Customer Reviews

Mass Effect Limited Edition

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved Bioware's latest masterpiece Mass Effect. I could not help but feel the game was inspired by the works of Arthur C. Clarke, in that Mass Effect creates the same sense of awe and wonder about it's original Universe.

I was a fan of Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic games. Mass Effect is superior to those games in every sense. The gameplay is better paced, the action is better implemented. Best of all, the original Universe is a fantastic sci-fi canvas where Mass Effect can continue, and onto which Bioware can paint a great franchise.

There is an abundance of ME material on Bioware's website, as well as in the Limited Edition of the game. It has been a long, long time since a game inspired me to read all of the literature and available information that is typically superficial garbage at best. The ME Universe is so well done and thought out, I found myself engorssed in every minute detail. The extra material also greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the game, as I knew the motives behind the different alien races, the history between the races, etc. I highly recommend the Collector's Edition Strategy guide, for the exclusive Art Book as well.

With Mass Effect Bioware has created a new sci-fi universe that rivals the depth of Star Wars. Personally I found ME's world more engaging because unlike Star Wars, Earth and it's people are actors in the events that unfold.

I can't wait for another opportunity to see the Stars with Commander Shepherd.

Mass Effect - Circa 2007


GOOD:
- A third person shooting and cover system similar to that of Gears of War or Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter 2 which is really a unique way to play a RPG. The Cover systems works well it also makes for a fun as well as a more realistic gameplay experience. While this system has its share of problems (its not as easy or streamline as Gears of War) it works well enough not to be a concern and bring something new to RPGs.
- A well thought out and well played story that rivals or bests that of Elder Scrolls, Resident Evil or any Final Fantasy game. The story itself is it told through dialog between yours and other characters, because of the choices of make during the story it has a "choose your own adventure" feel to it.
- Gorgeous graphics and nice animations, that look just as good as games like Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Assassins Creed.
- A great sound track that has the movie like quality of some of the great Sci-Fi Space movies from the past twenty years like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, and Dune.

BAD:
- The learning curve is steep in this game and you will spend the first few hours learning how to play this game well. Although gamers who are use to playing First/Third Person Shooters (like Bioshock and Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter) may find it easier to play (they should start the game on hard). Gamers who like playing turn based RPGs (like Final Fantasy X and Blue Dragon) will have a hard time adjusting (they should play the game on normal or easy).
- Most side quest planets can be barren with little to do outside of the quest you came for and a scant few other item pickups scattered around, plus many structures/buildings you enter during these side missions are almost exactly the same.
- The inventory system that you use keep track of items as well as equip items on your character is not very streamline and can be annoying due to the fact that there is no way to organize your inventory in any real order and keeping track of more then a few items becomes something of a chore.
- This game has a more then a few loading sequences during gameplay that might upset impatient gamers.

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- The story of the game is mostly told through dialogs between yourself and other characters in the game, it should really be noted that your choices in responding to questions asked of you and your reactions to events unfolding around you is going to change the story of the game and attitudes of others around you. It should also be noted that during the games story you can make choices that either make your character into a brash loose cannon who cheats, steals and shoots first asks questions later or a by the book fighter or justice and freedom with moral values and willing to sacrifice personal wants for the good of others.
- A Sci-Fi RPG with lots of Third Person Shooter (Camera behind the player) elements. The games combat has quicker pacing then most RPGs like Final Fantasy XII or even Fable, although the over all combat is slower then more main stream First/Third Person Shooters like Halo or Lost Planet, the shooting aspect has an emphasis on shooting behind cover as well similar to games like Gears of War and Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter 2.
- You start will all the gun types your ever going to get in the game (pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle) you can of course get newer versions of these guns and later even add mods to modify the effects and stats of each gun type. Although the effectiveness of each gun type is really depends on your skill with that gun type (you upgrade your gun skills at your stat screen), you can of course use guns you have no training for which will result in much less effectiveness of using that gun type, so it would be wise to always try to use guns types your character class can (will be able to) upgrade. Note: Solider class is proficient in all gun types (can upgraded in all gun types).
- This game has lots of dialog/story, which plays a very big role in this game, which in turn will turn off gamers looking for fast paced action with little interruption.
- No multiplayer or online gameplay.
- Travel to many different worlds/solar systems through out the Milky Way galaxy (the galaxy you currently live in) with your own star ship the Normandy and its crew. During your missions you get to bring two of six other characters with you and these other characters (all six of them) can have their stats as well as equipment be chosen by you.

