Testing The Waters: Mass Effect

To say that this is an In Depth review would not due justice to Mass Effect because I have only played it for 8 hours. That seemingly large chunk of time played is not nearly sufficient enough to make any meaningful comments about the game. For this reason, every remark I make will have an assumed "so far" after it.

Playing through the opening cut-scene didn't instill me with that sense of awe that I expected. The somewhat cliched character backstory options that are chosen in character customization were limited and somewhat uninspired. Whether your character is a colonist, Terran, or "spacer"; the game plays out in pretty much the same way (so far... you see what I mean?). Mass Effect gives the player a little taste of the story with a trip through your ship, The Normandy, before viciously throwing into a combat situation.

As stated by the guys at Penny Arcade said, the game does not give much of any tutorial apart from the small text boxes with cryptic messages and unimportant information. By the time you figure out what the hell is going on in the duck-and-cover fighting, your are thrust out of the fires of combat into a political battle on the beautiful Citadel. Without giving away story elements I can't say much. Suffice it to say, the Citadel is stunning.

Given the size of other Bioware cities (from KOTOR and Jade Empire), it can't be considered massive, however it is dense. The Citadel has lots of people doing their own thing. My favourite part of the city was that it doesn't feel as though you, as the player, are the only person there. People talk to other NPCs and walk around without you triggering any events. In fact, my favourite situation was diffusing a conflict between a Hanar (pictured, right) evangelist and a Human C-Sec (short for Citadel Security) officer.

The free-roaming elements of Mass Effect can be seen as a strong point and a weak one. Though there is a huge galaxy to explore and you can go to literally any of it, however there is a very formulaic and repetitive manner in which you explore planets. One instance of this repetition arises immediately upon being able to roam freely. The player is given 3 places of interest to investigate on top of all of the hundreds of side missions available. I decided to go for the jugular and find an ally of the big bad guy of the game. The mission told me that the ally was in the Artemis Tau cluster..... but that isn't very descriptive. The Artemis Tau cluster has 4 systems in it, and each system has a number of planets (from 1 to 10ish).

To investigate these planets I was forced to pick a system at random to investigate first. I chose a system and began my search by selecting a planet. Once selected on the galactic map, a small window opened with some information on the planet. This planet could not be landed on so I came to the conclusion that it did not hold the ally that I was searching for. After this, I chose another planet. It COULD be landed on. Could this be the planet that I was searching for? The Normandy dropped off my party in an assault vehicle named the MAKO (pictured, left) and I traversed the red sands.

Upon finding some very nondescript landmarks and a crazy sand worm, I returned to the Normandy and continued my search for the correct planet. This process continued for hours until I finally found the correct planet and found the villainous character. Through the journey I completed many side-quests and enjoyed myself, but I wish it was easier to get what you wanted without the searching.

I will post more of my findings from the vast pool that is Mass Effect at a later date so stay tuned! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel (Please don't sue me Warner Brothers!).

~Mike

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(...or paramount)

First Impressions: Mass Effect

I have played Mass Effect for a couple hours now and feel I am qualified to make some preliminary opinions. Let me first say that I had unreasonably high expectations of this game (curbed only by the fantastic gentlemen at Penny Arcade), and this game has almost met them.

The blending of genres in Mass Effect is pretty solid. The tactical shooter combat fits well with the RPG elements of leveling up and acquiring new skills (similar to my opinions of Hellgate). I am surprised in that the combat is a real challenge. From watching videos, I expected the fighting to be easy and quick. My impression of the fighting is a tactical, pulse-pounding experience.

The gameplay is broken up between missions, which include fighting and the like, and time spent in cities. The city sections can drag a bit and become boring (especially due to the outrageously long elevator rides), though learning the back story of the galaxy and races is extremely intriguing. If you don't mind a break in the mindless fighting to learn a bit of sci-fi, then you shouldn't mind these sections. However if you are simply in it for the Shooter elements (and have no interest in the rich sci-fi story), the city portions of the game could be a deal breaker.

Another problem I have with the game is the terrible texture pop-in. It doesn't really detract from the game too much, but it is a glaring error in an otherwise-polished game. In almost all cut-scenes the models looks terribly textured for a second in which new textures cover it, and then a third layer covers the others to give the fantastic look of most environments. The one second problem makes me think that the revered Bioware rushed Mass Effect to shelves.

I will write a more in depth update later once I have some more game experience. From what I have seen so far, the game promises to be an exciting RPG with some fast-paced combat and an awesome story.

Until Next Time,
~Mike

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