Mass Effect is a series I never really was interested in, which just seems wild to me in retrospect. It's made by Bioware, who made KOTOR, (which are games I love) it's a sci-fi setting with lore and worldbuilding (much like Star Wars), and it has a branching story where your decisions feel like they impact the world around you. It seemed tailor-made for me. However, when the Legendary Edition was announced, I didn't really care for some reason. It wasn't on my list of games I wanted to play. When it got added to PS Plus as a monthly game however, I realised that I really should give it a try, and I'm so glad I did.
The game is far from perfect. It feels underdevelopped in many ways : it's a bit short, simplistic, it feels like it doesn't get all it could out of the companion command system, it doesn't really encourage you to forge relationships with your crew, the pacing can be off (Noveria was the first mission I did, and I do not recomend it, as it take a while to get going).
However, if you do make the effort of interacting with your crew, the conversations are really interesting and deliver the lore in a more digestable way than the codex does. The lore is on point by the way, at least in my amateur opinion. I'm rarely into video-game lore, but sci-fi worlds do usually interest me more than most other genres, and this one didn't disapoint. As for the combat, it's not anything special, but it does the job. It can be quite methodical, but sometimes enemies will rush you, requiring you to adapt quickly and go for headshots to neutralise them before they get into shotgun range, as those tend to quickly kill you.
Mass Effect feels like what it is: a starting point, which deserved to be expanded upon so much. I can't wait to dive into the second game in a few weeks/months time, after I'm done with Spider-Man 2.
The game is far from perfect. It feels underdevelopped in many ways : it's a bit short, simplistic, it feels like it doesn't get all it could out of the companion command system, it doesn't really encourage you to forge relationships with your crew, the pacing can be off (Noveria was the first mission I did, and I do not recomend it, as it take a while to get going).
However, if you do make the effort of interacting with your crew, the conversations are really interesting and deliver the lore in a more digestable way than the codex does. The lore is on point by the way, at least in my amateur opinion. I'm rarely into video-game lore, but sci-fi worlds do usually interest me more than most other genres, and this one didn't disapoint. As for the combat, it's not anything special, but it does the job. It can be quite methodical, but sometimes enemies will rush you, requiring you to adapt quickly and go for headshots to neutralise them before they get into shotgun range, as those tend to quickly kill you.
Mass Effect feels like what it is: a starting point, which deserved to be expanded upon so much. I can't wait to dive into the second game in a few weeks/months time, after I'm done with Spider-Man 2.