[360] Mass Effect

[swaaye]

Mass Effect is a good game, but its not great. It's no KOTOR, not even close. The characters are not as good, there is very little humor, the uncharted worlds are boring, and the core worlds are too short. It feels like it needed another 6 solid months of content creation. Each of the core plot planets can be finished in a couple of hours, loot and character development are simplified. No cities at all beside the Citadel (ok Noveria maybe but its still too small), and the game often recycles the same generic rooms and corridors on many of the random pointless planets. KOTOR had so much more core content, every major planet had a city/base, the game took at least 30-40hrs to finish and none of it was generic or boring or repetitive. If you skip the UCWs in Mass Effect (which you probably will once you see how boring they are or you get insta-killed when the giant worm spawns right under the mako) it can be finished in less than 10hrs. The control scheme baffles me, you have 2 buttons to draw/holster gun but only one spell hotkey, sprint is the same as use (this will drive you crazy), first aid takes up a face button when it could easily be on the wheel, and grenade is the damn back button. No option to change the binds, I would like to have a chat with the person who thought up this scheme. Motion blur activates even when you are barely moving the camera at all (to cover up the often terrible framerate no doubt) making everything a fuzzy mess and giving me a headache, good think you can disable it or I would have taken the game right back to the store.

However the story is pretty good and I really love the combat system. Powerful yet simple, and a blast to play with Vanguard. That's probably why I started a new game on Hardcore as soon as I finished my first run (veteran is too easy), just cant get enough of the combat (singularity vanguard is a beast) and I want to see the alternate endings. I cant help but wish for KOTOR with this combat system, but I am optimistic for the sequel (less style more substance please).

Yeah I think I'm going to agree with you. It is very short. It feels VERY much like KOTOR, except for the real-time combat (which is both cool and yet a horrible curse as well). The graphics are great, even with all the stuttering and texture LOD popup. I like the soundtrack too and am very glad they didn't go with Jeremy Soule for composition (it would be KOTOR then lol).

The squad AI is horrible; watch your AI buddies shoot walls that are in-line with the enemy, or simply not listen to you at all. One major game battle was a super bitch to win because the AI allies were just useless to me.... That almost ruined the whole game for me there. It took something like 30 retries for me to beat.

Autosave system is practically useless. You should really just pretend it doesn't exist. Relying on it will cause you to repeat perhaps an hour of work at times.

Relationships are almost exactly like KOTOR, except for intimate aspects (which seem kinda goofy and forced). It was somewhat strange, however, not being able to speak to your allies outside of their ship "in storage" areas.

The optional quests range from semi-interesting jaunts to horribly mundane rinse and repeat slaughter missions. The re-use of assets for planetary buildings in these missions is painfully obvious, but I suppose perhaps explainable as modular buildings or some such.

I would've preferred fewer weapons and weapons upgrades if it meant that they were more notable improvements or just more interesting. Upgrading from Super Shotgun IV to Super Shotgun VII is just dumb. LOL. And why do we have the standard FPS loadout here anyway? Pistol, Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Grenades. At least make them less obvious than these in-your-face categories lol.

I'm not sure what my opinion of the game is. It is a very obvious KOTOR gameplay formula that is somewhat simplified. I felt at home as soon as I got to the Citadel and did some KOTOR-esque wandering and interviewing. The action has been beefed up and the narrative toned down a little. I like driving the little rover around, but bouncing over mountains does become a little old after a while...(maybe be able to buy different vehicles?) I do think it's a decent game, but it certainly isn't pushing the boundaries of storyline length, exploration, or RPG complexity.

BTW, what is the point of the casino? Once you have a few hundred thousand bucks, it's kinda useless.... And that takes no time at all.

Ahh well, there's still the KOTOR2 fix-up mod from Team Gizka. It might just be almost done!

 

[rekator]

The squad AI is horrible; watch your AI buddies shoot walls that are in-line with the enemy, or simply not listen to you at all. One major game battle was a super bitch to win because the AI allies were just useless to me.... That almost ruined the whole game for me there. It took something like 30 retries for me to beat.

What's part is?
Didn't find hard on veteran, let's see on Hardcore now! (why they don't allow insane mode directly?)

And my feeling on ME, good base for the trilogy.

 

[Lefungus]

1) You can interrupt anyone, at any time. After you've selected what you want to say, press X to interrupt them.

I didn't test it yet, but does it really *interrupt* someone or does it just skip the NPC dialog ? Skipping dialogs has been featured since Baldur's Gate. ME previews mentioned interrupting people in game, my bad if I did miss it.

2) The decisions do impact some things, such as who you keep in your party, whether

Spoiler

Wrex dies, whether Ashley or Kaiden dies, whether you have to fight Saren at the end

etc...

I don't deny that. All those points you've mentioned were good parts of the game. However, those choices are few and localized. There are no deep dialog trees where when you select the right thing, a whole new branch appear, like in their previous games. Most ME dialogs go from A to B, with three choices at each step (good/neutral/evil). Sometimes it's spiced-up with a charm/intimidate choice. I expected much more.

