Mass Effect (2007)

I used to think Mass Effect 2 is the best in the trilogy. Up until recently, I would have told you that it's the best game in the series because of its superb characters, the relationships you build with them, and how the outcome of the game is the culmination of your actions throughout.

I don't know if this is true but I think that's the general consensus in the community. It feels like most hail ME2 as the best and it's typically supported by pointing out the strength of the characters mentioned above.

While the characters and relationships are nearly unparalleled within the trilogy, let alone elsewhere, it would be difficult to justify calling ME2 the best in the series based on this trait alone. ME2 does have a number of other things that help make it a memorable experience, but as I've aged and come to appreciate certain things in games more, it's unquestionably Mass Effect the original that is the best of the three.

Mass Effect is janky by today's standards. Even the Legendary Edition couldn't rid the game completely of its archaic mid-2000s design. Yet it's all the more charming for that. What Mass Effect did so supremely that the others didn't do as well is create a whole ass vibe. I've mentioned elsewhere that I don't care how good a game's graphics are, as long as the visuals and systems create a convincing vibe. The original Mass Effect does that in just about all the ways that matter.

It also contains one of the most memorable, tightly written, momentous, and engaging stories of any sci-fi game to this day. The more I replay it, the more I'm impressed with the writing and the pacing. There was something very special cooking in the kitchen when this game was being made.

Games are made by people. Those people bring their life experiences, worldviews, and individuals quirks and strengths to the table when making a game. The people who made the original Mass Effect are mostly gone from the company at this point. That's not to say that I don't have hope for the future of Mass Effect but it's something we should be aware of. Not out of a sense of prejudging whatever comes out of BioWare, but out of a sense of merciful empathy. People make games. They try really hard at it. I hope with every fiber of my being that the next Mass Effect can recapture some of the magic of the first Mass Effect, or do some justice to it. I hope they succeed, I want them to.

I should go.

I've had this game in the backlog for a while, and have always wanted to get into this series but was always overwhelmed by the size. I find it hard to end up committing to games that aren't linear on the surface, I'm just not used to it. And just like I thought, after starting this game for the second time after only getting a couple hours in first run, i got about 15 hours in and forgot about the game for about a year.

And when looking through my downloaded games ready to delete some I hadn't touched in a while, I thought I'd give this game one more chance first. And oh am I glad I did.

This created a resurgence of motivation in this game, and I continued to put another 25+ hours into it in the span of about a week, now having finished it and thrilled to play the second game.

I'm glad I gave it the second go because this game has impacted me, and I look forward to see what more the series has for me.

And maybe, this is also a good sign for my future when it comes to larger, not as explicitly linear games still floating in my backlog.

When Mass Effect originally debuted, I was too busy playing Super Mario Galaxy to notice. But over the years I've had the series recommended to me by a lot of people with a diverse array of gaming tastes, so I knew eventually I'd have to give it a try.

I really enjoyed its characters, story and consequential dialogue trees. I especially liked the design and lore behind the various alien species. The side quests were surprisingly fun, too: Exploring alien worlds in the Mako was relaxing for me.

I'm generally not a fan of shooters, and Mass Effect's combat hasn't converted me. I was relieved that the game's "easy" mode made it so they were never a barrier, but it's hard to give the game five stars when there's such a big part of it I find obligatory.

Overall, I think this lives up to the hype. I'll definitely continue playing the trilogy.

(Played on PS5 via Legendary Edition)

The last paragraph serves as a TLDR.

Having spent over 30 years of my life playing games, it is puzzling to me that I never actually got round to the Mass Effect trilogy until now. I knew about the praise and the reputation, but for some reason the franchise simply never crossed my path. So I took advantage of the Legendary Edition to finally dive into the first game, keeping in mind, as I always do, that analysing my experience with older games is a fine balancing act between the underlying quality of the game and the technical constraints and sensibilities tied to its release date.

As expected, I have a ton to say about ME, but I’ll try to keep it somewhat short (update: I couldn't. Sorry).

