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Masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 41
Date: May 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Bioware has done it again--another great epic. In the style of Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, Mass Effect treads new ground. The game uses an intuitive user interface that is quick and simple to use. While not in combat, much of the interface is minimized, or is hidden, expanding your view to better take in the sweeping vistas and grand environments. This game truly is a graphics splendor. Other reviews have mentioned graininess in the textures. This may simply be due to a graphics option in the game itself titled `film grain'; turning this option off smoothes things out.

Despite the gorgeous graphics, there are a few that could stand to be better, namely the characters who tag along with you. Several of these characters, and others you interact with in the game world, seem to have a lower resolution. This is made evident by all the other characters that have resolutions and detail so thick you wonder if the development team managed to graft real skin onto the characters.

At the time of this review, I have only had a couple days to play the game, but the story is intriguing and engaging, if a bit predictable. The voice acting is excellent and really breaths life into the characters.

Mass Effect is also rich. Bioware created such a rich and deep universe that it truly feels real and pulls you in. Though there is so much information that it can bee a bit overwhelming. Despite the dialogue being spoken, expect to do a lot of reading if you choose to fill yourself in on this magnificent and intriguing universe.

A word of note based on personal experience for all Vista users, you may need to run the game in administrative mode or the game may respond with a security violation message. Just right click on the shortcut or executable and select `run as administrator'. Other than this point I have had no problems with the game.

I highly recommend Mass Effect to anyone who loves role playing games. If you're a fan of Knights of the Old Republic, you'll surely love this title.

All the other reviewers are idiots

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 77
Date: May 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The game just came out the other reviewers wrote reviews before the game was even out and all the security stuff has since been removed amazon should remove these reviews

A good game with unfortunate DRM

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 24
Date: June 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First and foremost, the game uses DRM technology. You have a limited number of installations and need an internet connection when you install it. However, once you are past this (either through legitimate or illegitimate means), it is an excellent game worth your purchase.

Made by the creators of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect is a Sci-Fi Role-Playing Game. You play a character of your creation (either Male or Female) and begin your quest to, as always, save the galaxy from some threat. Mass Effect is an action-oriented third-person shooter, so while your characters abilities play a large role in the outcome of confrontations, the player's skill is more important: the player must aim at the enemies, make tactical choices regarding cover and squad-control, and determine when and where to activate their abilities.
As a narrative, Mass Effect excels at involving the player in the story's galactic conflict, and making the player a part of the outcome; it is up to the player whether or not they perform certain actions in the story, whether they join with various characters or not. The story is engaging, and certainly a worthwhile experience.

Many people have rated the game extremely lowly because of its DRM issues, but this is unfair to the quality of the game. I played this game extensively on the Xbox, and am now playing it on the PC; it is an excellent title. It baffles me that people would stoop so low as to cripple a game's rating because of a technology that does not affect the quality of the game, and one that is easily bypassed if one has the inclination. Buy this game, support excellent games on the PC platform.

A better place to see the game rated based on its quality, rather than the biases of reactionary sheep mindlessly jumping on the Anti-DRM Bandwagon [...]

Lots of fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: June 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought Mass Effect about a week ago and just finished my first playthrough. I'm basing this review solely on the content of the game and leaving out the DRM issue. Mass effect was tons of fun, definitely one of the better games I've played in awhile.

The graphics are great looking (I will qualify this by saying I have a very high-end gaming PC, I'm not sure about the performance on older systems). The storyline is also fun and engaging, it feels like you're watching a good sci-fi movie. The conversation system and voice acting in the game are also very well done. Combat in the game is fast and fluid and feels more like a first person shooter (although it's a third person viewpoint) than a traditional RPG.

