Derrick
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
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BioWare has taken the formula from their award-winning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series and perfected it with Mass Effect. Make your apologies to family and friends ahead of time, because you won’t come up for air for about a week.
In November last year, Xbox 360 gamers received a nice Christmas present when EA and BioWare released Mass Effect. Since then, the rest of the world had to twiddle their collective thumbs in anticipation of a PC release.
The wait is over, and it’s worth it. Mass Effect tells the story of Commander Shepard (that’s you), the first human Specter, an elite branch of the galactic military charged with keeping peace in the universe. An ancient threat has re-emerged and only you and your squad of commandos can save civilisation from extinction. It may sound like a standard sci-fi plot, but the execution of the story line is done extremely well, and the game plays like a well-written, superbly acted movie.
What makes the story so engrossing is the way the game lets the player shape its direction. Using a ‘conversation wheel’, the player can pick from one of three different tones to advance the dialogue. One is the ‘Paragon’ option, one the ‘Renegade’ option and one is a balanced viewpoint that moves the story forward.
These two poles are not the clear-cut, blackand-white good and bad of BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic games, but instead a more nuanced scale along which you can find a comfortable point. Different choices can have a dramatic effect on how the story plays out, which in turn gives the game a lot of replay value.
Mass Effect isn’t all about conversation, though at times it can be a little overwhelming. (Every blueheaded, bug-eyed alien you run into is more than willing to share his entire life story with you). The combat system is brilliant and makes the game play like an action shooter reminiscent of Gears of War. You can micromanage your squad of soldiers if you choose, pausing the action to direct special powers and attacks, but it isn’t completely necessary. The AI is fairly decent, apart from the odd glitch here and there where your squad gets stuck behind a rock or tries to attack an enemy through the side of a building.
Don’t be fooled by the combat though. Mass Effect is still an RPG at heart, full of experience points, level-ups, armour upgrades and side quests. A few hours into the game, you’re given control of a ship and you’re free to explore the galaxy at your own pace. The storyline is nonlinear and you can take on tasks in any order you see fit.
The PC version has several improvements over the 360 version, none of them huge, but in total, they dramatically improve the game. The controls have been streamlined for the PC and abilities can be mapped to hotkeys, removing the need to pause the game every time you want to use a special power.
The squad-interface and inventory management screens have also been greatly improved. BioWare has created a true gem with Mass Effect. They’ve taken their brilliant KOTOR games, stripped away all the Star Wars cheese, and delivered the best sci-fi movie… err… game ever made.
In November last year, Xbox 360 gamers received a nice Christmas present when EA and BioWare released Mass Effect. Since then, the rest of the world had to twiddle their collective thumbs in anticipation of a PC release.
The wait is over, and it’s worth it. Mass Effect tells the story of Commander Shepard (that’s you), the first human Specter, an elite branch of the galactic military charged with keeping peace in the universe. An ancient threat has re-emerged and only you and your squad of commandos can save civilisation from extinction. It may sound like a standard sci-fi plot, but the execution of the story line is done extremely well, and the game plays like a well-written, superbly acted movie.
What makes the story so engrossing is the way the game lets the player shape its direction. Using a ‘conversation wheel’, the player can pick from one of three different tones to advance the dialogue. One is the ‘Paragon’ option, one the ‘Renegade’ option and one is a balanced viewpoint that moves the story forward.
These two poles are not the clear-cut, blackand-white good and bad of BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic games, but instead a more nuanced scale along which you can find a comfortable point. Different choices can have a dramatic effect on how the story plays out, which in turn gives the game a lot of replay value.
Mass Effect isn’t all about conversation, though at times it can be a little overwhelming. (Every blueheaded, bug-eyed alien you run into is more than willing to share his entire life story with you). The combat system is brilliant and makes the game play like an action shooter reminiscent of Gears of War. You can micromanage your squad of soldiers if you choose, pausing the action to direct special powers and attacks, but it isn’t completely necessary. The AI is fairly decent, apart from the odd glitch here and there where your squad gets stuck behind a rock or tries to attack an enemy through the side of a building.
Don’t be fooled by the combat though. Mass Effect is still an RPG at heart, full of experience points, level-ups, armour upgrades and side quests. A few hours into the game, you’re given control of a ship and you’re free to explore the galaxy at your own pace. The storyline is nonlinear and you can take on tasks in any order you see fit.
The PC version has several improvements over the 360 version, none of them huge, but in total, they dramatically improve the game. The controls have been streamlined for the PC and abilities can be mapped to hotkeys, removing the need to pause the game every time you want to use a special power.
The squad-interface and inventory management screens have also been greatly improved. BioWare has created a true gem with Mass Effect. They’ve taken their brilliant KOTOR games, stripped away all the Star Wars cheese, and delivered the best sci-fi movie… err… game ever made.