[JBucc]

Wowey Wow wow.

I haven't really followed Mass Effect through the stages, except the occasional screenshot, but jesus christ the graphics in this game are ridiculously good... and WTF, Bioware basically created a 3rd person shooter a la GRAW, complete with cover system.

then underneath that is a deep RPG with an intriguing story and really good voice acting.

only a few hours in so far so take these impressions with a grain of salt. but whoooa, 30+ hours of this sort of bliss? who knows, maybe it'll suck in the 20th hour.

I can see myself leaving COD4 in its wrapper until I'm done with Mass Effect.

I'll post more detailed impressions once I get further into the game.
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I had plans to do an elaborate post about this the whole time I've been playing.

I'm about 8.5 hours into the game now and it's just gotten better and better.

Too much to talk about really, so I guess I'll just answer RStein's question.

Combat is really fun. There are occasional problems with the AI, but it's really nothing 3rd/1st person shooter fans aren't already used to in teammates found in the genre (GRAW, RS: Vegas, etc). I set my squad to "active" which lets the AI use both defensive and offensive abilities on their own (without you having to pause the action, choose targets, and say "perform a neuro blast" or whatever). They definitely get the job done and I often find them stealing my kills. Thankfully, XP and loot goes to the party and it's up to you to divvy up items.

When I said earlier that this game is a shooter first and an RPG second, I was wrong. It's really a great balance of both genres. Mechanically speaking, this is an action game through and through. You dodge bullets, spring to cover, and do all the things required of you in games like Gears of War. You point your gun at something and fire and there is a 1-to-1 cause-and-effect reaction and **** takes damage and blow up, etc.

Stats act more like modifiers. For instance, if I do a full auto burst with my assault rifle, the reticle will gradually grow wider and bigger the longer you fire, representing the kick and recoil of the assault rifle. As a result, the spread of your shots will go from tight to practically useless through the duration of your burst. As you invest in your assault rifle skill, that behavior improves so your spread is tighter even if you fire longer. Of course, if you play the game like I do and just do controlled bursts, it really isn't too much of a problem.

This basically goes for all weapons (sniper rifle, shotguns, etc.) and I think it works great. In the end, combat is an action affair and really there's no other game like Mass Effect where it combines my favorite genre with a genre I no longer play. It's such a nice RPG homecoming.

The only aspect of the combat that can be clunky at times is trying to get under cover mode against an obstacle that's shorter, as it requires you to duck. Whereas Gears of War automatically makes you duck and puts you against lower cover, you have to do so manually here so there's the added click of the left stick -- and in the heat of combat, it can be frustrating... particularly because combat is really chaotic and crazy at times.

Anyway, I know it's too early to know what's GOTY at this point since I haven't played SMG, COD4, or Uncharted, but I know for a fact that Mass Effect is already an easy contender.

I'll take some phone pics and post 'em tonight. This game is RIDICULOUSLY gorgeous and 8 hours later, I am still slackjawed.
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Some crappy pics from my crappy phone camera. Seriously does not do Mass Effect justice.

Here's the character I made. What's amazing is that the face/character you create really becomes THE experience you have throughout the game. It just blows me away to think that all of you will have totally different main characters, acting out different behaviors.




Here's a little note on the space exploration -- it ROCKS. I was jumping around different systems and orbiting their planets in search of minerals, or habitable landing areas and I came upon this distress signal. So I decided to check it out...

Here we are right after landing. The person in the forefront is one of my soldiers. She specializes in sniper rifles. Good for wide open combat obviously.




Whoever thought the Unreal engine couldn't handle huge outdoor areas deserves a LOL



You can go anywhere. Seriously. Those mountains in the background, you can climb them.

In other words, it's ALL GEOMETRY.

Obviously, there are some building structures and such that will block your path, and overall, planets have an ultimate boundary (so it's basically a very large square sandbox) although it'll take you a long time to get from one end to the other.

The feeling of "discovery" is definitely here.


The lighting and atmosphere in this game is off the **** hook. Every planet has its own look, and from what I've seen so far, there are a ton of planets. Not all will allow you to land (for instance, planets which are gas giants or nothing but oceans of sulfuric acid), but I've poked around 1 system and have already found 2 really big random worlds.




Vehicle controls are sweet, and the moon patrol buggy is crazy fun to drive. You can literally climb any mountain, and you have little thruster jets. Also, vehicular combat is pretty cool -- a cross between the Scorpion tank and the Warthog. You can also exit your vehicle any time you are on a relatively flat surface. Yeehaw!




That's it for now. Time to play more.