Bioware is famous for its RPGs. By the year 2007, they had already established a name for themselves, starting with Baldur's Gate, then Neverwinter Nights, moving up to Knights of the Old Republic (one of the only good Star Wars games around), then moving on to Jade Empire (possibly the only kung-fu RPG). They had also leased out their engine to other companies for games such as Icewind Dale, KOTOR II, and Neverwinter Nights 2. They decided to go in a new direction with Mass Effect, but were they successful?
Mass Effect, for those three people who have not heard of it and are on this website, is a mix of an RPG and a squad based shooter. You play as Commander Shepard of the Starship Enter...sorry, SSV Normandy. You start out on board, listening to banter between the pilot, Joker (voiced by Seth Green, in an unusually serious role) and Kaiden Alenko (voiced by Raphael Sbarge, who also did the voice for Carth Onasi in the KOTOR games). You have the choice of joining in, or reprimanding them for being unprofessional. Later, you get called into the comm room, where you are given a briefing by Captain Anderson (voiced by Keith David) and a Spectre (basically a Jedi with guns) named Nihlus (who practically screams "I will be killed soon in a 'stunning' twist") and land on a planet called Eden Prime. When you land, there is an alien attack, and stuff happens later on that I will not cover, as this is a review, not a plot synopsis.
The general story is possibly the best I've seen in a Western RPG. It's not really anything unique, but the way it is presented caused me to not want to skip the cutscenes, for fear I would miss the next plot twist. However, the storyline would go nowhere without strong characters to supplement it (one of the problems with Jade Empire). Luckily, this one has them. No characters (besides Nihlus) fall under any cliches. Except for the last squad member you get, Dr. Liara T'Soni. She is cliched (scientist who is shy and has the hots for you), but she is presented in a way to make her seem interesting in her very naivety.
One thing helping out with the characters is the incredible voice acting. Besides the aforementioned voice actors, others include Jennifer Hale doing the voice of the female Commander Shepard (she also did the voice of Bastila Shan in KOTOR and Samus Aran in the Metroid Prime games), Lance Henriksen as Admiral Hackett (if you do not know who Lance Henriksen is, you need to watch Aliens), and Fred Tatasciore as Saren (no other stand out roles, but he deserves mention). These are only the tip of the iceberg, but I do not wish to bore you by staying on any one subject too long.
The gameplay features guns, cover, and shooting. Not much strategy involved there. However, there are weapon upgrades, which you really have to learn to use if you are going to survive for more than six bloody seconds on the highest difficulty. Also, there are certain abilities you can unlock to assist you in battle, which do anything from KOing a humanoid enemy and poisoning him for a certain amount of DOT, to levitating an enemy, turning it into a form of skeet shooting. Your squad members can be annoying, getting in your way and yelling that they are under fire when they get shot in the big toe. This is rather minor, though, as the battles can really make your adrenaline go up. Also, there are vehicle sections, but your vehicle can be hard to handle for some people. Just a heads-up if you ever play the game. The controls on foot are fluid enough for most people to not need to re-map their controls, with the exception of the inconveniently placed grenade button. It's the back button. Seriously, WTF?
There is a lot of content in the game. There are at least 30 clusters, with each cluster having up to 4 systems, and each system having a planet to land on. All told, there are probably about 90 planets to land on. Each planet tends to have at least one sidequest tied to it as well. The scale of this game is simply, well, massive. The graphics are good, if you give a bit of leeway to the texture pop-in. The only real problem with the game is the loading screens disguised as elevator rides, but this is tempered somewhat by the announcements heard over the intercom and occasionally chatter between the two squad members you have with you.
I would recommend this game to anyone who calls themselves an RPG fan. The story is huge, the area to explore is huge, everything is huge. Just ask Ashley Williams (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). On a serious note, buy this. It is probably one of the best games available on the 360, and is the best Western RPG I've finished. (working on Morrowind, don't shoot). Buy it. You will not regret it.
Mass Effect, for those three people who have not heard of it and are on this website, is a mix of an RPG and a squad based shooter. You play as Commander Shepard of the Starship Enter...sorry, SSV Normandy. You start out on board, listening to banter between the pilot, Joker (voiced by Seth Green, in an unusually serious role) and Kaiden Alenko (voiced by Raphael Sbarge, who also did the voice for Carth Onasi in the KOTOR games). You have the choice of joining in, or reprimanding them for being unprofessional. Later, you get called into the comm room, where you are given a briefing by Captain Anderson (voiced by Keith David) and a Spectre (basically a Jedi with guns) named Nihlus (who practically screams "I will be killed soon in a 'stunning' twist") and land on a planet called Eden Prime. When you land, there is an alien attack, and stuff happens later on that I will not cover, as this is a review, not a plot synopsis.
The general story is possibly the best I've seen in a Western RPG. It's not really anything unique, but the way it is presented caused me to not want to skip the cutscenes, for fear I would miss the next plot twist. However, the storyline would go nowhere without strong characters to supplement it (one of the problems with Jade Empire). Luckily, this one has them. No characters (besides Nihlus) fall under any cliches. Except for the last squad member you get, Dr. Liara T'Soni. She is cliched (scientist who is shy and has the hots for you), but she is presented in a way to make her seem interesting in her very naivety.
One thing helping out with the characters is the incredible voice acting. Besides the aforementioned voice actors, others include Jennifer Hale doing the voice of the female Commander Shepard (she also did the voice of Bastila Shan in KOTOR and Samus Aran in the Metroid Prime games), Lance Henriksen as Admiral Hackett (if you do not know who Lance Henriksen is, you need to watch Aliens), and Fred Tatasciore as Saren (no other stand out roles, but he deserves mention). These are only the tip of the iceberg, but I do not wish to bore you by staying on any one subject too long.
The gameplay features guns, cover, and shooting. Not much strategy involved there. However, there are weapon upgrades, which you really have to learn to use if you are going to survive for more than six bloody seconds on the highest difficulty. Also, there are certain abilities you can unlock to assist you in battle, which do anything from KOing a humanoid enemy and poisoning him for a certain amount of DOT, to levitating an enemy, turning it into a form of skeet shooting. Your squad members can be annoying, getting in your way and yelling that they are under fire when they get shot in the big toe. This is rather minor, though, as the battles can really make your adrenaline go up. Also, there are vehicle sections, but your vehicle can be hard to handle for some people. Just a heads-up if you ever play the game. The controls on foot are fluid enough for most people to not need to re-map their controls, with the exception of the inconveniently placed grenade button. It's the back button. Seriously, WTF?
There is a lot of content in the game. There are at least 30 clusters, with each cluster having up to 4 systems, and each system having a planet to land on. All told, there are probably about 90 planets to land on. Each planet tends to have at least one sidequest tied to it as well. The scale of this game is simply, well, massive. The graphics are good, if you give a bit of leeway to the texture pop-in. The only real problem with the game is the loading screens disguised as elevator rides, but this is tempered somewhat by the announcements heard over the intercom and occasionally chatter between the two squad members you have with you.
I would recommend this game to anyone who calls themselves an RPG fan. The story is huge, the area to explore is huge, everything is huge. Just ask Ashley Williams (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). On a serious note, buy this. It is probably one of the best games available on the 360, and is the best Western RPG I've finished. (working on Morrowind, don't shoot). Buy it. You will not regret it.
