Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

Reviewer: Will Kirschner
Title: Mass Effect
System: Xbox360
Price: $59.99
Rating: M for Mature (17+)
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Microsoft

Summary: You serve as Commander Shepard on the USS Normandy, a prototype space-ship, as which will serve as the central jumping-off point for your mission. The world you live in is full of aliens who look down on humans as a lesser race. Your main goal is to bring Saren, a rogue Spectre (government special from completing his plans to retrieve powerful ancient technology from an extinct race of people called Protheans. You traverse the galaxy completing side-quests and filling in the side stories.

Overall Score: 8.8
Graphics: 10
Story/Concept: 10
Music: 6
Gameplay: 10
Replay value: 8

Difficulty: A solid medium. There are some parts in the game where you will want to throw the controller in disgust, but otherwise a game that will present a medium level of difficulty.

Learning Curve: Two hours tops to master everything but the vehicle controls.

Total hours of play: 20-30 hours depending on the level of side-quest completion you strive for.

Family Factor: This game earns its mature rating with a few exceptionally graphic scenes rather than a game full of adult situations. There are three possible sex scenes in the game , however the most notable would be the lesbian woman and female looking alien sex scene. It isn't any more graphic than a scene out of a pg-13 movie,but it still isn't appropriate for the kids. The two other scenes,though more acceptable in nature, are only a bit more graphic. The scenes were graphic enough to draw the ire of Fox News but nowhere near as graphic as the average episode of Lost. As far as violence there are a few scenes that are rather intense. More than a few times your allies are impaled and turned into enemies in a rather grotesque way. Other than that the violence is minimal, only drawing a T-rating. Overall this game earns its M-rating so don't buy it for your kids.

Review:
This Sci-Fi RPG is the latest to come out of RPG giant Bioware, whose is seen as a strong developer pushing out titles like the award winning Bioshock, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
You start the game by creating your character s role, his or her past, and a highly detailed facial construction. Much like KOTR, this game s strength lies in the intense level of customization that it provides. As you level up, you gain more powers and the different classes are proficient in different things, giving the game a fair level of strategy. The classes include a standard warrior class,a biotic class and a vanguard class which is like the in-between class. The weapons include snipers, shotguns and assault rifles. There are many different types of armor which vary between class and carry the classification of light,medium and heavy.
You will learn to hate the games attempt at vehicle combat, which is a fair part of the exploration of the game. The movement is jumpy and the combat is really not satisfying. You will have the urge to jump out and fight it on foot most of the time, no matter how bad the atmosphere condition gets. While not quite shooting game, not quite RPG feel, it's innovative and interesting.
The game has a very simple shooting reticule that is quite simple but it requires a whole lot of strategy with different powers. The intense story and stunning visuals are why this game was so well received and received so many awards. The voice acting is superb and is played by a well casted group of experienced video-game voice actors plus the amazing talents of Seth Green as Commander Shepard (male). This is a game that you can play many times before seeing out all the storyline possibilities. You won't be sad if you pick this exemplary piece of work.

Related games: If you like RPGs (role-playing games) or space this is totally for you. Incredibly reminiscent of the Knights of the Old Republic series and the Final Fantasy series.