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Mass Effect
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Sales Rank: 153
Electronic Arts
Released: 2008-05-27 |
Avg. Customer Review: 
Media: Video Game
Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
ESRB Rating: Mature
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Mass Effect
- Experience a rich and engrossing story where your choices decide the fate of galaxy
- Engage in emotionally charged interactions with the most realistic digital actors ever seen in a video game, using an innovative new dialog system
- Immerse yourself in an incredible new adventure from world-famous masters of the RPG; BioWare
- Stunning high resolution graphics, optimized GUI and controls for PC gamers
- Dominate the battlefield with new individual squad member command system
Product Description
You are Commander Shepard of the starship Normandy and you are the last hope for all life in the Galaxy. Saren, a rogue member of the elite and untouchable Spectre agents, has discovered the secret to unleashing an apocalyptic force on the galaxy, and only you stand in his way. To save the lives of billions, you must do whatever it takes to stop Saren and prevent the return of an ancient force bent on the destruction of all organic life.
High resolution visuals - highly detailed textures, characters and environments Fully customizable controls - you can re-map the control scheme any way you like Run & Gun Control - You can assign biotic powers or skills to 'hot keys' allowing you to play Mass Effect with a heavier focus on action Decryption mini-game New inventory screen GUI and functionality - The enhanced inventory system makes it easier for you to equip and modify your weapons and armor
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Mass Effect
- Video Game: 0 pages (2008-05-27)
- Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Label: Electronic Arts
- Format: DVD-Video
- Studio: Electronic Arts
- Our Recommended Age: 17 - 20 years
- Average Customer Review: based on 144 reviews
- Sales Rank in Software: #153
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Best Bioware RPG yet 2008-09-07
Comment: I'm surprised how many low reviews this has gotten. Ignoring the DRM issues this is simply the best RPG that Bioware has put out. It's like playing an action movie. The voice acting is stellar and they really nailed character animations during conversations. I'll admit that the inventory screen is pretty poor and definitely a artifact of porting it from a console. You can only view a few items on screen at one time and it wasn't uncommon for me to have over a hundred items at any point in time and searching through them was a hassle. Combat was excellent though. The combat wasn't quite as refined as say Gears of War, but was pretty decent. The story and characters were superb. It's a shame the DRM detracts so much from this excellent game.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great action RPG, but with a few technical issues 2008-09-06
Comment: Since I do not own an XBox 360, I awaited eagerly for Bioware to port Mass Effect to the PC. I was not disappointed by the wait. Simply put, Bioware has created an amazing role-playing experience that expands on everything that is great about RPGs and adds some of the action and excitement from first-person shooters.
The first thing that struck me about Mass Effect was the loving attention to detail and serious thought that was poured into crafting a deep and immersive science fiction universe. Bioware's writers spent a lot of time contemplating the structure of a fantastical future: the advanced science and technology, the alien species, the mysterious planets and dangerous worlds are all well constructed and believable. In particular, what impressed me was the quality of the "technobabble"; all science fiction must speculate and imagine impossible new scientific knowledge and technological advances - indeed, that is usually the point of science fiction. However, some writers take greatly unneccessary liberties with science, often revealing a personal lack of understanding or interest in the true nature of scientific thought. This is definitely not the case with Bioware's Mass Effect. Although, as in all science fiction, Bioware has to dream up seemingly magical solutions to solve the problems of the future, the writers at Bioware at least show a deep understanding of the underlying scientific problems. Mass Effect, like all great science fiction, does not simply speculate about the future without first presenting clearly and succintly the scientific challenges that are at stake. Mass Effect could definitely be classified as "hard" science fiction.
However, it is not only in the technical, scientific details that Bioware's writers have created a compelling universe for us to explore and get lost in. The history, culture, politics, and individual personalities of the alien species that inhabit the Mass Effect galaxy are all very interesting and very unique. Most importantly, Bioware creates a feeling of a connected, living, breathing, organic world, one in which each species and each individual provides a unique contribution to the greater community. Mass Effect gives us a powerful vision of the society of the future that is as deep and realistic as any of the best "soft" science fiction.
It is this ability of Mass Effect to strike a perfect balance between the "hard" and "soft" genres of science fiction that makes the role-playing experience that much more satisfying and fulfilling. The two elements are united in such harmony that one wonders why most science fiction writers seem obssessed with limiting themselves to working in only one of these paradigms. It is only when the two are combined equally that a fascinating universe can be created.
The story itself is absolutely epic, without seeming overdone or trite. Although veteran science fiction fans will instantly recognize many of the familiar themes and plot devices, Bioware has managed to combine them all with such virtuosity and in their own unique style that the result is as enthralling as if it was wholly new. This reminded me of the original Star Wars trilogy in taking the old and familiar and molding it according to its own vision to create something that is powerfully spellbinding. The characters, especially, are engrossing and well developed. Their personal stories and personalities made me truly care for their fates and their opinions. Make no mistake, Mass Effect will force the player to make some tough choices that will fundamentally affect the destinies of these characters. The depth with which the characters are sculpted makes these choices excruciatingly difficult; I found myself actually agonizing over the moral dilemmas in a video game! Bioware really knows how to create superb drama and pathos.
The side quests, such an important element of a true RPG, do not fail to impress. With a few small but unfortunate exception, each side quest not only special and memorable in its own right, but further contributes to the ambience of a living, real universe.
A note must be made here of the excellent conversation system. Every single line of dialogue is not only voice-acted, but dramatized with full enunciation and body language by all the characters involved. Mass Effect has a brilliant cinematic atmosphere that I have never encountered before in a video game. This will definitely become the gold standard by which all others are measured against for years to come.
