Mass Effect Review

[oblivliam1]

Mass Effect is an RPG set in a future were aliens are the norm and humans is treated like second class citizens.The player takes the role of Commander Shepard a human spectre, Shepard is either male or female depending on the player. It was critised heavily by the media for a contoversial alien sex scene, despite gaining a 12 rating by the BBFC in the UK.

The gameplay is far from the traditional RPG element. RPG's are usually set in the past involving magic and the like, Mass Effect breaks the mould but as it worth it. Mass effect is a bit like marmite, some gamers will love it others will condeme it and it's hard to decide at first.

The earlier missions are set in the citadel a giant and interesting space station with some fantastic people to meet, just how a RPG should be. But this can be as good as it gets. Once you get control of your own ship and travel to distant planets, the appeal of the game starts to fade. The repetive land on a planet drive around in the mako shoot some Geth system starts to become exactly that a SYSTEM. You start to get board with the game and for me thats when you give up and put Halo 3 on.

As for the main story, it can all a bit linear after a while and for a RPG that is very bad. It is quite enjoyable to see multiple cut scenes depending on your characters decessions and profile, but this is were it ends. There is no multiple way's to finish missions and this starts to become a chore. RPG's are supposed to be the only genre were you shouldn't be able to solve every problem with a strategy guide but you can. This brings the appeal down just a bit.

 

[CtrlZee]

Mass Effect is a huge game. To create such a gigantic universe of stages (pun intended) and NOT have some repetition is near impossible, unless you want to change the mechanics of the gameplay, which wasn't necessary in the slightest. To say that an RPG's basis has always been set in the past, with swords/shields/ye olde english is one of the most naive things that has ever been stated. Even back in the day when text adventures were the big thing, space based RPG's were aplenty.

 

[Ashbax]

aye, this is a very short, poor and not thought out Review.

 

[Hazy]

Me thinks it be too short.

Also, a few Spelling/Punctuation mistakes. I'll revise your first paragraph just to prove my point.

Mass Effect is an RPG set in a future where aliens are the norm and humans are treated like second class citizens. The player takes the role of Commander Shepard, a human spectre. Shepard is either male or female, depending on the player. It was criticized heavily by the media for a contoversial alien sex scene, despite gaining a 12 rating by the BBFC in the UK.

 

[andrat]

So.
Let me get this straight.
You get "board" with the story.

 

[LANCE420]

Mass Effect is the only RPG I truly enjoyed. It's the only one that kept me interested enough to finish. Probably because it was so short.

 

[iain62a]

The review isn't bad, it's just really short.

 

[oblivliam1]

A review is usually one persons opinion and I think that's what I had given.

 

[Vrex360]

I love the parody here, a long massive complex and deeply layered game gets a short review that spans only a couple of paragraphs.
Lovely satire.

 

[oblivliam1]

I love the parody here, a long massive complex and deeply layered game gets a short review that spans only a couple of paragraphs.
Lovely satire.

It doesn't need anymore than a few paragraphs it's that linear.

 

[AbstractD]

A review is usually one persons opinion and I think that's what I had given.

I think your opinions lacked a bit of baking up to really be considered a complete review.

That said, I think you expected a clasic fantasy RPG in space, but Mass Effect gave you something else.

Mass Effect is an RPG set in a future were aliens are the norm and humans is treated like second class citizens.The player takes the role of Commander Shepard a human spectre, Shepard is either male or female depending on the player. It was critised heavily by the media for a contoversial alien sex scene, despite gaining a 12 rating by the BBFC in the UK.

Yeah, apparently. But I think it's worth mentioning that playing the game to see the 'controversy' will leave you seriously disappointed. The romance was a nice touch, but generally felt rather.. uh.. excuse me for saying it, stiff! There was very little dynamic between you and your love and things kinda happened out of the blue.

"Heya, I like you, let's do it!"
"Oh, why not.."
"Yup, I'm glad, you too?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Let's go finish this story already so I can do a heroic pose before you."
Such passion!

The gameplay is far from the traditional RPG element. RPG's are usually set in the past involving magic and the like, Mass Effect breaks the mould but as it worth it. Mass effect is a bit like marmite, some gamers will love it others will condeme it and it's hard to decide at first.

Mass Effect isn't different because it's no longer magic and the like though. It still has that, just under a different name. Biotics. Which are pretty cool! And I suppose you could count engineering abilities as well, to some extend.
It's just the entire feel and game play mechanics that set it apart from more traditional RPGs.

The earlier missions are set in the citadel a giant and interesting space station with some fantastic people to meet, just how a RPG should be. But this can be as good as it gets. Once you get control of your own ship and travel to distant planets, the appeal of the game starts to fade. The repetive land on a planet drive around in the mako shoot some Geth system starts to become exactly that a SYSTEM. You start to get board with the game and for me thats when you give up and put Halo 3 on.

