The Mass Effect

So, Mass Effect is finally here. Actually, its been here for the last 10 days, of which Ive probably slept only 16 hours. This is Bioware in top form, and while there are a few issues with the game, it is a pinnacle of the game makers art, and certainly a title that could sell Xboxs, if Xbox needed any such help.
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First, the bad things. Penny Arcade hit those points pretty solidly, because, well, theres a reason those guys are fucking rockstars in the video game world. I wont delve to deeply in that ground. The long elevators (Especially on the Normandy, where there is no interesting voice over interlude or interaction between your companions to break up the monotony) are a problem. Most are encountered on the Citadel, and can there be avoided by simply using the rapid transit system to teleport around. Its gotta be teleporting, because I dont see anywhere on most of those terminals to park one of the vehicles the game suggests is what you use... The hacking, if it can be called such, should have been removed completely. Its a minigame thats boring the third time you do it (with, so far, one extremely interesting, or annoying, variation on an optional side quest...) and doesnt add much to the "you need so much skill to break open this box of goodies" part of the game. The Omni-gel bypass appears to be a form of economic balancing act. Or at least it would be, if you didnt get so many things to turn into Omni-gel, get Omni-gel as quest rewards, and in general, are so swimming in either items, cash, or goo by the mid point of the game that you would think nothing of spending 100 Omni-gel on a problem if such an option where presented. And of course there is no tutorial to speak of, and not much in the way of instructions in the manual. Ive found no upside or alternative to this complaint. I spent the first few hours of play time with a low level, simmering frustration. If I wasnt so familiar with the common practices of Bioware games, Im not sure I would have kept playing at all...

Ill add that the combat difficulty slider needs a level above Veteran. Possibly two levels. There are whole combats I miss completely because I happened to be pointed in the wrong direction when they started, and my hyperactive AI buddies slaughtered everything in the time it took me to turn around.

Those are the bad points. Know them (and read Penny Arcades larger write ups) so that you know what you will run into. All the better to ignore it. Because the story to this game will blow your socks off, but youll have plenty of time to put them back on as you poke around the dark corners of the galaxy, getting into random bits of trouble that all seem to collect into a coherent, hideous pattern.

The main quests are pretty solidly linear, though for once, the Bioware "good guy, bad guy" dichotomy (presented as Paragon and Renegade), is more about HOW you do something, not WHAT you do. Nor are the two sides mutually exclusive, a welcome change. My current character, initially meant to be my "Renegade" plot character, has nearly as many Paragon points as Renegade ones, and when I realized that was possible, I relaxed a little and stopped trying to be such a dick all the time. I could choose to put a bullet in a guy who was just pissing me off, and I could choose to help the colonists out, and those choices where BOTH reflected accurately on my character.

The side quests, on the other hand, are wide open. Ive done side quests "out of order" multiple times, because my wanderings have stumbled me upon the end point of a sequence rather than the beginning. The game handles this reasonably smoothly, and it gives the explorer in me a nice feeling of real accomplishment when that happens. Id complain that there arent enough side quests, except that there are, it is only my appetite for them that is to large.

Speaking of side quests, I want a Mako. This 6 wheeled devil can scale 70deg slopes (Ive even managed some that looked more like 85deg), has some jump jets, a 155mm rail gun, and a coaxial machine gun. Its packing a mass effect field that lets it land from pretty much any fall, at any angle, and it can cross some of the most impassable terrain imaginable. Which is good, because Ive yet to see a planet that wasnt more howling, knife edged mountain than plains... There are lots of quests that involve fighting in the Mako, some very satisfying, and some so badly a slaughter that you kind of feel bad for the bastards. And even one set of quests where I got out of the Mako and fought on foot, because cowering behind cover and sniping was about the only way I could beat those opponents without having my beloved ride blown to hell...

I just got the "Krogan Ally" merit, meaning that Ive just now reached the half-way point. Which means there is a LOT of game here. You owe it to yourself, if you love CRPGs, to play Mass Effect. You can blame the last 10 days of silence on it. Its a good game.