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox/PC)
- Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter 2 (360/PS3)
- Jade Empire (Xbox/PC)
- Gears of War (360/PC)
- Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (360/PS3/PC)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- To get all of this game's achievements your going to have to beat this game at least three time. You get an achievement for beating the game once as well as twice but to unlock the "Insanity" difficultly (which after beating the game on this difficultly you also get an achievement) your going to have to beat the game on Hard then Hardcore just to unlock that difficultly.
- In the limited collector's edition you will find an art and background story book "Galactic Codex" as well as a bonus DVD with the videos "The Making of Mass Effect" documentary /music (from the game)/360 dashboard themes and it all comes in a tin case.
- There is already a novel out called Mass Effect: Revelation, which has lots of background story for the game as well as the background for the characters you meet in the game Anderson and Saren.
- There is talk from Bioware about downloadable content coming on the way for Mass Effect.

A couple years ago I posted a late review of one of Bioware's previous classics, Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic (also a.k.a. KOTOR). I specifically emphasized in that review that KOTOR set the standard for this kind of genre. (I played Jade Empire, too, but honestly I didn't think Jade Empire is worth comparing to Mass Effect because of the setting differences.)

I've been playing Mass Effect for a few nights now. I must say that I haven't been this engrossed in an Xbox game since KOTOR. As a genre and as an implementation, Mass Effect game is incredibly immersive and deep. It has just plenty of action to keep you motivated, while at the same time it makes you feel like you're realy playing a role in this virtual universe.

The graphics and sound are beyond incredible. Here's a game that really takes advantage of the full power of Xbox 360's hardware. Unlike some other games like Unreal Tournament 2007's rediculous bump mapping techniques, the usage of high-end graphics APIs are not over-blown to the point of being painful eyesores. Bioware's artists really did things right here. The screenshots don't lie. The game really looks that good, and with solid framerates, too, I've found.

I do find myself pulling my hair out, from time to time, with Mass Effect's "-isms". I just killed off a boss (Benezia) and it took me two nights, but that was because it consisted of 50% waiting on "loading", 30% waiting on the dialog and cutscene sequence to re-play (even with hitting [x] over and over again to skip dialog, but there's no way to skip cutscenes), and only about 20% of the time was actual gametime getting my butt kicked. Indeed, the game is, for the most part, fun and immersive. It's just that there are occasional roadblocks like these that make me want to hurl my controller at my TV. I get scared during these times that I'm going to find myself giving up on the game altogether, which I have been known to do from time to time when a boring roadblock cannot be passed for the same stupid reasons. Fortunately, every roadblock is passable, it just might take some exploration.

There are also a few bugs in the game, namely my player keeps getting stuck. This especially happens when I hold the 'A' key, which lets me see past the right side of the player and can speed up the run speed when in a fight. I've gotten stuck in room corners in this way, and on bridges.

The "choose your own adventure" bits don't *really* show up until a few hours into the game, when you get commanding access to a ship and can navigate the galaxy (or galaxies?) freely. Until I reached that point, I was skeptical; it seemed to be more like Guild Wars (on a rail) than like World of Warcraft (go anywhere, at any time).

The science fiction ideas in the game feel original yet seem to find inspiration from all kinds of sources, modern and old, that have been inspirations in other games and media -- EVE Online and Stargate (with the jump gates), Star Wars, KOTOR and Jedi knights (rogue == dark side), StarCraft (Zerg, Terran), Firefly/Serenity (Reapers, mind control), and countless sci-fi books. Somehow it all meshes together to make a very clean story so as to give the player of Mass Effect a pretty original and fulfilling experience -- not the best story in the world but definitely a B+ (good). What matters is the immersion, which is A-grade.

There are plenty of reviews hailing the excellence of Mass Effect, and so there is little point in providing yet another review of the game itself - on a scale of 1 to 10, it deserves a score on the higher end of between an 8 and a 9 - its an awesome game and while it isn't perfect, there is no comparable experience on any system.

That said, unless you love seeing concept art or have extraordinary passion for BioWare, then avoid the Limited Edition. The LE comes in a tin box that is tough to get in and out of - your discs are actually enclosed in a carboard case that is really kind of cheap (much like the Halo LE). The extra content disc is not terribly special or original, has little real substance, and some of it is available for download Free on Xbox Live Marketplace or on the internet. The Codex book that comes with it is again nice to have, but the same information, with sound, graphics, and text, is available in-game (and frankly much more rewarding experienced that way). Finally, while you do get some gamer pics and themes, none of them are so special that you'd feel satisfied actually paying for them.

[...]

