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Mass Effect Review
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Manufacturer: Electronic Arts
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ESRB Rating: Mature
Platform(s): Windows XP, Windows Vista
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Average Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
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Retail Price: $39.99
Online Sale Price: $29.99
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User Submitted Mass Effect Reviews
Date: 2008-09-05
DRM kills the game
I am writting this review because I love to keep great games and play them years later. The DRM on this product prevents me from doing this. What happens when the game is no longer supported but I haven't used up my 3 activations? Since the DRM wouldn't be able to contact the "Mothership", again I am out of luck. No more strolling down memory lane. What happens if the game studio goes out of business, again, the game is no longer usable. What happens if EA goes out of business next week, everyone who is currenly playing this game would be out of luck. Isn't that a nice picture! Then what happens to the DRM still running on your computer. If you are lucky, it doesn't do anything. If you are unlucky, you will be reinstalling your OS and your games again. Oh, btw, you just used up another installation credit for any other games using DRM.
You would like to think the gaming industry would have learned something from the music industry fiasco. Treating your paying customers like crooks will only cause your sales to drop. The harder your squeeze, the more customers you will lose.
I have never stolen any games and never will, but this type of treatment won't earn the industy my hard earned money.
To all gamers out there, please take a stand and not purchase games that support this type of treatment. To those people out there who think I am just a whiner, more power to you. Eventually DRM will progress until it finally impacts your fun and then you will understand how your rights have been taken away, one step at a time.
Date: 2008-08-31
A great game with minor flaws, but DRM overshadows everything
Firstly, I must agree with other reviewers that the DRM scheme is a major turnoff. Neither EA nor Bioware have yet to specify anywhere just what circumstances these 3 activations are triggered. Bioware and EA should be ashamed of themselves for subscribing to a DRM scheme that only succeeds in punishing loyal customers and treating them as little more than criminals.
Now, onto the game itself. The voice acting is uniformly very good to excellent. The storyline for this game is exceptionally strong. Unfortunately it's conveyed through loads of dialogue, which can sometimes slow down the pace of the game at crucial points. Also, the Mako combat vehicle doesn't handle well over hilly ground in the side-quest maps. Also, I wish the side quests had been used to explore the different cultures of the species more, rather than being told about them via the Codex. KOTOR did this very successfully - why couldn't Mass Effect.
In fact, in almost every single area except one - storyline - KOTOR overshadows its successor. The side quests aren't as good. The main campaign is far far too short, with only four...possibly five major planets in the main campaign. And the combat interface is nowhere near as good as KOTOR's.
But it's the DRM scheme that is the killer for this game. Is there really any point in buying a game (for full price) that you can only play 3 times before it's deactivated? My advice? Pull out your old copy of KOTOR instead - if only so that you can remember a time when Bioware were a reputable development company, and not slaves to a bunch of Corporate shills.
Date: 2008-08-24
Great Game
This is one of the better games. Be able to make choices and explore all of the game.
The only draw back is that no matter what you decide it does not effect the final outcome (this ia a minor draw back).
Date: 2008-08-24
New Gameplay Style Greatly Overshadows It's Faults
First of all, I want to respond to everyone talking about the Digital Media Rights, or DMR, stuff. Face it, this game is not an MMORPG, or any sort of game like that. You won't spend hundreds of hours playing this game, so I don't see any reason to cry about three installs (including a fourth one, which if you need, means you must be rich enough to be making upgrades so often to your PC in the first place). I don't know if it's me, but these reviews are for the game itself, not some DMR stuff. If you want to play down BioWare then go somewhere else. This is about the game itself. It shouldn't be given a 1-star just because you can only install it three times.
::Brief Overview (My Experience)::
This is one of those super fun "immerse yourself for twenty-ish hours of mega fun gaming" games. It took me around 20 hours to beat the game including doing most if not all of the side quests. The game does have a decent replay value because of the "achievements" system and the ability to unlock higher levels. Ultimately, though, it doesn't really unlock any bonus content or such. For those guys who like to beat RPGs 100% this is a very challenging game to play on the "Hardcore" and "Intense" modes. These modes really force you to use the Tactics HUD.
People say the game has lag issues?
I've played this game for over thirty hours, and NOT ONCE have I lagged or my screen has been even slightly sluggish (even in the biggest combat areas). I've read about many people getting jumps, but it hasn't happened for me. I guess that does mean if you run the right settings and your computer is capable enough to handle it, then you should be fine with no lags. My specs are Dual Core 3.00 GHz Intel Processor, 3 GB of Ram, and HD Radeon 9800 XT 512 Mb. I run at maxed out settings at 1680x1050 resolution and everything is fine.
::Pros::
Well, this adds to the list of the RPS, or Role-playing shooters, that I've played, and it is just fantastic.
Graphics: The graphics are quite excellent, especially considering the fact that it is just a port from the XBox.
Music: I love the music. It gives you that outer space feeling, like you're really out there.
Learning Curve: The game mechanics are taught fairly well in the beginning.
Science: All of this "Tech" and "Biotics" might seems confusing, but they do explain a fair amount of it through the game, and eventually you'll come to understand the two new concepts. It is very fun to use the special abilities that come with these classes.
::Cons::
My character bugged a couple times during cut scenes, where the option selection for dialogue would disappear. The event occurring only the couple times out of all of my game time isn't bad though.
Repetitive Side-quests/Buildings: This is probably my biggest disappointment, and the reason I gave it a 4-star rating for overall gameplay. Aside from the main missions, there are 10+ side quests that you can do, in which you must land into a world with your vehicle (the Mako) and explore and accomplish a quest, usually saving somebody or getting ambushed. The drawback here is that it gets quite repetitive. Although the terrain is different and sometimes it might be raining or snowing, it gets quite repetitive. At the end of exploring the world, you will always enter either a warehouse, bunker, or a mine. Yes, they only included THREE different level designs for 10+ side quests. So you'll basically be exploring the same buildings each time, only with a different situation and monster each time. Basically, during mid-game, the game can get very, very repetitive if you're trying to finish all of your side quests.
::Conclusion::
Get this game. It'll be worth every penny. I even bought one of the Mass Effect books after playing this game, and now I am definitely ready for the next game in the series to come out. I can't wait!
Date: 2008-08-23
EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is all that I can say about this game. EPIC!!! I have played it through twice and I am on my third time through.
Yes, it works with Vista, I am even running the 64 bit version and it works fine.
Was well worth the $50.
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