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"Mass Effect Review (Xbox 360)"

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Sat 16/02/08 at 15:58
Regular
"Soul Calibur RULES!"
Posts: 35
Mass Effect Review

There are many different types of Role Playing games, and the role-playing experience can vary dramatically, depending on what sort of game you choose to play. There are people who prefer to get together every other week, gathered around the large table with pizza, rulebooks and bits of paper, rolling dice until the early hours of the morning. Then there are the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) players, logging hundreds of hours on the same character in the same virtual world, fighting scripted dragons and monsters alongside players from countries all over the world in the pursuit of treasures with shinier graphics and higher numbers.

Then there are the single player RPGs. These are very personal experiences between the player and the game, it’s like reading an action-packed book where you are the hero, however unlike a book your choices dictate the way all the key events play out.

Mass Effect is a single-player role-playing game by the developer BioWare, launching the player into space on a sci-fi adventure that breaks new ground in video gaming. Playing Mass Effect transports you to a not so distant future, mankind discovered some ancient alien technology when they landed on Mars and through this technology they have catapulted themselves into space. Earth’s first contact with alien races did not go so well but humanity has quickly made a name for itself in the galaxy, by visiting distant star systems and starting to colonizing different planets.

You will play through Mass Effect as the character Commander Shepard, an experienced space marine whose approach to the challenges of tomorrow must be tackled by you today. You'll find yourself blasting lots of space robots into oblivion, and collecting plenty of new weapons and armors, but this game is more about experiencing a tantalizingly original vision of the future, and deciding for yourself how best to experience it.

Mass Effect's greatest quality is the strength of the narrative. BioWare has a proven track record of producing amazingly engrossing storylines, but never before have you been presented with this level of meaningful interaction. You'll experience difficult and thought provoking situations, with moral and ethical questions without a clear right or wrong answer. The Commander Shepard character is thus defined by the player’s involvement, sublimely capturing the essence of role playing.

You are limited as to how you pursue different approaches during in game situations. Your ability to make different choices is tied directly to how many points you've put into the Charm or Intimidate talents, for instance. And as should be expected, different responses to the same issue can lead to similar, if not exactly the same results. While some of the side story lines could have been explored to greater lengths and with a better ending than a paragraph of text, the main storyline is very strong.

The strength of the story is portrayed by some of the most impressive graphics seen to date in a Role Playing game. The eye-catching alien character designs are simple out of this world. The characters, their equipment, the worlds they inhabit, it's all remarkably detailed and a pleasure to examine and explore. However there are still some hardware limitations affecting performance here, you'll notice that quite often textures won’t load immediately and will take a few seconds to fully appear.

There aren't loads and loads of different alien species inhabiting this corner of the universe. The complexity of the game's different alien cultures and social structures is also quite evident. For example, you will find the all-female blue-skinned race of Asari throughout Mass Effect, some are occupying the highest offices of the galactic council and others are working as dancers in a gentleman's club.

Many of the characters you'll meet, human and alien, are more interesting than the usual cardboard cutout NPCs (Non Player Characters), and that's due largely to the strengths of the voice work and the excellent dialogue sequences. In the dialogue scenes, the characters emote in a believable and engrossing manner, with the use of body language and gestures that are a testament to the amount of thought and effort BioWare have put into the superlative dialogue sequences.

Fans of BioWare's previous games will also be pleased to know that the subject of romance is included and approached tastefully, thoughtfully, and quite entertainingly. It's good to see that interpersonal relationships can be included in games and handled with class, unlike previous attempts such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andrea and there "Hot Coffee" incident!

It's easy to slate the combat after experiencing the great role-playing elements. The main problem is that the game can be extremely hard on the higher difficulty settings if you’re playing as a character that isn’t Soldier class. These other characters use Tech or Biotic skills to boost there combat effectiveness, but these have a recharge time and quite often you need to find cover and call back you squad to defensive positions in order to survive. You'll also be well served by changing your equipment and upgrades to best fit every situation. For Example changing armor-piercing ammunition to shredder rounds when fighting organics can mean the difference between survival and death.

But even if you don’t like the combat part of the game, you may still find yourself completely in love with the prospect of exploring the Milky Way in your star ship. As well as the crucial story missions that are highlighted clearly on the Galaxy map, you are free to explore a large number of star systems. Each star system has multiple points of interest, which include planets, asteroids and moons that can be surveyed for mineral deposits or remnants of ancient civilizations, and some planets that can be explored through the use of your own armored all terrain vehicle.

However, it's not always a utopian future, some significant bugs and glitches found their way into the final release of Mass Effect, When trying to examine a crashed probe I had part of the screen freeze and couldn’t move properly, as I was on a dangerous planet my space suit soon gave way to the elements and I died, forcing me to restart from the auto save point. The AI controlling your squad mates is also less than perfect; your squad mates follow you around and at one point this lead to me being stuck in a corner unable to get out because they were standing in my way.

Putting aside the rare glitch in the game, if you want to be part of the greatest Role Playing Game that modern video gaming has to offer, then Mass Effect is the game for you. It takes interactive entertainment to outstanding new levels, Mass Effect is the best game I have played on the Xbox 360 and will be remembered as one of the best games of all time.

