I have been thinking of doing this for a long time but with all the rumors about a possible Mass Effect Trilogy Remastered edition for PS4 I figured I would wait. However, a couple days ago I decided to go ahead and replay the trilogy on my Xbox 360. Lets face the facts, this series is just too good. So the next three reviews I post on this blog are going to be about Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 and how they stand the test of time. Mass Effect 1 came out in 2007 and Mass Effect 2 was released in 2010. Obviously Mass Effect 3, having come out in 2012, is only two years old, but this at least gives me a chance to write a review that I haven't done yet, on one of my favorite games. Although this is a replay for me, some of you may have not played through it yet, so I will make sure to provide some background information on the story while avoiding spoilers.
I'll admit that I came a little late to the party in terms of the Mass Effect games. I started playing them last summer and each game took me about 25-30 hours, so that kept me well occupied for a couple weeks. Mass Effect 1 has to admittedly be my least favorite of the trilogy but that doesn't mean it is by any standards a bad game, in fact at the time it was released it was one of the best games ever made. Mass Effect 1 is where it all began. I'll get into the technical stuff here in a minute though. For those of you wanting to replay this fantastic trilogy along with me, head on over to GameStop and pick up the whole thing for $29.99 brand new.
 |
| Also available for PS3 |
Mass Effect takes place in the year 2183. 35 years after humans discovered the ruins of the Protheans, an ancient alien civilization. Through this discovery, humanity was able to take the Prothean technology of "mass effect physics" and "element zero" to move at faster than light speed travel and it propelled them into the far reaches of space where they discovered other alien races and the Mass Relay system that threaded the galaxy allowing for this galactic travel. With this new discovery humanity was able to enter the galactic stage. The main alien races are: Turians, Asari, Geth, Quarians, Salarians, Volus, Hanar, and Drell. But there are many others that the player will encounter. You play as Commander Shepard, a human member of the Alliance Navy.
 |
| A Mass Relay |
One thing to keep in mind is that Mass Effect is an RPG and the best thing about these games is that the character you create in Mass Effect 1 is, hopefully, the same character you continue to use throughout the entire trilogy. BioWare lets you import your save profile from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2 and then on to Mass Effect 3. In doing this, BioWare has allowed each gamer to generate their own unique storyline with the choices the player made, resulting in different outcomes by the end of Mass Effect 3. There are three general paths to take in the series. Paragon, Renegade, or a mix of the two. Being a Paragon means the choices you make will be the "good" choices and people will come to love you. Being a Renegade is the sort of "dark" path. Based on my experience as a Renegade through this second play-though, it just means you will do anything to get the job done. I like to think I'm creating my own Jack Bauer. Or you can mix and match your "good and evil" choices. Leveling up and allocating your experience points into your character is really simple and there are different slots to level up your skills with certain weapons, dialogue options, overall skill, health, and many other things. When you choose your character, you are given the option to decide their background, and that influences how people view you. Whether you choose: Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer. Then you get to choose your military history which are choices like: Sole Survivor, War Hero, or Ruthless. If you so choose you can also customize your first name and appearance. Creating a first name is sort of pointless because everyone just calls you, "Shepard."
 |
| Default male and female Shepard |
In terms of gameplay, Mass Effect 1 is the worst out of all three, but gameplay improves with each subsequent game. All the Mass Effect games are third-person shooter. Combat, specifically shooting, is very outdated and there is a significant amount of lag during intense battle sequences. Overall I don't think Mass Effect is very glitchy compared to Skyrim, or any Assassin's Creed game, but when things pick up during a firefight, any amount of lag is a bad thing. Switching weapons is easy. You just have to hold LB down and move the left stick to your weapon of choice, and the game pauses during all this. The equipment menus are extremely unorganized though. Mass Effect 2 and 3 improve on this feature so that during a mission you can't change your assault rifle to a different one unless you pick up a new gun or find a weapon locker in the level. It sounds like that could be an issue, but it really isn't. Something that stands out as extremely frustrating is the Galaxy Map on your ship. The Galaxy Map is what you use to travel around space. Each mission is logged in your journal. The journal tells you which galaxy and solar system your mission takes place in, but not the planet. So you wind up spending some time through trial and error trying to figure out which planet your mission takes place on. Once you find the planet, you eject out of your ship into the Mako and land. The Mako is my least favorite part of the game. It is a land vehicle that Shepard uses to traverse the area your mission takes place in. The driving controls are weird and unnatural and it doesn't run very smoothly. Slight nit-picking I know but still it is awful. Mass Effect 1's auto-save function is notoriously horrendous. The game simply doesn't save often enough so you could wind up playing a couple hours and then die for the first time and lose all that progress. So I would recommend manually saving as often as you can.
A major component of Mass Effect is your squad. Although Spectres generally work alone, Shepard doesn't. Your squad consists of you and two other teammates. Throughout the story the player will pick up different squad members to choose from for each mission. As Shepard gains experience points from killing enemies and completing missions the player can level up his or her stats along with your squad members'. Using your squad you can combine different weapon styles and power moves. For example, you can play with an assault rife, and command your other two squad mates to use a shotgun and sniper rifle for a deadly three weapon combo.
 |
| ME1 Squad Members |
The graphics of Mass Effect 1 were pretty amazing in 2007. And at times there are scenes of a landscape shot of a planet and it's still beautiful. Yet naturally they don't live up to the graphical standards of today. The frame rate is low, which causes the lag during intense combat. Character animation can feel awkward at times and the mouth movements aren't the greatest. But once you start the game and play a couple hours graphics can be overlooked as long as the game is still fun and playable, and Mass Effect 1 most definitely is.
Overall Mass Effect 1 is still amazingly fun to play and with all of the different choices a player can make throughout the course of the game, a second or even third play-through is highly recommended. The story is where Mass Effect 1 shines. It is rich and full of unique characters. Enemies are diverse and so are weapon choices and weapon customization. Leveling up never gets old and the whole game is accompanied with an amazing soundtrack that I still listen to all the time. Do yourself a favor and go buy the whole trilogy, play it, and check back here for reviews of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.
Subscribe to my blog by entering your email address at the top of the page!
8.5
+Fantastic story
+Morality system
+Nice graphics in 2007...
-...but they don't live up to today's graphics
-Gameplay is very outdated/lag issues
-Terrible auto-save function