The world building caught my eye almost immediately. I’m still amazed at how much I enjoyed it, to the point of comparing it to the both the Elder Scrolls and the Witcher universes, which are the two pieces of lore I love the most in gaming. I was invested in the story and world from the first minute, and I soon noticed something that I almost never see mentioned, but that to me is actually one of the most effective tools I’ve ever seen when it comes to storytelling: the fact that the main codex is (brilliantly) voiced makes such a tremendous difference in engagement that, honestly, I’m surprised the idea didn’t spread like wildfire after ME did it. I spent a lot of time just listening to the narration, getting sucked into the game’s events, planets, races, politics, conflicts, anything the it wanted to throw at me. It was almost a game within a game and I couldn’t get enough. This absolutely helped digest the encompassing lore which to this day still stands as one of the most complex and intricate pieces of narrative created for a video game. It would’ve been worth playing ME just for this. But the game offers a lot more than that. Even after all this time, what’s on display is a fantastically accomplished RPG dressed up in a space opera costume. Which yes, has aged somewhat poorly here and there from a mechanical standpoint, but easily overshadows this problem with its strengths. For the sake of brevity, these are the bullet points of most everything else I loved about ME:

• the choice and consequence on display feels refreshing and almost unique even today, and it’s no wonder ME built its reputation on the back of how well this was implemented;

• most characters, squad members or otherwise, are rich, layered, and a joy to interact with;

• every single alien race is well developed, unique, interesting and 100% feels like it belongs in the world (ok maybe not the Hanar). And speaking of which, the Elcor are such an original, entertaining species. A perfect example of Bioware’s creative writing back in the day;

• the synth-heavy soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard;

• the epic feel you get on the main missions, from the very first to the very last one, is fantastic;

• using a heating system rather than ammo for the weapons was a brilliant move and a standout feature I wish we saw more of;

• levelling and character progression and superiorly handled and properly paced;

• satisfying shooting mechanics. For all the horror stories I had heard about it, I actually enjoyed combat in this first game. Maybe a natural consequence of having played the LE version, but still;

• the sense of wonder in discovery is well realised, and at least on a surface level, the planets are different looking enough to make exploration enjoyable;

There were also quite a few things I wish had been done differently. Some are a clear product of their time, others are just poor design choices and therefore more frustrating:

• dialogue options can be hit and miss, and I lost count at the amount of times my Shepard said something I did not mean for him to say. Speaking of Shepard, the male version is very meh and one-dimensional. Should’ve probably gone with the female version;

• for an RPG, I think your build choices are somewhat limited when it comes to personality. You can either go Paragon or Renegade (the middle term offers 0 advantage), but I don’t honestly see how going with Renegade would be a logical option for someone in Shepard’s position, whose need to inspire loyalty and bring people together is paramount throughout the entire game;

• I have a bit of an issue with the lack of clarity in the final choice. Personally, I found the way they presented the options to be misleading, which led me to choose something I wouldn’t have chosen otherwise;

• romancing, at least in the way I experienced it, seemed a bit more like a forced afterthought than narratively logic and consistent. Artificially inserted if you will. As an example, I didn’t feel like I led Ashley on in any way, yet next thing I know there’s a face-off between her, Liara and me where I’m basically forced to ‘choose’ between the two. Really weird;

• it would’ve been nice to have a combat description of your party members for you to get a better idea of how to upgrade them;

• not being able to turn while sprinting feels overly restrictive and quite annoying until you get used to it. Also, sprinting is kind of a joke as you run out of breath almost instantly;

• navigation can be vague on side quest location. This is interesting from an immersion standpoint, but the game isn’t exactly built to work well within this concept. Though again, this is only a problem until you get used to it;

• unintuitive inventory management that would definitely benefit from being more streamlined;

• auto-cover system is such a hindrance. Just, why?

• I know they improved it in the LE, but some Mako sections are still frustrating to say the least;

• there’s a fair bit of asset recycling, especially when it comes to buildings on side missions;

• AI is serviceable but far from the best iteration, even by 2007 standards (enemies would often get stuck behind cover 'indefinitely').

