Mass Effect Review

Look at Garrus, acting all serious with his crossed arms

I’ve had a little bit of a axe to grind with BioWare, ever since I finished the original Knights of the Old Republic. BioWare make great games. Truly fantastic, well made games. It’s just that, well … when the time comes to finish their games, for some reason they seem all too eager to wrap things up as quick as possible. For technical reasons (that are apparent to anyone who knows what I’m talking about) I call this “Fable-failure”.

Remember that great game Fable? You know the one, it was where you chose your own moral path through the game, invested a great deal of time on side-quests, real estate, started a family and then when the game ended it was a 15 second, no-shades-of-grey, either-good-or-evil recap over a single painting ending?

Well BioWare were never that bad, it’s true, but they suffered the same kind of problems when it came to ending their in-depth epic games.  Both Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic never seemed to pay off quite the scope that was available to them, which made the games seem unfinished somehow. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing both titles, but the completion was always the down point of the game.

So this may have been the reason that I didn’t pay much attention when Mass Effect was originally released back in 2007. Other available reasons are:

• I was broke
• I was drunk
• It was Jackie Chan week on SBS

In truth, it could of been any of these things, because I really don’t know how I came to miss a gem like Mass Effect. But after a year or so hearing about how great a title it was, and hearing that it was one of the first titles to be announced for the upcoming Games On Demand for Xbox Live, I decided to catch myself up on a little gaming history.

And I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Generic Shepard strikes up a conversation

Mass Effect is an epic science-fiction RPG with first person shooter elements. Like many of BioWare’s previous entries into the genre, players can choose the gender, appearance and class of their character. You can also pick from a selection of psychological profiles and player histories too, which will effect your playthrough of the game ever so slightly. I played the game through as a male character, so don’t be offended if I start saying “he” and “his” through this review.

The plot plays out like the very best of space opera. Male or female, players take the role of Commander Shepard. At the beginning of the game, Shepard is just about to begin a mission to retrieve an ancient piece of alien technology called “The Marker”. The mission is also under observation to judge Shepard’s suitability to join the Spectres, an autonomous security branch, outside the law, who answer only to the galactic Council. The mission goes awry as the colony is attacked by a race of cybernetic beings called the Geth, who haven’t been seen in galactic space for hundreds of years. The Geth are being led by Saren, another Spectre, who kills your  Council observer (a fellow Spectre) and attempts to blow up the colony. Shepard manages to recover the Marker, which transmits an alien vision into his head and then explodes.

Saren and his Geth troops

From this point on, it’s up to Shepard to chase down Saren, find out the motives behind his attack and save the universe from total annihilation.

So you know, the usual.

The plot is reactive to the player’s choices as they progress, and Shepard has quite an influence over the people in his squad too. Come the end of the game, there are a great many things that can change from each playthough (all of which we’re to understand will be recorded and referenced in the game’s sequel). For the most part, however, after Shepard becomes a Spectre, he begins to shape personally how the rest of the universe are going to view humanity as a whole, and this is where your morality choices come into play.

Mass Effect‘s morality system is quite similar to that of KoTOR, only this time rather than moving yourself to the light or dark side of the force, you accrue “Paragon” and “Renegade” points. These choices are typically made through conversations (although a few points rely on physical actions you take), and the conversation selector wheel handily organises your responses into a neat “nice, neutral, negative” order. What I did rather admire in this title is that these choices are not always as black and white as you may expect. If you like playing as lawful good, don’t expect things to always go for the best. There are plenty of people willing to abuse or extort your easy-going, eager to help attitude. For example, (in my playthrough) Shepard is approached by a member of a street gang that he had long ago been a part of. They attempt to blackmail him into aiding their interests, and if you refuse they demand a substantial amount of credits to stay silent. What’s even better is that, if at this point you refuse to pay, you can kill the gang’s representative and for doing so actually gain respect from other characters.

A star system. One of many.

