Mass Effect is the first part of BioWare's new space trilogy and it tells the story of Shepherd, the first human to be enlisted to a secret military organisation called The Spectres. Shepherd, who can be a man or a woman and who can look however you want, quickly builds a team around himself and sets off to battle an intergalactic threat the likes of which nobody has ever seen before.
What makes Mass Effect such a great game though is how predictable it is. The game is classic BioWare and the game is dotted with hallmarks of the Alberta-based developer. There’s a combat system which blends real-time skill and luck with tactical role-play elements and the usual weighing up of which attribute to level up and which to leave behind.
At the same time the characters, all of whom have unique and established personalities, can be formed around the player as a group that you can have as little or as much interaction with as you want. There’s alien women to love, planets to explore and foes to vanquish so that, despite the sci-fi makeover, Mass Effect remains a very classic RPG at its core.
The game does have a few flaws – annoying vehicle handling and combat which can be dull after a while (not to mention the world’s longest elevator rides), but Mass Effect is easily the best RPG you’ll buy this year and is a worthy entrant to the Top 10 Games of 2007.
Source: Bit-Tech