I gave up on saving the galaxy seven years ago. My back was killing me from a recent surgery and it was a cold Vermont winter in an apartment where my heater didn’t always work. I tried my darnedest, but I gave up about 65% of the way through. Flash forward to now, and after a panic attack robbed me of an otherwise enjoyable Saturday night, I wanted something comfortable and familiar, and I just couldn’t stomach the thought of a job left unfinished any longer. So I booted up my PlayStation 3 with a renewed vigor, and went to work.
The galaxy needed me, after all.
This is the reversible cover to Mass Effect 3, but it doesn’t matter - because FemShep is Best Shep.
Mass Effect is a seminal game. Blending third person shooting with a meaningful narrative driven RPG where your decisions mattered, it was a game that took everything learned from the highly regarded Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic RPG and dialed it up to 11. Turn based encounters were gone, you had a whole galaxy to explore, and a completely new paradigm to understand your place in. The game is so good I don’t even mind ending that last sentence on a preposition.
This blog is half keeping me accountable on new releases and half me visiting old favorites. Mass Effect may very well be one of my most of favorites. It was one of the first RPG’s I found myself lost in, and I’m happy to say it still stands above so much of the industry when it comes to impact and presentation.
Thankfully, the only thing that really hasn’t held up are the load times. Which you’ll soon become very familiar with as you’re going to spend at least 40 minutes of an 18 hour play through in a fucking elevator.
Now that the worst part of the game is out of the way…
You’re Shepard, a human that’s being tested for inclusion into the most elite of intergalactic special agents, the Spectres. I said human because in what became a series staple - you can choose between male and female characters and both are completely voice acted for the entire trilogy. You can customize your background and even your appearance to an extent but holy hell you don’t have time for any of that because on your first mission you witness the betrayal of the most renowned Spectre, Saren, so who gives a shit if you have scars or red hair?
After this inevitable act of sedition, you’re tasked to assemble a team of humans and aliens to help you bring down Saren and his plans for galactic dominance, because of course that’s his end goal. You unravel the mystery of a long-lost alien species, the Protheans because of course you do. Turns out the Protheans left behind technology responsible for humanity exploring the galaxy, but then they just upped and disappeared. Because of course they did.
Man, screw this Saren guy and the Reaper he flew in on.
The crux of the story, not just in Mass Effect but in the entire game trilogy has you finding out why.
12 years later, that’s still Mass Effect’s greatest strength, the way the story weaves into the world and and the way the world weaves into the story. It’s so tightly written and makes so much sense on a structural level (the theory of it is a whole other matter, I’m not an astrophysicist so I can’t say), that few games since have reached the same peaks of this franchise’s debut. Throughout the game you have conversations with people and certain reactions dictate your reputation throughout the galaxy. If you’re aggressive and blunt, more options will open up to you allowing you to be more aggressive and more blunt. If you’re more level-headed and diplomatic, the same. This mechanic of allowing you to react in whatever manner you see fit makes Shephard feel like an extension of you better than most other games. While certain story beats are unavoidable, the way you get to them and the way you’re allowed to handle them varies wildly depending on what type of mood you’re in. This helps keep the story fresh on additional playthroughs and keeps you engaged in the moment. It would’ve been so easy for this to feel like less of a game and more like a movie you’re directing and writing on the fly but it never loses sight of this moment to moment attention to detail that elevates it above most games released since.
The conversation wheel is one of the best ideas other games have stolen.
It really helps that there’s such of a variety of missions for you in the game. Some missions can literally be as simple as stopping someone from talking shit about someone else, or helping an alien who’s legally protesting avoid police harassment. You’re not always saving the galaxy, sometimes you’re just saving one person and that balancing act does so much for the story. It adds a weight to the game and lets you dictate your own pace. What’s brilliant too is it’s possible to miss 75% of the game if you’re not looking out for it, but the world is so compelling you keep discovering these untouched corners of the galaxy because you want to see what’s under every rock and behind every curtain.
It’s good that so much of the game revolves around exploring over combat because the combat is not really anything to write home about. Third person shooters were rising in prominence when this game came out and while they improved it in later sequels, the original game suffers from pretty average if not downright bad combat scenarios. While the game is technically a cover based shooter, there’s not a lot of thought put into making combat ever feel particularly good. You always have a party of three at all times off your ship and each crew member has various powers that change your strategy in a confrontation, but besides controlling what power they use when and on which enemy, there’s not a lot of thought you have to put in the game, even on higher difficulties. While I haven’t tackled Insanity yet, the Impossible Difficulty didn’t ask too much of me besides going 10% slower than I would’ve preferred and taking enemies on one at a time. The few difficult situations were in enclosed spaces against a large number of enemies, like when a long thought extinct alien race makes a surprise reappearance, they ambush you in a tiny-ass room, and there’s a timer - that was more difficult than even the final boss fight just because the combat doesn’t allow for a lot of improvisation. In fact, a lot of the normal encounters with regular enemies were often more difficult than any of the few boss fights. I mentioned there was variety in quests, but any mission involving combat outside of main story missions feel overwhelmingly familiar.
What mitigates the dullness and difficulty of the combat is the equipment you gain access to. Make no mistake, this is an RPG-ass video game where you’re constantly finding new and improved loot with its own advantages and drawbacks that’s constantly forcing you to reevaluate your approach. I got to the point where I was hoarding specific ammo types and swapping them out on the fly depending on the enemy I was fighting. This sounds tedious, and I guess it is if I’m being honest, but I loved it. It really challenges you to have situational awareness and memorize key strategies. This loot-fest feels less exciting than other games like Borderlands or Diablo however, because there was rarely a visual reward for managing them though it did help encourage you to find better and better weapons. I have to reiterate though, because of the combat ease, there’s little incentive to just seek out upgraded gear unless you’re testing yourself on the higher difficulties.
There are tons of worlds for you to explore throughout the galaxy, and each world has certain key points for you to look out for. On any given planet there may be privateers for your to take out, artifacts to survey (don’t get excited, it’s just a Simon-Says-like-mini-game), ‘dungeons’ to explore, and powerful enemies for you to struggle against. One point critics to this day still rail against is how you get around these worlds. You can huff it on foot or you can use an all-terrain vehicle called a Mako to get around. I personally don’t get why it’s so maligned. The physics of it don’t feel great, sure, but it’s hardly bad. The one argument I guess I understand is that the best parts about this game are when you get to explore, and the main way of exploring in this game is not the best way to get around and while I can appreciate that, I still think it’s more fun than not as far as a means of transportation. Plus, the worlds aren’t really designed for a better option. I know the vehicle sections were changed drastically in the sequel but those were given an emphasis on combat. Only in the original Mass Effect do you feel like a Star Trek away team setting food on some strange new world with a pocketful of optimism and positivity. That feeling is lost in sequels and definitely helps make the original a standout.
Shoutout to this blog for helping me find my new favorite gif.
12 years later Mass Effect doesn’t just hold up, it reminds you what games can be like when they’re at their best. Certain details like combat and driving the Mako are far from perfect, but it’s what they allow you to do next that makes the game incredible. The details are what make this game and the details are so well thought out and explored that it’s hard to let these gripes take the shine away from an otherwise incredible game. It’s not just worth a replay, it’s worth a few.