Hey gamers
Mass Effect is a good video game. As a narratively-focused game, it's pretty solid; as an open world-ish game, it's alright; but Mass Effect stands firm on its unique world and strong characters.
This is one of the best video game universes I've experienced, or at least an original universe. It feels well thought-out, and I can't imagine how long it must've taken to flesh out the ideas into a cohesive world. You can feel the pressure put onto your character to represent humanity's capabilities, and you feel like you're changing the course of history through your actions.
The dialogue and characters were another highlight of this game. Oddly enough, the best moments of this game for me were speaking to my crew members and squad mates after completing a mission; gaining insights to their culture and backgrounds, gathering their thoughts on how the prior mission went, and hearing them out on their concerns for the future. It was a similar experience as Horizon Forbidden West - The quests were fun, but I loved returning to the base, checking in on my allies, who are all of different backgrounds and have different perspectives on the events unfolding around them, and seeing what they've been up to during my time away.
Sadly, however, I found that this game feels outdated in a few aspects, despite the remaster. The animation is stiff, the progression systems don't feel fully realized, and there are a lot of developmental oversights. My least favourite part of the game would have to be the combat. It feels stagnant, imprecise, and unreliable. I felt a sense of annoyance and dread every time I came across a pack of enemies. If anything, this game made me more appreciative of The Division 2's combat. I could sit here and compare them all day, and I know it's not fair to do so with two games that released over a decade apart, but two particular examples I want to talk about are your weapons and abilities:
What's interesting is that both Mass Effect and The Division 2 allow you to carry 4 firearms on your character. What really bugs me about Mass Effect's weaponry is how unbalanced it feels. I pretty much just stuck with the assault rifle and sniper rifle. I never touched the pistol and only pulled out the shotgun on a handful of occasions because they were so weak in comparison, especially considering the size of the environments that most combat encounters take place. Now, granted, there are more weapon varieties in The Division 2, but I always find a use for each of the 4 weapons that my agent can carry, even my pistol. Plus, in Mass Effect, you have to pause the game to swap weapons using a weapon wheel, which just destroys the flow of combat. In The Division 2, which, again, has the same amount of firearms that your character can carry, one button controls your weapon selection. Yes, one single button (in general, tap for secondary, double tap for sidearm, hold for specialization weapon [grenade launcher, flamethrower, etc.]). This keeps the momentum of combat in motion and improves ease of use if, heaven forbid, you would like to change your gun.
The other thing was the weak abilities. In The Division 2, your abilities, or skills, can change the flow of combat. They can suppress enemies, force them out of cover, draw their fire, prevent flanking, provide meaningful support to you and your squad, and apply significant debuffs/status effects to your enemies. When used at the right time, a well-placed skill could be, and often is, the difference between life and death. However in Mass Effect, your abilities, which, again, are controlled by a selection wheel that pauses the game, are just lame. They either provide you with a momentary buff or net you a free kill. There's no strategy in using them at all. I mean, you can recharge your shield when it's depleted, but that's as strategic as your abilities get. Like, in The Division 2, I can't tell you the amount of times that a turret nestled in an elevated position, a quick scan pulse when I lost track of a few enemies, a stinger hive placed in a chokepoint, or deploying my ballistic shield when overwhelmed saved me from dying, and I never got anything close to that in Mass Effect.
There are also a ton of minor issues that were easy to ignore individually, but, when piled up and prolonged throughout the entire game, they really got on my nerves by the end of my playthrough: terrible autosave system, recycled environments, repetitive and cryptic mission design that forced me to use a quest guide, annoying trophy grind, driving the Mako up the sides of cliffs, tedious interplanetary travel, and the list goes on.
All in all, the foundation of this game is undeniably strong; possibly the strongest of any series-starter I've played, but I'd be lying if I didn't feel a little relieved when it was over. If I ever play Mass Effect again, I'll probably just engage in conversations and streamline the main missions while avoiding the side assignments as much as possible.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the second and third games have to offer, and I hope that they improve on this game's shortcomings.
(I'm sorry this review turned into a novella.)
