| abstract
| - The first game in the Mass Effect series. The year is 2183, thirty-five years after humanity has discovered a cache of technology on Mars from a long extinct alien race. This technology enables them to travel great distances throughout the Milky Way and join an alliance of alien races based at an ancient complex called the Citadel. The plot revolves around one Commander Shepard, a human military officer who becomes the first human Spectre, a member of an elite interplanetary peacekeeping force. S/he is tasked with tracking down a rogue Spectre, Saren, who has apparently allied himself with the geth, a race of murderous robots. As the storyline progresses, Shepard explores a variety of worlds, encounters a wide range of sapient species, and uncovers an ancient plot involving the coming doom of every sapient organic being in the entire galaxy. There are a handful plot-revelant missions and if you focus exclusively on those the game would be in the realm of 9–10 hours, but being an RPG there is an entire galaxy for you to explore as you engage in side-missions, expanding the game to upwards of 25 hours or more. The game lacks a a traditional good/evil Karma Meter, and instead gives you options on how to preceed with each encounter based on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism; you are a hero either way, but your heroism can range from Knight in Shining Armor to Anti-Hero. You can choose whether to recruit all of the characters optioned to be part of your crew or ignore them and do it all yourself. You even have the option of different characters to pursue a romantic relationship with if you so desire (including a possible Love Triangle). The weapons within the game do not have ammunition, instead replacing it with an "overheat" meter that limits how long you can fire your weapon before you need to pause for a cooldown, but there are modifications available within the game that allow for non-stop firing. You are also able to customize the equipment of yourself and your squad, including which specific weapons you take into battle, the armor you wear and various perks and enhancements. The game was wildly praised for its story, World Building and interactivity, but received a cooler reception on its gameplay. Generally it is regarding a menu system that overcomplicates the RPG elements and some shakey Third-Person-Shooter gameplay (neither of which are broken, just unrefined). Of note is that the game was designed to work with Mass Effect 2 in that your choices transfer over to the new story in a suprisingly in-depth way. Jack Thompson thought the controversy over this game was overblown. That's already saying quite a bit.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)