About 3 minutes ago, I completed Mass Effect, clocking in around 27 hours on the game. It was an arduous task, but it was one that I enjoyed and relished. The game does have some flaws, and some areas lack the polish I would expect of a game with such a high profile. But I am quite satisfied by the game, and I feel that overall, I would recommend it.
The premise of the game, and the story it tell are both very engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable. The game world is very well realised, with a high level of detail in almost every aspect. With so much back story, and background material, it really helps players to immerse themselves into the game. Additionally, the narrative of the game is very well paced, and each new twist surprises you as much as it does the protagonist as it is revealed.
However, there are several things that get on my nerves:
1) Elevators
The game uses elevators to transition players from one level to the next, and essentially masking the time spent waiting for the new levels to load. But depending on the size of the level being loaded, this can take a while. It's not as bad as some others have described, but it makes me wish the developers had just stuck with a generic game loading screen, rather than being stuck in an elevator.
2) Inventory
Again, the inventory is not as disastrous as some may have described, but it could be a whole lot better. As you pick up items (weapons and upgrades only), there is no discernible order in which these items are arranged. Items are divided into simple groups (i.e. shotguns are placed together, as are assault rifles, pistols, and sniper rifles). But within those groups, they are almost placed randomly. And everything is displayed in a list format, so players would have to scroll up and down looking for the suitable item. Upgrades are arranged in an even worse format.
3) Enemy AI
The enemies in the game either a) run straight up to you, and stick to you, making it far too difficult to shoot, or b) stand in the same spot whilst I pick them off with a sniper rifle. It makes for fairly unexciting game play; Midway into the game, I figured out their patterns of behavior, and the game difficulty went exponentially downwards from there.
4) General Game play
It doesn't help that as a shooter, it is not as well refined as others on the market (Call of Duty 4, Halo, etc). There is a lack of polish in the shooting aspects of the game. While one can make the argument that Mass Effect is not really a shooter, and should not be treated as such, but the core game play really still needs just a little bit more work. I wish that the game play could have been designed to be more methodical and strategic; Maybe less of a shooter, and more turn-based, for example.
5) Textures
There is where the game really shows its lack of refinement: On many occasions, you can see textures loading onto the screen and characters, even as you are interacting with them. This really breaks the immersion that the narrative helps to create. Even in the midst of a critical in-game conversation, one can see the texture mapping onto character models, as is the background textures. It's really quite distracting.
6) Dialogue options
The dialogue system is vaunted to be revolutionary, cutting edge, and give players the option to manipulate the way a conversation between character progresses. While this system works on most levels, I've found it really annoying that at certain junctures, no matter which dialogue option I pick for my character, the response elicited remains the same. I felt that this cuts down on the open-endedness that was key to the Mass Effect experience. I understand the need to direct players in a certain direction, for the sake of the narrative. But this sort of trickery doesn't sit well with me.
Despite my gripes, Mass Effect is by no means a terrible game. In fact, I think that it is a very good game, and one that needs to be played to be experienced. The main storyline clocks in about 20 hours, so as RPGs go, it's not really that long. And what I've played through, I've really enjoyed. Interaction with the non-player characters is very enjoyable, as is exploring the farthest reaches of the galaxy. One really gets a feel of being in an epic saga. And one would be remiss if one did not get a chance to experience Mass Effect.
The premise of the game, and the story it tell are both very engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable. The game world is very well realised, with a high level of detail in almost every aspect. With so much back story, and background material, it really helps players to immerse themselves into the game. Additionally, the narrative of the game is very well paced, and each new twist surprises you as much as it does the protagonist as it is revealed.
However, there are several things that get on my nerves:
1) Elevators
The game uses elevators to transition players from one level to the next, and essentially masking the time spent waiting for the new levels to load. But depending on the size of the level being loaded, this can take a while. It's not as bad as some others have described, but it makes me wish the developers had just stuck with a generic game loading screen, rather than being stuck in an elevator.
2) Inventory
Again, the inventory is not as disastrous as some may have described, but it could be a whole lot better. As you pick up items (weapons and upgrades only), there is no discernible order in which these items are arranged. Items are divided into simple groups (i.e. shotguns are placed together, as are assault rifles, pistols, and sniper rifles). But within those groups, they are almost placed randomly. And everything is displayed in a list format, so players would have to scroll up and down looking for the suitable item. Upgrades are arranged in an even worse format.
3) Enemy AI
The enemies in the game either a) run straight up to you, and stick to you, making it far too difficult to shoot, or b) stand in the same spot whilst I pick them off with a sniper rifle. It makes for fairly unexciting game play; Midway into the game, I figured out their patterns of behavior, and the game difficulty went exponentially downwards from there.
