Mass Effect

Platform: Xbox 360.
Verdict: Stars and wars.
Rating: 4/5
Conversation has never been considered a skill of the stereotypical slack jawed, square eyed gamer. With our Grandparents adopting gaming through the likes of Brain Training, that mistaken cultural perception is thankfully on the way out. For those that still need convincing, perhaps Super Deluxe Conversation Simulator can help, otherwise known as Mass Effect.
Created by Bioware, the highly respected developers who made one of the only decent Star Wars games (Knights of the Old Republic), Mass Effect is a similarly epic Sci-fi, telling the Solar System spanning tale of civilisation’s stand against an ancient robotic nemesis.
With a state of the art spaceship and the fate of the solar system on your shoulders, you can travel galaxies as you choose, investigating leads, battling robotic monsters and talking your way into or out of situations.
Trading the light sabres and space cowboys of Star Wars for a cleaner aesthetic and emphasis on guns, Mass Effect still treads similar territory as George Lucas’ modern mythology while borrowing from 3rd person shooters like Ghost Recon.
With squad based gunplay and cover based mechanics, Mass Effect differs through its use of under the bonnet RPG elements. As well as levelling up through experience and upgrading skills, action can be paused at any time to issue Biotic and Tech commands (otherwise known as Jedi powers).
Touting a much hyped conversation system, Mass Effect allows you to talk (almost as much as shoot) with a convincing degree of flexibility. Although it can rest a little too much on friendly/neutral/aggressive branches, the freedom to choose if you’re a Luke or Anakin provides satisfyingly different results.
As engrossing, epic Sci-fi goes, Mass Effect ticks all the right boxes at creating a living, breathing universe through sublime art direction. Unfortunately it’s ultimately let down by a graphics engine that struggles to keep up with the action, some frustratingly placed restart points and combat that doesn’t quite work as well as it should. Still, there’s plenty to talk about.