Mass Effect

Buy it here!

 

Mass Effect is a terrific game. Let me make that clear. You’ll love the voice acting (Seth Green is in it!), the animation is top notch, graphics are fantastic, the story and setting are both very interesting, and it produced the first video game soundtrack I’ve felt compelled to purchase. I could probably spend the next four hours writing about all of the great things in this game, but instead I’m going to say you should buy this game by default. However, there are some issues here that need to be addressed. When taken as a whole, these are very minor problems; however they are things that some people may be deeply annoyed by, so I want to point them out.

 

First of all, you’ll spend a lot of time loading. The devs do their best to hide loading lag behind doors and elevators, but sometimes the disc just doesn’t stream the content fast enough. On a related issue, your dvd-rom will be going full tilt the almost entire time you’re playing this game. Expect to spend five-ten seconds of every fifteen minutes gazing at Commander Sheppard’s wonderfully shaped ass blurred out by a “Loading..,” icon.

 

Even with the constant loading the game still needs a few seconds to load textures periodically. Sometimes you’ll go to the cargo bay of your ship to speak to one of your alien comrades, only to be greeted by a blank face. When the textures do pop in (usually after a second or two) you may be jarred out of the experience by the sudden improvement in presentation.

 

It is possible, and not even really difficult (if you’re trying) to crash this game. Most players won’t run into this bug under normal game play, but if you’re running into one of the “random” loading triggers and suddenly change course before the “Loading…” icon comes up the game will throw a hissy fit and freeze. When I first hit this bug I was put off of the game for a few days, however I did go back and it never happened again (unless I tried to duplicate it) so I don’t feel it’s the deal breaker I originally thought it was.

 

It is a Bioware game, so of course there are balancing issues between the various classes you can choose from. I played two “Disciplines,” which were on completely different ends of the spectrum. First I tried the “Infiltrator” class which is essentially a sniper that can open treasure chests. For much of the game this class was fine. However many of the enemies move very quickly (including the final boss) and in several sections you’re forced into close quarters. Obviously not an ideal set up for a sniper. I ended up dead several times in the first three hours of the game only to run up against a boss I simply was not able to beat. Once I achieved a level of frustration comparable to a paraplegic with an itchy nose I decided to change to the shotgun class, “Vanguards.” I didn’t die the entire game. Not even once! I imagine the other classes have varying degrees of difficulty; I haven’t had time to experiment fully.

 

Finally there are choices all over the game, but don’t be fooled. I’m positive all paths lead to the same destination. Sure, you can kill the helpless damsel or save her, but in the end you’ll rescue the galaxy from certain doom.

 

Skip it: Only if you don’t own an Xbox 360. Even then you should consider finding a way to play this.

 

Rent it: If one or some of the issues I’ve outlined sound like complete deal breakers for you, try it anyway.

 

Buy it: For 360 owners this game is a must have. There’s a lot to enjoy here, and I cannot feel bad recommending anyone to drop $60 to experience it. You’ll probably want to replay it at least once. I think this may be one of the few games I may try for all the possible achievements.