 

[rekator]

I didn't test it yet, but does it really *interrupt* someone or does it just skip the NPC dialog ? Skipping dialogs has been featured since Baldur's Gate. ME previews mentioned interrupting people in game, my bad if I did miss it.



I don't deny that. All those points you've mentioned were good parts of the game. However, those choices are few and localized. There are no deep dialog trees where when you select the right thing, a whole new branch appear, like in their previous games. Most ME dialogs go from A to B, with three choices at each step (good/neutral/evil). Sometimes it's spiced-up with a charm/intimidate choice. I expected much more.

Sorry, where are not good/neutral/evil in ME…it's not a black/white system…

 

[Lefungus]

Sorry, where are not good/neutral/evil in ME…it's not a black/white system…

I beg to differ. The dialog circle menu usually have the following layout (there are variations to this one, but those are uncommon)
- Left choices are for getting more information on different topics. Those choices usually don't get the conversation plot further. Most of them are skippable.
- Three choices at the right, the top one is the paragon choice, middle one is neutral and bottom one is the renegade choice. Hence the good/neutral/evil comparison.

It's not true for a few events, like those mentioned already

Spoiler

(Wrex, Ashley & Kaidan)

. The dialogs are much more fleshed out during those. I guess that's what I'm criticizing, I wanted more of that, and less of the "go fetch 20 rocks on random planet" or "pick top-right dialog option to get paragon points"

 

[vazel]

Unbelievable I completed the game twice and I still don't have the 'complete majority of the game' achievement. Before I went to Ilos I went to every system to trigger side missions. I guess it's me not doing the artifact and mineral collections that hurt me but I despise collection quests.

 

[AlNom]

Unbelievable I completed the game twice and I still don't have the 'complete majority of the game' achievement. Before I went to Ilos I went to every system to trigger side missions. I guess it's me not doing the artifact and mineral collections that hurt me but I despise collection quests.

You should be able to complete a significant chunk of the collecting just by surveying planets.

 

[rekator]

- Three choices at the right, the top one is the paragon choice, middle one is neutral and bottom one is the renegade choice. Hence the good/neutral/evil comparison.

Yes, but not a Good/neutral/Evil choice… sometimes the better choice is paragon and sometimes is renegade or neutral… depend of the situation and of the "affinity" with other.
ME seems, for me, more profond than a Good/Evil choice if you take attention…

 

[PARANOiA]

I have a question about the end of the game. Mega spoilers below!

Spoiler

I managed to talk Saren around, however his implants were too strong and he shot himself. There was no boss fight, which is brilliantly apt for what this game intended to do (until the "Sovereign" fight). My question is... is this the only way to defeat Saren? Is there a route to get a "normal" fight?

 

[AlNom]

I have a question about the end of the game. Mega spoilers below!

Spoiler

I managed to talk Saren around, however his implants were too strong and he shot himself. There was no boss fight, which is brilliantly apt for what this game intended to do (until the "Sovereign" fight). My question is... is this the only way to defeat Saren? Is there a route to get a "normal" fight?

Spoiler

There should have been a boss fight when he comes back to life. But you can fight him before he changes if you don't use the charm/intimidate options.

 

[JacksBleedingEyes]

He doesn't have to read it to refute it.

A lot more people think it's a great game despite it's obvious flaws. A rating of 5 is extremely biased and someone is obviously trying to get some attention.

And yes, opinions can be wrong. If it's your opinion that fucking dogs is okay, then your opinion is wrong, and you should die.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

He doesn't have to read it to refute it.

How can you refute an argument without even knowing what the argument is? A refutation is a disproving of something.

Scientist one : "I have proof that Dark Matter doesn't exist."
Scientist two's response without even reading Scientist one's paper : "No you don't."

That response isn't a refutation. A refutation needs a logical argument that points out the faults of the original argument. What you mean to say is AlphaWolf doesn't need to read it to disagree with it, based on a quick glance at a score out of 10. Without having read the review though, you don't actually know what the guy's complaining about. If the guy lists the same flaws as everyone else but rates it 5 instead of 9, then no-one is disagreeing or refuting his arguments, only his choice of score.

And yes, opinions can be wrong. If it's your opinion that fucking dogs is okay, then your opinion is wrong, and you should die.

There's a world of difference between arguments of morality and opinions on entertainments. And the latter can't be wrong. If a person dislikes people with red hair and thinks its okay to kill them, you can say they're wrong (and the debate of the existence of Absolute Morality is for the RSPCA forum, not here!), but if a person doesn't like the Harry Potter films, you can't say that they are wrong in their tastes and defective as human beings and they should die. Tell me this with your absolute opinion - does Marmite taste nice or not?

[modhat]Anyway, I'm gonna slap a big fat 'Not Allowed' sticker on links to user reviews. It's bad enough the arguments that arise from official reviews, but when we're going to be open to discussion of every internet user's opinions, we'll get completely overwhelmed. If a poster elsewhere (forum or reader review or blog) shares your sentiments on a game, fine, but don't quote them or link to them. Post your own opinions. And no-one dare say those opinions are wrong as in the field of consoles and games, all tastes are allowed. If you can't respect people who don't like a game as much as you do, it's you who has the issues, not the person with the different tastes.[/modhat]

 

[scooby_dooby]

How can you refute an argument without even knowing what the argument is? A refutation is a disproving of something.

