Product reviewsMass Effect (PC, 2008)

Mass Effect - To own or not?

Let's start with the good points:
1) great voice acting and lipsync
2) great storyline and moments of 'epicness'
3) fun, challenging fights - It's great how you can pause the action and plan your moves. It actually becomes very necessary as the fights get more challenging.
4) interesting open-ended galaxy - go anywhere and explore every system. you never know what you'll find.
5) RPG level-up elements are balanced
6) good visuals - not great compared to today's standard, but still really good.
7) the ATV is the most AT I've ever seen - It makes driving and exploring worlds really fun (especially with a good sound system).
8) The music score fits the moods really well. Some of them go overboard actually. Really good music for moments that don't really deserve it. My opinion on that one.

Now for the bad points:
1) Shadow rendering stinks - turned it off
2) 5.1 surround sound disabled - you have to manually inable it through the ini.
3) A lot of diversity, but can definitely seem to get repetitive and predictable.
4) The AI in fights works very well for close combat. Stinks at distance combat (sniping, long range canons)
5) You have to set it to "veteran" and "low" targeting assistance for a decent challenge. Any less and it would be fairly easy for the average gamer.
6) Not like "Gears of War" but about half way there. If the action moments were coupled with elements of GoW and Resident Evil 4, this game would be excellent, but you can jump over boxes, through windows, and the like. You can take cover easily enough, but no quick dodges and rolling across the floor make for some pretty lacking action scenes.

It's always easier to pick apart the bad stuff, but all in all, it was worth the money I paid for it. Be sure to enable 5.1 speakers if you have them, disable dynamic shadows, and enjoy your game.Read full review...

Great Game Must Have ME1-2

Great game. Good predecessor to Excellent ME2. Looking forward to the 3rd installment. I bought this game because I played ME2. At first play I thought ME2 sucked. I decided to give it another chance, and looking back I am glad I did. I let ME2 sit for at least a month before I gave it another shot. Prior to Playing ME2 I was playing MAG on ps3. Now I see why so many guys went to get ME2 at midnight and not MAG. The ME series is epic. Epic fights, story, and epic acting. Everyone complains about Shepard, but I think he is perfect. Only game I can compare it to is the MGS series. Prior to ME I felt MGS had the best story now the verdict is out until ME3. Particularly ME1 is a little hard on the eyes being that it was released in 1998, but it still is equal to anything on a HD console. Well at-least on my PC. Make sure you have a good rig and monitor you will need to have the graphics on ultra.

Little tech note. This game will not boot correctly on Vista and 7. You have to dig in the program folder and get the file with the M.exe icon because launching from the created short cut results in a crash every time. Not officially supported in 7, but it still will play flawlessly.Read full review...

One of the Best Modern RPG Stories ever made

While even the casual observer will note how the series borrows content, character development, and situations from numerous sci-fi universes, it does it in a very inviting way that does not offend. This choose-your-path adventure puts you right in the action almost immediately from the game's beginning, and forces you to live with your quick decisions. Each member of your team that you build along the way has a well thought out personality, history, and flavor that makes you want to learn more about them, about their homeworlds, etc. You can't help but take a break from saving the galaxy to explore the countless planets, or investigate local trouble. I must warn you, if you start to play this game, you will lose track of time as you are sucked into the rich worlds, and riveting storyline. I highly recommend this game, and the entire Mass Effect Series.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: brimstonegames

Mass Effect... Why Such a great game Sucks!

The game had a great advertising campaign, which makes you want it as much as Halo3,GoW2,Fable2,etc. But only after paying $30-40 you find out that if you have a PC that qualifies for the minimum requirements, you want get to enjoy the game as it was meant to be played (and now you can't even return it). The requirements for the game are ridiculously high, so if you want to actually enjoy it, make sure to buy it on 360 or if you want to spend $1000+ and get yourself a killing PC, well then on PC as well.Read full review...

Great but not perfect.

This is possibly the best game I've played in recent years. The role-playing experience is fantastic, all NPCs have full personalities, and I don't mean your teammates (although some of them do too; more on that later). Every person that you can talk to is different from the next one. The combat system is great as well, especially for me as I'm not all that great at full on shooters. You can seamlessly pause the game during combat and give your two teammates commands, although sometimes their AI can leave you wanting. However, they can turn the scales in your favor in a seemingly hopeless battle. You just need to use them right. A lot of games tend to let you down a bit when it comes to the ending. This game does not. It ends very well and although this is only the first in a trilogy it also has a definite ending to a singular story.
On to the bad. The graphics, while beautiful, do not mean a thing when the animators can't make humans look like humans. The lips (as in all Bioware games) do not move like human lips which detracts quite a lot. Plus the way NPCs end a dialog is so unnerving, it's looks as if they have to excuse themselves so they can use the toliet. And to me the most horrifying experience is this: I love when there is a romance in games. Baldur's gate and KOTOR got it right. Mass Effect did not. Sure they had a sex scene (and I'm not for or against this; it is simply part of the game to me), but really there was no lead up to it. You can only really have four or five conversations with your love interest before all of a sudden you're in love or lust or whatever and then you get down and dirty. This was an unforgivable atrocity and BioWare should be ashamed. I felt a greater connection with the Hanar who wanted to preach about the Enkindlers (a side quest NPC) than with any of the love interests (main NPCs). Normally my favorite character in RPGs is the love interest because they actually have character. Jaheria and Viconia in Baldur's Gate, Bastila in KOTOR where my favorite characters from their respective games, simply because I felt I knew them. Not so in Mass Effect. Wrex was by far the coolest character in this game, which is not a bad thing as he was fraking awesome! However, my point is there wasn't enough time to get to know the love interest to actually care. And we'll end that there.
Despite my cons taking up more space, I still give Mass Effect an excellent score. I have never, ever played a game through twice in a row. I spent almost five days straight playing this game through twice and I doubt I'll ever find another game like that. Unless Mass Effect 2 is better, cause Dragon Age certainly doesn't look like it. So yes, this game is awesome. Buy it. Love it. And if you don't, you're probably not even human. Maybe a Krogan.
Oh and on a psuedo related note to BioWare personnel should they read this: Mass Effect 2 better be a direct continuation with the same main character with the ability to import old characters a la the old Quest For Glory games. KOTOR2 pissed me off something fierce. (These two sentences actually correlate if you've played this game. You might not agree but it does make sense;)
Thanks for reading, and support more great games by buying this one! ie, don't try to justify the pirating of this game because it has a ridiculous three time install only and an activation thingy (not a real activation thingy, by the way). Oops, I'm about out of space.Read full review...

