Mass Effect

The revolution of RPG's began with Bioware - the Canadian videos game developer who have brought us classics the likes of Baldurs Gate, Dragon Age and Neverwinter Nights. These guys certainly don't mind trying anything new and this time it's time for the second chapter in Commander Shepherds futuristic trilogy. The series has given new life to sequels with the idea that decision makes an impact in the future entries.

The Mass Effect games are very story-driven; facing you up against intergalactic war, large security companies and even species extinction. I would highly recommend picking these up right from the first intalment. There really is so much depth added to the story from your critical plot decisions that the further instalments genuinely feel personally made. Don't worry though if you lost your save or are playing this game without having played the first (again a dumb thing to do ) then don't worry because the character creation is extremely in-depth ( you can choose to be male or female by the way ) and the critical plot decisions from the first game will be assigned to your character randomly.

The game is played through a Commander Shepherd a Spectre who captains the Normandy ( your giant spaceship). Everything goes to hell and you sacrifice yourself to save Joker ( voiced by Seth Green ). The game takes place in the year 2183, where Shepherd, who sets out to explore the Galaxy gets caught up in huge intergalactic conflicts. The title Mass Effect is a form of technology allowing for faster-than-light travel which sends the Normany across to the furthers reaches of the galaxy.

Shepherd has been sent to the human colony world of Eden Prime to recover an unearthed Prothean beacon but things quickly spiral out of control. As the story progresses you meet and obtain crew mates to assist you on your missions. These take place across a vast array of worlds from snow covers ice giants, to beautiful jungle paradises and huge civilised space stations. Each locations has many different quests to really give you an idea of the universe these games are set in. Different cultures and character dynamics have been probably implements to really immerse the players.

You pick one of six different classes at the start of the game or continue playing as the class you were in previous games. If you want your imported character to specialize in a different class you can change it though too. Each class is very unique with different sets of abilities and progression options. Whether you specialize in biotics, guns, engineering or something else, game-play will feel unique and refreshing on each play-through.

Combat takes place in real time using both guns that range from powerful mini nukes and alien technology to biotics like Warp or Push. Combat is dynamic and the AI is reasonably good – at times it can be great. The system does struggle in some areas and characters have been known to leave cover and run at you like crazed maniacs from quite some distance. Certain differences apply to each instalment of the game but these are very easy to adjust to.

During conversations in game a radial command menu; divided into six equal sections like a pie chart, is shown at the bottom of the screen. Each section is assigned a brief description of the response's, usually a short phrase such as "What's going on?". This allows the player to process their own feels towards each character and can develop certain stories in many different ways. Save someone and they may come back later to help you our or give you some reward. Kill that same person and their family or friends could seek revenge. The world of Mass Effect is really exceptionally immersive.

Paragon choices and Renegade choices are a staple part of these games and correspond with the good/evil decisions your character makes. If you have enough Paragon or Renegade points you can choose different dialogue options and in return receive more points again. The only issue I found with this is that it actually holds you back from playing a straight down the line character. Playing both sides of the coin will actually decease your storyline options and in some case stop certain story-lines all together. Making some of these decisions can be very tough because even the smallest of characters are like-able. When the time to make a big decision comes do not be surprised if you find yourself staring at your dialogue choices for a minute or two. Sometimes you will see a choice that sounds friendly but turns out to be a renegade action. This issue became non-existent once I realized that the top choice was always good, the middle choice was always neutral, and the bottom choice was always a renegade choice. Overall the Dialogue and character interaction shines bright all the way through.

This games do have a few glitches in them and in some areas my game did freeze. Another time an enemy got stuck in a wall and became impossible to kill. The games are so long though that these are very few and far between.

The amount of details in this universe is amazing, each character looks individual and the character facial expressions are very impressive. The whole experience is fluid and the voice acting is wonderful. It really is breathtaking and makes you want to explore the world even more. It runs fine technically too although the load times can drag.

Each game takes around 25-30 hours to complete with even more time available in side quests. That does even include the storyline re-playability with both paragon/renegade playthroughs and the different classes. There is also downloadable content available for both installments so once the games have been beaten there is even more reason to return.