Mass Effect is a good video game. As a narratively-focused game, it's pretty solid; as an open world-ish game, it's alright; but Mass Effect stands firm on its unique world and strong characters.
This is one of the best video game universes I've experienced, or at least an original universe. It feels well thought-out, and I can't imagine how long it must've taken to flesh out the ideas into a cohesive world. You can feel the pressure put onto your character to represent humanity's capabilities, and you feel like you're changing the course of history through your actions.
The dialogue and characters were another highlight of this game. Oddly enough, the best moments of this game for me were speaking to my crew members and squad mates after completing a mission; gaining insights to their culture and backgrounds, gathering their thoughts on how the prior mission went, and hearing them out on their concerns for the future. It was a similar experience as Horizon Forbidden West - The quests were fun, but I loved returning to the base, checking in on my allies, who are all of different backgrounds and have different perspectives on the events unfolding around them, and seeing what they've been up to during my time away.
Sadly, however, I found that this game feels outdated in a few aspects, despite the remaster. The animation is stiff, the progression systems don't feel fully realized, and there are a lot of developmental oversights. My least favourite part of the game would have to be the combat. It feels stagnant, imprecise, and unreliable. I felt a sense of annoyance and dread every time I came across a pack of enemies. If anything, this game made me more appreciative of The Division 2's combat. I could sit here and compare them all day, and I know it's not fair to do so with two games that released over a decade apart, but two particular examples I want to talk about are your weapons and abilities:
What's interesting is that both Mass Effect and The Division 2 allow you to carry 4 firearms on your character. What really bugs me about Mass Effect's weaponry is how unbalanced it feels. I pretty much just stuck with the assault rifle and sniper rifle. I never touched the pistol and only pulled out the shotgun on a handful of occasions because they were so weak in comparison, especially considering the size of the environments that most combat encounters take place. Now, granted, there are more weapon varieties in The Division 2, but I always find a use for each of the 4 weapons that my agent can carry, even my pistol. Plus, in Mass Effect, you have to pause the game to swap weapons using a weapon wheel, which just destroys the flow of combat. In The Division 2, which, again, has the same amount of firearms that your character can carry, one button controls your weapon selection. Yes, one single button (in general, tap for secondary, double tap for sidearm, hold for specialization weapon [grenade launcher, flamethrower, etc.]). This keeps the momentum of combat in motion and improves ease of use if, heaven forbid, you would like to change your gun.
The other thing was the weak abilities. In The Division 2, your abilities, or skills, can change the flow of combat. They can suppress enemies, force them out of cover, draw their fire, prevent flanking, provide meaningful support to you and your squad, and apply significant debuffs/status effects to your enemies. When used at the right time, a well-placed skill could be, and often is, the difference between life and death. However in Mass Effect, your abilities, which, again, are controlled by a selection wheel that pauses the game, are just lame. They either provide you with a momentary buff or net you a free kill. There's no strategy in using them at all. I mean, you can recharge your shield when it's depleted, but that's as strategic as your abilities get. Like, in The Division 2, I can't tell you the amount of times that a turret nestled in an elevated position, a quick scan pulse when I lost track of a few enemies, a stinger hive placed in a chokepoint, or deploying my ballistic shield when overwhelmed saved me from dying, and I never got anything close to that in Mass Effect.
There are also a ton of minor issues that were easy to ignore individually, but, when piled up and prolonged throughout the entire game, they really got on my nerves by the end of my playthrough: terrible autosave system, recycled environments, repetitive and cryptic mission design that forced me to use a quest guide, annoying trophy grind, driving the Mako up the sides of cliffs, tedious interplanetary travel, and the list goes on.
All in all, the foundation of this game is undeniably strong; possibly the strongest of any series-starter I've played, but I'd be lying if I didn't feel a little relieved when it was over. If I ever play Mass Effect again, I'll probably just engage in conversations and streamline the main missions while avoiding the side assignments as much as possible.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the second and third games have to offer, and I hope that they improve on this game's shortcomings.
(I'm sorry this review turned into a novella.)