Yeah yeah, I'm a late comer to the series but considering that I have only had my Xbox for only 2 years can you blame me? This is really my fist Xbox ever since I have never been impressed by the console but since Sony refuses to get their head out of their ass and make backwards compatible consoles and I have left World of Warcrack I need to get my game fix from somewhere, but I digress. Since I have finished the first Mass Effect game I assure you there are going to be at least 2 more reviews coming since I will be getting Mass Effect 3 when it comes out.
Story:
Let's start with what really drives this game. It's the story. More like it's the f**king awesome story. Within the first 10 minutes I was hooked and despite the game play it kept me hooked. The story takes place about 200 years in the future when mankind has started spreading out in our solar system and throughout the galaxy. Come to find out we are not the only ones out there, and we are not the first to conquer faster than light travel either. Humans are a small part of an inter-galactic alliance where we don't even have a seat of power to have our voices heard but we are allowed an embassy at the Citadel, which is the makeshift capitol of the galactic alliance. The Galactic alliance is led by a three seated council made up of 3 different races: The Asari, a race of mono-gendered females. The Salarians, a race of short-lived (40 years), hyper, highly intelligent, and have a natural ability to use any technology race. And the Turians, a Raptor like race that value honor, loyalty, discipline, and bravery.
The Council has their own operatives that operate outside the law. These are called SPECTREs (Special Tactics and Reconnaissance). It doesn't mean that they get to break the law whenever they want to, it just means that they can use whatever means necessary to get the job done. You play as Commander Sheppard. The Human System Alliance is hoping that Commander Sheppard will be first human chosen to be a SPECTRE. It starts out with a mission on Eden Prime. Eden Prime was attacked by a bunch of robots and depending on how the mission goes depends on if you make it to becoming a SPECTRE. It's hard to go off on the rest of the story line without giving the plot away or anything else, but let me just say this: the story is well told. The game opens up to you to let you have several options of what you want to do with the game. Is there a set story line? To a point, yes., but can you choose on how to get there and what happens in the game? Absolutely. Several times you are called up by certain Human fleets and you can choose to accept the mission or continue on with the story line.
Besides the Councils races there are other races out there that follow the Council. Some races don't care too much for the Council and refuse to follow their direction; other races don't care either way. Here are the races that are included in the first installment of Mass Effect:
Asari: Often referred as the most powerful race of the known space. They were instrumental in creating and organizing the Council. Out of the known existing races they were the first to obtain faster than light travel. Other than skin and hair they closely resemble humans although they are alluring to all races. Their race is not gender specific and they are "mono-gendered". Because of this any of them can have children, even with other races. Although they consider themselves gender neutral, everyone else considers them female. These females can live up to 1000 years. They are also known as some of the fiercest warriors and specialize in special operation teams where a few Asari can wipe out companies of the enemy. When mating they connect with their partner not only physically but mentally. This enables the Asari to search through the generic heritage and choose the best traits to pass on to their offspring. Even if they mate outside of their race, the offspring will always be an Asari with no DNA present from the partner. The Asari believe that joining with another race will make the Asari race stronger so it is uncommon for the Asari to mate with one another and if they do so their offspring is considered a pure blood which is a great insult among them. So in other words they Mind f**k, literally. | 
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| Batarian: One of the two known races to have more than one pair of eyes. This race is closer related to Humans and Asari than the other races. Because of their physiology they want to populate the same worlds the humans do and because of this they have separated themselves from the Council and refuse to live by its law. Although not powerful enough to go to war with the Council they take any chance they can to give the Alliance the finger by arming pirates and terrorist to make slave raids and cause terror to any Citadel space target. They feel wronged by humans and prefer to make them a target if given a choice. At one time they were part of the Galactic Alliance but when Humans started colonizing the same world that they wanted to they asked for the Council to intervene. When they refused to declare the world for the Batarians they decided to pull their embassy to the Council which took them over a Century to get. Since then the Batarians have retreated into their own systems and are rarely seen in Citadel Space. I see this race more as the playground crybaby. They have decided to take their ball and go home. Pussies. |
