This was a long time coming. It would eventually and here it is sitting before me. Considered by many to be one of the greatest pieces of science fiction ever made, and the foundation for what is one of the greatest RPG trilogies ever. A whole generation of gamers grew up on this series and even today you can still see its impact on those people. Sure there’s been some ups and downs, and the developers are facing a lot of confusion currently. However, these games have stood out against the test out time. For their role-playing elements, memorable characters, and well written stories. What is the game for which I speak of? Unless you didn’t grow up in the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, or you’ve just been sleeping under a rock then let me introduce you to Mass Effect. A third person action RPG developed by Bioware. Once a behemoth in the gaming industry. I’ve had a lot of friends recommend this series. I’m a huge fan of science fiction, and RPGs are some of my favorite games. I appreciate good player choice, and narratives that address mature themes and topics instead of being there for the sake of being there. Mass Effect was right up my alley and it’s a good thing we got the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition collection 2 years ago. A bundle that contains all three games, their DLC, performance upgrades, and visual remastering. I bought it during a sale for 20 bucks and it’s been sitting on my backlog for several months now.
Finally started it up and managed to beat the first game recently. Mass Effect began development right after Bioware finished porting Star Wars: The Knights of The Old Republic to PC. What is considered another one of the greatest RPGs ever made. Casey Hudson would be returning as the main director and this would be their biggest project yet. Using the experience they gained from their work on The Old Republic, Bioware wanted to create another sci-fi RPG. Equal emphasis on fleshing out the universe, telling a compelling story, and modernizing the gameplay so that an upcoming generation of gamers and every beyond them could easily get into these games. They wanted to craft a whole Milky Way to explore, branching narrative choices, and push what the next generation of consoles (Xbox3 360/PS3) could handle. Now not every aspect of Mass Effect was done perfectly. There were a lot of janky elements, character animation didn’t always match up to their voices, the protagonist’s didn't always say things the way you expect them to, and the list goes on. However, Mass Effect was an achievement from both a technical level and artistic level. It was praised across the board and sold enough copies for Electronic Arts to buy it years later from Microsoft. From there you know how the story goes. Three years later came a sequel that improved almost every aspect and a grander in scope adventure. Then a third entry that tied together a nice bow, but became divisive due to its narrative choices and ending. Then a fourth game that tried to cash off on the series’ success but forgot what made it good in the first place. Then came the collection which veteran fans loved and made the games easily accessible today, but in some ways can be seen as a cash grab by the company in an attempt to maintain relevance.
What does this actually have to do with the game? Just wanna demonstrate how one successful start off set a whole chain of events. Mass Effect has had an interesting history, but that goes to show how special it was compared to a majority of video games at the time. Coming back to me, what was it like stepping into the universe of Mass Effect for the first time? Not gonna lie I was a bit iffy at first. A friend compared it to The Witcher 3 and said it’s gameplay is pretty similar, but it’s more focused on third person shooting rather than melee combat. I’m not a big Witcher fan and the words they put in front of me set up a lot of worries. Yet, I gave Mass Effect a chance and it’s a good thing I did. The first Mass Effect is a good game. In fact, I would go as far to say it’s a really good game. It being the first entry there’s a lot of rough edges. Stuff that might turn some players off or make them skip immediately to the next two games which I entirely understand. It feels like a proof of concept for something better, but you know what that’s fine with me. I still had a fantastic time playing through the game and if you work around the low points you witness the highest of highs. Today we’re talking about Mass Effect and why it deserves your attention.
Story
It’s 2183 and humanity has uncovered a strange piece of technology floating in space. A cannon that allows spaceships to travel lightyears within seconds, and humanity dubs it the Mass Relay. Believed to have possibly been built by a species before them. Using the Mass Relays they went on to discover other planets and alien species beyond mankind. Together they made peace and a grand government was born. A council consisting of politicians from across the galaxy. Together they would guide the people, help with rulings and trade, and share their knowledge to everyone. Mankind would serve this Council, but they wish to be a part of it. To have someone amongst them serve as a representative, or at the very least serve as an elite soldier known as a Specter. A soldier given advanced equipment, control of a crew, and allowed to embark on heroic quests. It all seemed like a dream until recently. You are Commander Shephard and you are chosen to help aid a Turian Spectre in saving a human colony. They uncovered a strange beacon and activating it they summoned a robotic species named Geth into attacking them. The Geth want the beacon and they are led by another Turian Spectre who has gone rogue, Saren. He kills the Turian you were helping, but just before he can reach the beacon you interact with it first.
