Mass Effect

Mass Effect is a shooter RPG hit by Bioware. The game came with a good reputation with solid reviews all around and it was a hit with a sequel coming out next year.

After playing the game, I can see why it was a hit. First off, Bioware did a lot of work in the setting of Mass Effect. It is a sci-fi setting and Bioware went wild with it. The background of all the alien species; the different spaceships; the detailed history of the races; all made for a very interesting world to play in.

I also found the voice acting to be very good. The game uses a system for conversation that takes a little time to get used to. The game shows you not what your character will say but a short idea of how he would response. It was a little strange at first but fun.

The story was top notch. Although short, the story was tight and it interweave with the history of the setting beautifully. The mysterious story had enough twist and turns within it to satisfied most RPG players.

However Mass Effect is also one of those games which I don’t know if I should recommend to friends. Despite the great many good things Bioware got right, they got one thing wrong. This is a seriously short game.

I hit all the side missions and visited all the planets and systems, and I finished the game in about 20 hours! If you go short through the story without doing any side missions, I’ll be surprised if you can go beyond 10 hours. That is seriously short, even discounting the fact that Mass Effect is supposed to be a RPG.

I went through the game twice and I don’t think I clock in 50 hours on the game. That’s half of one game of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (first time I finish Oblivion, I hit 100 hours). 2 Mass Effects = half of Oblivion!
If I didn’t get the game at a discount, I would feel seriously ripped off.

Another problem is how easy the game was. I hit all the side missions and when I finally tried the final missions, I was at such a high level I walked through the missions. I think I only have to reload the game once at the final mission. Whatever happened to the good old days when games were so tough, you felt like throwing your computer out the window?

Mass Effect is a good game, but way too short and too easy for a RPG.