Review: Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

I'd like to start this review off with a little bit of rumor control. I've read a lot of rumors about the sex scenes in Mass Effect and I would like to shoot 'em all down before we get into the game. The box of the game does say brief nudity but I would say nudity so brief that it isn't even worth mentioning. Sorry folks. There are two different times in which you can get into a sex scene in a playthrough the game, the first that arises (and unless you've heard about it, you probably won't get it because it's kind if weird how it happens) is with an alien race (asari) that only has 1 sex which is female. No nudity, though there are provocative scenes. Doesn't matter if your character is a guy or girl, you can get it. The second is near the end of the game and if you are a girl you can do a guy or an asari, if you a guy you can do a girl or an asari. It's nothing that will spawn a masturbation induced coma, but it was enough for the esrb to say brief nudity with the side view of a butt and part of the side of a boob (nothing you wouldn't see by simply walking down the street). But seriously, if you're expecting something out of those scenes, you will be disappointed. Having said that, let's review the freakin' game already.

I don't want to give too much of the story away in this review since it is one of the things that makes the game great (Don't wanna ruin it for ya). The game isn't your conventional shooter or RPG, though it is both. You start off building your character, male or female (has to be human though). You can choose the first name but your character will always be addressed as Commander Shepard. You can custom design your character's looks, or use the default, or use the 'cycle presets' option. The game (obviously) takes place far in the future and offers an entire galaxy for your exploration pleasure. The game starts you off on a sort of rescue mission where you get a distress call for some of your fellow Alliance military (human military) members on a local planet. The distress call is a video and is quite intense and certainly sets the mood for the game. When you get the the planet, a lot of stuff happens but most importantly a Turian (another alien race in the game) spectre (which is basically a rank that can be achieved that makes in the person able to travel anywhere without any legal attachments and are considered by many to be "above the law") turns out to the bad guy of the game... (his pic is below)

Now I feel as though I've given too much away even though I've only told a tiny bit of the story. On with the review then! So the graphics... jesus, just look at the picture above, they're amazing. Bioware certainly didn't hold back in the graphics department on this one. In fact, the graphics are so good that the xbox 360 can't keep up. Bioware thought that they could be clever and mask this little fact though. When you start the game, its graphical default settings are set to film grain 'on' and motion blur 'on'. The film grain is there so that you don't notice when things are 'undrawn' as I like to say, then are suddenly super sharp looking. I personally hated the film grain so I turned it off and that made the 'graphical lag' as I like to call it, much more noticeable. Also, many people know that the motion blur is used in many games to help with framerate issues. If the image can be blurred, it doesn't need to be drawn super pretty, thus it hekeep the frame rate even. Well, when you turn the film grain off, the motion blur gets really annoying so I turned that off too. Now this might sound like a big deal to a lot of people but it really is not. The level which this graphical lag occurs is often yet minimal (happens frequently but it's never anything major). I don't know why they added the motion blur because through my entire first runthrough the game I never notice the framerate decline and I had it off. The game is gorgeous, hands down and graphically for this review... that's the bottom line.

What's next? Sound! The game's sound effects and music are absolutely delightful. The voice acting for all of the in-game characters are amazing. I would go as far as to say that this game has the best voice acting out of any game ever made. Having said that, it does have a minor flaw. While the voice acting is spot on and the graphical motions of the characters are amazingly realistic, the characters hardly ever show any sort of emotion. This is the only thing in the game that actually bothered me.

The gameplay and controls are great, very easy to get used to even with technical moves. Like any rpg, you get experience points which lead to level ups as you progress through the game. With the level ups you get points that make your character stronger in whatever field you choose them in. Simple yet intuitive. You have 4 firearms on you at all times, a pistol, a sniper rifle, a shotgun, and an assault rifle. All guns are upgradeable and have multiple series'.

I feel as if I've only been pointing out flaws (the very few that the game has) and not saying enough about how great it is. The game is awesome in every way. You have dialogue options (oftentimes, a lot of them) which give the game a significant replay value. After your first runthrough you unlock hardcore mode and if you manage to beat that you unlock insanity, which are also a huge factor in replayablility. One of my favorite things about the game for me would have to be freedom. I don't mean the fact that it is free roaming (though that is great), I mean the things you can do. The developers went above and beyond for many dialogue situations. I know when I play certain RPGs and am threatened by characters, I think to myself, why can't I just shoot them? Well, a few times in Mass Effect, you will get that option; and you will get a kick out of how it happens too!

In the end, overall, this game is great. In depth story with a few twists make for a great rpg; solid controls and functionality make for a great shooter. With plenty of worlds to explore and seemingly endless amounts of side missions, you won't get bored with this game very soon. The graphics are amazing though the xbox 360 will sometimes have to play catch up, it is nothing that will hinder your gameplay experience such as framerate drops, etc. With great effects, and an incredible cast (of both characters and voice actors) you really can't go wrong with picking up this title. I give Mass Effect a 9.5 out of 10. If you're looking for an xbox 360 game to hold you over for a while, I definitely recommend this one! And if you don't have an Xbox 360, no worries for it is coming to the PC on May 6th. I can't wait for the sequel(s).

9.5/10

-CA