Elcore: This race evolved on a high gravity world making them slow but strong. It made moving on their home world very dangerous because one wrong move could end up in death. Because of their evolution they walk on all their limbs which are strong and immense. Speech among them is always in a monotonous tone and they rely on scent, extremely slight body movements, and subvocalized infrasound to communicate. Since their subtlety can lead to misunderstandings they always prefix their dialog with non-Elcore with an emotive statement to clarify what they mean. Their bodies are thick making them impossible to take down with small arms. When they war they often depend on the Elcore VI system in which these war machines are full of battle strategies from over thousands of years. When armed themselves, they are able to equip weapons that are meant for HSA fighting vehicles. This is what happens to Elephants when you chop off their trunk and tusk. | 
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| Geth: The Geth are a networked AI Race. These were created by the Quarians to be working and war machines. When they were created they were made to share small processes. This enabled them to move processes like motor control and visual identification to other Geth freeing up more processing power. This helped them gain conciseness. When the Quarians realized that the Geth were becoming sentient, they tried to destroy them in which the Quarians were defeated and expelled from their home world. When facing a Geth one on one they have little more inelegance of basic animal instincts, but when grouped they can reason, analyze situations, and use tactics just as good as their enemies. They follow the Reapers and look to them as Gods. They stand as a testament to the rest of the Galaxy of the dangers of AI and now the Council has put strict laws and enforces them stringently for the repression of AI in Citadel space. The flashlight for a face makes an excellent target. |
Hanar: This race looks closer to Jellyfish than anything and is one of the non-bipedal Citadel space races. When speaking to them they are extremely polite and only refer to themselves in the third person unless it is someone they are very close to. They also have two names one being a "face name" in which strangers can address them and a "soul name" for close friends and relations. This race is next in line to be considered for a council seat, but what great deeds they have done remain a mystery. I am glad that you cant pursue a romance with this race or else the Hentai crowd will be all over this guy. | 
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| Humans: It's us, duh! You want more info? Ok: since this take place in the future mankind has been expanding in its own solar system and for a while Mars and Lunar (the Moon) were popular placed for Humans to settle. When we found out that Pluto was actually a hidden Mass Relay we found out how to activate it, use it, and expand from there. Thinking that we were alone in the galaxy we started inhabiting as many planets as we could, finding new mass relays and activating them. We knew nothing of the Alliance and had no clue that it was forbidden in Citadel space. Our introduction into the Alliance was a rough one since the Taurians thought us to be weak and attacked the crew that was trying to activate the Mass Effect, and then attacking the nearby settlement, thinking that we were too small to retaliate. We come back in force and take back our Settlement and prepare for War. When the Alliance finds out about the Taurian military buildup, the Council intervenes and a war which would have been tragic for the Humans is avoided. |
Keepers: A bio-engineered insectoid race that look like giant Aphids. They do not interact with you at all during the game and it is considered highly illegal to do anything to them. They run the Citadel, and do shit all otherwise. | 
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| Krogan: Think of this as Klingons, but with a better story line. This race was in the middle of a self imposed nuclear winter when the Salarians came and enlightened them to a higher technological level. There were two reasons behind this. One was that the Krogans were built for battle having redundant organs for backups and their high birth and maturity rate. One female Krogan could produce anywhere from 10 to 15 thousand offspring during her life time. The second reason was that the Citadel was engaged in a long war with the Rachni (a bug like race now extinct) in which they were losing. Because they were such fierce warriors and bread for battle they were able to colonize the worlds given them by the Council quickly, they then turned around and started to colonize worlds that belonged to other races and another war started. This time the Salarians came up with a biological weapon called the Genophage. This reduced the amount of offspring the Krogan could reduce to 1 in every 1000. Now with the Genophage still poisoning the Krogan and their war like attitudes, their race now stands on the brink of extinction. One things for certain: going to prison with a Krogan will give you a wider understanding of "balls deep." |
Prothean: An extinct alien race that was at least as wide spread as the current Citadel races are now that lived 50,000 years ago and then just vanished. Some of their technology and structures are still around, but due to the rarity of them they are considered galactic property to help further technology and our understanding of this vanished race. It is believed that the Protheans developed the Mass Effects and created the Citadel although their extinction still remains a mystery. | 
