bioware

After about nineteen hours I’ve finally finished Mass Effect’s main story. Everything I said in my impressions at the seven-hour mark still holds true. Technically the game is janky, the elevators suck, the combat’s not great, but the story and characters are interesting enough to make up for those problems. And thanks to Mass Effect’s great writing I ended up really loving the game. I was shocked.

The Good

As I said in my impressions, I wasn’t a fan of Bioware’s last game, Knights of the Old Republic. When I first started Mass Effect I was reminded of a lot of the things I didn’t like about KOTOR. I’m not really much of a sci-fi fan either. And at the beginning of the game I found fiction and back story of Mass Effect’s universe to be overwhelming and uninteresting. But as I played the game and invested time in its characters I really came to like the world that Bioware created. It’s not the most originally science fiction I’ve ever heard, but the characters they put into that world do a great job bringing it to life.

My hero, CathyJones Shepard, is a tough-talking, strong-willed, in-your-face soldier. I feel like she’s the character I want her to be, not some vague contrivance of stats and experience points. Yes, Mass Effect’s characters do have gamey stats, XP, and skills to monitor, but thanks to the game’s Casual mode I was able to ignore most of that stuff. Sure, I may not have played Mass Effect like a “hardcore gamer,” but I wasn’t playing it so I could deal with points. I played it in such a way that I could just enjoy the story. I’m glad that Bioware decided to include that mode as an option.

As I played through Mass Effect and upgraded my characters, a lot of the technical issues that got in my way early on ceased to matter. The combat became less frustrating because my squad could win firefights more easily. Even late in the game I still didn’t like driving the six-wheeled Mako land-rover around. However I learned how to avoid battles with it and I could use it to rush to the parts of the game I enjoyed more. Sure, it kind of sucks having to learn how to avoid lame sections of a game, but as least the game allows me to do so.

The one thing in Mass Effect that I really loved is the interactive conversations. Getting to talk back and forth with NPC’s, in the order I chose, was a lot of fun. And it’s a good think was fun, because dialogue is a huge part of Mass Effect. I’d say conversations took up at least half of my playtime. Sure, after a while I the rhythms of the conversations all started to feel the same, but I rarely found them uninteresting. More often than not I was fully engaged with the NPC I was questioning. I had just as much fun talking with characters in Mass Effect as I’ve had playing some of my favorite shooters. I can’t wait to see how this is expanded upon in the sequel.

The Bad

I almost banged this guy...

As I’ve repeatedly said, Mass Effect’s technical problems really suck. Sometimes the game gets all jittery during combat. Sometimes the Mako gets stuck on corners, rocks or hills. Riding elevators takes forever. The graphics often look weird while textures load in. None of this stuff is a game-breaker though. It’s just a shame that the game shipped in this state, and it’s even more bothersome that none of this was corrected afterwards with a patch.

Although I really liked the story and dialogue, some of it felt pretty disjointed. I’ll give an example: At one point in the game a fairly significant male character died. A little while later I was on my ship chatting with a female character and she made some comment about having a crush on the dead guy, as if he was still alive. I nearly shouted at my TV “You stupid game! He’s dead!” It’s weird to me that Bioware would spend so much time crafting interesting dialogue options, only to let weird things like that slip through the cracks.

Speaking of things being disjointed, the various features of Mass Effect all felt disconnected from one another. It was like the shooting goes here, the driving goes there, the talking goes here and the galaxy exploration goes over there. The different pieces never seemed to affect each other. Despite all that the game was still an enjoyable whole.

The Sexy

...but I banged her instead.

Upon its release, much was made of Mass Effect’s “romance subplots” and sex scene. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a major reason I decided to play the game. It’s a good thing I enjoyed it (for the most part).

At specific times on your space ship you can talk with the members of your squad and get to know them as individuals. Happily, Bioware decided to throw some sexiness into the mix. I had a great time picking the dialogue options that would steer the conversations away from plot exposition and towards flirting. Trying to figure out just the right thing to say in order to get CathyJones Shepard laid could have been a whole game unto itself. It was definitely my favorite part of Mass Effect.

Since the game allowed me to make advances toward multiple members of my squad at the time, I started to feel like I was playing a sexy soap opera. Sometimes CathyJones would be more into this girl, or sometimes she would prefer this other guy. Sometimes both a girl and a guy would respond to her flirtations. At one point the game made me choose between my two main love interests and I really felt torn. It was a tough choice, but I ended up sticking with my hot blue alien girlfriend. By the end of the game I actually felt a little emotional towards her. Especially after the sex scene.

This is roughly what CathyJones Shepard looks like.

And what a sex scene it was! Sure, it wasn’t any more explicit than what you’d see in a PG-13 movie. In fact, it may have been a little less so, considering there was barely any nudity involved. But the fact that it took around 17 hours to reach that point made the sex feel that much more climactic. It would have lacked an emotional impact had it happened earlier in the game.

Unfortunately Bioware seems to have missed the point they were trying to make. There was no wrap-up to the romance subplot. Once the sex happens there’s no more romance in the game. I didn’t even see my blue girl again after the sex. Sure, I could have picked her to come with me on my final mission, but I decided to leave her behind to keep her safe. How come the game didn’t acknowledge that, huh? Where’s my bonus sex for saving the galaxy? There wasn’t even a simple “good job” kiss with tongue! Nothing!

In the end I liked Mass Effect despite all its quirks. The story was engaging, the characters were cool and the sex was good.  I may even go back and play it again just to see who else I can bang. And it’s going to $20 right now, so if you haven’t played it yet I can’t think of a better time to pick it up.