Mass Effect, last year's immensely successful sci-fi role-playing game developed by Bioware (Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire) for the Xbox 360 makes a great impact on the PC . With improved graphical resolution, an added tutorial and an expertly designed interface, it's almost blasphemy to call this game a port. The controls are so good that it's virtually impossible to tell that the game was originally a console release. Although it comes with some heavy system requirements, particularly the required 12 GB chunk of hard drive space, it is well worth the experience.
As an ancient mechanical race known as the Reapers threatens to exterminate all biological life across the galaxy, only one human named Commander Shepard can uncover its plans. Similar to previous Bioware games like Jade Empire, you have a chance to choose between being a fair and just Paragon or a ruthless Renegade when dealing with other characters. Building up a strong reputation with either behavior allows you to put points into Charm or Intimidation attributes, which leads to different merchant bonuses and unlocks influential dialog options. However, both Charm and Intimidation dialog responses produce the same results in different ways.
Although the game suffers from a few minor bugs, including a small number of missions that don't show as completed when finished, some computer controlled teammates that have trouble following orders and occasional glitches when switching between movement and hacking mode, the PC version of Mass Effect is superior to the Xbox 360 release. The mouse and keyboard controls are so natural that they improve the game's performance at practically every level. Combat benefits from the precise controls and large number of hotkeys, plus it's much easier to work around the AI teammates that have a tendency to wander into the line of fire.
Mass Effect Screens
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Mass Effect" is a science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system. As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
EA/Bioware
Even the planet lander vehicle works better. Although it still bounces around like an over-inflated balloon, managing its turret while moving is much better. Strong controls have a domino effect, making the entire game more enjoyable. Not to mention the handy tutorial that teaches you the game's intricacies as you play, specific to the PC version. The only annoying aspects are a couple of puzzles, particularly the memory core one, that require an exceptional amount of guesswork and luck to complete. Thankfully, players can bypass these puzzles if there's enough of the omni gel resource available.
Sadly, even though there's a decent number of side quests, including a few that are linked to your character's custom background, the main campaign story is tremendously short. Depending on how far you want to level your character before hitting the final confrontation, Mass Effect can be beaten in well under a day. You can then restart the game using improved gear and skills, but as fun as that is, replaying the campaign further underscores how short the game is. Also, many of the side quests look and play almost identically, so you won't be missing much if you decide not to give it another go. So while Mass Effect may not offer a great deal of replay value out of the box, it looks like there will be a steady amount of downloadable content, starting with the Bring Down the Sky add-on that will be free for the PC version.
Anyone looking for a spectacular sci-fi RPG and has the necessary system requirements should pick up the PC version. The game that was already exceptional on the Xbox 360 is even better on the PC, so it's really a no brainer.
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