Customer Reviews

Mass Effect Volume 1: Redemption

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Playing Mass Effect created an obsession for me. From the music, asthetics, characters, and story it had me hooked from the beginning.

I was really looking forward to this graphic novel. I just want more of the Mass Effect universe. However, after finishing the full series in the graphic novel form, I was very underwhelmed.

The art looks goofy and cartoonish. I don't mind some artistic variation for a comic, but it feels so disconnected from the Mass Effect world.

The biggest issue I had was with the characterizations and dialogue. Since when did Liara become and "shoot first, ask questions later" type? There are cheesy one liners, and each action sequence seems to consist of spying on someone, then jumping them.

Those are antithetical traits to what Mass Effect is all about. The level of mature dialogue and paced action are what felt like a truly mature game experience. This ended up more like Jr High fanfiction. Very disappointing.

The art doesn't exactly portray Liara well, but it is a good comic book indeed. The art is still pretty good, and as a fan of mass effect, I really liked how it matched the story line between mass effect 1 and 2. Moreover, the dark horse edition has all the volumes, so it was a plus!

Very happy that my love of the Mass Effect series got me to hunt down the novels and comics related to the series as a whole! This was a great read and certainly gave a bit more insight to the goings-on in the galaxy pre-Mass Effect 2. It has art that's nice to look at and an interesting and engaging story that will keep you reading until the last page where you'll wish there was more.

I do NOT agree with the top review on this comic AT ALL. This comic is VERY MUCH about Mass Effect and VERY specifically the Shadow Broker DLC from Mass Effect 2. This comic explains what happened to Shepard's Body between Mass Effect 1 and 2.

IF you have played the Mass Effect 2 Shadow Broker DLC you will VERY EASILY be able to follow the comic (as you will already know all of the characters for the comic book), if you have no played the Shadow Broker DLC the comic will still explain what happened to Shepard's Body BUT it will be slightly harder to follow AND you might get a sense that it does not actually pertain to the Mass Effect story, but it does.

Also if you havent played the Shadow Broker DLC for Mass Effect 2 do yourself a favor and play it. It takes over and hour to complete (which is good since you are paying for it) and is fun (and adds to the Mass Effect 2 story).

Good comic it gives you a little more of back ground story, set before the events of Mass Effect 2

I enjoyed the storyline to this, but it was a bit shorter than I would have liked. Drawings were well done, and a good lead into Mass Effect 2.

I played and loved Mass Effect 1 so much that I bought Mass Effect 2 for full price on the day it was released. I never pay full price. I absolutely loved Mass Effect 2 also, and never really felt like I was missing anything that happened between the two games. However that is basically where this comic falls in the timeline. Actually the events in this comic take place immediately after the events of the opening cut-scene in ME2, just to be precise.

A few people have argued that the Liara T'Soni of this comic does not really mesh with the Liara T'Soni of ME1. As someone who explored the romantic option with Liara in the first game though, I would have to disagree. Here is someone who fought from one end of the galaxy to the other by the side of Commander Shepard, someone who went through heck and back to defeat an overwhelming enemy, someone who fell in love and then lost that love.

What would you do if you found out that that enemy was trying to steal your loved ones remains for some unknown (probably nefarious) reason)? Would you go to any lengths necessary to prevent that from happening? THAT is the Liara T'Soni that we see in this book. And it fits in perfectly with the Liara that we see in ME2. In fact, if you plan on playing (or already have played) the Lair of the Shadow Broker this is a must read. It will really fill in some of the blanks and prepare you for that story.

* * * POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOLLOW * * *

The comic does an excellent job as a filler to bring you up to speed on the events between the end of the original Mass Effect game and the beginning of Mass Effect 2, but it does it in such a way that's more or less unbelievable due to the fact that Liara's character in the original Mass Effect is one of a naive innocence, concern, and loving tenderness. Somehow, though, by the time we catch up to her in Redemption, she's a hardcore hardass that can throw her weight around like one of the big boys, with a distinct level of indifference for the safety of others, so long as she can be reuinited with Shepard.

To be honest, though, I guess she does more closely resemble the Liara that you run into in ME2 here in Redemption, so... it's not too far-fetched.

Just far-fetched enough to irk me.

Great art and a good story. Liara is a little different and more impulsive than she appeared in Mass Effect 1, but she had to become the illusive information broker you meet in ME 2. For fans of the games, this is a great trip into the ME story line.

On a whim I bought ME1 for $10 from EA's store when they were having a sale two months before the launch of ME2. That started my obsession. I absolutely love Liara T'Soni and was worried what the future was for her when I met her on Illium in ME2. I won the comics in their Bazaar on their social networking website but I definitely would buy it. However, still I was worried about my own characters relationship with her. Then they released the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC. All of this makes for a very interesting story and I look forward to playing ME3 and continuing our story.

As for the Comic Books? I love them, but I realize I am biased because of the video games. I would definitely recommend anyone that finds this interesting to get ME1 for $10-20. The game is fantabulous even with it being released 3 years ago. I think those who do will get a worthy amount of enjoyment out of this Comic Book series.