FIRST TAKE: Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
- Scribbled on November 20th, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in First Take, Microsoft Xbox 360, RPG
Mass Effect is finally on the shelves, or in my case, dropped off by UPS, since I have the Limited Edition that was available online only.
So far, it’s everything I had hoped it would be. I took pains to create my idea of John Shepard (yes, I kept his default first name) - an Earthborn war hero, blond-haired and blue-eyed. So far, I’m aiming for him to be a Paragon - my next Shepard will be a raven-haired, ruthless colonist female Shepard, and played on the hardest difficulty.
Anyway, the music and the visuals are astounding, and the dialogue is superb. This is one of the very few games I’ve ever not wanted the subtitles on, and that’s saying a lot. I also keep the film grain on, even though turning it off makes it sharper. A little too sharp - the film grain makes it feel like a movie.
Combat does have a semi-deep learning curve, though I’ve already had some “experience” with the combat via the many videos BioWare sent out, so I’ve learned to direct my troops effectively. I haven’t had any of the glitches mentioned in reviews (yet), and I haven’t had any frame rate problems (yet).
Not that I’d notice frame rate issues - I’m more interested in the roleplaying and the storytelling. Already, one can tell that the story is of the grand, epic nature, and incidentally, the story has creepier moments - just check out how “Husks” are created. Brrrrr.
A review will be forthcoming after the game is completed - though I think I’ll be taking my time to enjoy the game. This is not a game I’d want to powergame and burn through. I want to savor it.
OUTLOOK: Extremely exciting, Game of the Year material
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