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| Quarians: They are a race of Nomads now that they got their ass kicked by their own creation and spend their time relatively away from others unless they go out on their "Pilgrimage". When out on their journey they leave the safety of the Migrate fleet that they have and pretty much stay away until they can bring something useful back to the fleet. Because of their screw up the Council has barred their embassy. Because of home world and their isolation from others their immune systems have gone from kind of weak to pretty weak. It is to the point where they need to wear complex enviro-suits to keep from getting sick. To show the ultimate gesture of trust and affection among the Quarians, they would link suits. BioWare just did this so that when it came down to looking at the basement dweller IT geek, you didn't have to look at him in the face. |
Reapers: I can't post too much of them without spoiling the game for you so just know this: They are an ancient race of Artificial Intelligence that have lived for eons, and they are ass holes. | 
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| Salarians: Consider this race to be the hyperactive nerd that you know down the street. These guys seem to be hopped up on a permanent caffeine rush. It's not because they are actually high, but it is because of their high metabolism rate that they are so active. These warm blooded amphibians metabolic rate is so high that they only require 1 hour of sleep. It also keeps their longevity down to about 40 earth years. In game you only see males but apparently that is because 90% of the race is males and the few females that exist are only allowed to fertilize 1 to 2 eggs of theirs out of the dozen. Fertilized eggs produce female offspring while unfertilized eggs produce males. Because the Salarians have that high metabolism they think fast and talk faster. This is the normal for them and it helps them believe that all other races are slow and dim-witted. They have rarely started a fight that they knew that they could not win. They usually make sure they know about everything the enemy is doing and consider the human tactics of "do not fire until fired upon" retarded (much like the Marines). They do not declare war first; they attack first usually making sure that their small force is producing the maximum desired effect. In other words: Don't f*** with them unless you know you are going to win! |
Turians: Let's just say we would be privileged if our race could adopt their type of honor among its citizens. Known for the discipline and military mindedness the Turians are the last race to join the Council. They gained the seat when they deployed the Genophage to the Krogans thereby helping The Citadel curb the rising war. Because of first contact with the humans many of them hate the human race and vice versa but they along with the Humans see the bigger picture and are willing to work together and it's proven by the creation of the SSV Normandy (the ship you fly during the game). This ship is a combination of Human and Turian work. Their life spans are about the same as Humans and if you take a closer look at them you realize that their race seen militarily as a whole is not as good as the Asari's (specialized and refined skill of the Asari special units), Krogans (brutal and bred for war) or Human's (adaptable and cunning). Because of their honor and commitment their lines always hold, and their orders are always followed. If they do retreat it is organized with several ambushes set up to make sure they are covered. It is said that "you will only see a Turian's back once he is dead." Their will and honor drives them to be the honest people and some of the most dependable and order following soldiers, but great workers in no matter what field they are working in. Their religion is not only personal based but group and social based too. Because of this they devote their energies to improving communities and serving others. It is very rare for a Turian to put his needs in front of another's. | 
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| Volus: This smaller race has played an important factor in the economic structure of the Citadel and its residents. Although they are not physically built for any type of combat their aptitude for trade is without equal. They often feel cheated by the Counsel for not only not having a seat on the Counsel, but not even having their own Embassy despite what they have done for the Citadel. Their home world has 1.5 times heavier gravitational field of the Earth along with a high pressured atmosphere, they and are unable to survive in the same space as most of the Citadel races. In fact if they do not have their pressurized suits that supply them with their ammonia-based air, their flesh would split open. Although economy minded since they are unable to produce a race only fleet, resource production and economic aid in case of disaster in order for them to be properly considered for a seat on the council. The Volus however act as a client state of the Turian Government helping them in their economic need and supports Turians in any war they might pursue and in turn the Turians do the same for the Volus. Basically these guys are the "Mater Blasters" of the alliance. |
So now that you have read a little history of the alien it's time we take you on your first mission and introduce you to your base crew and other characters of the game.
Nihlus Kryik: This Turian is a SPECTRE assigned to your group to report back to the Council. Nothing says "I'm going to die on this mission" more than a really cool looking guy that is to be the judge of you on this mission and his rank and skill are far above that of your own. He gets dropped off before you on your first mission to make sure that A) nothing to heavy is going to go down on you that you won't be able to handle, B) To judge how you are going to handle the situation, and C) Get his ass shot by one of the enemies of the game.
