Mass Effect reviews

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It is time for this, like we did whit The Withcer.

Being european I can only wait a few more days. Surely someone has played it for a while and had something to add that is not covered by the Bioware propoganda machine.

The review from the site/magazines give it scores around and over 90%.

I know one thing, it has no dragons and no dice.

 

Installed it, no problems. It just runs like it is suppose to.

The story gets you right away. Cutscenes conversation it is as expected from Bioware. The new dialogue system works. It does not use whole pre typed sentences but general reactions that are good enough for the first time. Beter: Yeah in a way it is.

savegame: it has quicksave so that is good. However no saving during combat. Yes we get that annoying right to the action after cutscene/conversation. Yes it autosaves, but saving during combat is a no go. Picture this: difficult, or just tricky piece of combat, you miss, replay whole fight. Using the medkits takes a time interval.

The inventory and menu is getting used to. It can be a mess like KOTOR. That is about it for now, it looks like Kotor but is a step more fps.

 

My copy is still in the mail, somewhere. But it does not really matter as it seems that I might not have much time to play it before the end of august. It is summer after all.

 

It looks very nice. The first hub I entered was very good detailed. They learned fron Telos in Kotor 1. It is more alive, but not close to a real city ofcourse. the cinematic views are next gen and fantastic.

It has that I want to play just 5 more,... to notice it is past bedtime. Glad I had the day off. This game is good lads an lasses. it score 90% or better on any review I have found.

If you hit the windows button, the system goes haywire. you have to restart en end the apllication whit ctrl alt del.

The hacking minigame is rushed. I have played a bit of Bioshock to get the fps feel back, but that had a good minigame. This one is not up to standards. it is like frogger, but the controls are messy whit the mouse. Buy a better mouse you say, I have a Razer Lachesis whit 4000dpi. The are no better mice

But, it still has that console limitations like no free roaming, no jumping and not the full real First person shooter combat. But that last thing makes it more playable for a broader public. For me, I like a good shooter now and then, like Half life 2 or Bioshock.

I run it under vista on an E6600 conroe core two duo whit 4 gig ram. The GPU is an Ati 3870 toxic. I run it whit everything on the highest setting, and a resolution of 1680x1050.

 

Seeing as I am still desperately looking for something to spend my spare time on since I quit WoW I have been pondering this one or actually just started. I have two months of paid vacation this summer and I cant spend all that time doing "sumer" stuff, I need to play some game as well. My computer fulfils the min specs on everything but the graphics card. I have a geeforce 6600 and you need 6800 so I am not that far off. Maybe I should just give Kotor2 a second chance. Bought it ages ago but never really got into it as well, WoW ruled all.

 

You do not want upgrade advice or you would have posted in the techno magic forum. You might want to be convinced by this game to do it.

I recently have played the Withcer as the last new rpg. before that a few old hack and slash and Two Worlds. Mass Effect has the same feeling I had whit Kotor 1. The others not. Walking around in Telos is much like Citadel and feels a bit like home. Citadel is newer, far more prettier if you can run it, and has just a few more cans of persons in it. (Just use an option for stong systems to let more people roam about) The interface is much like the kotors, as in the blue rings that light up. Obvious a platform compromise. It has the same 2 hencman walking whit you whit just the little attempt at some banter. A few lines is more than none.

Combat is not dice controlled but a bit more like a shooter, and there it has to make the second compromise. Do not expect shooter style combat whit a crosshair and real tactics and a/i. This is more blast them and try not to get blasted in the proces. Still, dues ex invisible war is the only good hybrid that does the combat right. I am a pure and only pc gamer. I play almost every RPG I can lay my hands on, and shooter I think bring something more. Bioshock, far cry, halflife 2. I like to realy aim whit the sniper rifle.

I accept that multi platform compromise in battle because of the overall feel of the game. It has some lore, not real rpg style like BG2 or elder scrolls, but more than the Kotors. You can see the effort put into it by Bioware.

Just had the first Mako ride. I hate car sims. I suck at games like Need for speed. The mako part is good enough to pass.

But to sneak a little offtopic in. Never upgrade for just one game. Fallout 3 and Dragon age are the real targets this year. Whit Drakensang and Sacred 2 as icing on the cake.

Game On!

Had the third mako run. You get used to the thing and it is fun. points up for ME .

 

After the bliss is gone it still stands as solid, but whit a few rough spots.

Lost the number of mako rides. Not fun anymore. The minigame for almost every case, cupboard, footlocker is getting on my nerves to.

When in combat the game does one typical thing. As soon as you hit a wall, or crate it puts your back against it to take cover. Nice until it costs that vital second to unstuck yourself from it while being shot to pieces from the 3 other sides. Am I carrying a iron plate in my backpack whit all the surfaces magnetized?

Had an other mako run on a planet. Nice many planets, not nice the mako rides on himalaya terrain. it is seems like a way to extend the game while doing stupid things. you do them because a few major fed ex quests are linked to it.

The last boss fight is again one of those fights. A whole truckload of ammo is ordered but happily you can save after you scrathed him,ooo bugger you cannot. Well do it again and again, look on the net what ammo, and realise that you can change the difficulty mode.

Finished: Cutscenes, suger coated politicly correct ending (Do no eat in case of vomiting), and a speech that even Bush understands no one believes. I want a renegade option and hightail it out of there whit the barbecue set and park the ship on a nice beachplanet and play dead for a time.

Still the game is good, but a few sore spots needs to be polished away in part 2. On almost every basic planet the buildings are the same. Just a few types which is logical(As spacetravel will be made cost effective whit standardization) but are game-wise signs of filling games up whit questfodder. The plotplanets are very good. I am still glad that the questfodder is in, many games only feature the plotplanets making a game short enough to finish whitin a weak of normal gameplay.

As for weapons. Alas dumbed down further from KOTOR2. The modding is only statistical, no color or explosions effect worthy to be noticed. dozens of weapons looking and doing the same. you pick them up and sell them. Not that bg2 feeling of ohhh what did i find now. It is all basic crap levelscalled to your level. Now and then you exchange a few things whit better stats. Grenades are pretty useless. no rocket launcer, no mines. Remember this is not a primairy shooter. Its is modern RPG. (Remember deus ex invisble war the critical imp on my shoulder says)

4 Things that need to be done for part 2: less cheap minigame, second vehicle, combat a level more shooter-ish and last a few more different things to look at(shoot in) on the fodder planets. these 4 thing done will carry the game past the 95%.