Customer Reviews

Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Good

* story. engaging from start to finish with thoroughly convincing characters. absolutely superb.
* real tangible ramifications with decisions made mean multiple endings and outcomes. a breath of fresh air.
* impressive scope and freedom.
* good balance between combat and story.
* excellent replay value and longevity. First run through took me 24hrs.

Bad
* occasional glitches. my character got stuck in the environment several times meaning i had to reload and it also froze once.
* loads and redraw are a constant reminder that this is just a game.
* you cant go back and explore the universe/ complete side quests post completion a'la GTA so you better see all there is to see pre Ilos mission. shame.

I noticed with Mass Effect that while it was a Bioware party based RPG (and we've seen that all before by now) it does things in a different way - from the graphics to the controls.

Firstly, the menu options for conversation replies is different, with you having to move the menu selector in a radial fashion around the replies set about it. This feels a little strange when you find you have to do it in the pause menu as well. You'll often find yourself being able to fall into loops, trapped in the same conversation you just had, which seems to crop up a lot more than the other RPGs by this developer.

Another unusual feature was the "film grain" effect that comes on by default. I found it a little concerning at first, thinking it was the first signs of my Xbox overheating until I looked in the menu and found it as an option. If you switch this effect off, it looks smooth and gleaming like any other Bioware RPG. Oddly I found myself missing this new visual presentation and I switched it back on. It serves especially well on planet surfaces with ravaging conditions battering against you, giving the gameplay a grim otherworldly aesthetic.

Already the game was feeling alien to me and not just because I had aliens around me, but this was refreshing.

The story has a serious sci-fi feeling about it, in the presentation, mood and tone of characters and elements. While not stellar class, the acting is of a reasonable standard with some well known names in the character cast. Seth Green anyone?

The rest of the actual storyline is quite enthralling, with you finding yourself getting sucked in as the plot progresses. I won't say much about that, because as always, my reviews are spoiler free. I will simply state that you and a ship full of crew end up in pursuit of somebody as a mission to stop them bringing about a war upon the galaxy, channelling an old threat that had lain dormant for so long.

There are a number of planets to land on, to press the storyline on. Most of the other land option planets in the galaxy are just there for you to earn some experience out of with no great feeling of plot driven existence and unfortunately some noticeable degree of repetitiveness. You'll drive around, see a pod you aren't skilled high enough to open and leave it behind, drive and find another, find a building with pirates inside. You'll kill the pirates and there will be some sort of item which proves a person inside is dead. You'll then be tasked to take that item back to the person they know at the Citadel. Unfortunately, that pretty much sums up the majority of away missions, aside from the occasional "thresher maw" attack or Geth ambush. It is wonderful however that items you do manage to unlock and conversations in which you discover new information grant you experience too.

I chose to play as a soldier. I typically don't like to do this with Bioware's RPG games as I find the experience a little two dimensional in combats, preferring a mage in for example DAO - however, the combat system here is more a cross between that old way and a straight up honest to goodness third person shooter.

Although the combat never truly gives you the feel of playing a dedicated shooter, for me Soldier was an obvious choice based on the aim to shoot game system. The Biotic I suppose is most like the aforementioned "mage" class, but it appeared more limited than a magic user of any other RPG and the techie types did nothing to persuade me either.

I mentioned above that you never truly get the feel of this being a shooter. That can be felt in certain aiming situations where you're sure you have a target but you're scoring no hits. This is especially pronounced in the Mako - the vehicle you drive around the various planets in the game- which has two very nice gunfire options, but neither seem to work well at enemies in the great distance (in certain situations). Sometimes you can fire your own missiles at the estimated enemy position and score a hit on them, but other times you get the feeling that neither gun will do anything unless you get very close to multiple incoming fire points at once...This is made all the more frustrating when the enemy can fire at you from as far away as they like. If you find yourself just starting to drive down a hill or a ramp out of a tunnel, beware. There's every chance that 0% of your shots will hit, with your vehicle's powerful secondary fire going way off course up into the sky for some reason, even though you've physically aligned the vehicle and you can see the turret isn't pointing up like that. The game is pretty much telling you, "sorry, you need to get in the enemy's faces and put yourself on the line a whole lot more". This may be intentional, I don't know, but I do keep experiencing it. Luckily, this won't happen too much of the time.

I must admit, I did like the way that your personal skill choices from level ups improve your combat effectiveness in tangible ways. Things like the sniper rifle not moving around so much when zoomed if you invest more points into your sniper rifles skill. This true upgrade element reminds me of Deus Ex. That can only be a good thing. As the skills go further into this combat effectiveness, it does then become more and more like a proper shooter, even if it never quite crosses the finish line.

