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MASS EFFECT. Go. Buy it.

Amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable. Game.

Great Ending. Very satisfying. No, EXTREMELY satisfying. There's just that feeling that you saved the known galaxy when you reach the end. And there's also that feeling that there's a lot more coming, there's a whole lot more to explore in the near future!

I'm at a loss for words here.

It has its faults din but the whole package is just superb, definitely a game I'm keeping on my shelf; I'm never selling this one!

Absolutely looking forward to the upcoming DLC and to the sequel. I hope they release it next year.

GOTY material, right up there with Bioshock! Those two games deserve every possible praise and award.....Mass Effect == best RPG from Bioware in YEARS. Best since BALDUR'S GATE II + expansions. Yes, they've finally topped that!!!!!!

For the ones who just HAVE to balance out this commentary with what I found wrong with the game:

1. The inventory system....needs work! I wish it was easier to sort my stuff (like, deleting items or keeping track of what I've picked up already)

2. AI Pathing occassionally gets confused. But on my end I haven't had any major issues with them. I guess I don't use the command system, i just let them do their thing and it seems its much better that way.

3. This game *NEEDS* a multiplayer mode! Not in the sense of a VERSUS mode, but more of a mode which lets other players play the single player mode with you. It would really be fun to let other players control your 2 other party members. Maybe in a future sequel, you can also have more than 2 characters in your party.

4. A few framerate jitters here and there. But it never gets in the way of playability anyway, so it is practically a non-issue unless you're the type who just HAS to have perfect 30 FPS in your game.

5. The Mako vehicular combat needs a bit more 'oomph'. Can't quite put my finger on it....I just wish the gun shots left more smoke trails/plasma trails to make it more entertaining.

Positives:

1. The dialogue system is awesome. It makes you want to play the game over again so you can find out what happens if you picked the options that you didn't pick! And I can't imagine how many hours of dialogue are in this game....

2. Multiple ways of finishing quests.

3. I like how this game lets you pause the action with RB then you can choose special attacks for you and your party. You can then set up interesting strategies, combining biotic attacks with tech attacks or protecting or boosting your teammates with barrier or with health packs.

4. I like the gun ammo upgrade system. I like how you can change the type of ammo that you are using, and it's interesting how they can affect combat (the Cryo shots are really cool hehehe)

5. BIOTIC powers are really nice. LIFT can be really cool when you use it in proximity to many other items in the level (you can lift crates and other random objects!)

6. All the characters in your party seem to have interesting backstories and personalities! It was really nice to visit them every so often and talk to them about their previous adventures. I thought Wrex (the Krogan) was the most interesting character. Putting character into side-characters is rare these days; there seems to be a lot more focus on the main character. Mass Effect does NOT follow this trend. The other characters that join your party have their own agenda, disposition, etc. At some point in the game this even affects the main quest. It looked like one of the characters in my party was going to fight against me. Luckily because I had such a high CHARM rating I was able to calm the character down.

It's also interesting if you mix up the characters that you bring along with you. Sometimes you'll hear them talk to each other and sometimes they don't seem to like each other. I can't imagine how much work went into Mass Effect's world and characters. Bioware must have some super secret design technique for creating interesting RPG situations for the player to get involved in.

7. Some of the decisions you have to make seem to have a major impact on what happens to the overall story. It will be interesting to play the game over again and see what would happen if I did some other things...how will my actions affect other characters, etc.

8. The love angle was interesting; it's rare to see that in a video game. Usually games already set your character up with a specific other character; it seems in this game you have a bit more freedom on who your character ends up with, and how that happens (and what happens after that, hehe)

9. The art work and the design of the worlds in the main quest arc are really interesting and beautiful. The side quests areas are not as well designed but that's an arguable point....since the worlds that you visit are not all inhabited, and some of them have inhospitable conditions, it would be logical that some of them would be barren or devoid of plant or animal life.

10. Lots of other nice little touches along the way....traveling from planet to planet, you get transmissions which lead you to more sidequests....your party have individual reactions to your past missions...your actions have repercussions (you'll hear news reports of how things turned out in some planets, from the elevators; you'll get some quests only if you play renegade, etc etc etc)

11. The game also comes with this lengthy, lengthy, LENGTHY codex section with a rich, deep background on the universe of the game. I haven't personally listened to everything in there. There's TONS of information.

Overall, Mass Effect is a UNIVERSE of a game! Highly recommended! Even if you're the type of player who doesn't like Western RPGs because they usually have a 'faceless hero'---this game manages to create an interesting lead character with a personality that you can choose and mold to your liking. A game like Mass Effect very rarely comes along...every gamer out there owes it to themselves to experience what a true next-generation role-playing game should be like. This, is the one.

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