The beacon sends a whole barrage of visions through Shepard’s eyes. Death, suffering, and decay are all that is heard. You hear the screams of those long gone, or could they possibly be what is to come? Shepard is not sure of what it is, but once the visions stop the beacon blows up and he falls unconscious. He’s brought back to the Normandy, the ship he serves on, where he recovers and the crew are getting ready to enter the Citadel. There they tell the Council of what happened and upon securing evidence of Saren going rogue they decide to send a task force after him. The human politicians you work for want to send you after Saren, but you aren’t allowed to since you are not a Spectre. The Council then appoints you into being the first human Specter to come into existence and Captain Anderson, previous captain of the Normandy, hands control of the ship & it’s crew over to you. Given free reign to travel to any galaxy they want, Commander Shepard shall gather a slew of allies willing to support his cause. Trace down where Saren was last, figure out what he wants, and stop him before he does something that can doom the whole galaxy. You may even uncover the truth to the beacon and what created the tech which you found in space.
Gameplay
I’d say Mass Effect is divided into three crucial aspects. Character progression, dialogue choices, and action. The combat is pretty straightforward as it follows the modern shooter philosophy we grew to know. You have a blue bar representing your energy shield and red bar representing your main health. Shields will protect you from damage and can recharge if you avoid damage for a short period of time. Health is crucial as it determines whether you live or not. It refills when you are out of combat but slowly, and it drops to zero you are dead. What you do have are medi-gels which can quickly restore health to you and party members. You can only carry five at once, the time you have to wait to use another one is lengthy, and I’m not sure if it’s a one use item or not. Still, use them sparingly and move to different cover points if you feel like you need to. You also have two squadmates you can bring to help out during missions. There’s six of them to unlock and they have their own skills and stats. Some may be better if you want to focus more on certain aspects like firepower, technical skills, and bionetic powers. You can initiate commands at any time and these allow your squadmates to use special combat skills. Quickly recharge shields, dish out more damage, shoot an electric blast, or a skill exclusive to you which is reviving your allies if they fall. Much like you medi-gel, your skills have a cooldown. Meaning you have to wait if you want to use them again. There’s four guns to use: pistols, shotguns, rifles, and sniper rifles. Each of the guns has their quirks and it’s about when to use them.
Besides shooting everything left and right you’ll be talking to a lot of characters throughout your journey. This is an RPG afterall and what is an RPG without player choice. You can learn more about the world by asking characters, learn more about their life, and gain experience for doing so. A nice reward for taking your time. You also gain experience points from doing quests, acts like hacking, and of course killing enemies. Sometimes you are given a choice when talking to NPCs. These choices are crucial and can determine how some quests and even the story play out. For example, you can expose a corrupt businessman if you retrieve some data but you have to convince the owner of this data to take it to court. There’s a side scenario where a chairman is being held hostage, and you have to do a good job in order for him to survive. Some dialogue choices may not be available, but will be if you level up conversation stats high enough. Make the choices and they will carry on in the future. Mass Effect has this special thing where choices made in the previous games are carried into future games, which is really cool in my opinion. We will address this more later. Anyways, gain enough experience points and you will level up. You are given skill points and are allowed to dump it into one of numerous categories. This applies to your allies as well who also have their own skill points. These categories include dishing more damage with one of your four guns. More armor, more health, better persuasion, discounts, new skills, and so on. Each point spent feels like a worthy investment and if you build your Shepard in the right way future scenarios will be more manageable. Besides that there’s nothing much else to talk about. Hopefully you can stop Saren and save the galaxy from an utter collapse.
