Mass Effect Review

Five years ago, Bioware began one of the most beloved science fiction trilogies of this generation with the original Mass Effect. After many deals and negotiations the original has finally landed on PS3 and in most ways it is very much the same deep and immersive adventure you remember, though this hasn’t changed much of its shortcomings either.

In the year 2181 humanity has advanced its technology to travel through the stars with the help of space stations known as Mass Relays and has since made contact with numerous alien species. From here, Mass Effect begins the tale of Commander Shepherd, a male or female alliance officer who begins a seemingly routine mission to the human colony Eden Prime. But just as they are set to head into orbit, the colony suffers an attack from an unknown vessel and a platoon of Geth forces led by turian rogue special agent Saren. It becomes clear to Shepherd and his or her crew that Saren has dark schemes for not only the human race but the entire galaxy. Commissioned by the Citadel Council, Shepherd sets out on the SSV Normandy, now a fully equipped council spectre to stop Saren by any means necessary. The story in Mass Effect has not necessarily been known for tight narratives and dynamic plot twists but more the characters that inhabit the world and the decisions you’ll have to make to either a paragon or renegade scale which can once again have a dramatic effect on those around you. You’ll meet, fight alongside and possibly betray a wide range of interesting characters that all have their own stories to tell though some of these don’t really progress much further than the odd conversation aboard the Normandy. Regardless the story of Shepherd verses the sinister plotting of Saren still holds plenty of mystery that gradually materialises through the adventure and above all, adds to the lore of this fascinating sci-fi world.

Mass Effect is a massive game packed with missions, side quests and secrets to uncover that will stretch to well over twenty hours for RPG fans that delight in exploration. Starting the game allows you to choose Shepherd’s military background, appearance, gender and class which will determine your play style through the game. While all classes have access to all weapons, only the soldier can use all four weapon classes effectively. The others are a combination or full focus into tech or biotic powers that can be used constantly. Character classes’ offer varied play styles but some abilities are recycled into multiple classes, particularly the Sentinel and Adept classes, both of whom specialise in biotic abilities, which may diminish the appeal of multiple play-throughs for some. The many missions take you to varied locales that can stretch across multiple star systems. One could start aboard the massive Citadel Space Station and end all the way on the other side of the galaxy taking on a space pirate leader. Main missions are also long and extensive offering ample opportunity to talk to people, shoot up enemies, solve light puzzles and drive around in the Mako, an all terrain tank that often seems too overpowered at times. Unfortunately the numerous missions where you explore uncharted planets using this vehicle quickly grow tiresome. Planets can be lush and detailed but rather than offer up unique loot and rewards you’re instead forced into gathering minerals, fighting the occasional enemy and worst of all, heading inside near identical looking buildings or ships to complete samey objectives over and over again. There is also no way to know which planets have been fully surveyed, leaving you to blindly pour through the different systems again or make a check list to ensure every last one is completed. Despite the repetitive nature of the missions, the role playing elements are possibly the deepest that Bioware has ever created; enormous skill trees for both Shepherd and squad members are a constant presence, unlocking upgrades and even new abilities across the ten ranks for every power and the loot system is huge offering a gargantuan range of weapons, upgrades and special ammo types that do different forms of damage to specific enemy types. Though the loot system does end up feeling practically worthless when the coveted ‘’Master Gear’’ is acquired, the journey there is varied and packed with room for experimentation. Conversations and morality choice as in other Mass Effect games is handled via dialogue wheels which can unearth new details from characters or convince them using charm or intimidate, though you will need to pump points into either of these to unlock new dialogue options. It remains immensely satisfying to solve a tricky situation diplomatically and PS3 owners now have full access to every decision in the Mass Effect universe which marks an improvement as the dark horse comic that only offered major decisions. The PS3 also comes with the ‘’Bring down the Sky’’ DLC already installed, a generous touch from Bioware.

Gameplay in Mass Effect is divided into shooting, decision making and exploration with shooting taking up most of the proceedings during missions. Drawing your weapon from a choice of pistols, shotguns, assault rifles and sniper rifles, you can take cover by pressing up against a wall or pillar and peek out to line up shots. For the most part it works well but sometimes it can get fiddly, especially when your teammates hog the cover to themselves and often fire at walls rather than enemies. A mostly linear style of gunplay means that cover is often layered directly in the enemy’s line of fire making it essential to use cover to stay alive, especially on normal difficulty upwards. What spices things in a merely competent shooting mechanic is the multitude of powers both you and the enemy can use. Throw and Lift can force enemies out of choke points or knock them over; overload does heavy damage to synthetics while neural shock can incapacitate organic enemies briefly; powers can also enhance your shields, health and weapon prowess which can be particularly useful when running low on medi-gel, which serves the only means of restoring health in combat. You’ll mostly be battling various Geth forces, space pirates and the occasional boss that all use their own individual powers to catch you out, not the most varied or smart bunch but they do require different tactics to defeat. On the other hand melee combat isn’t handled too well. Many times when you try to charge in and knock an enemy down, you’ll end up missing them completely, leaving you open to enemy fire; you’ll instead rely on getting up close and batting an enemy with the weapon you have equipped. Similarly squad commands go fairly underdeveloped for the most part, you can command them to hold a certain point regroup and focus on one particular enemy, and the rest including powers is handled automatically. Teammates have a tendency to act awkwardly at times, being locked in position behind Shepherd and not going to cover properly. Despite these issues, Mass Effect’s combat has a unique tactical feel as a result which makes it easy to overlook the average third person cover gameplay.

Though the production values and overall presentation of Mass Effect continue to look stunning on PS3 the technical issues that plagued the other versions rear their ugly heads once more. It’s a shame, considering Bioware and EA had so long to sort them out. In the first play through in particular you’ll face numerous bugs including game crashes at load screens, missing textures when engaging abilities such as barrier, the Mako’s wheels becoming stuck on nothing and the obligatory character snapping into the next animation or not being visible that have been so associated with the series among many others. With that said, the utterly flawless facial animations and vast world filled with little details do redeem the overall package slightly. As long as you have the patience to work around the annoyances of the technical issues you’ll find another beautiful RPG that keeps the bar level for graphics this generation. Voice acting is also superb, brilliantly conveying the character’s motives whereas the music is either ambient and tense, fitting the tone whether you’re traversing the vast galaxy or battling a colossal Thresher Maw in an icy landscape.

Mass Effect is an enjoyable game with plenty of ambition but it falls short of its sequels due to repetitive and tedious exploration and a lack of effort in ironing out the technical issues that plagued the original releases on Xbox 360 and PC.  

Rating: 8/10