Mass Effect?

[Kado Sunrider]

To play or not to play?

 

That is the question. Input?

[Achilles]

As pure entertainment, it's fine.

 

The writing is questionable. The science is garbage. The story had promise to spare, but the devs failed to capitalize.

 

My biggest beef with the game is that I felt like I was forced to choose between the story and the game (if you tried to follow the story, you missed out on a lot of the game. If you decided to play the game, the story ended up on the back-burner). That's kind of a deal breaker for me.

[Jeff]

I just beat this today actually. I thought the story was quite compelling, but I found the gameplay could be boring at times so I skipped out on a lot of side quests towards the end. I'd still definitely recommend it though, and 2 looks amazing from what we've seen so far.

[Sith'ari Darth Bane]

I'm playing this game right now for my first time, and I love it! It's similar to KoTOR 1&2, or at least IMO.

[Drunkside]

Play it. The side quests are all the same (even though there are some of the best moments of the game in side quests) but the main "storyplay" kicks azz.

[SpaceAlex]

I had some fun with it, and would recommend it.

 

Its cinematics and graphics are definitely impressive for an RPG. Voice acting and music is also above average. The rest of the game is, IMO, pretty mediocre, though.

 

Still well worth your time. It's better than any game released this year, I think.

[Pavlos]

My biggest beef with the game is that I felt like I was forced to choose between the story and the game (if you tried to follow the story, you missed out on a lot of the game. If you decided to play the game, the story ended up on the back-burner). That's kind of a deal breaker for me.

You had to choose between the story and the game?

[Char Ell]

You can buy Mass Effect for $20 USD or less now. Definitely worth playing at that price.

 

I enjoyed playing Mass Effect on PC and am currently playing the game for the third time. It's definitely an action RPG. Story is there and everything but managing your party during combat isn't all that necessary and options for managing NPC party members aren't too effective anyway. If you're a completionist/explorer type like me you may find that it's tough to keep track of which systems and planets you've visited and which ones you haven't because there are quite a few. Mass Effect hits my futuristic fantasy sweet spot for RPG's though and I enjoyed the game's story as well as the more cinematic style used to convey the game's story.

[jrrtoken]

If you liked every other BioWare game, then you'll like Mass Effect. When I mean "every other", I mean that a good deal of the plot, quests and characters can be interchanged with KotOR, Jade Empire, etc.

 

So, really, if you enjoyed KotOR, and if you'd like the same sort of experience, then you'll enjoy Mass Effect. If you're itching for something different... well, you won't exactly find it here.

[Darth InSidious]

Skip it and replay KotOR or Jade Empire. The story is bad even by Bioware standards and is paced like the last ice age, it's poorly optimised and very buggy, the gameplay is awful and the level/quest design is similarly horrible. It's also about 15 hours long, the sidequests are about as interesting to play through as reading A Beginner's Guide to Grey Pebbles... and it's about as immersive as an empty piece of tupperware, and has a similar entertainment-value.

 

It has no charm and no wit, it's pompous, slow, hackneyed and boring.

[DarthParametric]

So you'd be an Obsidian fan then I take it?

 

Kado my advice would be to play it and make your own mind up.

[Darth InSidious]

So you'd be an Obsidian fan then I take it?

Actually, I'm a fan of games that aren't ********ing awful. Nice try, though.

[DarthParametric]

So you should like ME then.

 

I don't deny that the game has its fair share of problems. I have been fairly vocal about them on various forums. However, it also has its good points. I found it was more compelling gameplay-wise than Jade Empire (which I found much more of a let-down - truly the most consolified of Bioware's RPGs). A lot depends on what your expectations were going in I guess.

[mur'phon]

Try it for about 15 minutes first, if you like the gameplay (I did), it's worth it, if you don't, then the story is not enough to save it. It's not terrible, but there are no surprises, and no important choices to make (after deciding wether you want to be child eater or Jesus v 2.0).

[Rake]

I really enjoyed the story, the combat, and the dialogue. It is definitely worth $20 imo, the side missions may suck, but the main story was great.

[Achilles]

You had to choose between the story and the game?

 

Indeed. IIRC, the main quest was call "Race Against Time" (which sounds an awful lot like "hey, this **** is important!). Searching for missing asari artifact and remnants of some long lost black ops spy unit had absolutely nothing to do with anything. Even the stuff with Cerberus was completely separate from the main story.

 

I do this crazy thing in roleplaying games called "roleplaying" and if I can't get a very good roleplaying experience in a roleplaying game, then I don't consider it to be a very good roleplaying game.

 

So back to the OP: If you are looking for a good roleplaying game, take a pass. If you consider yourself science literate and don't like it when people just make stuff up to try to sell a story, take a pass. If you're looking to spend about 40 hours shooting at stuff in a new setting and that's all you care about, spend the $15. You'll get your money's worth.

[stoffe]

Indeed. IIRC, the main quest was call "Race Against Time" (which sounds an awful lot like "hey, this **** is important!). Searching for missing asari artifact and remnants of some long lost black ops spy unit had absolutely nothing to do with anything. Even the stuff with Cerberus was completely separate from the main story.

