Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

...double an already lengthy playtime, Mass Effect is also uncharacteristically rough in many places, so liking it depends on whether this includes the areas you actually care about.

==The Story==

A century from now, mankind colonizes its incredibly unappealing neighbour-planet Mars, presumably just because it can. Luck favours the bold, however, and ruins from an ancient, all-powerful, all-extinct alien civilization are ...
...brand new fictional background for Mass Effect and it's a pretty enjoyable one at that, even though a few of the aspects will inevitably be seen as Star Wars knock-offs. Two, it gives the player the power, or at least the illusion, of "molding" his own story. Your avatar might have a set rank and surname, "Commander Shepard", for understandable script reasons, but other than that he is very customizable, from gender and appearance ... more

Innovative studio BioWare make their most ambitious effort yet with "Mass Effect", a sci-fi Role Playing Game that has you kicking ass and taking names across the Milky Way galaxy. Featuring impressive character interaction and a plethora of sidequests which double an already lengthy playtime, Mass Effect is also uncharacteristically rough in many places, so liking it depends on whether this includes the areas you actually care about.

The Story

A century from now, mankind colonizes its incredibly unappealing neighbour-planet Mars, presumably just because it can. Luck favours the bold, however, and ruins from an ancient, all-powerful, all-extinct alien civilization are soon discovered. Unprecedented breakthroughs in space travel follow and lead to First Contact with the various sapient aliens that have long been exploring the vastness of our galaxy.

Less than three decades afterwards, humanity has come a long way in the galactic scale of things, but is still not considered a major player. That's where your avatar comes in, an Alliance trooper with huge potential who has been marked as a candidate to become the first human Spectre.

"Spectres" are an elite group of agents that operate behind the scenes to keep the galaxy running as smooth as the Galactic Council, Milky Way's governing body, intends. They work for the good of the Council, but not necessarily directly for it; they have to get the job done, by any means necessary and those means aren't always politically, legally, or ethically correct. Granting this privilege and burden to a human acknowledges an amount of respect for our species and paves the way for eventual admission into the Council.

There are those, of course, that are wary and/or envious of humanity's quick influential growth and it is far from a coincidence when, in a mission the Council monitors as the final test before inducting your character into the Spectres, everything goes horribly wrong.

It turns out Saren, the most feared Spectre of them all, has gone rogue and allied himself with the Geth, highly advanced sentient machines that have already overthrown their creators and elevated as a "race" of their own. Saren not only used them to sabotage your mission but also manipulates them in his grander scheme that toils with the very fate of the galaxy. It is up to you to prove he is up to no good, then find out exactly what his plans are and hopefully foil them before it's too late.

So, mostly standard "action flick" stuff, but with a couple of variables that make it more interesting. One, BioWare created a brand new fictional background for Mass Effect and it's a pretty enjoyable one at that, even though a few of the aspects will inevitably be seen as Star Wars knock-offs. Two, it gives the player the power, or at least the illusion, of "molding" his own story. Your avatar might have a set rank and surname, "Commander Shepard", for understandable script reasons, but other than that he is very customizable, from gender and appearance down to background and history. These choices add more flavour to the other characters' interactions with you, but they are small potatoes compared to the strategically placed gigantic decisions your character will be forced to make during the course of the game.

Even though it doesn't have the awesome twist of previous BioWare titles, Mass Effect has these defining moments that have you clearly shaping up the game, and they more than make up for it. Also, seeing as this is just the first instalment of a trilogy, it's entirely possible that a "twist" has already been planted, something that will surface in the ultimate chapter and mock me silly for not seeing it coming.

Speculation aside, the story's greatest weakness definitely is that quite a lot of the side-missions don't ever tie into it. Following Saren's trail will take you to many different solar systems, but a substantial amount of the supplemental action doesn't take place anywhere near them, something that certainly spoils the air of haste that surrounds the main storyline. It's not that big a deal when someone interrupts my investigations and asks me to find his brother, who was lost trying to bust an illegal weapons cartel at Planet Gazillion-Miles-Away; but blindly going from one planet to another looking for trouble is rather ridiculous and it's something Mass Effect expects you to do if you wish to explore all of its content.

