Post by hk47fan on Feb 23, 2009 11:28:25 GMT -5
Here is a review of mine on Mass Effect for the Xbox 360...at least thats what I played it on. Its rated M for mature if anyone cares about the rating before reading, and its genre is action. 
Graphics: Most excellent...though to give fair credit, the 360 has the best graphics out of any system out there, probably partially that, but well the people in charge do know how to make good graphics on this game.
Sounds: Well....I don't focus too much on sounds, but not excellent, not bad either....sort of just in between.
Entertainment: Well, it did keep my attention for awhile, and I enjoyed some planets, hated others....another area where it was just okay.
Main Review:
Mass Effect was released a little over a year ago, and ever since(and almost all this year), I've heard how great it was and how much people love it and are head over heels for it, especially one particular contributer on this forum, and everyone knows who I'm talking about.
But after a few weeks of her going on and on...on and on...about this oh-so-amazing game, I got it for myself. I played a little at first, basically the beginning two planets, and it was good, not bad, but I left it for months after this, just sorta got busy and whatnot.
But then in July, I decided to pick it up again, and play it regularly. Not a bad game at all, and I began to at least understand why my friend loved it so much....the planets and boss fights were enthralling, and the ending was GREAT, although the last fights were HARD. But nonetheless a good to great game...but it wasn't without its flaws.
The biggest problem I had with the game was that it felt like a cop out of "Knights of the Old Republic"'s storyline. RPGs typically have that same pattern, go to some planets/places/whatever, but it was just like you go to two planets you HAVE to go to, then you choose from like three or four, there's a revelation(even if this wasn't quite as big), a superweapon and you have a big blow out battle. This is almost too similar to K1. In the sequel, I hope there's a bit more creativity.
A minor, though it was realistic, problem I had with it was that the female Shepard(who I played as) sounded cold no matter whether it was something evil or good. Now, again I will give the credit that it WAS realistic, a skilled soldier such as Shepard wouldn't probably have the joyous or most evil tone of voice. But that was a minor problem I had.
Now I haven't tried for myself, but I have also heard that ME has no replay value....I might have to see that for myself someday, but I can see their point, because overall it didn't seem like you could do it too much differently except do more sidequests and do a few things in a different way. But alas, that may be for a different blog entry someday.
Just a random comment in the middle of all of this: I hated Tali.
But other than her, the crew was actually pretty good...I sometimes had to deflect Liara coming onto me(the only romance stuff I did was some flirting with Kaiden but it was pretty much romance free, though I know of the sex scene and everything). Now the big complaint I have with BioWare is that they don't do much with the crew members after the planet you pick them up on, except the main two crew members(example: Bastila and Carth in K1, Kaiden and Ashley here). But they were intriguing and I give the writers BIG credit for that.
Now, for a few more complements about the game:
I REALLY liked the Normandy and its design. It was more roomy and fancy than the Ebon Hawk, even though I love the EH and it makes sense since in K1 Revan wasn't some top priority soldier, but I just liked the Normandy alot, and how there were other members and troops around that weren't necessarily crew members. Like the Medic(Chokwas), that guy with the Galaxy Map, Joker....
I LOVED(this was probably my favorite part of the game right here) the battle on the planet-who's-name-I-can't-remember. It was the last planet I went to, and it was probably the most creative part of the game, too. I just had a blast the entire time, and it was a...bit of a tough choice between Kaiden and Ashley, but my love for Ashley prevailed, and I killed Kaiden. I may have murdered Female Shepard's love interest, but Ashley is just better in battle.
But overall, after a close examination of what I loved, liked, and didnt' like, here is my grade of the game, using the typical school system I'm sure everyone knows well:
Mass Effect: B-, or in numbers, 6 on a scale of 1 to 10
Graphics: Most excellent...though to give fair credit, the 360 has the best graphics out of any system out there, probably partially that, but well the people in charge do know how to make good graphics on this game.
Sounds: Well....I don't focus too much on sounds, but not excellent, not bad either....sort of just in between.
Entertainment: Well, it did keep my attention for awhile, and I enjoyed some planets, hated others....another area where it was just okay.
Main Review:
Mass Effect was released a little over a year ago, and ever since(and almost all this year), I've heard how great it was and how much people love it and are head over heels for it, especially one particular contributer on this forum, and everyone knows who I'm talking about.
But after a few weeks of her going on and on...on and on...about this oh-so-amazing game, I got it for myself. I played a little at first, basically the beginning two planets, and it was good, not bad, but I left it for months after this, just sorta got busy and whatnot.
But then in July, I decided to pick it up again, and play it regularly. Not a bad game at all, and I began to at least understand why my friend loved it so much....the planets and boss fights were enthralling, and the ending was GREAT, although the last fights were HARD. But nonetheless a good to great game...but it wasn't without its flaws.
The biggest problem I had with the game was that it felt like a cop out of "Knights of the Old Republic"'s storyline. RPGs typically have that same pattern, go to some planets/places/whatever, but it was just like you go to two planets you HAVE to go to, then you choose from like three or four, there's a revelation(even if this wasn't quite as big), a superweapon and you have a big blow out battle. This is almost too similar to K1. In the sequel, I hope there's a bit more creativity.
A minor, though it was realistic, problem I had with it was that the female Shepard(who I played as) sounded cold no matter whether it was something evil or good. Now, again I will give the credit that it WAS realistic, a skilled soldier such as Shepard wouldn't probably have the joyous or most evil tone of voice. But that was a minor problem I had.
Now I haven't tried for myself, but I have also heard that ME has no replay value....I might have to see that for myself someday, but I can see their point, because overall it didn't seem like you could do it too much differently except do more sidequests and do a few things in a different way. But alas, that may be for a different blog entry someday.
Just a random comment in the middle of all of this: I hated Tali.
But other than her, the crew was actually pretty good...I sometimes had to deflect Liara coming onto me(the only romance stuff I did was some flirting with Kaiden but it was pretty much romance free, though I know of the sex scene and everything
). Now the big complaint I have with BioWare is that they don't do much with the crew members after the planet you pick them up on, except the main two crew members(example: Bastila and Carth in K1, Kaiden and Ashley here). But they were intriguing and I give the writers BIG credit for that.Now, for a few more complements about the game:
I REALLY liked the Normandy and its design. It was more roomy and fancy than the Ebon Hawk, even though I love the EH and it makes sense since in K1 Revan wasn't some top priority soldier, but I just liked the Normandy alot, and how there were other members and troops around that weren't necessarily crew members. Like the Medic(Chokwas), that guy with the Galaxy Map, Joker....
I LOVED(this was probably my favorite part of the game right here) the battle on the planet-who's-name-I-can't-remember. It was the last planet I went to, and it was probably the most creative part of the game, too. I just had a blast the entire time, and it was a...bit of a tough choice between Kaiden and Ashley, but my love for Ashley prevailed, and I killed Kaiden. I may have murdered Female Shepard's love interest, but Ashley is just better in battle.
But overall, after a close examination of what I loved, liked, and didnt' like, here is my grade of the game, using the typical school system I'm sure everyone knows well:
Mass Effect: B-, or in numbers, 6 on a scale of 1 to 10
Although 6 seems pretty poor for me 