Thoughts
So onto my honest thoughts about Mass Effect. Overall I would say this is a really good game. I was thoroughly engaged with what was on offer and a large part of it has to deal with the writing and world building. If it’s one thing Mass Effect does perfectly it’s those two aspects. The central plot takes a lot of twists and turns, and dives into themes such as survival and natural selection. Will you protect others or think for yourself? Will you make choices to better humankind or help out other species? Will you be a space racist or not? The plot is good and the ending leaves you on a satisfying note, but I would say the side stories are equally as good as well. Discovering this Rachni Queen and why her children are terrorizing a laboratory. Finding a hive mind controlling an entire settlement. Your companions and the reasons why they are venturing with you. That is if you take the time to speak with them, but who wouldn’t with how this is an RPG with complex lore. Garrus, Tali, Rex, Liara, Ashley, Jenkins, Joker, and so on. The two companions I traveled with most are Tali and Garrus. Tali is a pilgrim who wishes to see more of the world, and I love how much of a tech geek she can be. That isn’t to say she’s nerdy, because she knows what she is doing and you can tell she lived a hard life. Which I bet I’ll learn about in future games seeing how interesting her people’s history is. Garrus was going to become a Specter years ago, but was not able to, which disappointed his father. He would then spend his life working for the Citadel to then pursue Saren and his crimes. I brought him because I wanted to help him deliver justice and allow him to live his goals from years ago.
That is not to say these are the two deepest companions. Rex has this arc later on which I won’t spoil, but you’ll have to make a tough choice late into the game. I say Mass Effect handles player choice well for the most part. The scenarios you are offered are interesting and there’s a lot of questions that can pop up. One I mentioned earlier deals with a chairman who got kidnapped, but then you learned the people who kidnapped him were heavily experimented on and never got the proper treatment they needed to heal. So now they are left abandoned and scarred, part of which is connected to the chairman, so you have to ask who is the villain here. This one side interaction has you getting interviewed by a Citadel newswoman, and while not morally complex you have the choice to either tell the whole truth or try to represent the Council as well as possible by lying or keeping your mouth shut. One quest has you help someone recover an experimental injection made for soldiers, but then you learn this soldier is a drug addict and that he needs help. There’s a lot of fun things to partake in and you really feel like a participant in this world. It’s what an RPG should be. Speaking of which, leveling stats and improving your characters is satisfying. Your stats give a clear idea of what they improve allowing non-RPG players to have an easy time figuring things out. Each stat investment feels worthwhile and by the end you feel like a badass with the cool armor and weapons your allies are rocking with. It’s not the most diverse build variety to be honest with you seeing everything comes down to dialogue and shooting. However, it does all of those things well enough I can ignore a lot of the shallow aspects of leveling and build creation. Key staples to RPGs.
Combat is great although there are some finicky aspects like I said near the intro. Your guns feel weighty and they are easy to use. Instead of utilizing ammo they are much like energy weapons in the Halo series, and switching between them is easy seeing how you only have four weapons at a time. I like how the game gives you control over ally weapons, gear, and when to use their abilities because it allows you to diverse certain tactics. Have one ally recharge shields quickly, another lower enemy shields, and you get them to unleash hellfire. It’s fun, when it works. You see, telling them to do things is easy, but getting them to do it properly is tricky. I couldn’t get them to target specific foes and this could lead to disastrous outcomes especially if you run with Garrus and Tali like I did. Being non-human means coming across armor for them is hard, and so their defense numbers are the lowest. Taking cover doesn’t always work as the game isn’t very consistent on where you can take cover, and I’d like to be able to switch to left and right while using iron-sights instead of having Shepard cover half the left side of the screen. I can get over this being a 2007 game, but this is the 2021 remaster so they could have added these quality of life improvements.