The nays may look like a lot, but in my experience they were strongly diluted by everything wonderful that Mass Effect is still able to offer today, 15 years after its initial release. As a whole, this first game still stands as a fantastic introduction to a sci-fi epic filled with awe inspiring moments, one that got its hooks on me pretty much from the get-go. It seems silly to ‘recommend’ ME as I feel like I’m the last person on the planet to have played it. So instead I’ll just say that, speaking as someone who was slightly apprehensive about playing a classic so long after it originally came out, it still gave me almost everything I hoped it would, even considering how gaming sensibilities have evolved for the past decade and a half. To my knowledge, there’s still nothing like it out there yet, and that is a testament to how unique a piece of entertainment Mass Effect still is. 9/10

4/5

Replayed on legendary edition PS5. Played along with RA podcast. The obvious strength here is the dense and believable wordbuilding and lore that is exposited early on and throughout. It's just done really, really well. I think the characters are a bit weak here - save Wrex, Garrus and Tali maybe. Femshep is much better than male Shepard.

The gameplay is pretty janky but serviceable, although the legendary edition improves the original. Character upgrades are also not satisfying and negligible. The gear game is also convoluted and unsatisfying, in my opinion.

Aloitin alkuperäisen Mass Effectin pelaamisen pian sen julkaisun jälkeen, mutta pelin kankeus ja panssariajoneuvo-Makolla ajelut jättivät pelin hyllyyn pitkäksi aikaa. Vaadittiin Mass Effect 2 aiheuttama hype, jotta viimein alkuperäisen pelin pariin palasin ja pelasin loppuun. Tykästyin jo silloin pelin tarinaan ja tietynlaiseen mysteeriin. Alkuperäinen oli silti jumittunut aivoissani pakollisen pahan asemaan korkeintaan kolmen tähden arvosanaan, enkä ollut koskenut peliin ensimmäisen läpipeluun jälkeen.

Kunnes ilmestyi Legendary Edition, joka päästi kokemaan tuon loistavan tarinan parannetulla ulkokuorella ja sitäkin tärkeämpänä toiminnan kankeudet poistettuina. En enää edes muistanut kuinka hienosti tarinaa kuljetetaan ja miten hahmoihin pikkuhiljaa tutustutaan tehtävien kautta ja avaruusalus Normandyn käytävillä. Maailma ja erilaiset rodut ja osapuolet ovat niin mielenkiintoisia ja vaihtelevia, että peliin vain uppoutuu totaalisesti ja nauttii joka hetkestä. Toiminta ja hahmonkehitys on mielenkiintoista ja hauskaa, nyt samalla tasolla jatko-osien kanssa.

Planeettojen tutkiminen Mako-panssariajoneuvolla oli yllättävänkin hauskaa, vaikkakin pelin ikä näkyy näissä osioissa pahiten. Samoja rakennuksia ja tekstuureja kierrätetään surutta ja planeetat ovat valtavia pinnanmuotoja lukuunottamatta melko tyhjiä. Silti tämäkin osuus tuli tehtyä sataprosenttisesti ja nautittua jokaisesta sekuntista. Muuten loistavassa pelissä tämä on aivan mitätön nillittämisen aihe, kun tätä osiota ei varmasti ole tarkoitettu edes koluttavan näin perusteellisesti.

Jos tämä ennakolta huonoin tämän loistavan pelisarjan peleistä olikin remasteroituna näin hyvä, en malta odottaa miltä jatko-osat tulevat maistumaan. Tämä nousee aivan kirkkaimpaan kärkeen omalla listallani!

5/5 Erinomainen

PROS

• Highly ambitious concept and setting feel mostly inspired
• Marries WRPG and TPS mechanics into a unique (for its time) experience
• Generally well-developed characters
• The Galaxy Map is a beautiful piece of interface design (dat music tho)

CONS

• Plot, cutscenes, and dialogue devolve into a total cringe-fest when they try to crank up the drama
• Simplistic combat rarely satisfies
• Way too many boring vehicle segments
• Lazy, repetitive side missions
• Incessant loading breaks and slow movement make navigation a chore

Critic's Scores:

GameSpot: 9/10

Game Informer: 9.75/10

EDGE: 7/10

IGN: 9.2/10

In the past few months SpaceX and NASA have proven that the space race isn't totally dead and in the future to come, the stars might be our ultimate horizon as we pursue interstellar travel and become interplanetary species. Of course, after such events -as someone with a passive interest in space and the cosmos- I had to take-in works related to the matter. I watched movies, video-documentaries and read articles on the rare Earth hypothesis, Fermi paradox and the Kardashev scale. I obviously couldn't leave without playing a game on the matter, although originally I was going to play another two hard sci-fi games. But a user in a forum thread titled “Mass Effect is the best work of Hard Sci-Fi I’ve experienced”, brought to mind this game that I had cruelly forgotten in my shelves, alongside its sequels.