Mass Effect is the latest in a long line of classic Role Playing Games from Bioware. Their previous games include Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic. Mass Effect is the first game in a planned trilogy of games, and Bioware has stated the intention of having your character carry over from one game to the next.

Pros:
- Great atmosphere: The music and visuals evoke memories of classic sci-fi films like Aliens and Blade Runner.
- Intriguing Story: The storyline and inter-character relationships were engaging, and the game presents some interesting moral decisions.
- Replayability: The variety of classes and choices offered can provide new experiences over multiple replays.
- Achievements: The unlockable Xbox Live achievements do more than just increase your gamerscore; they also unlock abilities in the game.

Cons:
- If you do not have a High Definition TV, the text can appear blurry and hard to read. I started playing Mass Effect on a 36' standard definition Sony Wega TV, and the text was small and blurry enough to cause eye strain (and I have 20/20 vision). While most of the game is voice acted, there are still large amounts of text to read. I was able to finish my first play-through in spite of the blurry text, but I credit Mass Effect with being my main motivation for upgrading to a HDTV. After upgrading to a HDTV, the game is even more beautiful, and the text is crystal clear.

Many people have said it, yet this game is the interactive experience that brings you closest to a hollywood blockbuster. All the years that Bioware have worked on the RPG genre have paid off in a truly engaging storyline, and if you are a graphics geek (I am) a real treat for your pupils.

Also, it is a real plus that the combat system is real-time, rather than turn-based. The only RPGs I have completed in the past (Fable + Baldur's Gate) were heavy on the action/gameplay side, yet light on the story (Fable is a five star game notwithstanding my comment and a mist have oon any collection). IMHO, this game solves this conundrum, balancing those two aspects of any game, and the result is truly awesome. It is a RPG for videogamers (like myself) that in the past have been a little put off for the slowness of turn-based combat. However, do not expect Halo-type combat. Rather, something half-way between old Max Payne (both classics) games and GRAW(first great next-gen action game).

Regarding the special edition, the content seems pretty good. I still have not seen the DVD for the "Storytelling" feature, because I want to avoid any possible spoilers (In preparation for the game I even read the "Revelation" paperback novel). The packaging is good ($10 extra USD justifies a metal case) but the special booklets for the special edition, though great in content, should have been hard cover, or at the very least have covers thicker than the interior pages.

I am awed by the sheer beauty of this game! I cannot fathom anything looking and sounding better than this RPG of the Year! As with KOTOR, Bioware had this baby in development for 4 years and it shows. The things you can do...wow. The dialog is out of this world! The Limited Edition comes with all kinds of cool things in a tin box that you'll savor. The following is from my review on various websites:

"Game of the Year!"

What can I say about this game that hasn't been mentioned already? I could not fathom such a beautiful, entrenching piece of entertainment that expands beyond what one could do with videogames. This is the RPG of the Year and the Game of the Year, in everyone's eyes. You all are in for a treat if you haven't picked up this baby!

Story - 10/10

Take Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate Atlantis, Bioshock, Halo and Battlestar Galactica... combine all these and add a new, unique storyline with unique characters and you get Mass Effect and then some. The choices you make affect the story and the way you play. The decisions you take leads to breathtakingly exhilarating moments that will make you want more and to come back for more. Never since KOTOR did anyone top Oblivion and Final Fantasy...until now. You have to play, see and hear it to believe it. I won't say more. The ending...oh boy. It's that good and I've only seen one of them so far!

Gameplay - 9/10

Other than technical issues with texture pop-in and the occasional chugginess and weird glitching (ala KOTOR), this game's mechanics are superbly flawless. You will simply love how the real-time combat action rivals that of any other 3rd person shooter of its kind. The fact that you still can pause the game to set up biotics is amazingly executed. Being able to travel to dozens of distant planets and collect items may be tedious to some, but fun to me. The Mako rover is really fun to bounce around in and to destroy enemies with. Character customization is crazy good, better than Oblivion and Saints Row. The body is the only thing you can't change however, but they didn't want an overweight or underweight person running around in their cutscenes I guess. I really enjoyed the weapons and the upgrades, although I received too many items over the limit and had to get rid of most to accommodate newer, better ones. Nothing went beyond level 10 weapons or armory the first play through however. The vibration of the controller was put to good use, except there is none during fixed cutscenes (a stable of Bioware I suppose).