The game does have a few negative points as well. My biggest complaint was that I thought it was too short. My first playthrough only took me 20 hours. I think I completed maybe half of the side quests available. The core quests that you have to complete to finish the game are probably 10 hours of playtime or less. My other big complaint was the lack of variety in the game. There are only 4 types of weapons; Pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, and assault rifles. There are only about 20 kinds of enemies in the game, and when you start doing side quests, there are only about 5-6 different map layouts that are used. The only other negative point I can think of is that there isn't much of a tutorial at the beginning to explain how to play the game. I was confused for a little while on how to do things, but it passes quickly.

Despite its few negative points, Mass Effect was still tons of fun to play. If you like science fiction, and you don't mind the DRM, I highly recommend it.

One of the best RPGs ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: July 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mass Effect is one of the best games I have ever played. I loved the story, action, dialogue choices, etc. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves RPGs, or more specifically space/science fiction RPGs!

What about the GAME? It's awesome!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 20
Date: June 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Ok, first I see a lot of negative reviews here related to the DRM and Vista. Lets get that out of the way: This game does have annoying DRM, especially when combined with Vista. I've been able to get mine to play fine, but I did have to jump through some hoops using info posted on the Bioware and EA forums (probably letting the game run as Administrator and/or using XP emulation will fix most problems).

But the game is AWESOME! If you like RPGs... especially if you like Bioware RPGs (KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, etc.), then do yourself a favor and go get the game. This is clearly one of the best RPG games to come out for the PC in a long long time. I, for one, am not going to cut my nose off to spite my face and not play it. I bet all of the same people telling you not to buy it here skipped out on Half Life 2 because of Steam.

PS: People that are complaining about it being a "Grainy looking Port".. uhh.. there is a 'Film Grain' option. Turn that off if you don't like the look, don't down-rate the whole game because you didn't look through the options.

What is up with these reviews?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 59
Date: June 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm a 30-year-old PC gamer who has been playing PC games since the early 80s all the way back with the "IBM PCjr" desktop. I've seen my fair share of horrible games loaded with bugs and this game simply isn't one of them. Mass Effect isn't the absolute greatest game ever, the UI could be better and some of the dialog options don't seem to work the way they should, but I've had absolutely ZERO major technical problems with this game.

The DRM issue stinks, but that's hardly an issue for 99 percent of gamers ... unless you plan to pirate the game. Even if you couldn't call EA support to install the game more than 3 times (which you can) by the time I need to install this game more than 3 times it will be on sale for less than $15 in the bargain bin.

I had absolutely no problems with installation and the only people who I've personally dealt with who had problems either have weak desktops or no internet connection. It's 2008 for crying out loud!!! If you don't have internet access on your desktop then you don't need to be wasting your time playing games ... you need to get some internet service.

I have a relatively weak AMD processor, Nvidia 8600GT 512MB DDR3 card, and 4GB of system RAM and a 7200RPM HDD. My system runs this game flawlessly. Serious gamers should have even better configurations than what I'm using. I consider my desktop config to be the "minimum" for semi-regular PC gaming in 2008.

The people who are complaining about this game are either just annoyed about the DRM or are incompetent and have computers with weak specs that can't possibly play this game. Don't buy new PC games with relatively advanced 3D graphics if you can't afford a good graphics card and acceptable system specs. A $500 desktop with a weak graphics card isn't going to play this game at remotely acceptable levels. That's not a problem with this game ... that's just REALITY for all PC gaming.

Go play "Rise of Nations" at 640x480 resolution if you want to play a PC game on your weak desktop with a $50 graphics card. If your parents can't afford a gaming rig then you need to get a job and buy a real desktop. Quit complaining about a great game.

Great game with some flaws.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 21
Date: June 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for this game since it was announced. I am a HUGE fan of all bioware games, especially Knights of the Old Republic, which I consider the best RPG of all time to date and was looking forward to this game as a "spiritual successor" to KotOR. (compared to KOTOR2 which was a big pile of rubbish. Thats what you get when you don't let bioware make the sequel)

First off, the game is great, however it's not as good as KotOR was. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game but doesn't live up to KotOR.

