When someone mentions RPG, my mind automatically goes to the long and arduous Final Fantasy series. I have no problem with the series; I just have no patience when it comes to running around an open world and talking to strangers, especially when I have no idea what I’m looking for.
With that in mind, I recently discovered Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. It was released in 2007 under BioWare Corp., EA Games, and Microsoft Game Studios. I originally thought it was boring after spending a summer watching my roommate play it. All I saw were the conversations that the main character had with others, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Now that I’ve been playing the game for a few weeks, I see what my roommate was talking about.
Mass Effect is set one hundred and twenty eight years into the future. Humanity has discovered ancient artifacts on Mars that advance their technology and allow faster-than-light travel (FTL). Humans make contact with alien races and ally with them in a massive, ancient space station known as the Citadel. It serves as a United Nations of sorts, as well as the center for galactic civilization.
The main character, Sheppard (you can choose skin color, gender, and overall appearance at the beginning of the game), is the primary candidate to prove humanity deserves a spot on the Citadel council. Tensions rise when one of the most trusted agents of the Council goes rogue and is bent on universal domination. It’s up to Sheppard to build a team of experiences soldiers and mercenaries to hunt him down and stop him by any means necessary.
The game is completely interactive, and the outcome to certain situations is solely based on your decisions. With each good or bad choice you make, you get points toward that end result, and depending on how many of each choice you make will determine how other characters treat you during game play.
Along with the main plot, there are side quests that you can embark on in the most advanced ship in the galaxy. I have to say that the upgradeable characters and weapons throughout the game intrigued me. I have yet to finish playing the game, but I’m close, and the folks at BioWare Corp. have done a fantastical job in integrating graphics and sound with story and dialogue to make an absolutely stunning game.
For an involved storyline and open-choice game play, I give this game a 8 out of 10!
Gaming, believing…
V
