Mass Effect Limited Edition
by Microsoft
|
List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Video Game Reviews of Mass Effect Limited Edition
Customer Review: One of the most incredible, immersive videogames ever
Summary: 5 Stars
Mass Effect is an incredible leap forward in videogame interactivity and storytelling. The combination of storytelling, impressive visuals, film techniques, and intuitive interaction lifts Mass Effect to a whole new level.
Which is actually a funny thing to say considering that each element on its own is really not so great an advance, more of a slight evolutionary step that still has its own flaws. The story feels so much like Knights of the Old Republic that I wondered at times if I was really playing a new game. I could name the SF movie from the past 30 years (mostly Star Wars) that inspired nearly every line of dialog. The gameplay mechanics are almost identical to both KOTOR and Jade Empire, with plenty of meaningless side quests to take up my time and give me minimal additional XP. The visuals, while beautiful and obviously painstakingly created, are jittery and susceptible to pop-in from the very beginning of the game.
However, the evolutionary step forward in each individual element leads to a truly remarkable creation. Sure, the dialog's derivative of far more popular SF, but I really cared about the people who were speaking it in this game. Sure the game plays out very much like KOTOR and Jade Empire, but those were outstanding games too. By the time I finished this game, I was thrilled with the heroic stand I was able to take, and I was truly saddened by the characters who died along the way toward this conclusion. Extremely few games have made me care this much.
The bonus content on the limited edition set is good. You get a couple small books (which I actually haven't even read yet), a making-of DVD with some fun interviews, and a ton of gamer pics and dashboard themes. It's worth it if you're a fan of this genre / company / game, but probably not for the casual player who isn't too invested.
Overall, this game is a truly remarkable experience, and they can't put out Mass Effect 2 soon enough.
Customer Review: Mass Effect: Limited Edition
Summary: 5 Stars
I will simply say this game is awesome! It's intensly epic and if you're a fan of the RPG format, this is a must play. There are naturally some comparisons being made to the two Knights of the Old Republic video games. I think these comparisons are very appropriate because the general game design is a fairly similar, though I'm sure many Star Wars fans are disappointed to not see laser swords in this game. Anyway, both games are very epic in scale, however, I think Mass Effect improved and built on from some areas.
Now anyone who plays RPG styled games HAS to realize that the screen view offers quite a bit design limitations. For example you're not going to have super high-detailed characters that look life-like all the time, though Mass Effect does a damn good job. People have to remember you're not seeing things through a first person view, so those who complain that it's not as "detailed" need to get over themselves, I grew up with Diablo, which I still think has a pretty good design. The screen interface to me is one of the most important, however, Mass Effect is a little hard to figure out at first. Such as when you want to change weapons quickly or use your special abilities. After having gone through the game, I realize now that it is by far the absolutely most logical control development for the user to interface with the screen.
Everything is in 3rd person view so the user is sitting sort of "far away" in perspective, aside from video sequences of course. Despite this, I think the graphic design is very well done. I see people complain about things not being "Next Gen" on a Next Gen console, seriously, what do these people expect to see? Graphic design wise Mass Effect is probably comparable to Half Life 2, and really, is that such a bad thing? I'd rather have developers spend their time developing a really epic game with an awesome story line than spend all their time amping up the graphics to the point where systems can't process all the detail so they have to shorten the game to compensate for data overflow. Which, is something I will complain about in Halo 3, because it was far too short, despite how beautifully designed the game was.
Another thing that was really interesting was the weapon designs. You get new weapons as the game goes on, but they're energy based weapons so you have unlimited ammo. I thought this was a really interesting way to treat the weapons, granted I enjoyed the unlimited ammo because running out of ammo in a game really sucks. You basically have access to all the weapons from the start of the game, but you have to put points into being trained on them to actually get good at using them. If you don't have access to build up points for the Sniper Rifle your character will always be really bad at using that weapon, but each character has the ability to build up at least one of the options!
The real part to focus on in Mass Effect is the highly original world and engrossing story line! You're thrust into a future universe of humanity where we have contact with other alien cultures and we are trying to work our way into the politics of the situation. I would say the story line is somewhat influenced by Carl Sagan's "Contact" because it starts with teh discovery of something called a Mass Relay, which can send vehicles far into distant reaches very quickly... yeah, kind of like "Contact, but this takes place long after that initial contact. I found the story-line very intelligent and very well thought out, to the point where it's believable in that situation. I haven't played through that many excellent Science Fiction RPG's, but this is probably my favorite as much as I liked Knights of the Old Republic. The story line does have a serious shock ending that I really didn't predict in the least, whereas I found Knights of the Old Republic II's story line slightly predictable.
Mass Effect really shines in my book. I was one of the lucky few to pick up the Limited Edition version and it comes with a bonus disc, which I haven't watched yet, but I will add to this review when I see it. It also comes with an added booklet with extra information about the historical time-line, which I thought was a really cool game addition.
As anyone can see, this game is VERY highly rated by users and I personally have no complaints about this game whatsoever. I found it to be challenging and intriguing. I don't have a lot of time to play games and this thing kept me occupied for two months (I do spend most of my day at work and only can play like an hour or two a night). Most games I can beat pretty quickly, but the grand scale took me as long as Knights of the Old Republic. Seriously, get this game!
Customer Review: A great game that you must play, but skip the Limited Edition
Summary: 3 Stars
There are plenty of reviews hailing the excellence of Mass Effect, and so there is little point in providing yet another review of the game itself - on a scale of 1 to 10, it deserves a score on the higher end of between an 8 and a 9 - its an awesome game and while it isn't perfect, there is no comparable experience on any system.
That said, unless you love seeing concept art or have extraordinary passion for BioWare, then avoid the Limited Edition. The LE comes in a tin box that is tough to get in and out of - your discs are actually enclosed in a carboard case that is really kind of cheap (much like the Halo LE). The extra content disc is not terribly special or original, has little real substance, and some of it is available for download Free on Xbox Live Marketplace or on the internet. The Codex book that comes with it is again nice to have, but the same information, with sound, graphics, and text, is available in-game (and frankly much more rewarding experienced that way). Finally, while you do get some gamer pics and themes, none of them are so special that you'd feel satisfied actually paying for them.
[...]
Customer Review: You'll certainly get your money's worth.
Summary: 4 Stars
There certainly is a lot to keep busy with in Mass Effect. My first play-through was right around 40 hours. Exploring all of the various planets is pretty fun, thought it has the slight potential to become repetitive after a while.
The narrative was very well-written. Towards the end there I found the story to be very engrossing.
There are a few annoying issues with the UI and the inventory system. I think the developers gave each item two or three levels of skin detail. At first, they load all of the lowest quality skins, then the higher quality ones. This is a good technique to have a lot of detailed skins on-screen at one time, but the drawback is that quite often you can watch the skins draw onto the characters and environments. It isn't a problem at all, but it can be distracting at times. The inventory system was the source of greatest frustration for me. Toward the end, I spent about 10 minutes after each mission selling unneeded items to the store guy. It doesn't allow you to sell multiples of an item; if you have four of an unwanted item, you have to sell each individually. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it can be annoying if you have a lot to sell.
Overall, a terrific game. If you liked Knights of the Old Republic, then you will probably like Mass Effect.
Customer Review: A lot of bang for your buck.
Summary: 5 Stars
The game has some frame rate and texture pop-in issues, but this is more of an engine problem. Even with these problems, the game provides a hundred hours of enjoyment.