[Late to the Party] Mass Effect
SabreCat:
When I used to daydream about getting an Xbox 360, prior to those daydreams becoming reality, two games provided the reason for the fantasy: Mirror's Edge, and Mass Effect. The latter, at least, proved deserving of the anticipation!
Premise: Humanity is a recent arrival to the galactic stage, where "element zero" and a phenomenon called the "mass effect" allow all manner of cinematic science-fiction awesomeness, like instantaneous interstellar travel and the power to throw people around with your mind. As the highly player-malleable protagonist Commander Shepard, you'll embark on a meandering quest to save the galaxy and cement Humanity's place in it. The plot unfolds via myriad branching dialogues with a colorful cast of characters, and action takes place in an over-the-shoulder run-and-gun battle system overlaid with RPG character-building elements. Sounds pretty standard, no?
Story: Above all, Mass Effect sets itself apart with its storytelling. It's not that the broad strokes of the plot--robots with mysterious motives team up with a bigoted alien murderer to do something nasty that threatens the galaxy, and only the heroes can stop them--are anything new. Rather, the way the story unfolds and the backdrop against which it is set make the thing fresh.
Every corner of the setting, every piece of technology, and every major character have detailed descriptions and history you can delve into at your leisure. While the overall progress of the plot is linear, you'll make critical decisions throughout that have real weight, letting you define your character, and the role of Humanity in this universe through him, as idealistic, compassionate, and cooperative, or cynical, unforgiving, and independent. While it's never unclear who the "bad guys" are, they always have reasons for what they do that you can understand or even sympathize with, and which the protagonists are sometimes mistaken about--a refreshing change from the usual weak "he's evil" or "he's crazy" justifications set out by cookie-cutter RPG plots. I couldn't keep myself detached from the events of this game; I felt for the characters, sat tense in anticipation of the plot twists of the main story, and ate up all the background information I could find, down to reading about the mineral and atmospheric makeup of the planets I visited. It's all just that well written.
That said, it's not 10/10 on even this count. While all the above apply to the main storyline and early side quests, the game also boasts a staggering amount of mindless filler whose decision points consist of "do we shoot this guy or let him live? Okay, how about this guy? And this one?" And certain bits just don't resonate; for all that I cared about the protagonist and the romantic lead that my particular Shepard incarnation got entangled with, the chemistry between them was about zero. The voice actors read their starched-stiff lines at each other, and then there was a sex scene, and I sort of scratched my head in puzzlement.
Presentation: No doubt about it, Mass Effect is a pretty game. You'll see the lush vistas of alien worlds, marvel as starships swoop and do battle, and watch emotions play across the faces of the protagonists as they react to the events of the story. It makes good use of the hardware it's on. The soundtrack is epic and Williamsian, perfectly evocative of the universe's attempts to be the next Star Trek or Star Wars.
That said, I find the game's artistic direction to be its weakest point, much of the time. First off, the technology isn't perfect; in conversations with NPCs I witnessed texture pop-in so obvious that I wondered, for a moment, whether it was supposed to be some crazy alien clothing that morphs between different fabrics as you look at it. The intricate facial expressions are wasted on characters who gesticulate with a set of canned, robotic movements you'll have memorized by conversation #3. The lush alien worlds stand out in no small part due to their contrast with the hundreds of acres of bland rocky landscape you'll crawl over, and the thousands of square feet of impossibly crate-filled warehouses you'll explore, throughout the game. And I really wish they'd had the guts to go one notch "harder" SF and have no sound in space. It would have made some of the scenes much more potent, and would have saved me the trouble of turning down or muting the volume every time I jumped between star systems and was subjected to the over-amped "zoom-kaboom-whee" noise the main starship makes. Each of these is a minor quibble, but together their ability to break the flow of what is overall a quite immersive game is not to be dismissed.
Gameplay: Mass Effect weds "action" and "RPG" with surprising grace. The core of it is a third-person shooter, complete with cover mechanics, tactical squad orders, a workmanlike array of weapons, and pistol-whipping. And yet your choices in the selection and use of RPG-style character class, skills, and equipment make a palpable difference in the way your character plays and the difficulty of each encounter. Bump your accuracy stats, and your weapon will fire straighter and stay steadier with sustained use. Pause the game a moment to lay down a blast from a Sabotage spell tech skill and flush your enemies, bereft of the use of their weapons, into the open. It feels smooth and natural, well designed and executed throughout.
I can't find much to fault with the gameplay. I suppose the party members' AI is a bit ineffective without hand-holding by the player, which could be problematic on higher difficulties. Really, any beef I have with the gameplay is a consequence of the filler side quests and copy-paste encounter areas; throughout the game, you'll fight the same baddies in the same landscapes and rooms, over and over again. But since the fights are the fun part of those samey episodes, I can't fault it much!
The Verdict: Mass Effect lived up to my high expectations. It delivered a compelling story in a well fleshed-out universe, with rock-solid writing and engaging gameplay. It's a 3.5/4, rounded up to a Backloggery "Excellent" for me. If in Mass Effect 2 Bioware manages to swallow its collective "40+ gameplay hours, lolol" pride and cut out the filler, while tweaking some of the first game's engine and artistic decisions, I think this franchise truly will go to the stars.