Now, I do not consider the game to be as hard sci-fi as for example Clarke and Kubrick’s 2001, as it has more ties with the space opera genre, such as Star Trek and Star Wars; however Mass Effect isn't too different to 2001, as both made logical use of the technologies therein presented. Which by that I mean, Mass Effect gives us enough background on how Humanity became firstly an interplanetary species and went out to find an alien technology so advanced, which sent us into a great technological leap and paved our way to interstellar travel, to make it believable within its fictional world. Other scientific issues that the game might have, like there's no much gravitational change in the different planets you visit, shouldn't be taken as by the end of the day Mass Effect continues being a game first and foremost and it tries to give a seamless gameplay experience. However, what Mass Effect does very interestingly, is how it constructs an interstellar society, where humans and aliens alike work hand in hand.

For that matter, I would also like to recommend the Killerstar’s review, a great piece on the “saganian” aspects touched by the game. It is interesting, how the game depicts human interaction with alien life forms. Its representation of what could be, isn't that far-off the mark. Humanity discovers there's life beyond our solar system, so it unites against the threat; but what kind of alien intelligence can we find? There's a high probability that our first encounter with alien intelligence, might be with one inferior to ours, that's to say it hasn't completely evolved and might be early in its industrial or even agricultural phase -if we take our intellectual evolution as a schematic of how sentient intelligence evolves- that would explain why we haven't find or have been -formally- visited, given that if we continue with humanity’s example, it seems that sentient beings are prone to colonization and have one society expand itself through undiscovered territory -which has resulted in some of the darkest episodes in our history. The other plausible reason, why we haven't had a first encounter yet, is perfectly exemplified in Mass Effect’s lore; humanity is simply too underdeveloped, for a superior life-form -like in Mass Effect's example: the Turians- to be interested in us. This, of course like in the game, once they realize we are a force to be reckoned with and feared, might probably cause a First Contact War. But what makes Mass Effect fascinating, is the end result of such conflict, which unlike many representations of alien versus humanity leads to extinction, here humanity comes to the discovery of an interstellar society. One, that if humanity wants to survive and thrive in the galaxy, it has to take part in it. And yet still, within this society, humanity is looked at with fear, given that we are still prone to colonize, conquer and expand at whatever the cost; humanity is the new-comer, the younger species not the least developed, but rather an unpredictable force. I think there's very few pieces of media that gives us a representation of what an interstellar society can be and how humanity would be received with as much depth as Mass Effect. This game’s lore is interesting, expansive and somewhat, within the realms of hypothetical truth, at least it does feel like to me. Galaxy clusters are given names, just like the stars and the planets -and moons- orbiting around them, all of them carry specific definitions and information. And the alien cultures are just as complicated as ours, with a lot of backstory, customs, traditions and history -not just within this interstellar society. This game doesn't only succeed being an actual piece of interesting speculative fiction, but one of the most ambitious lore and world-building put into any game. That being said the game is far from perfect.

For all it's interesting backstory and lore, its main story isn't that much captivating. Cliche and to the brim with bad dialogue, it was hard for me to connect with it. It seems that the game focuses more on its lore and build ties between you and the squad members -which isn't very successful without the player's intention-, than it is trying to tell a story. To be fair with it, as soon as the last story arc begin, the story begins to reveal itself as something interesting with a bit more intellectual interests, with the discovery of a race that falls beyond our imagination in the Kardashev scale, a creature whose existence has more in common with the monolith of 2001 -its cue with the Ligeti choral music, might be one of the best representations of what could go through our minds if we were to encounter anything of the like- or Lovecraft’s Cthulhu; an average human mind might go mad with its discovery or coward in fear, thankfully we play as chad Commander Shepard. The story antagonist, Saren, also becomes more interesting by the same time, further developing the complexities established by the game's lore. However, this comes too late, leaving me with the impression of having played not a story, but a prologue to a story, that is a 20H prologue mind you. Although, the last act worked well enough to raise my interest in its sequel.