The graphics are nice enough although they do regularly suffer from texture loading issues, the like of which I haven't seen in such severity since `Halo 2' on the original Xbox. It will very often take the character textures a few moments longer during a cut scene to even load up. This is even seen in real time play, when you reload in after a death or a quick cut to you situation.

This is only scratching the surface however for performance issues, with Mass Effect struggling to keep the frame rate going. And by "going" I mean 0 FPS. I figured out what the "mass effect" actually is: It's lag.

The game is riddled with lags that will perhaps only annoy experienced gamers who've come to expect better from Bioware's titles. I experienced at least one crash using one of the quick transport systems in the game (it froze on the loading screen) and other incidents that felt like they were about to be crashes but were proven to not be - lucky I waited, eh? Other than that, there's the constant section loading which the game takes longer than is standard in other RPG's, sometimes leaving you rooted to the spot, mid stride. These begin to add up and get a little annoying, which is not the sort of feeling you want growing in you when you're trying to enjoy a game.

We'll even see evidence of these lags in little places like start menu operations, when choosing a save file to overwrite or such - nothing performs instantly to the touch. Essentially, the input feedback is less than it could be.

I believe the real culprit for this performance speed issue is the way the console handles the software. The longer you play, the more memory is stored up without dumping. Although the developer knew they were running this on a 360, so this should be known to them. You would also think that installing would allow the HDD to share that build up. It's not like I have an anywhere near a full hard drive, so it could be a bit more resourceful, surely.

I did install the game to my hard drive to see if this would help matters at all but it didn't. There were no noticeable improvements in any way, except for saving my disc from having to spin all the time in the drive...The game had the opportunity to under perform, reading from my hardware instead.

This being a Bioware RPG, you'd be right in guessing that there's a great opportunity for responses when in conversations. This brings me on to yet another fault I found in Mass Effect. The responses you see on screen so very often don't fit the theme of what the character actually says (because yes, your character speaks out loud). This can be so far off base that you will sometimes find yourself thinking "no don't say that" when you're the one who chose it! Dialogue response choices often seem pointless anyway, as if any of your replies would have said the same thing, or very close to at least.

Again, the usual Bioware charm for part RPG part conversation sim is somehow diminished here.

I've had characters becoming stuck on scenery, although they do seem to teleport to you eventually. However, I do have to point out the one time when a character became stuck on nothing at all (open ground) and simply couldn't move on.

Another issue I've found with the friendly A.I. is it not listening to commands you give it. You may tell your characters to hold position at a doorway for cover. Then before you know it, one of them might be knelt out in the open getting their shields stripped down to nothing. There's other times when a hold command is broken, with the on screen "hold" indicators no longer present, even though I haven't moved far away from them.

On the subject of combat, there's also the annoying sound clips that play over and over. With cries of "Hold the line" and "Enemy is everywhere" chirping up at every five second intervals, your suspension of belief required to enjoy the game wears rather thin indeed...

If you just stand there and wait behind cover, you can let them carry on saying those two phrases over and over again.

If you attempt to have a long range fight with sniper rifles or the mako and you shoot someone dead, you team mates will say something along the lines of "That's the last of them", even though the camp below is full of enemies still aware of my presence and taking shots at us. This gets annoying when you snipe a camp full of foes only to hear that phrase after every kill...I've even made the mistake of listening to their "advice" and heading on into a camp still filled with enemies...not pleasant.

Games by this developer are renowned for their ongoing character relationships with your character, be it friendly, unfriendly or romantic. This is retained here, but it's a shame that progress with your team mates feels harder to achieve. That's because you only get a new conversation option open up after completing another main section of the storyline or some other hard to fathom criteria. Unlike some of Bioware's other RPGs where you could carry on talking to a person and get a bit further still, up to a point of course.

Another unusual element is that characters won't engage you in proper conversation while anywhere but on the Normandy, your ship. Instead giving you up to three sound clip responses when you click on them when anywhere else, even in the Citadel.

You then feel even more discouraged to speak to your crew because while one or two of them might have easy access to you while on the ship, most of them are tucked away in the ship's garage and nearby to it. While this sounds like a good thing, the painful lift journey you have to keep taking is enough in itself to make me second guess doing it. It seems short to do once, but any amount of standing around rooted to the spot while a slow lifts takes you to merely chat to some characters is hard. That and the realisation that you have to take the lift to get back as well...