 

I do this crazy thing in roleplaying games called "roleplaying" and if I can't get a very good roleplaying experience in a roleplaying game, then I don't consider it to be a very good roleplaying game.

 

Pretty much all computer role playing games I've played seem to do this though. Put you on some quest to stop the evil big bad from taking over the world, while peppering you with side quests along the way to distract your from your supposedly urgent task.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.TakeYourTime

 

At least you don't really need to do any side quests in Mass Effect if you don't want, since everything is leveled along with you.

 

(Works better in games where you can keep playing after finishing the main quest though. Then you can save all the extra quests until you got your urgent business dealt with )

[Darth InSidious]

Indeed. IIRC, the main quest was call "Race Against Time" (which sounds an awful lot like "hey, this **** is important!). Searching for missing asari artifact and remnants of some long lost black ops spy unit had absolutely nothing to do with anything. Even the stuff with Cerberus was completely separate from the main story.

 

I do this crazy thing in roleplaying games called "roleplaying" and if I can't get a very good roleplaying experience in a roleplaying game, then I don't consider it to be a very good roleplaying game.

 

So back to the OP: If you are looking for a good roleplaying game, take a pass. If you consider yourself science literate and don't like it when people just make stuff up to try to sell a story, take a pass. If you're looking to spend about 40 hours shooting at stuff in a new setting and that's all you care about, spend the $15. You'll get your money's worth.

 

I'm going to have to disagree on two points: If you have a liking for dialogue that isn't a wikipedia entry, you should take a pass, and if you're looking to spend ~"40 hours shooting stuff in a new setting and that's all your care about", you should buy an FPS.

[Achilles]

Pretty much all computer role playing games I've played seem to do this though. Put you on some quest to stop the evil big bad from taking over the world, while peppering you with side quests along the way to distract your from your supposedly urgent task.

 

To some extent or another, no doubt. ME seemed to be particularly inarticulate about it though.

 

At least you don't really need to do any side quests in Mass Effect if you don't want, since everything is leveled along with you.

 

Quite right, which is why I said that you could either play the game or follow the story, but not really do both.

 

(Works better in games where you can keep playing after finishing the main quest though. Then you can save all the extra quests until you got your urgent business dealt with )

 

Agreed

 

EDIT @ OP: Based on the quotes I'm seeing it appears that DI isn't exactly endorsing the game either. If he and I agree that it's a waste of time, you might want to consider that a sign.

[mimartin]

It is a sign I disagree with you both. Of course I've been told I have terrible taste in games.

 

I endorse Mass Effect totally. Yes, it has flaws, but it did not stop my enjoyment of the game.

[TriggerGod]

I suggest you try it first. Your opinion is probably quite different than both Achilles' and DI's.

 

Yes, it has flaws,

 

There aren't a lot of modern games, if any, that are without flaw.

[Darth InSidious]

EDIT @ OP: Based on the quotes I'm seeing it appears that DI isn't exactly endorsing the game either. If he and I agree that it's a waste of time, you might want to consider that a sign.

 

The end is nigh!

 

I endorse Mass Effect totally. Yes, it has flaws, but it did not stop my enjoyment of the game.

Flaws like a distinct lack of fun or good writing?

 

I suggest you try it first. Your opinion is probably quite different than both Achilles' and DI's.

Anything we both agree on is infallible truth, QED. Alternative opinions are wrong, and lead to damnation.

 

Seriously, it's a bad game; get Mask of the Betrayer instead.

[mimartin]

get Mask of the Betrayer

I will say - Get Mask of the Betrayer too.

[Achilles]

I will say - Get Mask of the Betrayer too.

Thirding: get MotB. NOW!

[stingerhs]

Anything we both agree on is infallible truth, QED. Alternative opinions are wrong, and lead to damnation.

in other words: i'm right. you're wrong. end of discussion.

 

brilliant, right??

Seriously, it's a bad game; get Mask of the Betrayer instead.

and when i say to get Mass Effect because its a better game (as in less bugs, better graphics that are actually optimized, and more compelling gameplay) you say.....

 

oh right, see the above. gotcha.

 

[/sarcasm]

 

seriously, i'd say that you go by a couple of game reviews from real game review sites (as opposed to a web forum where opinions run rampant and can/will be very vocal) like http://gamespot.com, http://ign.com, or http://firingsquad.com. they'll give you rundown on just about anything you can think of for the game which is something you won't get much of from a forum.

 

as for this game, most review sites praise things like the storytelling, voice acting, and a compelling backstory. combat and sidequests seem to have a love/hate thing going on, and there are a couple of graphical quirks that stem from the Unreal3 Engine that the game uses. overall, though, i have yet to read a negative review from any site about this game. just about every review recommends the game in some fashion or another, so its a pretty safe bet that the game is worth the $20 or so that its priced at now.

 

as for my personal recommendation: stick with the PC version. it looks marginally better, and the combat is much improved as the mouse and keyboard puts a lot more emphasis on the shooting. and since this is the Unreal3 Engine, the game runs well on a lot of systems; so you don't need a supercomputer to run it. enjoy.