Genre: Action RPG, Third Person Shooter
Year: 2007
Developed by: BioWare
Published by: Microsoft Game Studios
Platforms: PC, PS3, XBOX 360
#16
Feeling Like: Eponymous
How do I feel about Mass Effect?
Listen to the song “Vigil.” That’s a start.
I play this song when I need a boost. I’m a generally happy guy, but like anybody I suffer from feelings of cynicism, or boredom, or lethargy. But “Vigil” fills me with indescribable hope. It puts a smile on my face. It gets me excited for the future.
While playing Mass Effect I’d catch myself just staring. I’d swirl the camera around and soak in the high-tech atmosphere, or the physically imposing Krogan stomping past me, or seeing what the blue-toned Asari is doing over by that merchant. I could see outside, met with an impossible view of an upside down city, or an aggressively beautiful sunset. The tone, the scope and the premise seem to derive from every science fiction property I’ve ever been interested in: Blade Runner, Robocop, Total Recall, Aliens, Halo, Firefly, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Hellboy and, of course, Star Trek and Star Wars. It’s a mish-mash, a gumbo of what I want to be on a different planet with freakish looking allies and the universe at stake.
Even the intro, with its low beat synthesizers catching me up on how all these civilizations collided, got my attention. There’s a ton of lore to get through, but I wanted to view every inch of every ship or listen to every NPC bit of exposition. Hell, I’d read every codex scan I could. It all added to the unparalleled atmosphere. Even the title sounded badass coming out of my mouth. I knew I was playing an instant favorite from the moment I was able to start moving Commander Shepard.
BioWare had gone out of their way to market to players that their choices “mattered” which I always felt a little strange about. I always feel like my choices mattered, in that I made them and I’m playing a video game. Many get angry that the choices made in games like Mass Effect or The Walking Dead don’t actually matter, because you still end up in the same spot, or see the same ending as others. I guess they feel they got the wool pulled over their eyes, or the developer overpromised and underdelivered. Maybe I have a soft spot for developers, since I work for a game studio. But then part of me also wants to ask “what did you expect? Did you want them to make fifteen different video games based on a series of decisions a player could make in the first few hours of the first game of a trilogy?”. Maybe they did bite off more than they could chew, but I can’t name another series where if I save somebody from certain death in game 1, they’ll remember and potentially reward me in game 2 or game 3. That’s fucking awesome.
Couldn’t tell you much about the shooting or the gameplay, which is a funny thing to say about a video game. I know you shoot things, punch things with your dope ass orange melee attack and you can even use psychic powers to shatter shields or throw enemies around. Me, being lame, went the rooty tooty shooty method and I’d let others do the hard work for me.
The main appeal of Mass Effect, and the series as a whole, is your crew. Without them, these games would barely be on the 500 instead of being among the best.
Like any good RPG, you recruit a ragtag bunch to save the universe. Unlike other RPGs, these are some of the most fascinating, funny and deep characters you’ll find in gaming. Their backstories are expansive, they won’t hesitate to tell you their feelings, they’ll often disagree with each other (and you), and most of them aren’t human. Some are outright racist towards non-humans. Wrex, my favorite (and everybody’s) is this game’s Worf – a fearless, hotheaded warrior who has all but turned his back on his race. They’ve been racked with the genophage, a plague that renders most of them sterile. It was implemented since the Krogans were going out of control with conquering. Later on, you meet the guy who created the genophage. And, uh, your other party members have “opinions” about whether the genophage was justified. The kind of conversation at dinner you want to be a million miles from, but since it’s a video game and fictional, you can stomach it. Wrex’s voice actor did a terrific job. I try to be fair and let everybody have a go when we’re off on a mission, but I could never leave Wrex behind. Have a watch and you’ll see what I mean.
Conflict, interesting conflict I mean, arises at nearly every point. Missions may go smoothly, but new information may be uncovered that will lead to a team discussion. learned early on that I couldn’t please everybody, so I tended to go with the option that would lead Ashley or Wrex to be happier with me. I would not be an effective space rangers team leader in real life, I can tell you that. Why did I like Ashely so much? She’s the worst!
There’s always a colossal threat in these types of games, but the Reapers provide the adequate punch. Saren, a special agent gone rogue, is your main target but eventually you uncover an even bigger bad in the Reapers. The scene everybody remembers is when you uncover the truth about them. A grumpy entity called Sovereign explains humanity, and other alien races’ very existence. It’s still an effective scene, even watching it now 16 years later. The voice work, the disbelief from your teammates and the dialogue is pitch perfect.
One of the great lines in gaming is spouted too, by the villainous red transmission.
Sovereign: We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.
WHOOO! Ok, now we got a video game. Alright you giant beetle looking spaceship, me and Ashley and Liara and Garrus and Wrex are gonna…I dunno, shoot your building sized species with our space lasers? Hmm, this might be trickier than I thought.
Every scenario, every debate with a skeptical bureaucrat, every heartbreaking decision about who to save and who to let die (sorry Kaiden, can’t save ’em all!) increased my enjoyment of Mass Effect. It’s a bit rough around the edges – piloting the Mako is a frustrating experience, and the mechanics would be largely refined in the other Mass Effect games. But it all started here – this felt massive on a galactic scale. I was thrown into this crazy adventure head first, trying to stay alive while learning as much as I could about the universe felt like I was in the driver’s seat of some awesome science fiction film I’d totally missed out on. When the credits rolled and I heard this song play, I knew I’d just experienced something truly special.
Anytime I need to be reminded of the magic of video games, or optimistic for the future, or just a little kick in the ass, I’ll listen to the Mass Effect soundtrack and remember how it felt to be piloting the sleekest ship across the galaxy with unforgettable friends and the weight of the world in my hands.
The 500 