Richard Jenkins: Nothing says red shirt Ensign more than a character named Jenkins. Even the name gets me thinking about World of Warcraft and that goofy character running into an enemy packed room, yelling "LEROY JENKINS!!!" This guy not only reminds me of him but he kind of dies in the same way. He runs ahead of the team and we get to see his grape explode (not really but it was a head shot). If it weren't for how funny it was connecting the two characters I would be a little sad in the story but to me I got a chuckle out of it.
| Kaidan Alenko: Ralphael Sbarge voices Kaidan. He is your Sentinel which is rare to find in a human. Most of these biotic come out with severe neurological damage but he is lucky enough to only suffer really bad migraines from time to time. He is in your fire team right from the start. If you are a female version of Commander Sheppard Kaidan can be a love interest to you. Later on in the game you have to choose to lose a team member. It will be between him and... | 
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| Ashley Williams: I knew I should have let this annoying bitch die when I had the chance. It's really unfortunate that Kimberly Brooks voices her because she does great stuff otherwise but Ashley gets on my nerves! I really think they were trying to kiss up to the male players when they made her one of the strongest combatants in the game instead of (oh I don't know) THE KROGAN. Every time I took her on a mission I wanted Shepard to shove his size 12 boot down her throat because she was always running her suck when she should have taken a nice glass of shut the f*** up. If I were starting the game from scratch again and planning on going to ME3 with it I would definitely take her out. Unfortunately since she is the only female human on the team she can turn out to be a love interest for the Male version of Commander Sheppard. 
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After you run through the first mission you find out who the main enemy is for the game: Saren Artenrius. I will explain more about your enemies later but for right now Sheppard reports back to the Council. It is a disaster for the Humans, not only was the mission a failure but a SPECTRE is dead and you are blaming Saren for sabotaging the mission without proof. The Council put a hold status on the mission until you can find proof of Saren's betrayal and you set out to get the rest of your crew. They make this very easy since all but one are located there on the Citadel.
Once you pick up your team you go back to the Council and present them with the proof of Sarens betrayal. They strip him of his SPECTRE status and task you and your team to hunt him down. More information is then given to you concerning Saren's allies. And you are sent out to make things right. You are set on three separate missions to complete. Here is where Mass Effect really sticks out from other games like it: you get to choose the order you do these missions. You get to choose WHEN you want to do the missions, and you get to choose to do anything else you can do in Mass Effect (like the mass amounts of side quest/missions, or exploring the galaxy) I really like this because they kind of tell you how to do the next three missions but it really is up to you how you do it. The missions are:
• Find Matriarch Benezia granddaughter (Liara T'Soni)
• Investigate Feros and the Geth attack
• Find Matriach Benezia
Now these are just the main story line missions that are given to you after you get done being promoted to a SPECTRE. That does not include any of the exploring that you can do, side quest that come at you or, does the game make you do this in any particular order although they do (and you should) suggest that you find Liara first. Why do I say that? Because I went after Matriarch Benzia first and it was a pain in the ASS! You wouldn't think that the level difference of the characters would make that much difference and for the most part in the mission it didn't matter. I was doing the entire side quest along the way with ease but when it came down to taking on Benzia, my ass was getting handed to me on a platter. Let's just say it took a while to find out how to take her on, and how to survive the attack. After it was all said and done though it did open up other side quest with high level requirements such as getting Wrex's Grandfathers battle armor from some pirates. Needless to say, when getting back that armor, I would go in, kill one guy, and then I had to go out of the ship, heal up, save, and repeat.
