Mass Effect Reviews Thread: IGN 9.4, TXB 9.6, GT 9.6

[taxman]

100
GameSpy
It's a rare thing when a game comes along with the power to move a player emotionally... Mass Effect takes interactive entertainment to breathtaking new heights.



100
Pro-G
Mass Effect is a triumph. A triumph for the science fiction video game, a triumph for the action RPG and a triumph for next generation gaming. And it sets up the sequel perfectly. I want to know what happens next.



100
GameDaily
The production values are incredible, with breathtaking worlds to explore, a huge cast of memorable characters (Wrex is awesome) and hours of missions and side quests to delve into. When it's all over, you'll go through it again and find something exciting and new. Mass Effect sets a new standard for sci-fi gaming.



100
MS Xbox World
I have had an excellent play time with Mass Effect thus far, and although the basic plot of the game's story is somewhat cliche for sci-fi, it's the execution that really has to be commended.



98
Planet Xbox 360
Other than the AI issues, graphical glitches, and insanely confusing equipment screen Mass Effect is the perfect video game. The storyline is right up there with Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and we are can barely hold back our excitement to see what happens in the next two games.



98
GameZone
I can honestly say that the universe Bioware created is the best I have encountered since George Lucas created Star Wars. Never have I been compelled to find out everything there is to a storyline as I did with Mass Effect.



98
Game Informer
It's an adventure that is so captivating that you'll be counting the days for the sequel. It takes interactive storytelling to new heights, and brings the player closer to content than ever before. It's easily one of the year's best titles and one of the most impressive games to date. [Nov 2007, p.151]


96
Cheat Code Central
If I could only choose one game this holiday season, it would have to be Mass Effect... If you're looking for a title that tells a great story, is loaded with content, has a surprising amount of re-playability due to customization, and will keep you glued to your couch, Mass Effect is a great choice.



96
Team Xbox
One of the most cinematic games of all-time, something that's definitely helped by a fantastic story, great writing, movie-quality direction, and strong voiceover work.



96
GameTrailers
Involving, ambitious, and beautifully executed, Mass Effect is a powerful experience that has a lot to offer anyone who plays games as more than a casual diversion.



95
GamePro
The title's greatest strength is the way it completely wraps you in the main protagonist's skin, which is something more RPG games should strive to do. The game's staggering depth and complexity is also impressive, as is its accessibility.



94
IGN
The cinematic design is nothing short of masterful. This is a game that takes the aspects of film that make cinema so compelling and crosses it with the interactivity of games with unprecedented success. Linear storytelling feels quaint by comparison.



92
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Far from being a ponderous sci-fi exposition, Mass Effect boasts a dynamic, well-constructed story with a broad emotional range. [Holiday 2007, p.82]


92
Gamer 2.0
It may be difficult for some to overlook the new combat system, but once you get a grip on it, and look past the shoddy vehicular combat, you’ll find a game worthy purchasing.



92
Xbox 360 Advanced
Mass Effect is an amazing game, one that will be remembered for a long time to come.



91
ActionTrip
The unprecedented level of cinematic quality, the fun combat coupled with the customary insightfulness of writing is what makes this game a must-have. It's what makes BioWare still stand out as one of the top in their field.



90
Xbox World 360 Magazine UK
Never before has storytelling been so competently ingrained into a videogame, and never before has a player had so much freedom to dictate the course of a linear storyline. Mass Effect isn't the laser-spewing monolith of a game we expected it to be, but it is far, far, far from a disappointment. [Christmas 2007, p.56]



90
Games Radar
When we finished Mass Effect the first time, the very next thing we did was start it all over again. It's clear that this is the beginning of a fantastic franchise, and we're already salivating over the possibilities for "Mass Effect II."



90
Official Xbox Magazine UK
The astounding vistas of each planet combined with swelling synth chords and the cheesy sci-fi plots of Babylon 5, make this a game for lovers of sci-fi and RPG everywhere. Roll on the sequels!



90
360 Gamer Magazine UK
Mass Effect is a rare example of a game that shouts about how many things it can do well for years and then actually delivers upon its promises on release. Every bit as good as it ever could be, this is right up there with the best of what the Xbox 360 both is capable of and has to offer.


90
1UP
I suppose the brilliance is that, however many times I watched a scene or fought a battle, Mass Effect never truly lost its magic.



