Still early in my first star trek through the Mass Effect series, I've just finished Mass Effect 1. I'm now going to describe at length how I feel about it. I'll evaluate various aspects, rating them a (+) or (-). No major spoilers.
Story (+): Though the plot treads some well-trod ground, it puts its own spin on it. I liked it, and was surprised by how things turned out. I liked the overall somber tone.
I am glad I read the
prequel Revelation novel, as without it I would not have appreciated the setting and lore as much. If you haven't played the games yet, I recommend reading the book first. Even if you have played the games, I think you'll enjoy the book as it delves into character backstories and faction histories that the game only briefly mentions.
Dialogue (+): The dialogue was well-written throughout and the voice acting was mostly good. Femshep and Wrex especially were great. So was Admiral Hackett, voiced by the inimitable Lance Henriksen. And I was stirred by the inspirational speech that the salerian Captain Kirrahe delivered to his troops. It was nice for the game to shift the spotlight from Shepard to a minor alien character, and show that the salerians are more than merchants and spies.
Morality system (+): I loved being a renegade. It let me indulge my id and do stuff I'd never get away with in real life. I actually cheered when I punched out a reporter who asked one question too many.
Being a renegade isn't about choosing the hostile dialogue option every time, though. You'll miss out on quests and relationships if you do that. So choose the neutral or even nice options when you're feeling people out, then play the renegade card when you've gotten their trust.
I'm really proud of my Shepard, almost as if I had mentored her. That's a funny thing to say about a video game character. I made decisions for her, but she did and said things I didn't predict, going beyond what I thought she was capable of doing. From the character creation menu to the final shot, I watched her become the antihero people needed.
Quests (-): For the main quests, Virmire was really good. Fun to explore, and so much happens there. The other planets weren't nearly as good. Noveria was especially awkward and uninteresting.
The side quests were mostly cookie-cutter. Go here, kill everyone at this copied-and-pasted base, and leave without fanfare. You often don't get any interesting story or dialogue along the way. I completed all the non-collection quests and earned the "Completionist" achievement, a regrettable waste of time.
The Bring Down the Sky DLC was good, though. It had lovely visuals, unique combat zones, and a story complete with cutscenes. The overall game would have been better if it had fewer sidequests but they were fleshed out like this one.
Combat (-): I'm not much into shooters, and there was a lot of shooting in this game. It wasn't bad, though. The interplay between shooting, techs, and biotics was neat. Singularity is a particularly fun skill when you have the party member who can use it.
I chose the Infiltrator class because I thought it would let me lazily hang back and snipe while my squadmates did the close-up work. This was often not feasible, though. Your squadmates never become good enough fighters on their own; they're extensions of you, not independent of you. You have to take point or the fight won't progress. I still got to snipe fairly often, and it was fun to score the occasional one-hit kill. But sometimes I wish I had chosen a biotic-focused class.
Whenever a game lets me adjust the difficulty at any time, I start on the highest difficulty and adjust it as needed. So I started on Insanity difficulty and expected to have to rachet it down quickly. But I never felt compelled to do so. There were a few very tough battles, and some enemies that could one-shot me. But I managed to stick to Insanity till the end and earned the achievement for it. If you're into shooters, you can handle Insanity just fine. And even if you're not, just start on Insanity to see what it's like; you can always downshift later.
The very last battle, though ... have you ever been stuck in a broom closet with a half-dozen rabid Rottweilers, and your pockets were full of ham? It's like that, but in space.
Citadel (-): I was disappointed with how this is depicted in the game. It's much more interesting in the prequel book, like an analogue of New York City with the Presidium being the U.N. building and the five Wards being the boroughs. In the book, the Presidium is spacious and organic. In the game, it's a shiny, sterile shopping mall. The book explains at length how the Wards are where tens of millions of people live and work. One chapter even takes us along Anderson's commute from the Presidium to his apartment in the Wards. But in the game, all we see of the "Wards" are a couple of small basement levels under the Presidium, containing a few shops and bars. It would not have been feasible for the game to depict the Wards in their entirety, but there could have been a few missions in which you fast-traveled to certain locations in the actual Wards.
Exploration (-): Many of the 60+ hours I put into the game were spent driving around on planets, uncovering all the artifacts on the map and looking for hidden stuff. Sometimes I spent over an hour trying to reach an artifact located in a stubborn mountain range. That's really not the best way to experience the game. It's tedious, unnecessary, and generally unrewarding. My gamer brain made me do it anyway.
Still, there were beautiful vistas on the planets to take in. And I like that each planet had a unique appearance and description.
Aesthetics (+): The game looks good and runs well on my five-year-old PC. I didn't appreciate the soundtrack very much during the game; either it was too quiet or annoyingly repetitive like in the Presidium and Normandy. But as I listen to it now, I'm noticing its strong themes.
The direction of the cutscenes added to the emotional impact, often in little ways. The way Kirrahe walks along his line of troops when he gives that aforementioned speech. The way Garrus, when you first meet him, fixes you a skeptical but curious stare.
Overall (+): Despite its flaws, Mass Effect had couple of powerful hooks. One was the intriguing, well-developed sci-fi setting, the other was the connection I felt with my in-game character (now my avatar). After spending so much time with such an emotionally involving game, I'm going through a post-partum depression. Fortunately, there's a cure for that: Mass Effect 2, which I hear is even better. But before I play it, I'll check out the expanded media that takes place between 1 and 2: the
Ascension book and
Redemption graphic novel.