Even so, I enjoyed Mass Effect's storyline and I just hope that they manage to work the different endings into the sequel in a proper fashion; unlike Activision's annoyingly vague effort for the continuation of BioWare's most renowned hit, "Knights of the Old Republic".

The Presentation

Mass Effect's greatest draw has to be the character interaction, which really provides a cinematic experience. Essentially, it is the same conversation system that appeared in previous BioWare games and various other RPGs: Non-Player Characters banter back and forth until it's your avatar's turn to chime in. Then, you are presented with the possible replies, which usually include polite and hostile ways to carry the conversation forward, breaking it off on the spot, a few general investigative queries and, finally, options that make use of your persuasive skills and can resolve the matter in an unexpected way, provided they are advanced enough. You make your pick and the conversation moves along accordingly.

Even though we've seen it before, the way it is delivered is unprecedented, with the player being able to make his choice of dialogue on the fly, even before the other person is finished talking, making the conversation feel much more dynamic, authentic. It's very impressive on action and a pity to realize that a lot of the different choices lead to the same result and sometimes even the same dialogue. Speaking of, excluding a few of the narrative parts, the game is fully voice acted and superbly so indeed. The voice talent provides an exciting sample, with the highlight for me being Seth Green's performance; not necessarily because of the choice lines he has, but probably because he was the only one I recognized without reading the credits.

The character models also more than do their part, managing to show a exemplary degree of emotion. They really do behave like actors more often than not and that is awesome. They also sometimes look like real actors, with Mass Effect sporting great graphics that are unfortunately marred by weird shadows and unnatural hair. They are also covered by "Film Grain" by default, something that makes little sense, unless it's a pretty impossible plot element. I suppose the argument was to make the game feel even more cinematic but, in case you haven't been in the movies lately, they've hardly looked like this since the previous millennium. I'd understand if this was an atmospheric thriller, but it's a sci-fi adventure so I'd strongly recommend visiting the graphics settings and turning this option "off".

Controversial design decisions don't stop here, as the only non-negative thing that can be said about the menus is that they mimic the look of the "Power Wheel", the device used to make the aforementioned conversation choices. But they are bland and uninspired, making going through them a real chore. Which is understandably a problem, considering Mass Effect is an RPG, so you'll necessarily spend time there, leveling up your characters and fine-tuning their equipment. It's a shame for the included codex entries too, an encyclopedia of sorts, constantly updated as you explore the game world. It's chock-full of Mass Effect lore, even featuring audio for the most important parts. It's a good effort, but what I'd really love would be an over-the-top narration, styled after "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

To make matters worst, we have the preposterously bland planets you are able to explore with the Mako, your personal futuristic tank. They are ugly, difficult to navigate and quite boring to explore as a result. I understand that, realistically, most planets aren't exactly roller coaster rides, but games are supposed to be fun and having every damn planet that is not central to the story be so frustratingly flavourless, is not. Especially considering that you can't land on *every* planet in Mass Effect, only a small selection of them. In truth, "realistic" did go out the window, but only in favour of designing every single one, even those that apparently have oxygen and life forms, to be completely barren, devoid of wildlife and featureless excluding rocky mountains; This is honestly something that could have been done in the PS1 era and it's pretty appalling to see BioWare going quantity over quality for this one.

In the same vain, BioWare didn't bother designing different layouts for most of the secondary structures in the game. To be fair, it's actually pretty reasonable that every freighter has the same interior. And I'm willing to accept that, in the future, giant warehouses and science facilities are transported preconstructed to new planets. But when even the *underground tunnels* have the same design, well, then we have a problem. I mean, at the very least, design *one more* map and mirror these two. Then, instead of using the same damn underground base over and over again, only sporting a slightly different décor, you'll be rotating four different layouts; it is a bit less embarrassing and much easier to ignore.

