My goals for 2017 and 2018 were to clear out some of the oldest thorns in my gaming side, and I've already mostly succeeded in that, to the degree that the oldest thorns in my side are now much younger. After dominating my old nemesis The Legend of Dragoon, the next game I'd had hanging for a while that I really wanted to beat was Mass Effect 3, but it'd been so long since I played that I wanted to go back to the beginning first with Mass Effect.
The story of Mass Effect 3 for me is truly tragic, as I played it probably 80% through, but then had a scratch on the disc or something, and never finished it. I tried to buff it, and it didn't work, so rather than do the sensible thing and buy a new disc for XBox 360, where I started it, I bought Mass Effect Trilogy for PS3, and decided to beat all three of them again. This was actually kind of nice, as the trilogy package included some of the DLC for the first two games that I'd never experienced, but it was most unnecessary and completely self-serving.
When I first played Mass Effect, it was one of those moments in which I got absolutely sucked into a game and found myself unable to put it down, a very uncommon occurrence for me in my adult life, especially with modern games. I beat Mass Effect in a weekend the first time around, and immediately went out and bought Mass Effect 2, which I also never do. So how does Mass Effect stack up on a second playthrough, and another platform?
For those who don't know, Mass Effect puts you in control of Commander Shepard, a true avatar whose personality/gender/playstyle/appearance are as you want them to be. You have an impressive suite (for the time at least) of character backstory and physical appearance with which to play before beginning the game, although I always do it very quickly, as I'd rather get to the game. The game itself is a first person shooter with role playing elements, although the role playing is primarily carried out through your choices within the game, rather than in its gameplay. You can kill enemies for experience, level up, and customize your character's abilities to tailor them to your desired playstyle. If you prefer up close combat, you can level up abilities to increase your health and melee combat, whereas if you'd rather fight at a distance, you can increase your damage/accuracy with sniper rifles, or if you'd rather focus more on becoming more persuasive in conversation, allowing you to bully your way to your desired outcome, or charm your conversation partner into doing what you want.
As with all BioWare games, the real centerpiece of the game is the excellent writing and character development, which honestly begins to approach the standards of real legitimate literature. Previous BioWare games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur's Gate really shattered the glass ceiling that video games are dumb, and catapulted the genre forward. The nice thing about Mass Effect is that it maintains all of the strength of those two titles while also creating a much more enjoyable and accessible combat interface for those poorly versed in the slog of traditional computer RPGs, or just for those who'd enjoy a nice twist on the RPG experience. Your choices in these immaculately written conversations change your characters reputation, as choosing aggressive or sadistic options will result in being perceived as a renegade, while more peaceful and self-sacrificial choices result in having a reputation as a paragon. Some choices will only be available to your if you've achieved a certain level of paragon or renegade, which means that not only do your choices affect the outcomes of certain missions or paradoxes, but they also constrain your ability to choose different options later in the game. These choices usually feel impactful, and the ramifications of your choices will not only affect the story you're told in Mass Effect, but also carry over the major plot points in the second and third installments of the game. This is role-playing taken seriously, and this approach is seen more and more in modern RPGs. We all owe a debt of gratitude to BioWare for increasing the diversity of RPGs in the modern era, and games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt find themselves directly in the lineage of BioWare's story telling masterpieces.
In addition to the excellent writing, the voice acting also serves as a great vehicle for story telling. All of the voice actors are very good, and deliver a very cinematic and believable experience that helps you to bond to the characters in the game.
Graphically speaking, Mass Effect still looks excellent. The graphical gap between generations has never been smaller, and well made PS3/Xbox 360 games still look superb today. Mass Effect is one of these. You'll explore a wide variety of beautiful locations, character models are well developed and animated, and the combat proceeds smoothly with very little lag, which is remarkable for how many objects are on the screen at once.
The music is really excellent, drawing from the Western CRPG tradition of having more of an ambient film soundtrack approach rather than the JRPG operatic/thematic approach. Both are excellent when done right, and this one is. Mass Effect has a more electronic sound to it, and sets a consistently good mood throughout. The song that plays over the title theme always hits my nostalgia spot nicely, and is a really nice touch.
There are plenty of rough edges in the game, which is expected whenever you have a new franchise/concept being built from the ground up. The game is definitely buggy, especially in combat. Your AI partners are extremely incompetent, and will frequently hurt more than help by standing in your way when you're trying to shoot enemies. There were some hilarious bugs in which your character would disappear during conversations, and one fantastic one in which my character's eyes got crossed to an extremely uncomfortable degree.
The side missions/exploration are cool at first, but get a little dull after a while. You can land on other planets in your little car (the Mako) and explore them. You also get side missions from NPCs which require you to go to other planets and rescue people/kill bad guys/etc. A lot of people complain about the Mako, but I love it, so there. But the main downside of the side missions is that each planet is more or less the same (they look different, but they're all kind of mountainous with about 4 things to explore), and each side mission involves you going into very homogenous looking buildings, shooting bad guys, and saving the day. When I say homogenous, they all look pretty much exactly the same, and I'm really not kidding. Eventually I bored of doing them, but it's nice to have the option at least.
Altogether, Mass Effect is a really excellent game that I'd recommend to pretty much everyone. It's a nice popularizing of BioWare's innovative RPG approach for the modern casual gamer, and it crosses just enough lines to satisfy most people. My wife, who rarely plays video games, and almost never plays by herself also beat the game in a weekend, finding it very challenging to turn off. If you've never played it, it's a modern masterpiece that needs to be experienced. I'll give it a 9.6/10.
Next up is a reTROview of this game's sequel, Mass Effect 2, the generally most beloved game in the series. Tune in next time to find out what my opinion is! I probably have 4-5 hours left of gameplay, so I'd imagine I'll have a review up by the end of the week.
-TRO
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