Publisher: Microsoft

Developer: BioWare

Release Date: 11/20/2007

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Where should I begin? Well, let’s start with the story. You play (put the first name here) Shepard, who is a US Navy Alliance officer and tries to work his or her rank up the galactic ladder. A Turian named Saren tries to unleash a supposed extinct alien race that’s older than time itself. Can you stop him in time while uncovering the past? With that out of the way, let’s start with the presentation. Mass Effect has some of the best graphics, sound, voice acting, and production values of any game I’ve ever seen next to Gears of War (courtesy of Microsoft’s bank account). The game is packed with tons of extremely detailed textures and models, remarkable never-before-seen character animations, and BioWare’s next-gen dialog engine.

Just like any BioWare game (KotOR, Jade Empire), you decide the fate of the game through your interactions with people. You can intimidate them, charm them, or just plain use force. With the dozens of alien races and characters you’ll encounter, there are limitless possibilities. The game has third-person gunplay mixed with role-playing elements. You can upgrade your character through an easy-to-use upgrade menu, where you can upgrade tons of stats and attributes. You also have powers that you can use. Along with you are two other squad members of your choosing, and you can give them simple orders. You can hack objects to obtain new weapon upgrades, different types of ammo, and even more armor. There are even a few vehicle sessions as well, and this helps mix up the gameplay.

You travel around by using the mass effect relay system, which can shoot you throughout the galaxy. You can travel to different worlds to collect different types of resources, complete side missions, and more. While all this is wonderful, the game does have some major issues. The frame rate can never keep up. It’s always skipping and chugging, and there’s a constant texture pop-up as well. There are also random load times every so often. The game is also very short for BioWare standards, ending in about 15-20 hours, and with all side missions (about a dozen), maybe 25–30. While there is no co-op or online play, the game is still fun, very cinematic, and a wonderful masterpiece.

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