When I used to daydream about getting an Xbox 360, prior to those daydreams becoming reality, two games provided the reason for the fantasy: Mirror's Edge, and Mass Effect. The latter, at least, proved deserving of the anticipation!
Premise: Humanity is a recent arrival to the galactic stage, where "element zero" and a phenomenon called the "mass effect" allow all manner of cinematic science-fiction awesomeness, like instantaneous interstellar travel and the power to throw people around with your mind. As the highly player-malleable protagonist Commander Shepard, you'll embark on a meandering quest to save the galaxy and cement Humanity's place in it. The plot unfolds via myriad branching dialogues with a colorful cast of characters, and action takes place in an over-the-shoulder run-and-gun battle system overlaid with RPG character-building elements. Sounds pretty standard, no?
Story: Above all, Mass Effect sets itself apart with its storytelling. It's not that the broad strokes of the plot--robots with mysterious motives team up with a bigoted alien murderer to do something nasty that threatens the galaxy, and only the heroes can stop them--are anything new. Rather, the way the story unfolds and the backdrop against which it is set make the thing fresh.
Every corner of the setting, every piece of technology, and every major character have detailed descriptions and history you can delve into at your leisure. While the overall progress of the plot is linear, you'll make critical decisions throughout that have real weight, letting you define your character, and the role of Humanity in this universe through him, as idealistic, compassionate, and cooperative, or cynical, unforgiving, and independent. While it's never unclear who the "bad guys" are, they always have reasons for what they do that you can understand or even sympathize with, and which the protagonists are sometimes mistaken about--a refreshing change from the usual weak "he's evil" or "he's crazy" justifications set out by cookie-cutter RPG plots. I couldn't keep myself detached from the events of this game; I felt for the characters, sat tense in anticipation of the plot twists of the main story, and ate up all the background information I could find, down to reading about the mineral and atmospheric makeup of the planets I visited. It's all just that well written.
That said, it's not 10/10 on even this count. While all the above apply to the main storyline and early side quests, the game also boasts a staggering amount of mindless filler whose decision points consist of "do we shoot this guy or let him live? Okay, how about this guy? And this one?" And certain bits just don't resonate; for all that I cared about the protagonist and the romantic lead that my particular Shepard incarnation got entangled with, the chemistry between them was about zero. The voice actors read their starched-stiff lines at each other, and then there was a sex scene, and I sort of scratched my head in puzzlement.
Presentation: No doubt about it, Mass Effect is a pretty game. You'll see the lush vistas of alien worlds, marvel as starships swoop and do battle, and watch emotions play across the faces of the protagonists as they react to the events of the story. It makes good use of the hardware it's on. The soundtrack is epic and Williamsian, perfectly evocative of the universe's attempts to be the next Star Trek or Star Wars.
That said, I find the game's artistic direction to be its weakest point, much of the time. First off, the technology isn't perfect; in conversations with NPCs I witnessed texture pop-in so obvious that I wondered, for a moment, whether it was supposed to be some crazy alien clothing that morphs between different fabrics as you look at it. The intricate facial expressions are wasted on characters who gesticulate with a set of canned, robotic movements you'll have memorized by conversation #3. The lush alien worlds stand out in no small part due to their contrast with the hundreds of acres of bland rocky landscape you'll crawl over, and the thousands of square feet of impossibly crate-filled warehouses you'll explore, throughout the game. And I really wish they'd had the guts to go one notch "harder" SF and have no sound in space. It would have made some of the scenes much more potent, and would have saved me the trouble of turning down or muting the volume every time I jumped between star systems and was subjected to the over-amped "zoom-kaboom-whee" noise the main starship makes. Each of these is a minor quibble, but together their ability to break the flow of what is overall a quite immersive game is not to be dismissed.
Gameplay: Mass Effect weds "action" and "RPG" with surprising grace. The core of it is a third-person shooter, complete with cover mechanics, tactical squad orders, a workmanlike array of weapons, and pistol-whipping. And yet your choices in the selection and use of RPG-style character class, skills, and equipment make a palpable difference in the way your character plays and the difficulty of each encounter. Bump your accuracy stats, and your weapon will fire straighter and stay steadier with sustained use. Pause the game a moment to lay down a blast from a Sabotage spell tech skill and flush your enemies, bereft of the use of their weapons, into the open. It feels smooth and natural, well designed and executed throughout.
I can't find much to fault with the gameplay. I suppose the party members' AI is a bit ineffective without hand-holding by the player, which could be problematic on higher difficulties. Really, any beef I have with the gameplay is a consequence of the filler side quests and copy-paste encounter areas; throughout the game, you'll fight the same baddies in the same landscapes and rooms, over and over again. But since the fights are the fun part of those samey episodes, I can't fault it much!
The Verdict: Mass Effect lived up to my high expectations. It delivered a compelling story in a well fleshed-out universe, with rock-solid writing and engaging gameplay. It's a 3.5/4, rounded up to a Backloggery "Excellent" for me. If in Mass Effect 2 Bioware manages to swallow its collective "40+ gameplay hours, lolol" pride and cut out the filler, while tweaking some of the first game's engine and artistic decisions, I think this franchise truly will go to the stars.