Graphics - 10/10

If you think the videos were good, you haven't seen nothing yet. They don't give this game justice; you have to see it yourself to be awe-inspired. I played with film grain turned on and no motion blur for the first play through, giving me a cinema-like experience. The grain does affect the entire game except for the menus and character screens. I don't know if it actually slows the game down a bit or not, but so far it doesn't seem to make a difference. It usually runs between 30 to 60 fps, but when you think about KOTOR, this is way beyond that game as far as polish goes. The fact is, the details are simply amazing. The character's faces, every single one of them to include NPCs, have super sharp resolution and texturing. The game boasts colorful arrays on each and every planet you land on. Even the structures and mountainous terrain are all differently constructed and textured. The sight of any planet's sun(s) are absolutely incredibly bright like the real thing. I love the way all the lights in the game glow in fact, with a streak of horizontal light swiped across, as if it is your eyelashes bending the light, not a camera lens like in other games. The fires could have used a motion blur effect but other than that they look realistically done and are very bright. The animation is top-notch, everything appears motion-captured. As well, with enemies and the like, you'll notice that they all have ragdoll physics! This is especially obvious when you use the throw or lift biotic against them when it turns into slow motion. The scenery is simply astonishing, makes you believe you really are there.

Audio - 10/10

The sound is superbly haunting and dramatic. The emotions you get from listening to the musical soundtrack blows away anything you've heard in past games. The score is so good that there is a separate soundtrack for the game! The sound effects are unique and new, as well as scorchingly loud when it comes to weapons. It feels right, sounds right. The voice acting is fantastic, as each character does an excellent job of portraying emotion and mannerisms for that particular character. The game is voiced by major talents. One will notice that Dwight Schultz (of the A-Team, Star Trek: TNG and Pauli Franchetti in The Darkness videogame) is in the credits; he is a master at many voices that you won't recognize him off the bat. A bunch of KOTOR voices are in the game such as the ones who played Carth Onasi and Bastila. The only problem is that the Carth Onasi guy did Alenko Kaidan's voice too softly, IMO. Other than that, everyone did a fine job indeed. It's very atmospheric, from the ocean waves to the humming of the Normandy, and from the button and electronic beeps to the weapons engaging. I cannot test 5.1 surround but it allows for it.

Replayability - 9/10

This game has high replay value due to all the tough decisions you must make each play through! What you do and say are integral to the core game's plot and twists, as well as how each character reacts towards you. It's not as deeply intertwined per se as in KOTOR but that's only because with that game you can become completely evil whereas in Mass Effect you are a Marine for the Alliance, so you're not evil, but you can be a jerk if you want and you can make decisions that ends up killing someone. The first time through I played as a male Vanguard getting the best of both soldier and sentinel in one. I made my character look like John Sheppard of Stargate: Atlantis fame, since his default name in the game is John Shephard (spelled differently but that's okay). I'm going to be a "baddy" this time with a female I created, or I can choose to use the same guy I had before to obtain the rest of the awesome long list of achievements!

Overall - 10/10

This game is set up for 2 more sequels. With EA buying out Bioware, we as fans hope Bioware doesn't get pushed around with schedules since Mass Effect took 4 years in the making. If it takes that long again, I don't care, just keep the beautiful and exciting game intact for our next adventure! Thank you Bioware for creating my Game of the Year that I can play over and over again! It's way more than worth the money, and a must have.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/07

Mass Effect is an incredible leap forward in videogame interactivity and storytelling. The combination of storytelling, impressive visuals, film techniques, and intuitive interaction lifts Mass Effect to a whole new level.

Which is actually a funny thing to say considering that each element on its own is really not so great an advance, more of a slight evolutionary step that still has its own flaws. The story feels so much like Knights of the Old Republic that I wondered at times if I was really playing a new game. I could name the SF movie from the past 30 years (mostly Star Wars) that inspired nearly every line of dialog. The gameplay mechanics are almost identical to both KOTOR and Jade Empire, with plenty of meaningless side quests to take up my time and give me minimal additional XP. The visuals, while beautiful and obviously painstakingly created, are jittery and susceptible to pop-in from the very beginning of the game.

However, the evolutionary step forward in each individual element leads to a truly remarkable creation. Sure, the dialog's derivative of far more popular SF, but I really cared about the people who were speaking it in this game. Sure the game plays out very much like KOTOR and Jade Empire, but those were outstanding games too. By the time I finished this game, I was thrilled with the heroic stand I was able to take, and I was truly saddened by the characters who died along the way toward this conclusion. Extremely few games have made me care this much.

The bonus content on the limited edition set is good. You get a couple small books (which I actually haven't even read yet), a making-of DVD with some fun interviews, and a ton of gamer pics and dashboard themes. It's worth it if you're a fan of this genre / company / game, but probably not for the casual player who isn't too invested.