So while I do want to step you through the story and leading you the right direction to go I think the above would suffice any new player going through except for your introduction into Liara T'Soni. Your mission there is pretty straight forward. Go in, get her, and fight your way out. She then turns around and starts to help you on your quest to bring in Saren.
| Dr. Liara T'Soni: This considered Asari is only 106 when Mass Effect takes place which for the Asari is considered young. Out of the three phases in their life this is considered the "college years" of their lives. When you meet up with her she has been trapped by the Geth in some Prothean ruins. Since she is an archaeologist specializing in Promethean ruins she is quite intrigued by Commander Shepard since he is one of the few people touched by their ancient technology. She is also confident that her mother (Benzia) is not willingly helping Saren. Ali Hillis, who does voices for Final Fantasy 13 and Star Craft 2, wasn't enough for the developers to base Liara's looks off of, so they added Jillian Murray. |  
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The Enemies:
| Saren Arterius: Cruel as well as cold hearted he makes sure that the job gets done no matter the cost. While he is/was a devoted protector of the galaxy due to his indoctrination, his view of the galaxy and its role in the upcoming events all sapient beings were going to crumble, and he would prove that all the life there was worth sparing if they helped. The indoctrination blinded him into doing that which was wrong to those he swore to protect. Once proofs of his intentions were made, he is stripped of his SPECTRE rank and becomes the universe's most wanted man. While confronting him several times during the game Shepard is able to sow seeds of doubt in Saren's mind. The Reaper Sovereign realizes that its grip on Saren is waning and replaces parts of Saren's body to become what he calls himself the ultimate fusion of man and machine having the strengths of both with the weaknesses of none. Saren is voiced by Fred Tatasciore. | 
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| Matriarch Benezia: The Mother of Liara T'Soni and powerful Biotic she is a very powerful and spiritual leader among the Asari. While Liara is convinced that her mother would not be acting out of her own free will we come to find out that it is only partially true. Benezia did join up with Saren but believed her mental powers were far greater than the indoctrination that was taken place and she could withstand them she eventually was overcome and followed the part that Sovereign designed for her. In her fight with you she regains her free will long enough to warn you of what has happened. She is voiced by Marina Sirtis. | 
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The Thorian (Species 37): A sapient plant that lives for thousands of years. It views any other life as potential thralls using mind-controlling and telepathic abilities to have life bend and obey the Thorians will. When Saren found out about this, Saren needed a Cipher from the Protheans that the Thorian had and was willing to sacrifice anyone he could in order to get that information. Unknowing to Shaila (an Asari Biotic) she was sacrificed along with all of her knowledge in order to get the Cipher from the Thorian. Knowing that Shepard would soon find out about the Thorian, Saren ordered his Geth to destroy the Thorian. Seeing how he was betrayed the Thorian uses his ability to protect himself until Shepard can rid him of the threat. Once Shepard finds out about the Thorian he goes to try and talk to it but since then the Thorian produces clones of Shaila to defend itself from all those that scurry.
Graphics:
Graphics are not just good for Mass Effect, they are great! That is until you start landing on side quest planets. For the most part Mass Effect flows smoothly from gameplay to cut scenes. Bio Ware gives you nice fillers in most places especially when you are in the Citadel. If you pay close attention to the news or what your team mates say to each other you find some pretty funny things that go on. The only thing that brings down this score is the lack of variety in the worlds that you land on that aren't part of the main quest. While if you are going through for story only this won't affect you that much but for someone that wants to go around and see what galaxy Bio Ware came up with it is a real let down.
What blows my mind about the graphics is that you can go into each solar system and then every planet in that solar system and read the detailed descriptions on each planet! When you land on any different planet though, it shows you the same damn thing. You are in the middle of a mountain range, the mountains are all ragged and rough, and there are three items that are not materials on each world that you can find (sometimes more, but not often). It got to be where if I was going to explore any world I made sure it was part of an expansion pack or I didn't bother going down to see the same shit just turned white/brown/green/red.
Another gripe about the graphics is the inability to choose the color of your armor. Understand that certain companies will paint their products a certain color so that you can easily recognize the brand, but when I get gear that I am wearing for combat wearing pink might not be the most intimidating color when the enemies see me. I mean hell they might fall over laughing when they first see me and when I start busting heads like grapes they might get their shit together but I'm not going in to make a fashion statement, I'm going in to bust heads and to try and keep as low key as possible. All I'm saying is that it might be beneficial for them to let you choose your color so you can conceal yourself.
Sound:
The sound in the game is awesome. Everything from the voice acting (which you can see in the character bios) to the ambient sound are just great. When you are walking around in the Citadel you hear the background noise of people talking. When in a gun fight you hear enemies shout out orders to each other to try and flank you. The music when you hear it is good but not enough of it to be memorable. Bio Ware however thought ahead and made sure that the music that was put into Mass Effect was soundtrack worthy though and went ahead and made a soundtrack. Most of the music is too short for my taste but it is still good.
