Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

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Description

Mass Effect is the first part of a science fiction RPG trilogy. It is set in a futuristic universe created specifically for the game, with its own history, various alien races, as well as cultural, political, and social background.

The story of the game deals with Commander Shepard, supposedly the first human candidate for the elite group of special agents (the Spectres), who serve the inter-galactic Council, comprised of the oldest and most powerful races in the universe. With or without the help of the Council, Shepard has to stop Saren, a Spectre member who went rogue and tries to exact revenge upon those he was once a part of.

In Mass Effect the player takes control of Commander Shepard, who is fully customizable in the character creation screen; his abilities, gender, and physical appearance can be shaped by the player. Both female and male versions of the character are fully voiced.

Combat in the game is action-based, and is similar to tactical squad-based shooters. As in most of BioWare's previous RPGs, the player can pause at any time to issue orders to other squad members. The squad members are AI-dependable, but general commands (such as run forward, take cover, target a specific enemy, etc) can be issued without pausing.

The six character classes in the game are Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel, and Vanguard. Soldiers are good with weapons, Engineers can use tech abilities to sabotage enemies' equipment, and Adepts are able to use the disruptive biotic powers. The other three classes are combinations of the first three. Character growth features, beside the usual "level up" system, a skill-based advancement. When the characters gain a level, the player is allowed to distribute points into skills of his/her choice. These skills include weapon proficiency, tech abilities such as destroying enemy shields or hacking robotic enemies, and biotic abilities that manipulate the mass effect field to damage enemies and protect the party. Non-combat abilities for the main character include Charm and Intimidate, which influences conversation choices.

Mass Effect comes with its own morality system. There are two sides of morality in the game - Paragon and Renegade, with Paragon being a more diplomatic, official military courtesy following character, and Renegade being the "ends justify the means", damning everything to hell kind of character. The main quest with its choices and consequences is only a part of the experience - there are several optional planets that offer side-questing and exploration. Pursuing a romantic relationship with a companion is also possible.

The game introduces a slightly tweaked conversation system in which responses to NPC's are displayed and can be chosen before the NPC has finished speaking. This, combined with detailed facial expressions, allows for more fluid and natural conversations.

The PC version of Mass Effect differs in some points from the Xbox 360 release. Besides higher resolution graphics, the mini game about hacking a computer has been changed. Now instead of playing "Simon Says", the player has to get a triangle into the middle of a circle by avoiding the blocks that are constantly moving around in a Frogger-like fashion. The interface has also undergone massive changes. Besides a new quick slot bar in which the player can assign up to eight abilities for quick access to the number keys, the pause menu has been changed to give the player faster and better control over his teammates. It's now also possible to give every teammate individual orders instead of having both do the same thing. Item management has also been simplified to account for the new keyboard/mouse control scheme which also allows for better precision in the shooter-like fights.

Screenshots

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: UnrealEngine3
• Gameplay feature: Character development - Skill distribution
• Gameplay feature: Dating / Romance
• Gameplay feature: Gambling
• Gameplay feature: "Simon says"
• Gameplay feature: Tower of Hanoi puzzle
• Games made into books
• Mass Effect series
• Middleware: FaceFX
• Middleware: Scaleform GFx SDK
• Nudity
• Physics Engine: PhysX
• Setting: Earth's Moon
• Technology: amBX

User Reviews

A top-of-the-line space opera, an above-average game	CrackTheSky (36)
In The Distant Future, In A Galaxy Not So Far Away....	MasterMegid (897)
Fantastic and Disappointing Space Opera	Tom Cross (31)
A space odyssey of epic proportions	Zokolov (66)
Epic science fiction tales at their finest	WWWWolf (422)
Great Story and decent game.	Scott Monster (922)

The Press Says

AceGamez	2007	10 out of 10	100
videogamer.com	Nov 19, 2007	10 out of 10	100
XboxLiveAddicts	Nov 30, 2007	9.2 out of 10	92
Atomic Gamer	Nov 26, 2007	91 out of 100	91
GameCell UK	2007	9 out of 10	90
Gameplanet	Feb 04, 2008		90
Krawall Gaming Network	Nov 30, 2007	90 out of 100	90
HCL.hr Gaming Portal	Jan 23, 2008	88 out of 100	88
Good Game	Dec 12, 2007	8 out of 10	80
Edge	Dec 02, 2007	7 out of 10	70

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Rate My Shepard	11	phrostey2307 Nov 20, 2009
Yeow. What a lousy port.	12	Indra is here (19702) Mar 22, 2009
UPDATED: I cannot role-play evil or ruthless characters	19	St. Martyne (3562) Aug 11, 2008
First Impressions	36	אולג 小奥 (169687) Jun 20, 2008
Who would've thought?	12	Happy Rabbi (1305) Apr 01, 2008
World(USA, but I'm being PC)filled with dumbfucks!	36	bächtërmän (125) Feb 28, 2008
Xbox360 for this game?	9	Happy Rabbi (1305) Dec 17, 2007
Bah!	6	St. Martyne (3562) Dec 14, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Mass Effect appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Books

Drew Karpyshyn, writer/designer at Bioware, has written two books set in the Mass Effect universe so far, Mass Effect: Revelation and its sequel Mass Effect: Ascension.

Noveria

Regarding the corporate enclave planet with an arctic climate -- Noveria, where the normal laws of Citadel Space do not apply -- the name of the planetary capital, Port Hanshan, is a romanization of the Chinese for "cold mountain," a reasonable name for a city on an arctic planet. On Earth, there are currently at least two geographic areas in China which have that name, and in ancient times there was also a poet who used that pen name. Perhaps the first people to lay claim to the planet, or to underwrite the colony, were representatives of a Chinese corporation. The actual Chinese would be 寒山端口 (Hánshān Duānkǒu).

Release

The game's street date was broken multiple times. In the United States, several K-Mart stores started selling the game on 9th November 2007, eleven days before the official release date. The same happened in Australia, where EB games started distributing it on 16th November 2007. Other retailers quickly started selling the game early as well.

Singapore ban

The game was initially banned in Singapore, because a female character is able to pursue a same-sex love scenario (spoiler alert) with another female alien character. The ban was eventually overturned by the same government censorship body itself and it now carries an M18 rating.

Awards

• GamePro (Germany)
  • March 28, 2008 - Best Console RPG in 2007 (Readers' Vote)
• GameSpy
  • 2007 – #8 Game of the Year
  • 2007 – #6 Console Game of the Year
  • 2007 – #5 Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • 2007 – Xbox 360 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • 2007 – Xbox 360 RPG of the Year
  • 2007 – Best Soundtrack/Score of the Year
  • 2007 – Best Voice Acting of the Year
  • 2008 – #8 PC Game of the Year

Information also contributed by 88 49 and Alaedrain

Related Web Sites

• Mass Effect (Official game website)
• Mass Effect achievement guide (The X360A achievement guide for Mass Effect.)
• Mass Effect - Universal Hint System (More than your normal strategy guide, hints are provided before final solutions are revealed.)
• The Mass Effect wiki (Game page on the Mass Effect wiki, a Wikipedia style database about the Mass Effect series (English))
• Voice over interviews (Video voice over interviews from Seth Green, Keith David, Lance Henriksen, and Marina Sirtis)
• Wikipedia: Mass Effect (Article in the open encyclopedia)