90
GameTap
It's the very definition of "widescreen sci-fi," with its alien vistas, far-out music, and giant ideas. It begins with an ominous opening and ends with a fantastic finale that expertly intercuts between your individual actions with a massive space battle. It's the rare title where the first thing I did upon finishing was to select "new game."



90
Yahoo! Games
Flawed though it is, Mass Effect is a tremendous ride. Sure, it overreaches from time to time, but better that than a game that toes the same, tired old RPG line. Nothing's sufficiently amiss here to prevent you from enjoying Mass Effect's class-leading gameplay, and it deserves to be remembered as the first truly great role-playing game of this generation.



90
PALGN
BioWare have set a new standard in storytelling, and if you have even the faintest interest in RPGs or science fiction, then this game simply demands to be played. While there are some technical issues and awkward gameplay decisions that are hard to ignore, when it comes down to it, Mass Effect is so compelling that most people will be able to push the issues aside and immerse themselves in one of the most detailed game worlds every created.



90
Games Master UK
A strong, robustly put-together RPG that for every shortcoming has a magical moment too. [Christmas 2007, p.56]

GameSpot
It's surprising that so many small annoyances and glitches made their way into a game of such general high quality. Still, most players will be able to look past them and enjoy Mass Effect for what it is: A terrific role-playing game with great production values and fun, exciting action.


80
EuroGamer
Where it doesn't quite hit the mark for me is in the action stakes. Although it underpins the game with all sorts of excellent ideas that ought to make it a deeper, more intelligent and immersive experience, the simple truth is that the minute-to-minute combat simply isn't as intense and involving as you'd expect from a game in 2007.



80
Hardcore Gamer Magazine
As it is, it's merely very good on several different levels, and is more or less a must-play for RPG fans. It will drive shooter fans completely up the wall, though. [Dec 2007, p.56]

[taxman]

Framerate problems seems to be a noticeable problem

[REFLEX]

I never say this, except this once, although its a bit different.... I think that some reviewers in general over look or look too hard at somethings compared to others. I can imagine the small faults on this game weighing down others and hampering the score just a bit. I don't understand it, the review board needs to standardize a bit more I think.

[Aquanox]

TeamXbox Review.

It's official. One of the best lineups ever.

:arrow Source

[MossadAgentO]

Thanks for posting this i cant wait. Reading now

[Naxi]

Grr, why isn't the game out here yet.

[Dark Octave]

These scores are exactly on par with what I felt Mass Effect would get. But I hoped it would do better than Bioshock.

[One-Shot]

This game is so awesome, only one day away now.

[MiNiMaL_sAnItY]

To the people playing the game now, is it more of a shooter or an rpg?

[Calabrese]

can we please keep this on topic? Thanks. [rikwakefield]

[Aquanox]

Gametrailers Rating: 9.6

Eurogamer once more against the crowd, 8/10 ...

[GarthVaderUK]

Want to turn this into a general Mass Effect reviews thread then? Here's a summary so far:

OXM US: 10/10
OXM Australia: 10/10
GameSpy: 5/5
GamerTV: 5/5
Xbox Evolved: 9.8/10
Game Informer: 9.75/10
GameTrailers: 9.6/10
TeamXbox: 9.6
IGN: 9.4/10
EGM: 9/10, 9.5/10, 9/10
CVG: 9/10
Gamesmaster: 90%
Video Game Talk: 4.5/5
Xbox World 360: 90%
Eurogamer: 8/10

[Express]

Eurogamer once more against the crowd, 8/10 ...

Eurogamer has always been very harsh on games with noticeable flaws. Game reviewers now days seem to downplay flaws all too much. Just as in the IGN ME review.

Express

[Sockpuppet]

I never say this, except this once, although its a bit different.... I think that some reviewers in general over look or look too hard at somethings compared to others. I can imagine the small faults on this game weighing down others and hampering the score just a bit. I don't understand it, the review board needs to standardize a bit more I think.

It mainly only becomes a concern in context. The frame rate in Mass Effect dishisheartening lower than you'd really like but it doesn't exactly effect the gameplay itself. The gameplay being mostly RPG and with sporadic periods of combat isn't hugely effected in the same way a shooter or action orientated game might be.

Make no mistake I would be first to jump for joy if they improved the frame rate but in the greater spectrum of things the game isn't broken as it is. I'm extremely pedantic about frame rate myself so I would love a fix but such a thing is highly unlikely.