Gameplay:
So starting off as Lt Commander Sheppard here are a few things you need to know:
Lieutenant Commander Sheppard: Depending if you want to play male or female is what makes up the LT Commander. For me I made him a male so I will refer to the Commander as "him" for the review. Before you start the game you can actually choose your history and what class you can be. I really wish that I looked this up before I started since it does matter in game what you are and what you did as far as missions go and good/bad rep (called Paragon and Renegade). Here are your choices for your history:
Spacer: Basically you grew up as a military brat. You have always been in space and have always wanted to be in the military when you grew up. The bonus is that you have a special part of the game open up to where you can talk to your mom. You also have a huge bonus to the Paragon points you receive. If you are going for ANY achievements make sure you pick this or the . . .
Earth-born: You grew up in the slums and you were either going to die on the streets of earth or you were going to do something worthwhile with your life and enlisted. The bonus here is that you get to meet up with one of your old gang members for a mission and you get a bonus to the Renegade points you earn
Colonist: You were born and raised on Mindor when slavers came and raided it killing your family and friends. You were saved by a passing HSA patrol and enlisted as soon as you were able. You don't get a big bonus for either Paragon or Renegade points so if you don't care go ahead and pick this one. The custom mission you get for this is to talk a fellow Mindor survivor out of blowing off her head.
Here are your profiles you get to choose:
Sole Survivor: During your service you went on a mission that went horribly wrong. You and your crew were attacked by a Thresher Maw in which you were the sole Survivor. You were trapped in an extreme survival situation where you had to overcome physical and psychological challenges that would have broken anyone else. Your bonus is nothing and you change the story of the UNC: Dead Scientists mission.
War Hero: Basically you did heroic/stupid things that turned the tide of an overwhelming enemy force where you risked life and limb to turn back the Batarian Slavers attack. The bonus here is Paragon points are earned faster and you affect the UNC: Espionage probe mission dialog.
Ruthless: You get the job done, no matter the cost. Cold and Cruel are your nicknames, but calculating and brutal aren't for those that linger. Your reputation makes people wary of you but you haven't had a failed mission and that's why they call you to get shit done. The bonus here is Renegade points and you affect the mission of UNC: Major Kyle.
This SO would have helped me before I started the game. I ended up going with the colonist and ruthless, then going for Paragon points. Yeah, I didn't get the achievement. The voice acting is done very well. If you play the female version of the Commander you get Jennifer Hale as your voice. If male, you get the talents of Mark Meer. Both fit the game and story line very well so you should be happy with whatever you choose.
Bio Ware not only lets you pick your history but allows you to change your appearance and the class of character you are going to be. Here are your choices for your class:
Solder: A tough warrior able to deal with combat situation. You are the only class to be able to use heavy armor but that does you squat when you go up against a biotic or tactician who will nullify your abilities. You get to use your full arsenal given to you and get to improve upon them how you see fit. | 
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Engineer: This is your tech specialist. You get squat for weapons selection but you get to f**k up someone's shields and stop them in their tracks. You also are the healer for the group. | 
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Adept: The power of the mind is open to you. You can manipulate areas by lifting or throwing things or people. While only armed with a pistol the game play of the Adept is f**king someone up with disabling and DE buffing them. | 
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Infiltrator: Your basic sniper class crossed with some of the engineer but add medium armor. One shot kills are almost always with the sniper rifle, if you could ever get that annoying f**k to stay still. | 
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Sentinel: The protector/healer class. You get both Biotic and Tech gear which allow you to boost your party's abilities and heal them. This is strictly a support role so if you and one of your other team mates are heavy hitters, you might want to keep this guy around. | 
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Vanguard: This is the front line warrior combining the durability of the Soldier with the abilities of the Adept. These guys will take out an enemy's shield, boost their own then shoot them with a shot gun, in the face. | 
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Once you start running and gunning you realize how much Bio Ware sucks FOR NOT PUTTING IN A DAMN JUMP FUNCTION!!! I mean really, we are this far along in gaming, can I please have a damn jump? Yes it does make that big a difference for me because most AI's are stupid and while running towards an enemy a running jumping shot will help me be less of a bullet sponge.