Yet, the game’s biggest transgression lies in its terrible design. I’ve been playing through Prince of Persia (1989) while I wasn't traversing through the Milky Way in the Normandy; and that game’s gameplay hasn't frustrated me as Mass Effect has, it has aged terribly. Some awful level design choices, especially when biotic enemies have the force-like-powers that can throw you off into areas where the character gets bugged or locked. The repetitive design of explorable planets and dungeons. Some truly horrible side-quests -perhaps one of the first RPGs, when I had issues with them- as at one point I - a Spectre, highest authority- was chasing space-monkeys for an Admiral. I appreciate the attempt to bring a tactical element to the fighting, bridging all other BioWare games, but they didn't nailed it here, it actually doesn't serve much of a purpose, by the end, when I had most control of my companions and didn't have them killed as often, I realized that nothing much had changed and nothing much had I gained by learning. The HUD is awful and so is the inventory system, a heap of collectibles which soon become a burden to manage instead of something the player might find practical use in it. The dialogue system was also flawed, the wheel didn't feel organic and I hate when you clicked on an option and Shepard said something different with a tone that I didn't want. The game hasn't aged as well as it should, given that it's fairly recent 2007, younger than I thought it was. The game is also riddled with performance issues in modern computers, extremely low-FPS (this was solved by turning off Origin’s overlay) and audio-clippings and cuts in dialogue -and music- which pulled me off the inmersion.

Nevertheless, to all my hiccups with the gameplay, the game lore-and later on its story- still deliver some of the most imaginative and perhaps, for today, most interesting insights in what a interstellar society might be like, what humanity's part and reaction to such phenomenon will be and how will we could be perceived by what could possibly be older races. For that only, it is worth one’s time.

Score: 78/100

When I was around 10 years-old, my dad bought the whole VHS collection of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Besides one of the best science popularisation ever to have blessed a TV screen, the show also ventured into the realm of speculation. On one episode, Sagan imagined us receiving a signal from another planet containing an Encyclopedia Galactica, with all the knowledge gained by the galactic community. I was forever fascinated by the idea of human receiving a signal from an extraterrestrial civilisation. The thought of not only not being alone in the universe but being actively invited to take part in a whole galactic community was, and still is, endlessly alluring.

So it's not a huge surprise that the rich world of Mass Effect is a world I love to habitate. The multiple aliens species live together forming a galaxy-wide community with complex politics and detailed wants and needs. Humans are the newcomers who need to learn how to work within that pre-exiting community (I would've liked a bit less human exceptionalism, though) and the overall theme of unity is the ultimate erasure of chauvinistic attitudes (in fact, years ago I wrote a whole blogpost -in Spanish-talking about Mass Effect's "saganian" ethics).

Inscribed within this world, there are also meaningful personal stories. You get to debate Garrus about the pros and cons of laws and regulations, you learn about the lives (and eventual death) of Kaydan and Ashley, you hear the action-packed stories of Wrex's life as a mercenary, and you get to help a young Tali with her pilgrimage. Liara's arc is cut short in this entry, unfortunately, but she will grow much more interesting in the following adventures.

The overarching plot is ominous. Mass Effect 1 gets the Reapers right. They are mysterious and relentless beings whose existence is to vast for our petty minds to comprehend. Sovereign words, voice and actions portray it almost as a blind force of nature. We are not meant to understand them, just stop them to save our lives.

It's a shame that the following entries basically do away with this and try so hard to explain them in excruciating detail; their motives, their origin, even their mode of reproduction are unnecessarily revealed and they are disappointingly lame. They also unnecessarily reveal Tali's disappointingly lame face, which leads me to believe that the writers (or whoever was responsible for those decisions) either didn't understand what made the Reapers so creepy and Tali so cute, or they don't trust their audience to accept the mystery (which, to be fair, it might be true).

It cannot be denied that Mass Effect has it's fair share of jank, though. The ludicrous Mako-physics, the atrocious inventory system and the stiff animations where nothing to be proud of at time of release and haven't got better in the intervening years. But still, none of that comes even close to overshadowing what is still one of my favourite games of all times.