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[Super Maiq the Liar]

Mass Effect, developed by BioWare, the makers of the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it possibly the best/worst thing ever? Read on and find out.

Story

You are Commander Sheperd, of the Alliance Military. It has been a little over 20 years since humanity has joined intergalactic civilization, and their role in the universe is about to change. It is impossible to tell you what Sheperd has done prior to the game, because you make his backstory. Were your parents soldiers? Are you the lone survivor of a mission gone horribly wrong? Did you join the military to get away from Earth? Did you singlehandedly hold off an entire enemy unit? Your decisions in making Sheperd's background have a large impact on how the characters react to you in the game. Your decisions during the game will also have a tremendous effect on the events in the sequals.

This game has a story that is simply remarkable. The game begins with you heading to Eden Prime on the Alliance ship, the Normandy, which is a highly advanced ship meant for stealth and espionage rather than open warfare. Your crew is suspicious of a Turian onboard, a Council Spectre, and believe that this is more than just a simple mission.

You quickly find out that Eden Prime is under attack by a race of synthetics, called Geth, which have not been seen in over 200 years. You soon find yourself against Saren, the rogue Spectre who commands the Geth, and have to find clues scattered across the galaxy about the Conduit, an ancient Prothean device, that Saren is looking for. You are, to put it bluntly, the last hope of the galaxy. If you fail to defeat Saren, then all galactic life will once again vanish, as it did 50,000 years ago with the Protheans.

Saren is not your happy-go-lucky bad guy who just wants everything dead. In fact, as you tread through the story, you learn the reason for Saren going rogue, and what it really is he intends to do. In a sense, he can be seen as a good guy in the wrong way.

The background of the game has so much put into it, it's simply remarkable. As you play through the game and learn about the items and races, you get "Codex" entries, which provide you with all the background info you could want. You can learn so much about the Asari, their government, religious beliefs, how they view other species, and more to the point that they are actually believable as a race. And these beliefs and backgrounds are even apparent in the way they react to you, how they talk, and how they react to what you say. Even the weaponry, biotics, and other items have interesting origins and backgrounds. They are actually believable, more than just "Gun fires lasers because it's future lol." To sum this up: BioWare put alot, and I mean alot, of thought into the backgrounds of their characters, items, and races.

Now, it is really hard to explain the story after Eden Prime since you decide how it unfolds. This story is perhaps one of those "You have to experience it to understand it" types. What I can say, however, is that you get to decide the fates of many, including party members. Difficult choices? Well, would you consider commiting genocide on an entire race? Would you sacrifice one friend for another? Oh, there are many difficult choices to be made. This game really knows how to play your morals. In the end, you are left with a wanting feeling. Wanting to know how the next chapter will play out. Wanting to just go a little further. Believe me when I say that after playing this, you will want the next one, and will gladly play through the game a second time just to use another backstory, and play a different role.

How will your choices effect Mass Effect 2? Well, say you decide to save an entire race of aliens instead of killing them off, what role will they play in the next game? What about your relationships? What role will they play? Will your favorite characters remain with you? Many questions to be asked. Many indeed.

I'm so sorry that I can't really get into the story, but that's mainly because you play a large role in shaping the story.

"The best Sci-fi story since the original Star Wars." I agree with this quote.

Story: 10/10

Graphics

This game is beautiful, to put it simply. The character models are among the most realistic I've seen, and on top of that, alot of the environments simply look amazing as well. On the downside, this game has so much going on at a time that the graphics usually take a second to kick in. While it's usually a 5 second lapse of looking at bland walls, it can get frequest if you've been playing for an extended period of over 2 hours. My sugestion is to save and shut off your 360 every 2 hours or so to let the data reset, which will in effect cause less graphical problems. Another problem I've seen is with the galaxy map lying about planets. You see a green-yellow planet in the system, zoom in on it, and it becomes blue for god knows what reason. Again, nothing major, but it gets kind of confusing at times. This game might be fuzzy to people playing for the first time, but that may be because the game has an added "Film Grain" effect. You can turn it off, thankfully.

The graphics in this game, while great, just place a bit too much strain on the processor, causing occasional slowdowns and texture-popping "buffer" moments.

Graphics: 8.9/10

Gameplay

Take KotOR, add in third-person shooter-esque combat, and throw in an extra helping of strategy and immersiveness, and you have what Mass Effect is at it's core. You have four types of weapons at your disposal, Pistols, Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, and Shotguns. While your character class may not allow you to train on a particular weapon type, which effectivly disables the use of zoom, weapon-specific abilities, and damage bonuses, you can still use the weapons. Obviously, you will not do as well as you would with a weapon your character knows how to use, but it's fun to try anyway. During the game, you are only able to directly control Sheperd, but are able to issue commands to your squad. You can tell them to move to a certain point, hold their ground, follow you, or focus their fire on a specific target. Among those, you can tell your squad to switch out their weapons, and use their abilities as you see fit. It is usually a good idea to build your party to cover your own weaknesses. Are you a powerful Biotics user? This means you can probably only use pistols, and it is probably not a good idea to bring your Asari comrade along for the big missions, since she is also an "all-biotics" character. A better bet would perhaps be Garrus, who is adept in both weapons combat and technical skills, or Ashley, who is able to use every weapon with masterful skill. Choose your team wisely, you never know when it will be too late to swap them out.