A final important aspect of the Mass Effect experience is the combat. While some fanatics refuse to allow any aspect of the first-person shooter genre to "corrupt" the RPG, I personally think that Bioware has done a great job in making an exciting, fast-paced combat system. Rather than detracting from the role-playing experience, the action actually enhances it, in my opinion, by breaking up the monotony of the "leveling drag" with thrilling, exhilarating adventure. Neither does the action confuse the plot nor does the plot burden the action, but both work together. The plot provides the suitable motivation and context in which the action can take root, and the action delivers the epic manifestation and resolution of the plot's intentions.
As you can tell, I cannot recommend Mass Effect more whole-heartedly! It is not only one of the best RPGs I have ever played, but one of the best video games, as well as one of the most mesmerizing works of science fiction I have ever encountered, in print, film, or game.
However, I do have some minor but important complaints. First, the environments for the side quests tend to be very repetitive. While the plot and dialogue of the side quests themselves are generally excellent, the "dungeons" in which they take place are all essentially copies of each other. Hopefully, Bioware will address this in future Mass Effect games (a trilogy is planned) by creating more diverse environments for us to explore, now that the technical foundations of the game have been set. Furthermore, the inventory system is cumbersome to use. Finally, the squad command system felt superfluous and poorly implemented. I rarely felt it absolutely necessary to plan direct, explicit commands for my party members; I found that my player character was usually doing most of the grunt work.
On a technical side, the game looks and sounds great! The voice-acting, especially, is unlike any other I have ever heard; the actors conviningly deliver all the perfect intensity of pathos and emotion to suit the demands of the story. The graphical engine looks glorious, especially the facial animations of the characters, which (alongside the voice-acting and the well-written script) further immerse the player in a believable universe of the future. The character's faces and bodies use a body language of their own to create completely realisitc motions and emotions.
Alas, there was one serious technical problem that I encountered: a series of aggravating crashes and frame-rate drops. These crashes were so numerous that they prevented me from awarding Mass Effect and Bioware a perfect score. Granted that I am running the game on a year-old notebook with Windows Vista, I feel that these issues are way too excessive. I do not understand why Bioware did not take extra time to further test and debug the code, especially since they were in no particular hurry to release the game onto the PC. It is tragic that what should be minor technical hiccups can detract so much from what is in most every other respect an awesome gaming experience. Hopefully, Bioware will fix these problems in future patch updates.
In conclusion (at long last), Bioware has created in Mass Effect an exemplary role-playing game and an exceptional tour-de-force of the imagination! In the end, despite some technical issues, I cannot recommend this game more eagerly to anyone who loves great role-playing games and awesome science fiction!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: DRM kills the game 2008-09-05
Comment: I am writting this review because I love to keep great games and play them years later. The DRM on this product prevents me from doing this. What happens when the game is no longer supported but I haven't used up my 3 activations? Since the DRM wouldn't be able to contact the "Mothership", again I am out of luck. No more strolling down memory lane. What happens if the game studio goes out of business, again, the game is no longer usable. What happens if EA goes out of business next week, everyone who is currenly playing this game would be out of luck. Isn't that a nice picture! Then what happens to the DRM still running on your computer. If you are lucky, it doesn't do anything. If you are unlucky, you will be reinstalling your OS and your games again. Oh, btw, you just used up another installation credit for any other games using DRM.
You would like to think the gaming industry would have learned something from the music industry fiasco. Treating your paying customers like crooks will only cause your sales to drop. The harder your squeeze, the more customers you will lose.
I have never stolen any games and never will, but this type of treatment won't earn the industy my hard earned money.
To all gamers out there, please take a stand and not purchase games that support this type of treatment. To those people out there who think I am just a whiner, more power to you. Eventually DRM will progress until it finally impacts your fun and then you will understand how your rights have been taken away, one step at a time.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great game with minor flaws, but DRM overshadows everything 2008-08-31
Comment: Firstly, I must agree with other reviewers that the DRM scheme is a major turnoff. Neither EA nor Bioware have yet to specify anywhere just what circumstances these 3 activations are triggered. Bioware and EA should be ashamed of themselves for subscribing to a DRM scheme that only succeeds in punishing loyal customers and treating them as little more than criminals.
Now, onto the game itself. The voice acting is uniformly very good to excellent. The storyline for this game is exceptionally strong. Unfortunately it's conveyed through loads of dialogue, which can sometimes slow down the pace of the game at crucial points. Also, the Mako combat vehicle doesn't handle well over hilly ground in the side-quest maps. Also, I wish the side quests had been used to explore the different cultures of the species more, rather than being told about them via the Codex. KOTOR did this very successfully - why couldn't Mass Effect.
In fact, in almost every single area except one - storyline - KOTOR overshadows its successor. The side quests aren't as good. The main campaign is far far too short, with only four...possibly five major planets in the main campaign. And the combat interface is nowhere near as good as KOTOR's.
But it's the DRM scheme that is the killer for this game. Is there really any point in buying a game (for full price) that you can only play 3 times before it's deactivated? My advice? Pull out your old copy of KOTOR instead - if only so that you can remember a time when Bioware were a reputable development company, and not slaves to a bunch of Corporate shills.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Game 2008-08-24
Comment: This is one of the better games. Be able to make choices and explore all of the game.
The only draw back is that no matter what you decide it does not effect the final outcome (this ia a minor draw back).
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