Game Review: Mass Effect

Ok, finally gotten myself REALLY involved in MASS EFFECT over this past weekend, and I must say; I’m completely obsessed!!!

This game is so vast and involved that it almost puts the lore of the Star Wars saga to shame (note that I said ‘almost’).

It essentially has the feel of an epic movie, but still gives you a sense of control by playing the role of the main character and having a ‘say’ in the direction of the story. Even though I know the end outcome will be the same, the journey to get there could be different.

However, I do see the major flaw of this game for people like me (completionists): IT’S TOO DAMN BIG!!!

Holy cow, it’s gonna take my lifetime to get through this game…,

I’ve almost put 10 hours into it and I’m JUST NOW getting the Normandy!!!

Not only do I take on ever darn side-quest that I come across, but I find that I spend a lot, if not most, of my time in the CODEX. One minute I’ll be questioning to myself “What are these Protheans everyone keeps talking about, and how to these ships warp travel?”, the next minute I’ll have a new entry in the Codex explaining all this, and more. This itself is not a complaint, actually it’s a praise and plus for me, although it’s the very reason for my lack of advancement in the story thus far.

This is also how I get sucked into side quests. I was very intrigued by the Keepers, and wanted to know more about them. Low and behold, not only could I read about them in the Codex, but I could also take on a side-quest to scan data from them to help scientists research and learn more about them.

The story and background of every entity in this game is incredible. There is such depth to every element, and the story’s past was well thought out. At times it’s hard to wrap my mind around some of the species and their cultures until I finally get the entry to read about them, so the delivery of these Codex could be a little sooner. Although, this may be by design as I’m sure the develops didn’t want to throw too much information at you at once...,

Every aspect of this game has appeal for ever type of gamer. If you like fast paced action, choose a Solider, mow down enemies, stick right to the plot, and don’t do side quests. Or, if you’re like me, take a more strategic approach to battles and talk to everyone as there are side-quests a plenty.

It does take awhile to understand how you should play your character. I chose a sharpshooter (Infiltrator) and was dumfounded when I couldn’t hit a tree with the assault rifle or why I would keep getting killed by running head first into the initial few battles. Once I realized to stay back, strategically place my team, and pick off enemies from afar, I slowly grew to love the combat. This, I realized, was more my style versus a soldier class and the action being too fast paced.

I also like the idea of being able to start a new game after beating it with the same character and stats with an increased experience cap from 50 to 60. This is really appealing especially since the game is molded around your character’s reaction to people. You could literally play through the first time as Paragon (good), which yields certain quests, and then a second time as a Renegade which you can handle similar quest differently as well Renegade only quests. So essentially you can play a totally different game with your already established character the second time through.

All things considered with this game, I give it a solid 9.5 out of 10. I would have given it a ten, minus the occasional rendering issues and sometimes slow dialogue drill-downs just to get to the point. It also almost seems like this game is too fast for the 360 as I’ve also noticed a lot of lags when walking around in the Presidium (which is another fantastic concept. Reminds me of a Dyson’s Sphere)….,

One finally thought: Why is everyone in the future still using elevators? One better, why the hell are they so damn slow??!!!

What, the Protheans can figure out how to travel faster than light and leave all this advanced unknown technology behind, but they couldn’t figure out the advanced quantum-state physics of simple elevator mechanics, and thus de-evolved the technology to be slower?? Come on, the elevator in my office building is faster than these. This may not seem like a big deal, but that climb to the Citadel tower takes freakin forever, and I’m getting tired of the elevator news, casual conversations with my crew, and the occasional awkward silences. Thank goodness for the Instant Transit system…,

Bubz final review:

Mass Effect

9.5/10

Pros: Way too many to list, but the highlights are: A well thought out and involved story and universe / Movie quality in all respects, even more so when played in High Def / very open ended conversations and adaptive to match your characters persona / the ability to mold your character to be good or evil (Paragon vs. Renegade), thus affecting gameplay / leveling and stat boosting meets standards if not improves on an already familiar formula / great combat system even for us that hate shooters (I was skeptical) / Awesome weapon stockpile and upgradability / Balanced character roles (i.e. Infiltrator can’t running into battle and must be strategic) / expansive journal and codex system to compliment the mass scale of the lore / Can be played to accommodate all types of gamers / Promise of replay value…,

Cons: Not enough action (This is a bold statement coming from a person that thought this was going to be turned based, but I find myself longing for battle during my 3 hour marathons of exploring and talking to everyone I meet, which may be my own fault) / Some minor graphically glitches / Some things are too slow (i.e. dialogue, elevators) / Not enough initial tips (needs a tutorial from the ‘start’ screen to explain button layout and explanation, such as squad commands) / Initial Facial customization very basic (I want to see a digital ‘me’ onscreen, guess I’ll stick to Tiger Woods PGA for that.) / Squad members tend to stay right in the damn way allot (would have been nice if ‘selected item’ had a toggle button versus aim right on it) / murder on someone with OCD due to a horde of sidequests…,

-bubz

Movie Review: Sunshine

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/

Okay, if you haven’t seen it and you like Sci-Fi at all, its 100% worth a rental. The film is essentially a combination of Event Horizon, Armageddon and Apolo 13, with an emphasis more on the dark and edgy side like Event Horizon moreso then the other more mainstream films. Cillian Murphy is a superb actor, he has the best natural creepy look ever, next to Buscemi (before he went mainstream). The writing is very good and the director (same guy that did 28 days later, the Beach and Trainspotting) does a great job of building tension and having cool, camera cuts. They merge a little bit of artsy/abstract into the “science” of the film. The sounds are great, but if u have a big cinema system at home, I recommend turning your bass down a bit. The sound effects for the ship Icarus II have a VERY low register and grumble, which is great, but it FAR outways the dialog and other sounds.

On an across-the-board scale, I give this a 3.5/5. On a Sci-Fi specific scale, I give this a 4/5.

**********VERY MINOR SPOILER ALERT********************

This movie has GREAT promise and would easily be a 5/5 if the last 10 minutes were better. The “monster” is never really shown and its not explained why. With an alternate ending, this film could be an instant classic.

-rexus maximus