The idea that a game like Mass Effect deserves a 50% is so preposterous, that it can truly be dismissed out of hand.

ME stands above 99% of video games currently released, in a myriad of ways, even if you completely hated it, any objective reviewer with an ounce of intelligence would have to give it credit for all the things it does right, and give it an above average mark.

 

[PARANOiA]

I agree with Shifty's stance here. The game certainly doesn't deserve a 50% score, however you know that saying about opinions and assholes If I posted a user-review of SMG or Bioshock or Uncharted giving the games each 1/10, they aren't going to be worthy of discussion... nor is this silly review.

After finishing the game for the first time on Saturday, I thoroughly enjoyed it the whole way through. I've given detailed impressions here and in the GoTY thread, so I'll just add a few additional notes now I've spent more time with the game.

• The autosave feature is broken beyond all belief. At the
  Spoiler

  bit where you need to drive into the alien device within 30 seconds or you die
  I missed it on my first play through... and had to start again at the beginning of the planet. That was about an hours worth of playtime lost because the game decided to throw a stupid timed countdown at me. I've always felt manual and quick-saving were cheating in and of themselves, usually leading to the PC-centric philosophy of "walk ten metres, save, walk ten metres, save, fight baddies, save" to minimise the risk. I would have hoped we were beyond games that require manual saving in this day and age, but apparently not.
• The replayability of this game is core to its concept. I think a lot of the negativity of reviews came down to the fact that the game is short if you intend to play it once only and then pop it back on the shelf. This is a 100 hour+ game if you want to see everything there is to see... and you're rewarded on each subsequent play-through. The achievements you earn on each play-through allow you to carry on with bonuses as well as higher difficulties. The "Ally" achievements encourage you to do a wide variety of side missions with a persistent crew, so that when you start a second time with a new class and potentially a different "hero" style (Paragon/Renegade) you can have extra bonuses like more health, better accuracy and whatnot.
• The difficultly I had as an adept at the start of the game disappeared when I started using some Singularity. When I levelled up throw to max, I could lift and then launch most enemies into space. Amazingly fun to do! But there wasn't a whole heap of challenge. I would like to see a purely biotic class addition (ie, no guns).
• Starting a second roll as a soldier, and I'm a little puzzled. Renegade seems to be flawed for me. If you want to see lots of the game, you need to be at least neutral, otherwise you'll miss out on a big set of side-missions. What's the point of being a hard-ass, and saying, "it's not my problem" to most people when you're effectively limiting your available missions. I basically turned off the game at the Citadel on the second run-through since I think I need to read a bit more about how to be a true bad-ass while getting to see the galaxy.
• I hope a sequel can be popped out fairly quickly - say, by next Christmas. I'd love to see more of the same, progressing the story, while keeping the core game effectively the same. I don't necessarily want to see the core-mission length increased, but I would like to see integrating previous play-throughs into the next game.

Quick edit: a list of the achievements and their impact on subsequent play-throughs is at http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=603850&forum=123&sp=0

 

[ErnstH]

Apparantly it sold a million already.
(and Halo3 five )

link

When asked about consumers' reaction to the Xbox 360 ad campaign, Bell responded, "The reaction has been very positive. In fact, we saw incredible sales of Xbox 360 for the week of November 18, including Black Friday of more than 310,000 Xbox 360 in the U.S. alone. This is really strong momentum for us given that we're already in our third year on the market. We've also seen a strong response to both Halo 3 sales with more than 5 million, and Mass Effect which has sold more than a million copies in less than three weeks."

 

[Sankari]

Well it deserves the sales, however I do hope they fix the problems in the sequels, the game has lots of good and lots of bad at the moment. Nonetheless its a great game.

 

[PARANOiA]

MS rumoured to have publishing locked up for the last two games in the trilogy, according to FS.

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=18705

I'm curious as to where the sequel goes in terms of story and the universe, considering the changes to the universe at the end of the game.

 

[RobertR1]

I want 2 and 3 to come out TODAY! i need to know what happens. Hate this

 

[Falkster]

This game is just amazing, there's no other way to describe it. I've played KOTOR, and I thought it was a pretty good game, but this game grabs my interest far more. I'm only 12 hours in so far, but I love everything that I've seen. The story is awesome, the rpg elements are awesome, the combat is awesome, and the graphics are top notch.

As for bugs, I haven't encountered any yet, so I'm not sure why people were claiming that the game was shipped unfinished. The frame rate isn't great, but it's better than the frame rate in KOTOR from what I remember, so it isn't bad. It certainly doesn't detract from gameplay.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

MS rumoured to have publishing locked up for the last two games in the trilogy, according to FS.

They'd be stupid not to! That's like two guaranteed million sellers in the bag.