Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
BioWare, the creators of Mass Effect, were also the creators of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was one of the greatest games ever made. Period. Mass Effect is not one of the greatest games ever made, but it’s pretty damn good. If you haven’t heard of Mass Effect, it’s a science fiction RPG (like KOTOR) with shooter elements (not like KOTOR). You play Commander (Your Name Here) Shepard, who leads a multi-species task force to take down the bad guy, Saren. Not exactly revelatory, but it works.
The main quest is nearly perfect – aside from some dialogue-heavy parts when you’re on the Federation (or whatever it’s called) space station, it’s an expertly-crafted blend of action and exposition. Combat is pretty darn fun, too; even if, like me, you’re no good at shooters, the game can be adjusted to where you don’t have to precisely aim to hit your enemies. Combat also requires strategy, as you have to take cover and assault your foes from there, rather than just rushing into a group of enemies, firing blindly. Depending on your character class, you can also use Biotic (it’s basically the Force) and Engineering abilities to augment your combat skills.
I can easily think of a half-dozen problems with this game – the side quests don’t have much variation in them, the good/evil dialogue system isn’t very deep, the vehicle you use to get around planets is annoying to drive sometimes (especially on the minor planets you visit, which look like they were slapped together with a random terrain generator), and the lack of in-game tutorials makes menu navigation and the use of special abilities cumbersome (I didn’t figure out how to use Biotics until about halfway through the game). If you can live in the imperfect world of Mass Effect, however, you will have loads of fun.
(Also, as a quick aside, I have to mention the voice acting – one of the villains is voiced by Marina Sirtis. Yes, Counselor Deanna “I will have you ejected into space!” Troi is in this game. That alone is awesome.)
5 out of 5
BioWare, the creators of Mass Effect, were also the creators of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was one of the greatest games ever made. Period. Mass Effect is not one of the greatest games ever made, but it’s pretty damn good. If you haven’t heard of Mass Effect, it’s a science fiction RPG (like KOTOR) with shooter elements (not like KOTOR). You play Commander (Your Name Here) Shepard, who leads a multi-species task force to take down the bad guy, Saren. Not exactly revelatory, but it works.
The main quest is nearly perfect – aside from some dialogue-heavy parts when you’re on the Federation (or whatever it’s called) space station, it’s an expertly-crafted blend of action and exposition. Combat is pretty darn fun, too; even if, like me, you’re no good at shooters, the game can be adjusted to where you don’t have to precisely aim to hit your enemies. Combat also requires strategy, as you have to take cover and assault your foes from there, rather than just rushing into a group of enemies, firing blindly. Depending on your character class, you can also use Biotic (it’s basically the Force) and Engineering abilities to augment your combat skills.
I can easily think of a half-dozen problems with this game – the side quests don’t have much variation in them, the good/evil dialogue system isn’t very deep, the vehicle you use to get around planets is annoying to drive sometimes (especially on the minor planets you visit, which look like they were slapped together with a random terrain generator), and the lack of in-game tutorials makes menu navigation and the use of special abilities cumbersome (I didn’t figure out how to use Biotics until about halfway through the game). If you can live in the imperfect world of Mass Effect, however, you will have loads of fun.
(Also, as a quick aside, I have to mention the voice acting – one of the villains is voiced by Marina Sirtis. Yes, Counselor Deanna “I will have you ejected into space!” Troi is in this game. That alone is awesome.)
5 out of 5
posted by Cole at
1:30 PM
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