Lifts in general in the game are dreadfully slow in fact, wasting far too much of your time stuck to the spot, waiting for it to end.

Though there is quite a few negative points to state about Mass Effect, the game is still really rather good. It's a testament to the developer's sheer brilliance that we've come to have expectations. The positives to state about the game still win out. The storyline and decisions you control are interesting. The universe and its races are varied and accomplished. For fans of this RPG type, I still highly recommend Mass Effect.

Pros: Strong story that keeps you interested. Combat improves later on. You can sleep with an alien. A satisfactory Sci-Fi fix if you need one.

Cons: Lag which is truly on another world. Sometimes your mako's aim says yes and your shot says no. Graphics issues. Character party conversation feels forcefully stunted.

Total Score: 8.0

Mass Effect is a terrific game. It balances RPG and action/shooter elements with a gripping and intelligent story, strong characterisation and a beautifully conceived universe. Whether undertaking the main story missions or the many side quests, Mass Effect provides hours of gameplay. I've just completed it (having done all of the side missions) in 33 hours. And the replay value is good too - new modes unlock first time through and, because of the paragon/renegade paradigm of developing your character, a whole new way through the story is possible.

The only negative is the capacity for the game to freeze, requiring a reboot. This happened maybe a half dozen times, but as long as you save frequently, it isn't too much of an issue. Other than that, the control system is good and intuitive, the dialogue engine is remarkably sophisticated and the whole experience is deeply satisfying. I'm already looking forward to Mass Effect 2.

Pros:

Mass effect is a great game worthy of my cash. I've summarized the pros and cons for this review based on my experience of playing the game through once and having started re-playing it soon after. I hope you find this review useful.

Summary:
Mass effect- a single player sci-fi role play game mixing `Monkey Island' style multiple dialogue and real time third person shooter combat.

Pros:
*Best voice acting I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, with each voice being well suited to each character / personality in the game.
*Multiple choice dialogue allows you to influence characters in the game and add reply value- I played through the game as a goodie the first time round and am replaying as a renegade using the alternative dialogue options. Having different team members in your party also adds variety to spoken dialogue.
* Background story and details are fantastic- you're supplied with all the answers to why the future, is the way it is and why the galaxy's inhabitants and technology are the way they are, which really add a lot of depth and authenticity to the story.
* The main plot to the game is great and flows really well as good as any sci-fi movie out there.
* Plenty of side quests to keep completionists like myself happy and gave me a good 50 hours of game play to acquire every item and reach level 50 experience on my first play.
*Graphics are fantastic for both environments and characters.
* No major flaws with the combat system, once you get use to it.
* Good balance between combat and story.
* Customize lead character appearance, abilities and back story. I made a `me' look-a-like, which was quite amusing.

Cons (most of which are minor):
* Textures on characters and objects can take a few seconds to load when viewing scenes, which is unfortunate.
* Would be great if there was a `sprint' button to get around quicker, since there's a fair bit of running in the game, although preloading times for each area would then probably suffer.
* Standing in elevators can be a tad tedious, although it's a minor quibble.
* Enemies that dish out one hit kills are a little frustrating, since it means re-starting from the last save point.
* Driving around in the buggy on uncharted planets can be slow and tedious- if you're after every collectable in the game, you'll be driving a lot.
* I experienced 3 glitches in the game which forced me to restart- i.e. game freezing and getting stuck between objects.
* The xbox crashed a further 3 times during the game- not sure if this is something to do with Mass effect, or simply the Xbox which has a tendency to crash other games too.

After the game was over, I experienced the "RPG anticlimax" feeling- wishing there was more and wondering what I'm going to do with my life from now on! Lol!

Now I've started my second play-through, which I expect will be a lot quicker than the first. Gaining all the Xbox Achievements in the game are not impossible, but I expect it may take me a good 80 hours+ of play time.

4.5 outta 5

This is one of the crowning jewels of the 360 and is to set the new standards in RPGs.

We live in the an age where video games have to be cinematically immersive nowadays and this game does it very well.
This game has a very exciting sci-fi cast that makes it easily earn the title of the Star Wars of the video games universe.
The cinematics looks great especially considering it's mostly game graphics.
The cast of characters seem very human too ( alot of these aliens will make you smile too, wrex is a riot and tali is adoreable ), despite their alien looks and this has got have the best voice acting and script in a video game so far. Half the fun is getting to know the characters and in their past.
They've certainly created a rich world of intergalatic politics, cultures and technology in this game, that one could easily appreciate and get lost in. Sometimes it feels more than a game.
You will enjoy working your way through the conversation trees of this game , it's easily one of the best things about the game and my personal favourite bit. Even some nice subtle humour thrown in to boot !

