jpkomm has 1 chronicle

1. Mass Effect -- Mass Mess, or Massterpiece?
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Jan 18 2008

   Just when you believe the dynasty of intricate, enamoring plots has ended, suddenly the gaming world hands you a bit of a saving grace. This.. is my chronicle about Mass Effect.
   
   Bioware is a company that has garnered my respect over these many years as a maker of fine games that had substance. A maker of games that I would gladly pry open my wallet, albeit with some force and tears, to purchase a product they created. When I first heard about Mass Effect, I got the little gitty school boy affect that I hadn't felt since KOTOR. Let the adventure begin..
   
   The biggest point I would like to mention, first and foremost, about this game is that Bioware paid great attention to the finer points. Every alien race in this game has been given a true "identity". Every aspect of their culture and what they are has been defined. Throughout this game, you will be given opportunities to read or listen to various aspects of the alien culture you will come across. It also gets very detailed in various aspects of Earth's "history" as well as other historical-related items that will only put you further into the plot and understand what is going on. For a true appreciation of the detail, read everything, talk to everyone, and take your time to understand what all is going on. It will all end up being better than a movie.. better than a book.. it will suck you in and keep you there.
   
   Plot Impressions:
   For those of you who remember KOTOR, the adventuristic plot-paths are very similar. This game holds true to the "choose your own adventure" good/evil scaled styled RPG, and it does an absoutely amazing job. The plot coninuity is nearly flawless. A true "plot" is something so rare these days. These are the times where a majority of the games out on the market aren't meant to grab you by the senses and keep you in a plot-driven trance like adventure and RPG games of old. Most of the games I come across are just mindless shoot-'em-ups that are good for those with chronic ADD or stress-reduction needs, but there are still those olde-time gamers out there who remember spending weeks on 2D adventure RPGs.
   
   Gameplay and Combat:
   Ahh-ha.. I bet you are thinking, "Oh no, an RPG.. SHUNNNN!" Bioware must of realized this potential reaction and came up with what must be one of the best free-motion 3rd person RPG combat systems I have ever seen. So, pretty much take the "choose your own adventure" styled RPG where you have a intricate plot and can develop your character's personality and stats as you so desire, and then you can slap that together with the free-range 3rd person combat system of Gears of War. This captures the true essences of both genres, and I believe Bioware's intent was to pull cross-genre players.
   
   Combat is both tactical base, and shock base depending on the enemy you are against. Not all enemies behave the same as you will quickly find out. Some will throw themselves at you while others will stalk you. Fortunately, you'll have a rather large arsenal choose from depending on your class. Character classes are very typical of what you'd expect of a game like this with Warrior types (Soldiers), etc.
   
   Coming from a PC-gamer perspective, it was a bit of a learning curve for me to grasp the controls, but overall the pain was minimal. I soon realized that the control layout was very well thought out and easy to adapt to. You pretty much have two modes of transportation in this game.. your feet, or a vehicle called a Mako. A Mako is what you will generally use when exploring an entire planet and will sometimes get to use it while on certain missions. It is an all-terrain vehicle with a cannon and machine gun. I'll not say much more other than to comment that it is a blast to drive and makes a good weapon's platform as well as a battering ram.
   
   Graphics:
   The graphics on this game are absolutely stunning in HD. The very-fine detail, even to the smallest things really gets you "into" the scene. I only noticed a few flaws. My biggest gripe would have to be the off-hilter character shadowing on faces. It is poorly executed and could of very well just been left out.
   
   Sound:
   Sound on this game is very full-ranged. The music tracks are excellently done as well as all the sound effects. Only complaint here is that sometimes the music or environmental sound effects (wind, etc) cut out when they shouldn't. Voice acting is TOP NOTCH. They had an excellent casting for this game. It has to be some of the best voice-acting I have ever heard in a game.
   
   Bugs: Other than the sound and shadow issues, I've come across only a handful of other issues, most of which are corrected with a reload of the latest saved game I had. The first was when being hit once with a biotic attack, I was knocked to the ground but never got back up. A few other instances involved objects that should of been interactable but were not.
   
   My final impressions of this game are simple. If you like a game where you can sit down for hours and play and are willing to get sucked into a game plot that truly involves YOU, then this game is for you. If you simply want to shoot things, well, there are probably better games out there for you. Mass Effect, however, is the joining of both of those worlds and is something absolutely beautiful. *sniff sniff* I'm going to go play it now I think..
   
   Footnote: Save.. Save often... Write it on a post-it and put it on your screen.

   
   

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jpkomm has 3 comment s on this chronicle.

1. DecipherOne
   Posted On Feb 02 2008

   Nice review, I'm a long time bio-ware fan as well, but I was disappointed when microsoft bought them out and they discontinued production of this game for the pc. A lot of companies including Lucas Arts are following this path as well and I think are really starting to corner themselves. Nice review though.

2. codeh4x0r
   Posted On Jan 19 2008

   Very well said. I've played a bit of this game (and will be playing MUCH more) and agree with everything said - particularly about the voice acting. KOTOR(2) had much better than average voice acting, and it is even better in Mass Effect. It's come a long way since the days of "I think you, the Master of Unlocking, should have it."

3. BEN
   Posted On Jan 19 2008

   Very nice game review here. I've got it coming from GYG, so I'll let ya know what I think too...