The galaxy is a big, big place. And when you can explore this much of it, things take a while.
The general policy here is to get to the end of any game with a linear objective, and to get a significant dose of sandboxes and sports games.
Well, there is an end goal to Mass Effect, and there’s a lot of sidequest. I’m at 22 hours, and I believe I’m halfway done at most. It’s not too early to recommend the game, however, and this is the point where I do so.
In summary, the game is awesome. I’m going to go over my weak points, in a nice bulleted list, so you know what to watch for, because the rest is just great.
- Loading. Lots of it, and if you’ve been playing for a while and your Xbox is getting hot, you’ll see more of it. It’s never a long load, often just a little 2 second popup. But god damn, elevators are slow. So very slow, and a few times I’m sure that if I could have taken some sort of stairs, I’d be there already. Upside is elevators often have sounds playing that are relevant to dealings in the area, or even galaxy.
- Combat can be really hard at points, and is tricky to get the hang of at first. It’s best to think Rainbow Six:Vegas, frankly. The control is a bit different, but the idea is the same, even if it’s a bit simpler, or seems such. Taking cover, directing the squad to points, and occasionally using a grenade to clear enemies, that’s what keeps you alive and gets combat won. Rambo usually gets killed in this game, but the game DOES allow for sprinting from point to point, and bashing anyone in the way.
- Textures pop-in a lot, but it’s not usually notable unless in conversation with a character still wearing a low-res skin.
- Once in a while, frames drop, this usually is worse with a hot Xbox. Only at one point have I consistently had a bad framerate due to a vey high number of enemies and NPCs in that exact location.
- The AI pathfinding can have a few quirks. Allies can’t open doors that close between them and you, but will magically teleport back to the player at certain points. They sometimes have issues in combat, like trying to steal the spot you’re using for cover, or getting caught in the open. Otherwise, not too bad, and they’re perfectly capable of shooting things and not dying too much.
That’s the big stuff. The rest, it’s great. Once you’ve got combat down, you’ll feel like a bad motherfucker, even specializing in pistols(and for a while, I had a much easier time finding stronger pistols than sniper rifles). There are a few spots that can result in death several times until the player figures out what’s the right way to handle a situation, but they’re extremely rewarding, and for people who just hate dying in combat, the game’s easy settings are very forgiving.
Go on now, go buy Mass Effect. It’s absolutely outstanding and a brilliantly refined and polished game. And expect to replay it, because there will be plenty of times that make you say “Oh, damn it, I wish I had that character with me!” when things turn a certain way, plotwise.
