Mass Effect: Hands on Impressions

[blissfulnoise]

Got lucky and got a copy from a local K-Mart.

11 hours in and I can say it's extremely good. It took awhile for me to warm up to the combat, but it can be suprisingly tactical. It definately has a mini-Gears of War feel in some of the more environmentally strategical fights.

The role-playing elements are pure-BioWare and there won't be a lot of suprises there. Leveling, side-quests, dialog trees; all very similiar to what we've seen before. But the exploration elements... let me just say that the spirit of Star Control II lives on. I was not misplaced when I foresaw this game as a spirital successor right down to some of the plotlines.

You can, in fact, land on planets and explore them in your rover similiar to SCII, but you can't land on all of them. In fact, you can't land on most of them, which is disappointing. But, the planets you do land on are very big, each with several points of interest to explore. And you can get out of your rover at any time, not just at specific waypoints.

But (back on planets), like SCII, you can scan every planet, even if you can't land on it, and get historical, scientific, and statistical data. This was an element in SCII that I loved and helped to expand the world (or galactic) view of the game. It's even better in Mass Effect. I'm guessing that future DLC is going to expand and allow you to land on some of these planets in the future.

Load times are minimal in 90% of the circumstances. The game will occassionally pause as it draws out new areas, but it's pretty minor. The days of waiting 2 minutes to change areas in their Xbox titles are over.

All in all, this game lived up to every single hope I had and exceeded most of them. Which is saying a lot as I had very high hopes. I'm prying myself from it just to go to bed right now. I haven't been this excited for (or hooked on) a game like this in a long time...

[gepeto]

I am dying I misss that one good for you. I heard about it what time yesterday did you snag one. was it out or in the back? Think if I try to stop by they will have one or has the hammer came down?

[josekortez]

Yeah, there's a hilarious story on cheapassgamer.com's Mass Effect Thread about a guy who was forced to take a refund on 3 copies of the game that he bought early.

[blissfulnoise]

I called ahead, was told they were in stock, and purchased two. A little unscrupulous, but at least I didn't buy out their whole stock.

They were in the game case like every other release, and clearly marked along the top with a sticker that said "do not sell until 11/20/2007" exactly like Halo 2.

After I got my copies, I called all my friends and I think they cleaned out the rest. I believe they had a total of six copies. I got 2, another friend bought 2, and two other friends got one a piece.

I sold the other copy on eBay for $125 almost immediately.

Just woke up, back to the game

[gepeto]

I guess this is the official mass effect thread


I must say that I am loving this game. It took a few moments to get adjusted to the combat but I love the story so far it is really engrossing. It is amazing how much they cram on 1 disc. I rate it 9.5


This has been a month to remember too many great games. Great time to be a gamer.

[MonoTekETeA]

As soon as I get this room clean and sorted, I will set up my brand new 32' Samsung, and play this till the new year and then some. I can't wait, it is like an extended launch date for me.

[Poofta!]

i walked into my GS and saw like 25-30 copies today, as well as like 15-20 of the LE. i picked up the LE almost on impulse, while sitting at work i thought it over and figured i really didnt want it that bad so i returned it... i have AC for now and getting my godzilla of a gaming pc up and running in a day or two and have my hands full without dropping another 76$ on a game. plus, id rather wait for the PC version, this is Bioware and with this class of game, im sure it will land on the PC soon-ish (6-12 months?) at the very least ill wait till i can pick up a used LE for 55$ or so.

as i was returning it, their pile of games went down by MAYBE 5-10 games total, my return to the store was about 5 hours after initial purchase (noon-5pm)

[gepeto]

i walked into my GS and saw like 25-30 copies today, as well as like 15-20 of the LE. i picked up the LE almost on impulse, while sitting at work i thought it over and figured i really didnt want it that bad so i returned it... i have AC for now and getting my godzilla of a gaming pc up and running in a day or two and have my hands full without dropping another 76$ on a game. plus, id rather wait for the PC version, this is Bioware and with this class of game, im sure it will land on the PC soon-ish (6-12 months?) at the very least ill wait till i can pick up a used LE for 55$ or so.

as i was returning it, their pile of games went down by MAYBE 5-10 games total, my return to the store was about 5 hours after initial purchase (noon-5pm)

If they have the limited edition I am going to be pissed. All there website kept saying was online only.

[MonoTekETeA]

You could reserve the LE at the store, so GS must of played you on words, what else is new. Gotta stop typing and clean. Oh yeah, anyone check out the Art book, it is nice!

[gepeto]

You could reserve the LE at the store, so GS must of played you on words, what else is new. Gotta stop typing and clean. Oh yeah, anyone check out the Art book, it is nice!

Yeah speed kills ha ha ha

[Daria]

Soooo good.

[Damaramu]

Agreed. I'm not far into it, but it's been nifty so far! I dig games that let you customize your character like this (appearance and all).

[PallarAndersVisa]

so far so good. Im a bit lost though. Some tutorials would have helped, it seems like they just kind of throw you in there. Theres so much to do, and not much direction at this point, but I guess thats the point.

I never played KOTOR so this kind of stuff is new to me.

[Daria]

so far so good. Im a bit lost though. Some tutorials would have helped, it seems like they just kind of throw you in there. Theres so much to do, and not much direction at this point, but I guess thats the point.