Pros: Storyline - I personally liked the mass effect storyline better than KotOR in some respects. It feels a little more real/gritty and I feel more suspense from the enemies than I ever did with the baddies from KOTOR. You also have the option to read all about the different species throughout the game as you collect information on them, also the tech of the universe and history. Very well done Bioware, I like the depth here.

Gameplay - The gameplay is fun too. I don't know why some people don't like it. The shooting is fun and being able to hide behind and shoot is a welcome to just standing there and taking it ala KOTOR.

Voice Acting - The voice acting is some of the best I've ever heard in a game. Some of it's very moving in certain areas. They actually have Seth Green as the pilot of your ship and he does an awesome job. He was one of my favorite characters in the game and I hope he comes back for ME2.

Cons:

Side-Missions - The side missions are interesting for the first couple of times but then they all turn into the same thing. You basically have to land on a planet and roll around in a horribly hard to steer buggy and find a place where you have to kill or talk to someone. There are only a couple of maps for these that are overused. The side quests themselves seem like more work than fun.

Characters - While the characters are fun and interesting. There is NOT enough back story to them. I will try not to spoil anything, but something big happens between your character and another after only like 4 conversations. What?! I remember having tons more conversations with my companions from KotOR than this. It felt like I hardly knew the Mass Effect characters at the end of this game. Very saddened by this because they were interesting.

Inventory and HUD - The inventory system sucks. That's all there is to it. You can't look at your inventory easily at all. And god help you if you ever get to your max limit of items on a mission. The game REQUIRES you to start trashing new items if your over your limit. And you can't check your team mates levels or items most of the time. When your on your ship you might as well forget about tweaking there powers and items. It's impossible.

Other thoughts: To the person who said the game is grainy. Yes, I found this out as soon as I started it and was SHOCKED that it looked so bad. HOWEVER, there is a option that gets turn on automatically as default in the game (god why?!) that makes it look more grainy. It's suppose to cause the game to be more "movie like" but just makes it ugly imo. Turning it off makes it look a LOT better and I was very happy with the graphics after that.

This is a good game and worth purchasing, I just hope mass effect 2 has less boring side-quests and more storyline and depth of the characters.

Better than KotOR

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: July 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

As I played this game, I kept waiting for the part in the game that comes up which makes me want to stop playing. It never came. This was shown when I lost an entire weekend to the game. 50 hours strait on this game, and I had even went through a whole day without remembering to eat. This game is not recommended for Diabetics.

Not Just A Port

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 17
Date: June 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm a PC player myself, always have. I have played every Bioware game back during the Black Isle days, and their games are always the creme of the crop. Even the their worst game Jade Empire, is still better then just more RPG's out there. So when I heard that Mass Effect would be put to Xbox360 I was devastated, luckily, they know where their loyal fans are and put it to the PC. It was worth the wait.

One of the things I was worried about after reading many reviews was that it was short, coming in at 16-20 hours at the most. I don't know which games they played, but that is a wrong assumption. When I completed my first run-through I had put in 32 hours. Their are many side mission to do, and the readings in the codex alone help get you immersed in the the original Sci-Fi world of Mass Effect. For any RPG fan that doesn't want to miss a thing and must discover everything, Mass Effect won't disappoint.

However, there are some faults. The combat is less then intuitive, and your squad is as a dumb as a rock, spending most of their time shooting at the wall. It's frustrating at first, but you learn to work with the system, and the game works on so many other levels that it doesn't take long to manipulate your squad to do what you want.

What makes the game work so well is hate immersion of it, using your codex you can learn everything there is to learn about the world, and it's fascinating. The story also is very engaging, going from seemingly simplistic to unraveling to something much more.

I could go on about this game, but for any Bioware fan, you won't be disappointed. The plot is very interesting, and I can't wait to see this Trilogy of games to be un-raveled. The next Chapter in Mass Effect can't come soon enough.

If you like RPG's, do yourself a favor and pick up Mass Effect

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