of time into this game.

This is an overall fantastic game and one of my personal favorites. People who don’t know or haven’t heard of this game cannot afford to pass this one up. This will surely appeal to RPG gamers, Action gamers, and overall gamers alike because this game offers an epic story paired with fantastic visuals, music and game play to offer the complete package.

Review by Arshak Torossian

Submitted by: VoreekMAN