The glass is at least half-full in the following points. The music is great, but mysteriously underplayed over the course of the game. Combat looks spectacular, especially when using special abilities, but suffers slow-down issues that also hamper the gameplay. Stuttering and loading is a general evil that spoils the Mass Effect experience. Sometimes it's handled reasonably well, as in some elevator sequences: the next area loads as the elevator crawls to the next floor, while your team-mates pass the time with witty banter or listening to interesting global news. More often, it's handled poorly, with the action just freezing when you hit an invisible barrier, something that might happen even while you're in combat.

The worst part is that loading issues could have been pretty much eradicated for those of us who have X360s with hard-drives, should a simple installation option have been added. Alas, equality over all X360 owners has been opted for instead. As it is, the drive reads the disc *constantly* which, besides being annoying on the ears, also got me the first four "Cannot Read Disc" errors I've had in the two years I've owned the machine, despite handling said disc with the usual prescribed care. Thankfully, I'm paranoid about saving and didn't end up replaying too much each time I had to reload, but consider this a big warning for you.

That's more or less the icing on the chunky cake that is Mass Effect's problems. Coming into the game, if there was one area I thought BioWare would nail, that would have to be the presentation. Shockingly, the natural-flowing conversations and top-notch voice acting turn out to be the only saving grace of a package that's simply below par.

The Gameplay

It should provide no shocks to anyone that Mass Effect features gameplay very similar to that of "KotOR". Most of the time is spent on exposition, running around, verbally confronting one person after another and figuring things out, followed by a few minutes of actual combat. It can be played a bit differently of course, harshly cutting off all conversations and turning a blind eye to all the side-missions, but there is little you can do about most of the running around and nothing at all to expand the battles, so it's a game that's best enjoyed at a slow pace.

Playing at a slow pace also makes the few of the game's truly frantic moments more enjoyable. I don't want too spoil too much so I'll just say two things: "Thrasher Maw" and "Bazooka in the Back". That said, while I don't think there is too much time spend talking about things, I do think there is just too little devoted to actually accomplishing them. This happens because the characters are very well written and tons of fun to interact with, while the mission might be sometimes clever and intriguing but actually carrying them out is not. That is a matter of simply not having enough options with which to resolve situations and/or available options being exciting enough.

In order to complete a mission in Mass Effect you can:

• Talk your way through it, which is Mass Effect's opus, but that doesn't mean it's invulnerable to repetition.
• Electronically Hack, everything, from computers to immemorial artifacts, using a vapid mini-game that involves pushing buttons as they flash on screen.
• Jog from point A to B and back, which was the latest craze in the 'eighties, so maybe it's making a comeback in 2183.
• Fight until all the bad guys are dead.

Keep in mind that not all options are available for any given mission and things like "strategy" and "cunning" feel like excess baggage in all of them. Seriously, BioWare, this is not a First Person Shooter. Throw in some puzzles that require thought and can't also be solved through violence or Deus-Ex-Omni-Gel.

Speaking of violence, Mass Effect's most different aspect from KotOR is certainly the combat. Focused in fire arms, instead of melee combat, you only directly control Shepard, instead of all three party members and have to manually aim and pull the trigger, instead of just targeting an enemy and letting the game do all the work for you. It tries to work akin to "Gears of War" with a blend of RPG factors, like stat boosts for accuracy and damage, but it pretty much fails spectacularly. Mostly, it's because of the stuttering mentioned before, which makes it really hard to quickly point and fire at an enemy, in the relatively confined spaces combat usually happens.

That's why I decided to focus on using the techniques and abilities of my team, throwing in a shotgun blast once every blue moon for good measure, leaving the rapid-fire attacks for my eagle-eyed CPU-controlled team-mates. Each of the six classes in the game has special abilities, often reminiscent of the Force Powers in Star Wars. They are very fun to pull off and look at, especially the gravity-based attacks, with "Singularity" being the cream of the crop.