It reminds me of GTA and mostly SA. If you took any one particular aspect of the game and focussed on them, it would be very broken. Constant bugs, massive frame rate drops, simpistic 'RPG' level up mini games, poor controls, frustrating camera mechanics and a lock on system that is incredibly broken; individually all elements except for sound is pretty well busted but the game over all is greater as a package than the sum of it's broken parts.

[Quiklywin]

Great reviews so far, my friend is getting the game asap, cant wait to play it.

[Sparc]

I can't wait for this to turn up this week. I'm glad I've read the reviews and know about the glitches and frame rate problems because it sets your expectation before the game arrives.

As for Eurogamer. I think they do excellent reviews.

[One-Shot]

Everyone says that the technical glitches are something that can be passed by. Besides thats what patches are for.

[unr3stricted]

Eurogamer has always been very harsh on games with noticeable flaws. Game reviewers now days seem to downplay flaws all too much. Just as in the IGN ME review.

Express

Big flaws? While framerates can be rather annoying, that is NOT a big flaw, not for an RPG. For a racing game or even an FPS, yeah, but on an RPG it is not a "huge" flaw in any sense.

The biggest parts of RPG's are as follows:

Story
Gameplay
Longevity
Originality
Voice Acting
Combat

And apparently all those are amazing. Those are the parts that actually matter in a game, frame rates are annoying, but they wont make/break a game unless it is at an extreme, which it does not sound like Mass Effect is.

[Aquanox]

Oblivion also had its framerate issues but they were passable because of the nature of the game. It's basically the same with Mass Effect. If it didn't have those slowdowns, just imagine how high the scores would've been.

By the way, the game gives you the option to disable Cinema Grain Effect and Motion Blur, which helps with the framerate problems. In my experience motion blur is useless in these games so I'd probably got rid of it anynways.

[Express]

Big flaws? While framerates can be rather annoying, that is NOT a big flaw, not for an RPG. For a racing game or even an FPS, yeah, but on an RPG it is not a "huge" flaw in any sense.

The biggest parts of RPG's are as follows:

Story
Gameplay
Longevity
Originality
Voice Acting
Combat

And apparently all those are amazing. Those are the parts that actually matter in a game, frame rates are annoying, but they wont make/break a game unless it is at an extreme, which it does not sound like Mass Effect is.

I'm not just talking about the frame rates. There seem to be many other technical glitches as well. Texture pop-ins etc. Just like you can see on the gametrailers review.

IGN says the game has poor AI, which takes away a lot of the experience. And they don't seem to think the combat itself is so awesome...

While the story seems to be good and pretty lengthy, I don't understand why so high scores if the gameplay is not top notch.

Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is seems to be good, but not awesome...

Oh and btw it's 'nice' to see mods editing posts, when they don't like my opinion about things...

[Aquanox]

If you want to understand the game better in a short time, watch the Gametrailers Video Review, it's pretty good:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28091.html?type=

WMV: http://download.gametrailers.com/gt_...ct_vr_taco.wmv

[Express]

As for Eurogamer. I think they do excellent reviews.

Yup, some of the best reviews I think. One doesn't see many 10s from them, which is a good thing. And they never judge games from hype alone (which some sites seem to do...)

[Sparc]

I met a bloke in a pub. He doesn't own a console but he's played games before, and he told me it was coming to the 360.

[Vampirtc]

This is the best game I've played this year (I don't play many though) but I mostly play strategy and RPG games.

Story is great although copied from Babylon 5 (best TV series in my opinion). Especially good are the dialogs which are far less cheesy as usually in games. Game is long, I was at about 32 hours when I finished the game but I didn't do many quests some which are very tedious like looking for minerals all over the planet.
I loved the combat especially since it is a mix of action and RPG in other words your skills count too not just how big your gun is. There is tons of speech and barely any non spoken text. Graphics are great, no the best but still better as in say Halo 3. I didn't notice any serious problems with framerate. I liked the blur and grain effect too.

I didnt like that when I finished the game I couldn't do other quests I missed and since I saved the game during the last mission I can't go back. The combat did get a bit boring sometimes and some missions are too long (like one to two hours).

[The Sith]

There probably be an patch or somethin around the corner to fix some of the bugs.