Those are the key aspects of Mass Effect and that is why I think overall the game is great. This is a review though and there are some caveats. Mass Effect is a great game with a ton of noticeable problems. Stuff that didn’t age terribly, but make it a product of its time. Leveling up and build improvement is great, but the two you may want to max out immediately are charm & intimidate. These two open up different dialogue options and allow you to get the peaceful and non peaceful solutions to quests. I’m fine with this, but much like the Fallout series it means only one stat will determine every meaningful dialogue choice in the game. I also want to say that even though you are given complex choices it is not hard to be a good person. Whenever you do something good you get Paragon points and if not you get Renegade. The amount of Renegade points you can rack up by doing a few good options is staggering. So much so I had a small pit of Renegade and three whole bars of Paragon by the end. Sometimes I feel like taking Paragon choices and cutting down side quests all together. That druggy quest I mentioned can be skipped if you maxed out the stat like I did. The second to last boss can also be skipped because you convince him to blow out his brains, which feels kind of embarrassing seeing how much build up there was.
You have these driving sections every so often and let me just tell you they are not good. They’re not terrible, but they aren’t really that fun. Take the driving controls of Halo, make them worse, and make the vehicle really bouncy for some reason. Give the thing a rapidfire cannon, make the enemies piss easy, and there you go. Something that feels there for the sake of being there. I also want to say exploring planets and ships outside the main missions also sucks. Half of them are giant empty fields with an occasional building or anomaly, and the reward you get for doing non story related quests are awful. I did one hour of it and just completely stopped. Again, product of its time. It’s not like a recent release would not learn from this mistake and make an entire game centered around boring space exploration. Cough cough Starfield. There’s an economy in this game too and it also feels really pointless. Half of the good guns I got were from exploration and by the end I just had a bunch of cash for nothing. Combat while fun is pretty easy. It would get difficult at times, but nothing I would say is unmanageable. I’d say it’s on my part for playing it on normal mode and jacking the stats that served me best. The facial animation isn't the best. It looks very robotic and does not match what the characters are saying at all. Combine this with stiff posture and what you get are manakins standing in place a majority of the time. My greatest complaint with this game has to deal with the protagonist, and this opinion is going to tick off a lot of players. I don't like Shepard and it’s because of a few reasons.
You know how Fallout 4 had that problem where the character says something in a way that you did not expect to. Leading to another choice entirely that can worsen the scenario. Mass Effect is the pioneer for this problem. Shepard sounds like a total jackass when he says certain things and the dialogue choices don’t give a good idea of what he’ll actually say. You can have a choice like [Talk to me] and he’ll probably say, “Listen to me you asshole. You better tell us what you have to say right now before I dump a fat load on you!” If it’s not that then it’s saying something in the deadest voice imaginable. Everyone else around you has emotion and depth, but Shepard to me comes off as a blank slate. I get they are supposed to be a player vessel, but there are ways to give the player vessel depth. Let them be a character you care about. I know this criticism sounds harsh, but remember I do really like this game. It’s fun and serves as a good foundation for what is to come. One really unique aspect about Mass Effect is how choices made in previous games will carry on into future entries. If one character died in the first they are gone in the second and third. It’s not like the modern Deus Ex games where they canonized one ending and tossed the others into a bin. Making the player’s choices in previous entries feel meaningless. By allowing the player’s choices and data to transfer it allows every ending to feel cannon and choice to have an impact. I wish more games would do this, but the reason Mass Effect worked is because all of the games came out on the same console generation. Doing it now is hard seeing how long game development is and a majority of sequels are coming to next gen consoles now. Mass Effect is a triumph and despite all of the flaws I just listed I give it a thorough enough recommendation. In the end I am going to give the original Mass Effect an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.
I'm very excited to check out Mass Effect 2 now. There not be as many reviews from this point because I'm heading back to college next week and my schedule this year is really busy. Maybe every two to three weeks you guys will receive a new review, but whenever I post a new review I'll try to make it chunky and high quality as possible. Good coverage combined with good opinions/takes. Right now I'm covering titles that have been sitting on the backlog for awhile. The Mass Effect series is one we touched on today, Metal Gear Solid, Persona 4, and so on. Hopefully in he future I get to cover a few games I missed out on last year. Sea of Stars is definitely going to be one of them, and maybe you'll see a Baldur's Gate 3 review. One that I am very much anticipating. I wish everyone a happy new year and that 2024 will be another great year for gaming. It does not have to top the year, but just produce us more quality titles. I love gaming. I'll continue to do this till the day I die, get burned out, or feel satisfied. Goodnight.