Throughout the game, you will engage in many dialogue sequences. This is where you really shape what kind of character you wish to be. As a conversation progresses you will get to pick your character's reaction. The options on the left side of the dialogue wheel usually aim to get more information, while the options on the right lead you to the end of the conversation. As you level up, you can spend your talent points on, among other things, your Charm and Intimidation skills. These unlock new dialogue options, like Mind Trick in KotOR, and usually reap greater rewards for the user, and boosts them well on their way to the side they desire; Paragon for Good, truthful, and helpful, and Renegade for threatening people, making demands, and acting like an ass. You unlock more levels for these skills as you get more Paragon/Renegade points, to their respective skills of course. With a high rating in either of these skills, you can resolve otherwise impossible situations without conflict.

When you complete Mass Effect, you are given the chance to basically do "New Game +" with your character; begin a new game with your level, looks, and items intact. This is required to reach the maximum level, since you might only be able to reach level 50 for doing everything in one playthrough. Also unlocked for completing the game is a harder difficulty, where Halo "run-'n-gun" styled players are sure to suffer while the strategic player is pleased.

While going throughout the worlds, you will often find locked supply crates, doors, and storage lockers, which you must unlock by playing a simple mini-game. Push the buttons as soon as they appear, and what's inside is yours. Mess up, and your only choice will be to waste your valuable Omni-Gel to crack it open, if you think it's worth it. The only way to replenish Omni-Gel is by converting your old items into it, or occasionally getting it by killing enemies.

This game is not all about fighting on foot, there are times when you must fight larger enemies inside your Rover, the Mako. This Rover is equipped with hover jets, which allow you to 'hop' over some enemy projectiles, and also sports a powerful cannon and gatling gun. Of course, you can run over the Geth that get in your way if you want. When your vehicle loses it's shield, it takes hull damage, which is signified by the Mako's condition indicator in the bottom-left of the screen. As it takes damage, parts of the vehicle turn red, and if it all goes red, you're screwed. Obviously, you can repair your vehicle with the ever-handy Omni-Gel. Be careful where you use it, though, because you cannot move or shoot while repairs are being made. One of the greatest challenges the Mako might have to overcome are the Thresher Maws, a race of worm-looking beasts that live on many planets, and spit shield-bypassing acid and can burrow up from under you, causing heavy damage or sometimes instant death. This can make uncharted worlds very dangerous for those who do not expect it.

Speaking of uncharted worlds, did I mention you have a galaxy to explore? You have your colonized planets, of course, but alot of the fun and mystery lies on the uncharted worlds, where you can often find abandoned research facilities, pirate outposts, ancient artifacts, and mineral deposits, which when discovered, will give you a decent boost in your Credits and experience.

Unlocking Achievements in this game also works for your benefit, since they unlock stat boosts, rare items in shops, and even allow you to begin he game with a skill your class normally wouldn't have.

Tip: Save often, the Auto-save system only saves when you land on a planet, when you reach a mission-critical area, and before most large events. If you die on an uncharted world, you're loading from the second you landed.

Gameplay: 9/10

Sound

There isn't very much I can write about the sound in this game. Sure you have gunshots, explosions, and fantastic music, but the real deal is the top-notch voice acting. You have famous actors lending their talent to the game, such as Seth Green playing the voice of Joker, the Normandy's pilot, and Keith David, the guy who did the Arbiter's voice in Halo 2 and 3, plays the role of Captain Anderson. There are many more where those came from, but I don't want to go on about the actors.

Alot of the dialogue is very well done in this game, and very much fits in. The voices almost always match their expected tones and attitudes to the dime, but there are, sadly, a few moments where something someone says seems out of place. For instance, Ashley had a moment where she sounded like she was yelling at you in panic while she was standing still with a casual face. While it may not sound major in comparison to other games, in Mass Effect, where you can basically fall in love to the voices and facial expressions melting together, it just comes off as a bit of a strange disappointment.

The combat sounds are overall too generic with too little variety, but the excellent music and incredible dialogue(for the most part) make up for it.

Sound: 8.1/10

Replayability

Mass Effect is highly replayable. While you may play through as your goody-two-shoes "save everything" War Hero, you will feel a strong need to go through again as a Ruthless Renegade "shoot first" borderline villain, even if it's just to see how things play out from another perspective. Plus, the possible need to reach level 60 through the use of the "New Game+" coupled with unlockable harder difficulties will likely have you craving another heaping slice of this pie. Of course, the more times you play through, the more base you'll have for varied storylines in Mass Effect 2.

Unlocking all of the achievements will also require about 4-5 playthroughs. 3 if you are very lucky.

Replayability: 9.9/10

Roundup:

Story: 10/10
Graphics: 8.9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 8.1/10
Replayability: 9.9/10
Overall: 9.7
This game is, simply put, a masterpeice. If you have an Xbox 360, if you remotely like RPG's or shooters, I highly recommend trying this out.

I know I didn't cover everything in this review, and I apologize.