Overall, this game is a truly remarkable experience, and they can't put out Mass Effect 2 soon enough.

I will simply say this game is awesome! It's intensly epic and if you're a fan of the RPG format, this is a must play. There are naturally some comparisons being made to the two Knights of the Old Republic video games. I think these comparisons are very appropriate because the general game design is a fairly similar, though I'm sure many Star Wars fans are disappointed to not see laser swords in this game. Anyway, both games are very epic in scale, however, I think Mass Effect improved and built on from some areas.

Now anyone who plays RPG styled games HAS to realize that the screen view offers quite a bit design limitations. For example you're not going to have super high-detailed characters that look life-like all the time, though Mass Effect does a damn good job. People have to remember you're not seeing things through a first person view, so those who complain that it's not as "detailed" need to get over themselves, I grew up with Diablo, which I still think has a pretty good design. The screen interface to me is one of the most important, however, Mass Effect is a little hard to figure out at first. Such as when you want to change weapons quickly or use your special abilities. After having gone through the game, I realize now that it is by far the absolutely most logical control development for the user to interface with the screen.

Everything is in 3rd person view so the user is sitting sort of "far away" in perspective, aside from video sequences of course. Despite this, I think the graphic design is very well done. I see people complain about things not being "Next Gen" on a Next Gen console, seriously, what do these people expect to see? Graphic design wise Mass Effect is probably comparable to Half Life 2, and really, is that such a bad thing? I'd rather have developers spend their time developing a really epic game with an awesome story line than spend all their time amping up the graphics to the point where systems can't process all the detail so they have to shorten the game to compensate for data overflow. Which, is something I will complain about in Halo 3, because it was far too short, despite how beautifully designed the game was.

Another thing that was really interesting was the weapon designs. You get new weapons as the game goes on, but they're energy based weapons so you have unlimited ammo. I thought this was a really interesting way to treat the weapons, granted I enjoyed the unlimited ammo because running out of ammo in a game really sucks. You basically have access to all the weapons from the start of the game, but you have to put points into being trained on them to actually get good at using them. If you don't have access to build up points for the Sniper Rifle your character will always be really bad at using that weapon, but each character has the ability to build up at least one of the options!

The real part to focus on in Mass Effect is the highly original world and engrossing story line! You're thrust into a future universe of humanity where we have contact with other alien cultures and we are trying to work our way into the politics of the situation. I would say the story line is somewhat influenced by Carl Sagan's "Contact" because it starts with teh discovery of something called a Mass Relay, which can send vehicles far into distant reaches very quickly... yeah, kind of like "Contact, but this takes place long after that initial contact. I found the story-line very intelligent and very well thought out, to the point where it's believable in that situation. I haven't played through that many excellent Science Fiction RPG's, but this is probably my favorite as much as I liked Knights of the Old Republic. The story line does have a serious shock ending that I really didn't predict in the least, whereas I found Knights of the Old Republic II's story line slightly predictable.

Mass Effect really shines in my book. I was one of the lucky few to pick up the Limited Edition version and it comes with a bonus disc, which I haven't watched yet, but I will add to this review when I see it. It also comes with an added booklet with extra information about the historical time-line, which I thought was a really cool game addition.

As anyone can see, this game is VERY highly rated by users and I personally have no complaints about this game whatsoever. I found it to be challenging and intriguing. I don't have a lot of time to play games and this thing kept me occupied for two months (I do spend most of my day at work and only can play like an hour or two a night). Most games I can beat pretty quickly, but the grand scale took me as long as Knights of the Old Republic. Seriously, get this game!

When I first heard of this game, I had mixed feelings about it. KOTOR was a great game, but wasn't exactly one in my favorites list. Same with Jade Empire, so I had kind of medium expectations of the game. When it was released I decided to give it a chance, and bought the Limited Edition of the game.

At the very start, I was a little bored but as soon as I started playing on Eden Prime I was hooked. From that point through the rest of the game I was addicted to this game. I reached level 60 on my second play through and I can't wait for "Bring Down The Sky" to be released. The story itself is an amazing achievement.

I really enjoyed how the story plays out by your choice of multiple paths while in conversation, as well as being rewarded with EXP for choosing your paths. Another thing I enjoyed about the game is the gameplay itself.

Unlike KOTOR, its Action based, not turn based which really got my attention and helped made this game so fun, as well as the multiple side quests that can be done.

The only things about this game I did not like was not being able to skip cut scenes my second time through and the many glitches I encountered but other than those two I give this game a perfect 10.