Mass Effect Reviews

UGO and Extreme Gamer have both taken a closer look at Mass Effect, mixing a few different opinions into the vat. UGO thinks the game falls disappointingly short in far too many places, but still gives it a B+.

Those familiar with BioWare’s previous games will find a surprising lack of depth in Mass Effect’s leveling up process. Each character possesses a limited set of skills which can be improved at the cost of one point apiece, with one or two of said points being earned for each level achieved. There are also no basic ability scores such as strength or agility and no access to non-class skills at a greater point cost. Even a mid-game sidequest which allows players to choose a specialty class for Shepard has little effect, adding just one new skill to the list and nothing more.

Of course, the relative dearth of skills isn’t so noticeable since Mass Effect’s combat system hardly encourages making use of them. Encounters with the enemy play out entirely in real time. You can hold down either of the bumpers to pause the game and select weapons or skills for any of your party members from pop-up radial menus. One skill can also be quick-mapped for easy access but pausing to get to the rest can be jarring due to the action-heavy nature of combat. Likewise, you can issue orders to your party members, but it’s often more rewarding to let the competent AI do its job.

In fact, this is one of Mass Effect’s key problems. There are gameplay mechanics in place which cater to the slower pace found in former BioWare RPGs, but the elimination of combat “turns” makes them a pain to deal with. Mass Effect feels like it was designed as an action RPG from the outset, with the illusion of turn-based support added in almost as an afterthought.

Canadian Extreme Gamer sees little of such flaws, giving the game a 9.6/10.

After the last bullet has left the chamber there is more than enough words to quill your violent ways. In Mass Effect you’ll hear enough dialog to put any nearby watcher into dreamland. Luckily Mass Effect`s dialog system is quite clever. The conversation’s call up a response selector that can be pushed a desired response via a click knock to the analog stick. The choices play out in a neutral, good or bad attitude, or more like a sympathetic, friendly, or cocky brash attitude. Like KOTOR’s light and dark side of the force you have a Paragon and Renegade alignments. These alignments basically helps you talk you way around situations with a good or bad attitude. It is unfortunate Mass Effect`s alignments did have a deeper effect past words like their other two RPGs.

Conversations can last a long time, so be prepared to listen if you want to learn the most from Mass Effect. You have the ability to drag them out the more your character develops his skills which fit into two categories charm and intimidation. Both selections are exactly what they sound like and can be used as persuasion to accomplishing goals. Using the analog stick to convey quick emotional responses makes response time seem more natural, keeping the responses realistic and fresh. I know Bioware will be catching the eyes of developers around the world because this system is a vast improvement over the traditional approach in role playing games.