Mass Effect Review
If you are reading this review, and you own a Xbox 360, and you don’t have a copy of Mass Effect yet then you are either: (a) an idiot, or (b) an idiot who choose a really crappy shipping option, or (c) amazingly patient and desperately hoping for a copy at Christmas.
This is, hands down, the best damned game I have played in years.
I could leave the review at that and be done. But I feel the need to gush on for longer about how much damned fun this game has been.
Right now I have just finished my first playthrough of the game. The closing score and the music of the credits is still echoing in my ears. And I don’t want to be writing this, I want to be picking the controller back up and starting a second playthrough of the game.
Yes. A second playthrough. The game is just so damned good that even after having spent way too many of my waking hours of the last four days playing this (and having some rather short nights from having stayed up too late) I want to sit back down and start playing it again.
For those of you who live in a cave, Mass Effect is Bioware’s latest opus. A sci-fi RPG set in a futuristic world of their own creation. For those of you who aren’t aware, Bioware’s last two console games were Jade Empire (an asian fantasy RPG) and Knights of the Old Republic (a Star Wars rpg). On the PC side of the market they are known for Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate.
The story of Mass Effect is that you are Commander Sheperd (male or female and first name of your choice) and that you have been chosen to represent humanity as the first human Spectre. Without going into too much detail, the galaxy has lots of other sentient humanoid races who have banded togethor to form a Council, and that humanity is the new kid in the interplanetary neighborhood. A Spectre is the Council’s secret agent, basically you have been drafted to be the first human James Bond/Jack Bauer for the Council. (This is an awful explanation, but it is late and it is close enough for people to understand.)
To make a long story short, another Spectre has gone rogue, you have to bring them to justice, an race of sentient AI robots is causing trouble, and generally you kick much ass across many planets to save the day.
Seriously, words are failing me to describe how much fun this is. All I can simply say is: if you own an Xbox 360, and you have ever in your life enjoyed playing a RPG, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this game.
(Note to self: re-write this later when I am less hyper about having finished this game and more willing to sit and write something more detailed about it.)
Tags: Mass Effect, Review, Xbox 360