The special abilities are the silver lining of the rather uninteresting combat system, which is further underpinned by the very poor Artificial Intelligence, which often has enemies running onto walls, or stuck in place, admiring the framework of a crate. I also find the combat being way too hard at the earlier stages of the game and too easy as you approach the end. It goes without saying that the other way around, the difficulty racking up as you progress, is much preferable, but I understand that it's always difficult to find an equilibrium in a non-linear game such as Mass Effect.

Still, the Autosave feature doesn't make matters any better, having the habit to save just as a fight is starting, even if that fight was back to back with another one. This can place you in unwinnable situations, which is pretty catastrophic considering there is only one autosave file, instead of the "industry standard" of three files alternating. So, I should warn you yet again to save very, very often and in different files.

Thankfully, the meat of the game doesn't lie in combat. It's about steering the situations the way you feel like, whether you play the kind-hearted Paragon, the sinisterly effective Renegade, or something in between. Even though most of the options are for flavour, it's often said that the trip and not the destination is more important and such is totally the case in Mass Effect. And let's not forget, some of the choices you make do decide what your precise destination will be. Also, my disappointment in the lack of puzzles is almost cancelled-out by the number of encounters that can be handled without a physical confrontation, and the game's general generosity in granting experience points for various combat-unrelated tasks.

Controlling the Mako feels okay in the main planets you'll visit, as they were actually designed for the tank to navigate, but borders on cumbersome in all the others, as they basically are a bunch of mountain ranges randomly thrown together. Also, you can't really tell the difference in gravity between planets that are 0.8G and 1.2G, something I felt would have been a nice touch. Vehicular combat is good, but there really should have been a button to quickly recharge the shields when in a safe place. Standing still for five minutes, waiting for the shields to go back up is no fun for anyone.

The button layout in general is not very well thought-out. For example, there are two buttons for drawing your weapons, but no-one to rotate between targets in non-combat situations. It's not that the current controls don't work, it just feels that a little more effort could have been done to make them more intuitive.

The same goes doubly so for the inventory and everything related to it. You have a limit to the things you can carry, which flies directly in the face of my obsessive compulsion of keeping at least one instance of every item. It is also set low even by reasonable standards, as the game automatically picks up any equipment your foes drop, so you'll be hitting the limit after every couple of missions as a result. This forces you to continuously visit vendors, which doesn't seem so bad until you consider what it really means: it means being needlessly subjected upon the stretched loading times, in order to do trivial micromanagent, using the daft menus. It truly is the "bad design" hat-trick.

Apparently, BioWare botched pretty much everything but the repartee in Mass Effect. Thankfully, this happens to be the heart of the game: Matching wits with deranged villains, making sense of abstract geniuses and bossing around annoying idealists, that's what Mass Effect is all about, and it all feels fantastic. If that was the part of KotOR you liked most, then you are going to enjoy Mass Effect, in spite of itself. But if you are looking for anything else, you'll most likely be sorely disappointed.

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==OVERALL==

Mass Effect comes so close to fulfilling its potential, it's borderline infuriating to see it failing for silly problems that could have easily been dealt with, provided a little more time and care. It certainly has its moments, but it's precisely because of them I can't possibly recommend it; not when a patched-up version will allow for their frustration-free enjoyment.

The inevitable, yet unconfirmed for marketing reasons, PC version will certainly do away with two of the game's biggest issues: incessant loading and unintuitive interface/inventory management. If a little effort is put into it, it can also improve on the AI, add half a dozen maps (thus doubling their grand total) and maybe even make random Mako exploration half-way decent. Even Halo eventually gets remastered for the PC, but in the highly unlikely scenario a PC port won't be made, I still think it's better to wait for "Mass Effect 2". It's simply irresponsible to risk being ostracised from a series that has such potential, just because BioWare had to start cutting corners in order get Mass Effect for the X360 released before this holiday period. 

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