I never played KOTOR so this kind of stuff is new to me.

I'm 10 hours in and I'm still just learning how to probably take advantage of all the abilities my character can use. I think it's the product of a game that's just meant to be played multiple times. Next playthrough I know I can do things more efficently... and will.

Feels a lot like KOTOR, but the battle system is a strange RPG mutation of Gears of War. It's actually pretty awesome. Last night I was fighting a group of Geft in a corridor. I was crouched behind a crate, leaned out shot two enemies with my pistol, switched to a shotgun, sprinted down the hallway and blasted a third enemy in the gut. Execution was very smooth and extremely fun.

[Gamereviewgod]

This is one all about its universe. Combat is still clunky a few hours in, vehicle controls are worse than Halo, objectives aren't always clear (where do I need to go? Waypoints would be a godsend), and whoever said this needed a tutorial is right. I just found out the vehicle has a cannon. Also, why do I get fatigued when I run sometimes and not others?

However, the production values, the size of the universe, incredible dialogue, amount of choices, and storyline are truly amazing. I can't stop playing this thing, and don't plan to any time soon.

[FAMOUS]

Got it yesterday and my night was set... Likeing it so far,im more of a fps fan but i liked oblivion and thought an rpg in space would be very interesting to play. Cant wait to play more tonight!

[blissfulnoise]

This is one all about its universe. Combat is still clunky a few hours in, vehicle controls are worse than Halo, objectives aren't always clear (where do I need to go? Waypoints would be a godsend), and whoever said this needed a tutorial is right. I just found out the vehicle has a cannon. Also, why do I get fatigued when I run sometimes and not others?

I've seen this complaint many times and I'm still a bit baffled by it.

I played and finished Mass Effect before anyone even had the game, so needless to say I was on my own. At no point was I really befuddled or confused about what my next objective was.

My method of exploring the universe was to do it point to point with several stops back at the Citidel to pick up additional side quests. This made for a pretty close to complete playthrough earning the achievements for level 50 and completing the "majority" of the game.

Combat, admittedly, does have a bit of a learning curve. I died pretty frequently at the beginning but after a few encounters I was having no difficulty at all cleaning the clocks of whatever I fought. Granted I played an Infiltrator which gave me a lot of flexibility with Tech attacks with very solid firepower (pistol/sniper combo). I'd say that's the strongest class I've played yet. (Biotics are cool, but definately situational causing more havoc than benefit in some cases).

The MAKO controls are clunky only so far as the terrain you're navigating. More than once, I found myself having to back track due to cliff fronts or jagged rocks that were impassable. While this was a bit irritating, it added to some of the charm of the game. These planets aren't just there for you to roll right through.

All the rest of the gameplay elements were pretty much self explanitory as far as my experience was. I did find my self closing the galaxy map to review my journal at various points to recall where my next objective was; but it was all right there at any point.

As far as the running goes; if you run when you're already engaged in combat, you're "storming" the enemy. If you run towards a mob, you'll hit them with the butt of your weapon. During one missing in particular, you'll be using this skill a lot of you want to complete it a different way. But other than that case I never found myself using it. The bar is a stamina bar; you can only "storm" for so long. Running outside of combat is unlimited (and a lot slower).

Perhaps the most amazing part of Mass Effect was it's ability to constantly one-up itself.

My love of Star Control II is well documented in these forums (and this thread). I really went into ME with hopes of a SCII scoped game that fleshed out all game play elements to making something really amazing. Around nearly every corner I constantly thought, "You know, Star Control II had this feature and it would be amazing if they'd have put it in Mass Effect..." and lo and behold that a side quest would feature just those elements I had pined for.

I'd elaborate more, but I know most people are still playing through it so I'll let it slide.

I enjoyed this game tremendously. Perhaps more than any other game this year. And I DO plan to replay it in full at some point. But with Rock Band, my inner drummer has taken over and nearly all of my video game effort is going towards improving my skills.

[Daria]

I treat my MAKO just as I treated my horse in Oblivion. Meaning if there's a mountain in my path I charge up it diagnolly and drive across the peaks. Pretty funny when there's a way point at the base of the mountain and I launched the vehicle through the air and land on a group of enemies.

The controls for the MAKO however are very floaty... and bouncy. The first planet I explored I chaulked it up to gravity, but seeing as how the car reacts the same regardless of location it really must be lousy controls. Would have been a nice touch to give the car more weight on different planets. But hey, there's always a sequal.

[mailman187666]

I only played it for a couple hours but so far I think its cool. I'm more into traditional JRPGs but this is a nice break from that stuff. I find some of the game confusing so far because I haven't played it that long and I've never played any of the other Bioware rpgs. I definately want to get more into the game and see what its really all about. The character I must say look incredibly realistic.

[monkeysuit]

I'm not too far into the game yet, but so far I'm really digging it. That's saying a lot coming from me (not the biggest RPG fan in the world). My only real complaint about the game is the lack of tutorial as the game advances. Having to learn everything on your own kinda makes an already slow moving game that much slower.


Also, Seth Green as Joker is probably my favorite part of Mass Effect.

EDIT: ELEVATORS