4) General Game play
It doesn't help that as a shooter, it is not as well refined as others on the market (Call of Duty 4, Halo, etc). There is a lack of polish in the shooting aspects of the game. While one can make the argument that Mass Effect is not really a shooter, and should not be treated as such, but the core game play really still needs just a little bit more work. I wish that the game play could have been designed to be more methodical and strategic; Maybe less of a shooter, and more turn-based, for example.
5) Textures
There is where the game really shows its lack of refinement: On many occasions, you can see textures loading onto the screen and characters, even as you are interacting with them. This really breaks the immersion that the narrative helps to create. Even in the midst of a critical in-game conversation, one can see the texture mapping onto character models, as is the background textures. It's really quite distracting.
6) Dialogue options
The dialogue system is vaunted to be revolutionary, cutting edge, and give players the option to manipulate the way a conversation between character progresses. While this system works on most levels, I've found it really annoying that at certain junctures, no matter which dialogue option I pick for my character, the response elicited remains the same. I felt that this cuts down on the open-endedness that was key to the Mass Effect experience. I understand the need to direct players in a certain direction, for the sake of the narrative. But this sort of trickery doesn't sit well with me.
Despite my gripes, Mass Effect is by no means a terrible game. In fact, I think that it is a very good game, and one that needs to be played to be experienced. The main storyline clocks in about 20 hours, so as RPGs go, it's not really that long. And what I've played through, I've really enjoyed. Interaction with the non-player characters is very enjoyable, as is exploring the farthest reaches of the galaxy. One really gets a feel of being in an epic saga. And one would be remiss if one did not get a chance to experience Mass Effect.
7 comments:
27 hrs hey? It's actually quite a long game by comparison. I've clocked 65 hours on Monster Hunter and I've no where near the end ... and I like it! haha
I'll look forward to the day where I'll finally buy my PS3 and play CoD4 and Fallout 3.
Are we doing another games session thingy soon?
COD4 is very fun, even if played via split screen. I had a blast with my cousins.
I suggest the next time that we gather at my place, I'll download the old arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and we'll all give that a go.
They've got the original Golden Axe too, on Xbox Live Arcade!
I'd agree with you on the texture issues and how it loads, also the combat menu system is infuriating, hopefully the Assassin's Creed menu system is used for the sequel. also it'd be interesting to see the Turian, Assari, as well as some other alien homeworlds instead of the desolate or ruined worlds. i'd be more then happy if the graphics would take a small hit just for more populous worlds
They spent a lot of time creating the groundwork, which is why the story is somewhat short. I think now that they have their engine in place they will make much deeper stories for II and III, as well as be able to make better refinements on menus, AI, and gameplay. As much as they try to test, theres no substitute for a full release to see whats wrong with a game, so i think we can safely assume mass effect II will be much more polished.
p.s. I think the elevator thing was cool, as it gave some opportunity for conversations. I think loading screens are lamer.
Elevators:
Alot more interesting than a loading screen. I'd rather look at my squad listen to the squad mates talking to each other than stare at a loading screen, wouldn't you??
AI:
Maybe I just suck at shooters but the AI in Mass Effect was good about taking cover and using their abilities. I remember a few times when an AI would take cover and give my entire squad HELL.
Combat:
ME has a cover system that's just as good as Rainbox Six: Vegas, remember that most shooters don't have cover systems anyway (halo, COD, etc...)
Texture loading:
Plenty of x box games do it that way(halo 3). Once again, more interesting than a loading screen.
Dialog diversity:
I just watched three different versions of the final confrontation with saren on youtube. Did you keep kaiden or ashley? did you kill Wrex?? I thought of few more, but that's enough.
The next one will be longer, hour-wise. Bioware claims it will be more "rich" than the first.
I agree that was an awesome game.
Elevators:
If there was more interaction between characters at each elevator scene, I would agree. The parts where there are conversations, or even when an elevator radio was present was interesting. More often than not, these sequences were done in silence.
AI:
The AI becomes predictable very quickly. The enemies do take cover, and often use their weapons to devastating effect. I was killed more than once. But their movements become very predictable, which made it very easy to breeze through, especially in the later stages. I did take the sniper class, which made things a whole lot easier too.
Combat:
The cover system wasn't bad at all, I agree.
Texture loading:
While other games do have the same problem, it usually is not as glaringly obvious as Mass Effect.
Dialogue options:
I won't argue that the choices to kill Wrex, or to sacrifice Kaiden or Ashley weren't robust. But these were major turning points in the story. But if you play through some of the less crucial scenes, you'd notice that the dialogue tree is not that diverse at all. I've tested this by loading the same save point, talking to the same person and choosing different dialogue options. And the result is that the response illicited from the NPC is exactly the same to all my previous responses. At crucial points, yes, the game offers choice. But for many parts of the game, those choices aren't available.
Let me also qualify my statements by saying that I was pointing out things that irritated me during the game. It does not take away from the fact that it remains a very good game.
Even the best games have some rough edges, and these are the ones that irked me the most.
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