Rating 10/10
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Sat 16/02/08 at 15:58
Regular
"Soul Calibur RULES!"
Posts: 35
Mass Effect Review

There are many different types of Role Playing games, and the role-playing experience can vary dramatically, depending on what sort of game you choose to play. There are people who prefer to get together every other week, gathered around the large table with pizza, rulebooks and bits of paper, rolling dice until the early hours of the morning. Then there are the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) players, logging hundreds of hours on the same character in the same virtual world, fighting scripted dragons and monsters alongside players from countries all over the world in the pursuit of treasures with shinier graphics and higher numbers.

Then there are the single player RPGs. These are very personal experiences between the player and the game, it’s like reading an action-packed book where you are the hero, however unlike a book your choices dictate the way all the key events play out.

Mass Effect is a single-player role-playing game by the developer BioWare, launching the player into space on a sci-fi adventure that breaks new ground in video gaming. Playing Mass Effect transports you to a not so distant future, mankind discovered some ancient alien technology when they landed on Mars and through this technology they have catapulted themselves into space. Earth’s first contact with alien races did not go so well but humanity has quickly made a name for itself in the galaxy, by visiting distant star systems and starting to colonizing different planets.

You will play through Mass Effect as the character Commander Shepard, an experienced space marine whose approach to the challenges of tomorrow must be tackled by you today. You'll find yourself blasting lots of space robots into oblivion, and collecting plenty of new weapons and armors, but this game is more about experiencing a tantalizingly original vision of the future, and deciding for yourself how best to experience it.

Mass Effect's greatest quality is the strength of the narrative. BioWare has a proven track record of producing amazingly engrossing storylines, but never before have you been presented with this level of meaningful interaction. You'll experience difficult and thought provoking situations, with moral and ethical questions without a clear right or wrong answer. The Commander Shepard character is thus defined by the player’s involvement, sublimely capturing the essence of role playing.

You are limited as to how you pursue different approaches during in game situations. Your ability to make different choices is tied directly to how many points you've put into the Charm or Intimidate talents, for instance. And as should be expected, different responses to the same issue can lead to similar, if not exactly the same results. While some of the side story lines could have been explored to greater lengths and with a better ending than a paragraph of text, the main storyline is very strong.

The strength of the story is portrayed by some of the most impressive graphics seen to date in a Role Playing game. The eye-catching alien character designs are simple out of this world. The characters, their equipment, the worlds they inhabit, it's all remarkably detailed and a pleasure to examine and explore. However there are still some hardware limitations affecting performance here, you'll notice that quite often textures won’t load immediately and will take a few seconds to fully appear.

There aren't loads and loads of different alien species inhabiting this corner of the universe. The complexity of the game's different alien cultures and social structures is also quite evident. For example, you will find the all-female blue-skinned race of Asari throughout Mass Effect, some are occupying the highest offices of the galactic council and others are working as dancers in a gentleman's club.

Many of the characters you'll meet, human and alien, are more interesting than the usual cardboard cutout NPCs (Non Player Characters), and that's due largely to the strengths of the voice work and the excellent dialogue sequences. In the dialogue scenes, the characters emote in a believable and engrossing manner, with the use of body language and gestures that are a testament to the amount of thought and effort BioWare have put into the superlative dialogue sequences.

Fans of BioWare's previous games will also be pleased to know that the subject of romance is included and approached tastefully, thoughtfully, and quite entertainingly. It's good to see that interpersonal relationships can be included in games and handled with class, unlike previous attempts such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andrea and there "Hot Coffee" incident!

It's easy to slate the combat after experiencing the great role-playing elements. The main problem is that the game can be extremely hard on the higher difficulty settings if you’re playing as a character that isn’t Soldier class. These other characters use Tech or Biotic skills to boost there combat effectiveness, but these have a recharge time and quite often you need to find cover and call back you squad to defensive positions in order to survive. You'll also be well served by changing your equipment and upgrades to best fit every situation. For Example changing armor-piercing ammunition to shredder rounds when fighting organics can mean the difference between survival and death.

But even if you don’t like the combat part of the game, you may still find yourself completely in love with the prospect of exploring the Milky Way in your star ship. As well as the crucial story missions that are highlighted clearly on the Galaxy map, you are free to explore a large number of star systems. Each star system has multiple points of interest, which include planets, asteroids and moons that can be surveyed for mineral deposits or remnants of ancient civilizations, and some planets that can be explored through the use of your own armored all terrain vehicle.

However, it's not always a utopian future, some significant bugs and glitches found their way into the final release of Mass Effect, When trying to examine a crashed probe I had part of the screen freeze and couldn’t move properly, as I was on a dangerous planet my space suit soon gave way to the elements and I died, forcing me to restart from the auto save point. The AI controlling your squad mates is also less than perfect; your squad mates follow you around and at one point this lead to me being stuck in a corner unable to get out because they were standing in my way.

Putting aside the rare glitch in the game, if you want to be part of the greatest Role Playing Game that modern video gaming has to offer, then Mass Effect is the game for you. It takes interactive entertainment to outstanding new levels, Mass Effect is the best game I have played on the Xbox 360 and will be remembered as one of the best games of all time.

Rating 10/10

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