I expected the game to sort of level up with you so you won't be able to power level or be too much of a disadvantage when going into certain areas, but when going off the beaten path and doing my own thing the level difference really gave me a headache when it came down to going after Benzia first. So much so that it got to the point where I would go into an area expecting to die just so I can find a pattern of the fight and find out the best way to beat the level. So while I got to do what I wanted to, I get my ass handed to me seven ways from Tuesday just for stepping out of bounds. Yeah for less of a headache follow the path and it was my choice, but that doesn't mean that Mass Effect couldn't have been better with the proper level matching.
You will find out quickly in Mass Effect of how much of a pain in the ass it is to drive in the game. While one stick moves you, the other is aiming and rather than driving where you are looking you can run into obstacles that can be the death of you if you are not careful. Especially if you are taking fire. At least you get to jump in the tank though.
You can pursue a romance with one of the two characters Mass Effect has for you if you want to. For the male characters you are limited to Ashlee and Liara and for the female characters you get to choose between Liara and Kaidan. Between missions when you go to them on the ship you can start talking to them and build relationships as well as the rest of your crew. You do get a love scene in game that for the most part you could see it on one of the major networks on TV, but it's really close to being NSFW and would consider hiding kid's eyes if they are around. At least it's not as bad of God of Porn I mean War but still something that they could have done without or better. Cursing is another iffy part of the game. While it's not a lot and something you would hear in battle they could have replaced the words and made it more kid friendly. While I do realize I am the pot calling the kettle black; Moms, if you are worried about the "M" rating of the Mass Effect - that is it.
Replay Value:
I don't think there is much of a replay value for me in Mass Effect. Really I am a completionist when it comes down to it so I did a lot of exploring and extra missions during the story line so the only thing left to do was to play the game on a harder mode to get more achievements so unless you wanted to try and get some girl on girl action with Liara and a female Sheppard I would just make sure you have your character how you want him for the next Mass Effect in the series. Although you can change his looks in the next Mass Effect, just by going around and doing everything you can before the end of the game will get you most of the achievements. No new story line and nothing new to add to Mass Effect unless you get the add-on packs. Even then, to play everything twice to get more achievement points seems a little time expensive to me. Once through is good enough for me. I could see returning this to let someone else pick it up for a cheaper run through a great game, but it's one of the games that I would want to keep just because I might want to run through it again if I am bored. You know, when you are waiting for a great game to come out and there is nothing much to choose from (Skyrim? No thanks, MW3? Meh, not really my cup of tea. Batman AC? Yes, but my broke ass will wait for the price to come down).
Multiplayer:
Wait, what? Out of all the features that could have been included in the Mass Effect Bio Ware decided to not include this feature. I really don't fault them for not including some sort of multiplayer in game for when you want to game alone, but it could have been added and another player helping out is never a bad thing. Even if he plays as one of your crew, tags along himself, or brings his crew into the fray. While I usually judge a game on its multi-player capabilities, it really isn't fair to the game's score to add this to the final score, but for the people that want to cry foul I will give the final score twice. Once with the Multiplayer score included, and the other (which should be the final score) without including the Multiplayer score.
Wrapping up:
The fact that Mass Effect did not make game of the year (SMB Galaxy, Portal, BioShock, and COD: Modern Warfare were all listed several times) just pisses me off to no end. While I have played Portal and parts of SMB Galaxy, these games themselves are great but in my mind can not hold a candle to Mass Effect. Are there flaws in Mass Effect? Yes, but I don't know of one game that doesn't have at least a couple flaws. Yes the New York Times and Team Xbox awarded it Game of the Year but all the other game sites (E3, Spike, Game trailers, and Game Critics Award) have given Mass Effect awards like "Best RPG of the year", or "Best new game franchise". Yeah, I am being picky but, when you have a game that will change your mind on how you look at the RPG genre and don't give a rats ass that you are actually playing one; I think you need to give Mass Effect another go around and recognize it for what it is: A truly amazing game with amazing sound, and a great story! If you passed on Mass Effect you have seriously missed out on a great game!
