Mass Effect (PC)

Pros: Almost Everything

Cons: Almost Nothing

Summary: Some points to mention before I begin my review of Mass Effect:

1) I played the game with no patches installed;
2) Since I loved the Kotor games, I will sometimes make comparisons between them since both games share a lot between them;
3) I will divide the review into 5 categories: Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, Storyline, Value.

Since I loved the Kotor games, I decided to try Mass Effect as many people and website said they shared some common factors and boy was I glad I bought the game. It is a fantastic game with many and many extras but with some little (very little) downfalls.

GRAPHICS
What can I say here? The graphics are impressive to say the least, its like watching a movie. The people around you are, well, people not game people. I was playing this game, talking to Liana and my girlfriend came into the room and asked me what was the name of the movie I was watching and she plays games too. That the extent of the realistic graphics in this game. The environments are also the most realistic around, especially while in the buggy driving around on planets. The cutscenes are awesome and give you that sense of adventure and needed action like the old movies of Indiana Jones. The game is flourishing with color, bright but great colors that all mold with each other. The only downfall on the graphics side is that sometimes, when talking to someone, a little graphic glitch would occur on their face or neck but nothing serious. Perhaps it will be solved in a future patch.
Also a little on the negative side is that during side-quests, the enemy buildings are almost all the same inside (same plan) but considering the amount of side-quests, such thing can be overlooked (perhaps a universal building plan by the council...).

Graphics : 10/10


SOUND
The music is simple great and adapted for that particular moment. The sound like a gun firing or the sniper are very realistic. Also people voices are great and in sync with their lips. Some bad notes here is that during my gameplay, music was more often than not very low in volume but the gun sounds were still high so I coulnd't ring up the volume to hear the music. A bug perhaps. The final boss music was also great.

SOUND : 9/10


GAMEPLAY
The combat is not hard to learn and after a few fights, you will get the hang of it, not to mention the tutorial in the beginning. It is easy but effective.
The movement of the character is easy but sometimes, especially during missions in caves or anywhere else, a 'run' option would have been very helpful for the less patient.
The inventory is very easy but I did not like very much the 150 item limit, especially when you cannot drop any items or turn to omni-gel many items at a time. It rather eats your patience to have to remove on item at a time. If there was an option to remove many at a time, it is not easy to find.
The maps (both inside the planet and of the galaxy) are easy to use and quite straightforward. Comparing and changing weapons, upgrading and more could not be easier from the equipment screen.
The journal is also very easy to use, unlike many many games around.
Instead of mentioning many more things, I will just say here that the gameplay is great and nothing of the game available options can only be used by hardcore gamers only.

Gameplay : 10/10


STORYLINE
The story of the game is very intriguing and also sucks you in. Also the sidequest stories are good but the Kotor ones were much better.
The relationship are good but nothing compared to the Kotor relations. You just have one conversations with all members after each main mission and thats all. No talking during missions or very little with nothing special. But on a better note, the final results of the relationships are much better than Kotor which was just a kiss if you are lucky.

Storyline: 9/10


VALUE
You completed the game and you think thats all? Think again. The replay value of this game is huge. Not to mention the hardcore difficulty unlocked after completing the game, there are a lot of achievements to unlock and many more things to do. The game does not continue after you beat it but who cares? Begin another one in hardcore and do noy go for the final mission until you manage to get all achievements and you wont even have time to sleep.

Value: 10/10

OVERALL
If game developers want to cash on our money, Mass Effect is definitely the example they should develop games on. Now that we have seen a game as great as this one, no-one will buy something less. A must buy for those rpg or sci-fi players out there.