As for the main story, it can all a bit linear after a while and for a RPG that is very bad. It is quite enjoyable to see multiple cut scenes depending on your characters decessions and profile, but this is were it ends. There is no multiple way's to finish missions and this starts to become a chore. RPG's are supposed to be the only genre were you shouldn't be able to solve every problem with a strategy guide but you can. This brings the appeal down just a bit.

I for one was glad to get out of the Citadel. And you're right, I suppose. Doing the side-quests on the planets could easily get a bit bland. But the great thing about Mass Effect is that you don't -have- to do them.It leaves you a choice to go and gather some extra equipment and experience, or just go on with your main purpose, ie. saving the galaxy! In fact, the game made me feel like I was running out of time, all the time! "No, I cannot go find your freaking missing scientists! I've wasted too much time on idle chit-chat and Saren probably has reached that important place already! Now leave me be, whiners!"
So yeah, I did skip several side-quests because the main quests kept me going.

And you do get choices. Several. Even choices you really don't want to make. It's here where Mass Effect shines. You get to make choices all the time. And they matter. They shape your character, his or her motives and they shape how you play the game.

The game doesn't limit your options any more than any other RPG. What you need, is more points in your charm and intimidate skills!


I tremendously enjoyed this game. Give me Mass Effect 2. Right here, right now.

No, I mean it! Now!

 

[Knight Templar]

I love the parody here, a long massive complex and deeply layered game gets a short review that spans only a couple of paragraphs.
Lovely satire.

It doesn't need anymore than a few paragraphs it's that linear.

Oh you're being stupid intentionaly, because there is no way somebody could look at that and go "Yep, thats a good review".
EDIT: Oh, guess not...
Sorry.

 

[oblivliam1]

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK YOU PEOPLE ON THIS CRAPPY WEBSITE SHOULD REALLY GET A LIFE, PICKING UP ON EVERY LITTLE THING, DO YOU EVEN HAVE JOBS. PROBABLY NOT, BUT ONE THING'S FOR SURE YOU MAKE ME SICK!

 

[Gamer137]

Mass Effect is a huge game. To create such a gigantic universe of stages (pun intended) and NOT have some repetition is near impossible.

Some repetition is alright. However, Mass Effect bonus worlds, or whatever you want to call them, are all about repetition. Besides, repetition is not an excuse for big worlds. Any developer can copy and paste the same ten models over and over again until you get another gigabyte or so of game data. Big worlds are no good unless it has some quality. I can write a ten page paper in english, but I will still get an F if it has no subtance, like proper mechanics and sources. And Mass Effect's universe outside the required planets get a big fat F.

 

[dirk45]

Even back in the day when text adventures were the big thing, space based RPG's were aplenty.

Does somebody else remember Leather Godesses of Phobos? Now that was a great adventure.

 

[AnimaWish]

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK YOU PEOPLE ON THIS CRAPPY WEBSITE SHOULD REALLY GET A LIFE, PICKING UP ON EVERY LITTLE THING, DO YOU EVEN HAVE JOBS. PROBABLY NOT, BUT ONE THING'S FOR SURE YOU MAKE ME SICK!

That sentence is all wrong. Let me correct it for you.

Sex, sex, sex YOU PEOPLE ON THIS terrible WEBSITE SHOULD REALLY GET some lives. PICKING UP ON EVERY LITTLE nuance! DO YOU EVEN HAVE careers? PROBABLY NOT. ONE THING'S FOR SURE, though, and that's the fact that YOU MAKE ME SICK.

There you go. With a little practice, you may be able to make an ass of yourself on an 8th grade level!

 

[Cowabungaa]

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK YOU PEOPLE ON THIS CRAPPY WEBSITE SHOULD REALLY GET A LIFE, PICKING UP ON EVERY LITTLE THING, DO YOU EVEN HAVE JOBS. PROBABLY NOT, BUT ONE THING'S FOR SURE YOU MAKE ME SICK!

A typical internet reaction to this would be "QQ MOAR" but I won't do that. No, first of all: settle down, you can expect honest comment in the Review section on this forum, don't whine so much about it, rather learn from it.

*ahem*

On to the review. While it's obviously too short for this game, he makes a very important point: yes, everything outside the main quest is EXTREMELY repetative. Missions can have interesting endings sometimes (negotiating with those biotic terrorists, for example) but the rest is just extremely bland. Land on interchangeable planet number 15, enter interchangeabele structure number 34 and shoot interchangeable enemies. Rince and repeat: /yawn. Mass Effect is NOT encourageing the player to explore the galaxy. I felt especially screwed over when a planet is described to have a particulary lush ecoystem, where insects grow to extremely large sizes. But when I land, it's the same ol' mountains-with-grass-textures again. That's not just bad game design, that's simply lying to the player. If you say a world looks a certain way, actually make it look like that when we can land on it. And that counts for every planet, whereither it's barren, Mercury style planet with volcanoes and sulphur rivers and whatnot, a desert world or a lush tropical planet, I don't care: give landable planets their own faces.