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Mass Effect
One of the hottest Xbox360 titles this holiday season, is it worth buying? The answer is, of course, yes.
Posted by Sticky on Jan 1st, 2008 digg this super bookmark
Review
Mass Effect has been in development...pretty much since Knights of the Old Republic II had gone gold. That much development shows but can a game be over-developed? Possibly.
Storyline/Plot
Mass Effect's storyline is actually very well thought out. A driving storyline and plot makes for a very user-involved experience, and each choice in the game affects how the game plays. Different choices lead to different responses from different characters, and there's a multitude of choices to be made throughout the game, making it very replayable. I can't really say much more about the game's story, because it's so rich and full. Suffice to say, it's a great variation on the ages-old tales of one man against impossible odds.
Sound
The voice acting is top notch. Veteran actors, ones like Keith David and Lance Henrikson and Fred Tatasciore, provide voices for many of the key roles in Mass Effect. The roles are played with passion, and all the voices just seem to meld perfectly with the characters. Music is well done, if a bit repetitive. The galaxy map music is very atmospheric, and really lends the size of the game credence. No complaints here for sure.
Graphics
Graphics are, in a word, breathtaking. I have some issues with them though. They overextend the 360's hardware. For those of you who played Halo 2: remember the textures "popping" in and out in the game? It's the same here, but much more pronounced and the framerate will occasionally lag. Most of the time, it's after a level loads, but the textures load slower than a level, so you may have to deal with Quake textures for a bit while the texture image catches up with the game.
Gameplay
Gameplay truly is the meat and potatoes of the game. The "conversation wheel" allows you to be Sir Chivalrous the Good Hearted or Lord Asshole the Bastard. The conversations are important to the storyline, so pay attention. Another really nifty feature is the availability to replay the game from the start with your character from the previous game. I started a new game today after beating it yesterday, and it allows you to replay the game and go in a different direction (for example, I'm being a complete dick through this playthrough, while last play I was a good guy through and through) and the higher base level means things are easier. You also start with the gear you had at the ending of the last game. There are a few gripes though, such as driving and friendly AI. The driving is a bit wonky, and feels loose. The gun on the top doesn't do near enough damage to be a 155mm cannon, the shields recharge too slowly, and the armor must just be for show, because it wouldn't protect against a well-placed rock.
Pros of Mass Effect
- Engaging story
- Very replayable
- Tons of places to explore
- A lot of character and conversation choices
- Expert voice acting
- Vibrant graphics
Cons of Mass Effect
- Driving. Ugh.
- Friendly "synthetic" intelligence (Mass Effect reference in a Mass Effect review!) isn't so intelligent
- Overextension of textures
- Occasional framerate problems
- Bad autosave system. Do it manually after a hard battle.
Sticky's Final Verdict: 9.0
Mass Effect is worth a buy. If you have a 360, it's damn near a requirement to own. Being that this is part of a trilogy, if Mass Effect is any indication of how good the other two games will be, I might as well pre-order them now.
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© 2002 - 2009 DesuraNET Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 1581 modders online.
© 2002 - 2009 DesuraNET Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 1581 modders online.
ugh... This IS moddb right? So why is a review for an xbox360 game, that will most likely not be modded) on here?
EA might have plans to make it multiplatform after a recent article I read. I wouldn't be surprised if it made an appearance on the PC. Moddable, on the other hand, I'm not completely sure of, but it would be awesome (and I'm sure possible regardless).
if thou cared to articulate their perception in a manner allowing keen observation of the aformentioned 'moddb', they will soon notice that sections of interest have been extended to the realms of consoles, such as the xbox 360.
Sorry watching Pirates of the Carribean, big fan of Mr Sparrows speak :-D
Basically, moddb is first and foremost about modding, but its also about gaming in general. YES it's about developing and encouraging an active mod community, but there are many things to be learned from non moddable games too.
In this case the narrative and general structure of Mass Effect is something every gamer should atleast experience. Without Games there would be no mods, just because a game cannot be modded does not mean there is nothing to be gained or learned from it, if it was that 99% of the articles here suddenly became console related I would too voice concern, but given that it's far closer to 1% i dont think its worth getting in a huff about.
Great Game, Nice Review, Cheers Sticky!
I think this game could make some great mods if it WAS on the pc and it most likely will come so i guess i should hush up.
never hush!! god gave man the ability to develop individual opinions and the means of expressing them for a reason :-P
It would be awesome to see some user created side quests and whatnot, though I would imagine the scale of Mass Effect might be a little much for all but the most dedicated/well organised of teams. WOuld be a fine thing to see though!
Glad you guys are digging the game. Nice review, thanks Sticky!
This guy's from Bioware. I can tell from the email he sent me.
Love the game man! :D
Played it twice. Beat it twice.
I thought the story was amazing in the game so I picked up the book titled "Mass Effect: Revelation" and that too was awesome. I am now a huge Mass Effect fan and cannot wait for the sequel.
This seems very pointless to post about an Xbox game on ModDB when your fanbase consists mostly of PC gamers. This game doesn't even exist to most PC gamers because it DOESN'T exist. If a game is not on the PC it doesn't deserve to be mentioned because it won't be modded and it shouldn't be on ModDB.
Aka get this shit off here.
Your name is apt. Don't like the review? Don't fucking post.
LaDouche, read my original response to Broadsword
Ah, you fellas know most stuff does make it out to the PC, thankfully. I'd like to see some mods for consoles as well.
I don't think reviews should be on the front-page news.
"there's a multitude of choices to be made throughout the game, making it very replayable"
Do your choices have consequences? That's what differentiates RPGs from games like Oblivion, where your choices don't really count for shit.
"The "conversation wheel" allows you to be Sir Chivalrous the Good Hearted or Lord Asshole the Bastard."
From what I've heard though, oftentimes the words displayed on the wheel may come out as a completely different sentence altogether, which makes you have less control on shaping your character. I've also heard that a lot of times conversation choices don't matter and that whatever you pick you get the same answer from the npc, which is typical for Bioware games.
The different conversation choices typically lead to variations on other NPCs responses, but the true reason for selecting certain responses is to get Renegade or Paragon scores.
Hehe... Yathzee speaks a complete different story though. He beat it to death :D . Can't comment myself but putting those two reviews side by side is like day and night ;)
i wish they bring mass effect out on the pc ive got it for the 360 and its excelent, but thats before my 360 decided to break for no reason, i realy recomend the pc to 360 especialy with the problem in mass effect with the textures, the pcs are just so more powerful
Ya, there's not much we could've done about the popping, it's inherit of UE3
yeah, but thankfully textures on PC load before the game starts, 90% of the time.
ROFL, i love how you didnt include gunplay under the cons
I never had an issue with the gunplay. I always found it to be well-balanced.
Absolutely loved Mass Effect. One of my personal games of the year. Got the art book too which is aces.
Admittedly the non story, drive around a barren planet bits got a bit samey. But hey, what are sequels for?
i liked how seth green did the voice of joker. seth green does many of the voices on some shows on adult swim and i think he writes some of them (robot chicken and family guy i think)
The game is OK but i believe its over rated! once you complete it you have to start again. The fights aren't great as there isn't enough variety to the gun fights. The powers are great and you can have so much fun with them. The squad command is also good and the squad choice is a good idea, both of these ideas show great resemblance to Ghost Recon. The side missions in my opinion aren't that great. After completing it once, I wasn't left wanting more. I enjoyed it but i would only give it 6/10.
Hehe Jack should do his own reviews :D
haha lol tht wud be funni