Mass Effect

Mass Effect is an RPG for the Xbox360 from Microsoft Game Studios and Bioware.

In Mass Effect it is the year 2183 and humanity has by this point discovered ancient alien machines that enabled them to spread across the galaxy. While doing all of this humanity also came across a number of other alien races and all the races have formed to make a U>N> of the galaxy so to speak. This highly militant society made from the mix of alien races is controlled by the Council. The Council is made up of one representitive from each of the major races that have alot of power and influence, except human kind(spoiler alert: that situation is fixed by the end of the game.

You play as commander Shepard. After recieving a distress call while on a mission, the ship you’re on the SSV Normandy goes to investigate. On the planet you learn that a spectre (who are the right hand of the council) Saren has joined with a mechanical race called the Geth and attacked the planet to find a Prothean Beacon. The Protheans are the ancient race that was mentioned earlier. You later learn that the geth are just pawns and Saren really aligned himself with a different but far more ancient mechanical race known as the Reapers who are bent on annihilating all life…again! You gain leadership of the SSV Normandy and then must convince some people (human and otherwise) to follow you and help you save the galaxy.

Mass Effect was a remarkable game. The graphics were top notch when it was released. This game in one of those where you can choose whether or not you want to be good or evil based on the decisions you make which include how you respond to a conversation. You usually have 3 choices of how you want to carry out the next thing you say good, neutral, or evil. You do however have the ability to lvl up your charm or intimidate abilities to unlock another good or evil choice in the conversation which will grant you extra xp and good or evil points. They will also grant you extras whether it be money, items, or vital information. The control wheels for selecting your weapons and abilities are genius because they pause time and allow you to choose for your squad mates as well. Speaking of weapons, throughout the game you will find and buy higher lvl weapons of all types and various different upgrades you can get for them as well. Just like many other games different enemies have different weaknesses so choose your upgrade wisely. The combat system behaves like a normal squad based third-person shooter. You have basic controls for fighting with your weapon and controls for telling your squad what to do, but what makes the combat in this game really unique is the combonation you make between your own class and those of your squadmates. It’s just unfortunate that you can only have 2 squadmates with you at a time, even though you have 6 to choose from, but there in lies the challenge. One of the other things that makes this game great is the fact that it’s a sandbox game. You can freely explore a multitude of planets and facilities on those planets. This game provided me with dozens of hours of fun and has massive replay value. Mass Effect gets 5 explosive round headshots out of 5.