This might as well be a summer sci-fi blockbuster movie to tell the truth , except you can play it.
Another bonus is creating your own character at the start too , who will play the role of hero/heroine in this epic adventure.

Gameplaywise there's lots of equipping, menus and customisation as you expect from an rpg ... but what you wouldn't expect is that this game is half shooter !
This easily makes the RPG genre more accessible to the more action orientated gamers, which is what excites me that this is the new era of rpgs.

The shooter based combat system is fun once you get used to it, plus there's spells too.
But don't expect it will be as polished as your favourite grade A shooter titles on 360.

I have greatly enjoyed this game but wish it did last longer ..... kind of short for an rpg if you only do the main story missions .... a double / triple disc feature would have been nice .... but anyway this game is gonna be a trilogy so i will look forward to the next in the series.

There is still alot of replay value for the game , even after one playthrough , because you're not likely to see all the galaxy has to offer in one playthrough unless you take your time.
Plus that nature of the game allows you to make decisions that effect the plot / how you react to situation / people , so it might be interesting to play through again to see how things play out a second time.

There are a few things that let this game down such as a sometimes choppy framerate / jumpy camera and not being able to land on every planet you see is a bit of downer too. Although you'd probably need more than one disc for that.

The worst thing is this game is glitch central. This game is full of glitches that can halt your progress or are just plain weird and some freeze ups too.

Other than that it's a wonderful gaming experience any serious gamer should give a chance , especially sci fi fans and any gamers who like to meet some interesting characters for a change, instead of shoting them in the head as usual.

Well diamonds all have their rough edges , no ? But this still a great diamond none the less. A definite 360 favourite for me !

Ladies and gentlemen, I must admit, I am very disturbed. To know why anyone could give Mass Effect a negative review is beyond me. A game as good as Mass Effect deserves better than to have people babbling on, claiming that it's boring, that there's too many technical issues, and so on and so forth. Mass Effect is far from boring, in fact it's far from exciting, it's even beyond that. It would be impossible for me to explain how hooked I was playing this game, and how memorable some of the experiences I had on it were. It's more than JUST a game. It's no surprise really that people are now instead of calling it a game are calling it interactive storytelling. It's unforgettable plot line, mesmerizing characters and beautiful graphics are only a small fraction of what the game has to offer.

If you disagree with me with what I said then, I suggest you stop reading, because I'll only carry on with how good a game Mass Effect truly is. The conversation system for instance, feels so much more advanced than previous Bioware games, that it puts disgrace on all other RPG's on the market (Yup, that also includes Oblivion, which had a rubbish dialog system anyway). I think the reason for why the dialog system works so well in Mass Effect is that you're never too sure what shepherd's going to say, even if you have the basic idea, and that you're character (shepherd) speaks. This is a breakthrough in gaming, never in any RPG's I've played on (except for the witcher), can you hear you character speak. It's so simple but it works very effectively. All the emotional moments now have you talking, and sometimes cause a tear in your eye.

There are some bad points in Mass Effect, but they're hardly noticeable. Yes, there are some technical issues, but nothing too serious, and nothing that hasn't been included into any other game. The textures take time to load, but don't worry, it's never too slow, and sometimes some irritating jams happen. But these Jams only happened twice with me. I dunno, maybe I'm lucky. But the main problem with Mass Effect is that it's too damn short! For a game as good as this, why did it all have to end so fast?! It took me 15 hours to complete the main plot line, and a couple more hours to do some of the side quests, come on Bioware! It's just not enough!

But just because it's short, it doesn't mean that the plot doesn't reach the standard. Like I've mentioned before, the story is beyond brilliant. And the ending for me was just WOW!!! Oh, and if you think that because I said it's short, that it's not worth the money, think again. It's got high replayability value since you can change your choices you've made before the second time you go through Mass Effect. The game also includes some absorbing music (no surprise, since Bioware always delivers with this point), that just suits the game perfectly. The decisions you make in the game feel huge, and sometimes, it can take a couple of minutes for you to make your mind up about something.