Another thing I quite liked was that these morality points accrued along side one another. So if you go out and murder a whole base full of innocent hostages, helping fifty old ladies across the street isn’t going to simply erase your hostage-killing past. The game enourages a mix of both positive and negative decisions, no matter the overall morality you want to play, which is something I found quite refreshing.

If you’ve played either KotOR or Jade Empire, the gameplay will be quite familiar for you. Shepard manages to amass a varied crew (both alien and humanoid) quite quickly, and can choose to have two companions with him at all time. Different companions have different strengths, and so quite often you’ll have to tailor your companions to the kind of mission you’re attempting. Choosing certain companions can also effect the way a mission plays out, if a support character has a personal stake in what’s going on.

Combat is played out, primarily, as an over-the-shoulder shooter, although players can pause the combat to select different combat and support abilities at any point during a battle. To create a more strategic style of play, there is a rudimentary cover system, squad tactics selection and also a recharge time on your team’s medi-packs (which stops players from simply swamping over a fire-fight Diablo style).

Exploring new, exciting, CRAGGY worlds!

There is also a big emphasis on exploration in Mass Effect, something I haven’t quite seen the likes of since playing Star Control 2. For those with the inclination (and boy do I have the inclination), there are dozens of different star systems to investigate, scan, explore and interact with. Side quests pop up with alarming regularity the moment you enter a new system, so there’s always something to work towards in your travels too. When you find an inhabitable planet, you can drop a team down to explore the planet’s surface, survey minerals, investigate beacons and recover technology. This was the point where I realised that BioWare had really taken the time to polish this game well (and also the time at which I started making Star Control 2 comparisons).

Now while I realise that I’m blathering on about how much I love this game, I will mention a few itty-bitty things that do detract from the gameplay.  For one, there’s a lot of loading time in the game, which typically takes the form of an elevator ride.  In the future, with all it’s alien technology, people obviously long for the simpler times.  With that in mind, they’ve constructed over nine thousand elevators to help you move through every building, and (so you don’t upset your delicate future super-soldier constitution) they move slow as hell.  Now load times are a necessary evil, I recognise that, and the game typically uses these elevator scenes to pry some tiny amount of back story out of your companions, or hear a news report about events going on in the galaxy.  But as much as they attempt to hide it, however, you’ll notice it, especially when you’re just trying to go down one deck in your ship to talk to your munitions dealer.

In a similar vein, presumably to cut down on loading times, the is a lot of retexturing that goes on.  Again, a necessary evil, but when characters have to load several times during a cut scene, and they’re only three second grabs?  You’ll find you’re talking to a rather smooth version of Joker, your pilot, through a lot of the game (and I mean that in a skin way, not in a pick-up artist way).

The Verdict:

Pros: Fantastic, MEANINGFUL plotline, great classic space opera.  Well constructed traditional RPG elements with enough action FPS elements to appease non-RPGers.  Morality system accrues nicely, and effects the gameplay just the right amount.  Plenty to explore for those inclined, the majority of side-quests are skippable for those who aren’t.

Cons: Load times are a bit of a bitch, as is making your ways to some locations in the Mako rover.  Auto-save doesn’t kick in quite as often as you might expect, so don’t rely on it to keep your progress for you.  Despite it’s huge amount of content, you’ll want more in the end (please note, this isn’t even really a con, I’m just struggling to find points to fill out this section.

Overall: It’s been a long standing belief of mine that you can’t give anything a perfect score, because that means that nothing will ever be better.  With that in mind, I can’t help but give this game a 4.99 out of 5.  Seriously folks, I think it’s just that great.  Looking forward to the sequel eagerly, and I just hope they can live up to the original!

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:  While I wholeheartedly endorse playing this game, people who have just picked up their Games On Demand service for Xbox Live should definitely SHOP AROUND for this title, especially those of you in Australia.  It only took me 20 minutes online to grab a copy of Mass Effect off eBay, and at a fifth of the cost of what Games On Demand prices it in the AU.  Plus, hard-copies are sexy, and the blue chicks dig them!