The first thing I have to mention is that Mass Effect is about to make every Final Fantasy title feel inadequate in the cinema department. Bioware has brought it all to the table and the cinemas do such an amazing job of setting up and complimenting the story that I have to admit I’m surprised. I say this because years of seeing CGI filler had me a little skeptical. But the way Bioware has seamlessly used CGI in Mass Effect is an example of how it should be done. So when you start this title, make sure you have some popcorn, because you’ll be watching a lot of video. Despite the bevy of story telling cut-scenes, I never once felt like I was sitting through filler.

This game is time consuming. The largest chuck of time will be spent just talking to the galaxy’s inhabitants. This game delivers the experience of reading a great book that you can’t put down combined with the thrill of interactive action that results in a game that really defines the genre of RPG. Even with all the time spent just talking, you are in this game and want more. You’ll get more too, but I’ll cover that in a bit. I’ll just say this game is long. Forget about whipping through a game in a night or weekend as that is impossible in Mass Effect. 

Western RPG fans will feel at home from the start as you begin by choosing who you’ll be in Mass Effect. Your have your choice of six classes. Each class differs with a specialty that varies from how they handle weapons to how tech savvy they are. It’s the standard western RPG deal; just tailored to the space environment and storyline of Mass Effect. While many will jump head first into the game with the default John Shepard character, I highly recommend making the character your own and spending a little time creating your character. The creation process has a tremendous effect in the style of combat you’ll be afforded. A quick breakdown for those wondering about the classes is simple. The Soldier is your barbarian. The Engineer is your tech guy and can heal your party if need be and finally there’s the Adept class. This is your distance fighter, as this class can literally pick enemies up and slam them with what I can only describe as telekinesis. There are alternatives to the main three. You can choose from three classes that combine two traits together, but with the obvious fault that their abilities are weaker. Since this isn’t a Mass Effect character FAQ, we’ll move on.

Gameplay is what you should care about. And it’s amazing. It’s not perfect by any means, but what is? All the standard RPG elements are intact as players can level up over a dozen different abilities and upgrade equipment just as you’d expect. The difference begins with the depth of your abilities. This isn’t the usual deal where you just make them stronger. You can actually determine ranges and lengths of abilities with endless possibilities. There’s also the shooter side of Mass Effect. This game isn’t Halo 3 or Gears, but the shooter side could stand on it’s own against some of today’s combat offerings on the market. With squad tactics that call on you to command others to attack specific enemies or fall back, this game has enough for anyone. But wait, there’s more! There is vehicle control too. That’s right. RPG elements, shooter elements, and now cruising for chicks, err, I mean elements and minerals. The Mako, your six-wheeled vehicle, breaks up the action with adventuring for special items hidden throughout the galaxy. This bad boy is equipped to kill with rockets and turrets. Mass Effect really does have it all. And that’s of course what Bioware was going for. By broadening the appeal to everyone, you can’t lose right? While most games would end up lacking in every regard due to stretching themselves thin, Mass Effect is almost too deep in every respect. It’ll be a while before you find your best combos, tactics, and strategies. Heck, it may take you a while to really find the character that best suits you. But that makes this all the more appealing.

While I wish I could go into detail about every part of this game, we’re asked to keep it brief. This has never been as hard as it is with Mass Effect. To keep the higher ups happy though, I’ll move right on to the graphical side of things. Overall, the graphics are beautiful and use the UE3 to the fullest. The character models are great and probably some of the best seen to date. But there is an ugly side to Mass Effect. Occasional clipping in environments and character models gets to the point of serious annoyance. Does it hinder this game? No, because you’re actually so engrossed in the story and action by the time things heat up and cause any issues on screen. It would have been nice to see the pop-up issues polished up and taken care of though.

How’s the sound? Glad you asked. As I mentioned earlier, this game has the best dialogue I’ve ever seen or heard. And the voice animations are so amazingly synced that it only makes the dialogue that much better. The soundtrack compliments the overall experience so well. The well produced orchestral score never seems to over do it. The music almost seems perfect for a sci-fi movie, which makes sense considering the scale of Mass Effect. Sound-wise, this game can do no wrong.

Overall, this game is a superb example of what a great developer can do with the 360 hardware. Not only that, but it has made leaps forward in presentation over previous Bioware offerings. I really wish I was allowed to just sit here and go on and on about this game, and that should tell you something. You remember those games you played while you were in school? All you could think about all day was getting home and grabbing that controller. This is that game. Beautiful graphics combined with a deep and engrossing story that is complimented by great music. The only negatives are the occasional clipping and textures that fail to load after exiting a menu, and the learning curve of the menus themselves. The best word to describe this game is “deep”. If you want value for you buck and can stand to really spend some time with a game, this is it. But if you’re a pickup-n-play fan looking for quick thrills, this game may not be up your alley.

+ Best voice acting ever

+ So many hours of gameplay

+ Genre combining that lacks nothing

- Occasional texture issues