Mass Effect is an emotional masterpiece, and was obviously difficult to make. It includes the best story, the best graphics and some of the best gameplay (I haven't mentioned about that, but I don't want to make this review too long, so I'll just say that it's really good once you get the hang of it) that ever included in a game. Just because there's a couple of technical issues around in this game, people shouldn't give bad reviews because of it. I mean, name one game that hasn't got technical issues. There are none, and as for these slow texture loading times, there'll surely be a patch to sort this out soon enough. So if you thought nothing could beat Star Wars, and that no game could make you weep, play this game. It WILL prove you wrong.

And with that, I can assure you.

Really good game, it's not that interesting at the beginning but after the first mission it takes off and becomes a huge game with many things to offer. Excellent in every aspect!

I picked this game up as I heard fantastic reviews and knowing bioware are one of the best developers on the market. To summerise, this game incorporates FPS, RPG similar to fallout 3, plus some very fun driving. Your not confined to a city, or a planet, or a solar system, or cluster, the milky way is literally your oyster, and there truly is so much to explore!

- Pro's

*FPS action is fun and actually takes some skill also!
*Drive-by's on the mako never get old!
*The massive story lines are incredibly deep and very immersive, be warned you can lose hours just completing one part of a sub-story!

- Con's

*Once you've completed the game you can't go back into the universe to finish of any side quests, its a small gripe but would've been nice to get back in there without reverting to a previous saved game.

This is my review after my first completion of the game, and in a speedy 24 hours too! so now im going back to fully explore explore the universe and create a custom super evil renegade.

This game is what they had in mind when they invented the word 'epic'. It's a word that gets banded around a lot, but in this case, there isn't another that quite does it.

The characters are all interesting, the plot is intelligent and fast-paced, and the free-roam element can't be beaten - from the word go you can explore an entire galaxy. If you liked Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, you won't want to miss this.

Mass effect is a dangerous game, I mean that in the sense that regardless of how much else you have to do or how much you tell yourself you'll only play for half an hour you will still waste an entire evening.

This is due to a number of factors that will keep you coming back, firstly there is the story - certainly it can be compared to many sci-fi franchises out there but the execution pulls you in. Without going into too much detail there are choices you make that will decide if people you have interacted live or die - I agonised for a long time knowing the outcome.

The game play is fun and challenging, getting the hang of your player abilities can be tricky but the combat menu is well designed and it is easy to relay to your team what you want them to do. The character I picked was a `Vanguard', which allowed me mastery of Biotic abilities and the use of Shotguns as well as the standard pistol. Other classes allow you mastery of all weapons (Pistols, Assault Rifles, Shotguns and Sniper Rifles) but no Biotic or Tech abilities. Each class gives you a variation of weapons and abilities that your class can use but they are exceptionally well balanced.

Character customisation is superb, especially in comparison to earlier Bioware game `Jade Empire' in which players could only select from six preset models (seven in the limited edition version). In Mass Effect you can change gender, facial structure, hairstyle and colour, eye colour and even give your character a scar. Although this is purely cosmetic the game renders the characters wonderfully and the range of movements given to the characters makes the in engine cut scenes look pre-rendered, the only thing that gives them away is the customised characters and occasional frame rate issues.

Speaking of frame rate issues the NXE is essential for this game; if you don't have it you won't be able to install the game to the hard disk, which is a necessity. Playing from disk leads to the occasional loading freeze during play, long loading times between maps, poor frame rates and irritating texture pop in. After installing to the hard disk frame rates became a non-issue except in some scenes with many opponents, loading during play was virtually eliminated and texture pop in became greatly reduced. Sadly loading times between maps are still long but this is more to do with the lifts that are designed to hide loading from disk than anything else; the journey time is the same regardless.

This is a superb game with one major problem; the Mako. When you first land on a planet or need to travel for long distances the game provides you with an all terrain vehicle called the `Mako'. At first it seems alright but then you realise; the controls are irritating, the shields take too long to recharge, the opponents do too much damage, the turret does too little damage and the `jump' facility serves no purpose. Driving sections often feature long enclosed tunnels with enemies at the far end out of range of your weapons, however they are equipped with rocket launchers or energy blaster or some such weapon that takes down two of the eight shield bars with one hit. You can then either power on to get into weapons range (And often take heavy damage in the process) or run away to let your shields recharge. Doing so takes about ten to fifteen seconds per energy bar on your shields, during which time your opponents shields are also recharging - if you did manage to hit them to begin with.

Don't let the poor driving sections put you off though, they are relatively short (taking up maybe twenty minutes to half an hour of the main section of the game if you are quick) and far between - the games strengths more than make up for this.

If you are a fan of previous Bioware titles (I know I am) or you are looking for a deep involving story that will suck you in then this is a must buy - especially at current prices.

Five stars.