Review of the PC Mass Effect

The game itself, incredible. The way choices you made affect you in the future, amazing. The amount and customizabilty of weapons and gear, incredible. That combined with good graphic, interesting storyline and high replayability makes Mass Effect epic.

The only negatives I have found are that registering the game so you can get the dlc is a bit more time consuming than one would like given that EA purchased it so the registration process involves two different sites reading correctly from the other instead of one site controlling it all, and there are a couple of minor glitches that have forced me to reload. (An elevator or two half worked, locking the character on the elevator without it moving or allowing you to exit)

Still, replaying those very few and far between sections was more than enjoyable and the rest of the game functioning wonderfully more than compensate. An added bonus, when you finish this game you can import your character into the second Mass Effect and carry some things over if you wish to, including the looks of your character.

I would reccomend this game, this series, to anyone who has a computer powerful enough to play it and hope that if you have the choice that you choose the PC version. It looks better among other optomizations including a better combat system. This is a game to look forward to if you haven't played it and one of the few games that has enough different choices to be made that I am more than willing to replay it to see what happens since the outcomes can be different.Read full review...

Action RPG in a Science Fiction Universe

Almost like a movie where you pick where the plot goes. A great, star system-spanning plot keeps things moving. I really like the setting, the vast Citadel ship serving as the hub of your adventures while you fly around the galaxy in your very cool spaceship. The artwork and character design is fantastic. Most of the play mechanics work pretty well. I did not like the inventory management system or the terrible controls for driving your ground vehicle (although they were so bad that my own driving made me laugh more times than anything else in the game). A real joy to play and then play again doing all the things you didn't do the first time around. A great storyline and engaging play mechanics make this one a winner.Read full review...

Great sci-fi RPG worth trying and completeing...and then repeating :)

I was actually recommended to try this product from one of the great (geeky) guys at GameStop. When I told him that I'd played the Fable series, Red Dead Redemption, GTA, Halo, and the Assassin's Creed series, so the guy recommended I play this. I was tentative to try but, I figured it was only $10 and worth a shot. Besides, with GameStop's "you can return a used game within 7 days no questions asked" policy, I figured I would try it out and, if I didn't like it, return it.

Well let me tell you - I tried it out, and I was FLOORED. I loved the interaction between the characters alone, they build the story so much. And the combat is great, working with your team to take down the thugs. I've gone on now to play Mass Effect 2, and have ME3 preordered even. This game has become, by far, my favorite game over all time. And all thanks to a little employee at GameStop - I should send him flowers.Read full review...

a good and interesting RPG game

As many others, I had some trouble getting the graphics to work properly (I'm running the game on Windows 7 RC) but after a bit of reading and tweaking ini-files etc it now looks quite brilliant :) The gameplay is quite complicated at first, but easy to learn during the first hours of the game. The story is very interesting and the Mass Effect universe is worth while exploring :) I would gladly recommend this game to anyone who likes RPG-based/sci-fi games, and/or people who have previously enjoyed games like KoToR / Fallout etc.Read full review...

The "definitive" Mass Effect

There are already countless reviews written about Mass Effect, most of which were published when the console version was released. Suffice it to say that Mass Effect is an outstanding game on any platform, and so instead I will focus on the improvements that the PC version offers over the original.

Many PC gamers, myself included, were disappointed to hear that Bioware would be releasing its newest RPG on consoles first. Though it would certainly come to PC as the Star Wars KOTOR games did, I was worried that it would be a half-baked port. Well, I was sure wrong.

The PC version of ME has received updated visuals and graphics optimization to make it look better than its XBox 360 counterpart (no anti-aliasing, unfortunately), menus have been slightly streamlined, and the first DLC pack is free. However, the main draw of PC Mass Effect is the change of pace in gameplay thanks to Bioware completely redoing the combat interface to suit the mouse and keyboard. In the console version, the player would have to pause the game to order party members to attack and/or use biotics (spells). In the PC version, however, powers can be hotkeyed to the number keys, and the option to turn off aim assist lets PC gamers feel like they are really in the midst of a battle in which skill rather than "active pause" decides the winner.

In short, if you opted out of buying Mass Effect when it was first released, you have no reason to do so now.Read full review...