Saturday, January 5, 2008

Mass Effecto Finito

After watching the final episodes of HBO's ROME last night with my wife (excellent series, such a shame it was canceled prematurely though they at least wrapped up the storyline they were on), I decided to keep my arse firmly glued to the couch and play some Mass Effect.

Over the course of the past week and a half, ME has been pretty much the only game I play with little dabblings in NBA 2K8 ad Crackdown here and there to boot. So imagine my surprise, when after a marathon (for me anyway) session of 3 hours, I found myself watching the credits roll on what has been one of the best gaming as story experiences I've ever had. 24 hours, side quests included, to complete a BioWare RPG. I even got the Achievement points for "Completionist" or something like that, which signals that I had finished the majority of the game along with beating the main campaign.

I don't feel that it was short, nor do I feel remorse for finishing the game so swiftly. I just didn't expect a BioWare RPG to be less than 40 hours long minimum. Maybe it's because of the need to get the game out for the Holidays, but I think it's more likely that where the story ends is where they want the game to end as the 1st part of the trilogy.

It has a cliff-hanger, but luckily it's not like the end of Heroes Season 1. It wraps up a lot of plot lines, including the major arc of the game, so I feel like I accomplished my goal of saving the galaxy... even if it's only for the moment. One hell of a game. I can't recommend it strongly enough. If you're a fan of intelligent science fiction, action games, or more importantly games with real feeling. Go get it.

Oh, and I did make whoopee with a blue alien. It was... unique. Weird might be a better word. But I will say this: it was very tastefully done, and in no way "cyber-porn". Oh, and there are some hefty choices that need to be made as you work towards the end of the game, but go with your gut. My guy ended up being a major Paragon (good as opposed to Renegade) and I think my ending was one of the "good ones". As long as you're not naturally a prick, you should be fine. Worst case scenario, make a separate save file in Virimire before you reach the Krogan research labs (you'll know what I mean) and then replay the game from there if you want to see a different path's ending. It's what I'll be doing.

Cheers and have a good weekend!

4 comments:

Gamer Hudson said...

Nice job finishing! The game still puts me to sleep. I dont know what it is about my xbox but its been collecting dust for a while. Ill get to it I guess when I finish World In Conflict and such. At least to see the alien whoopee!

Anonymous said...

I watched Graev finish the whole game. It was a long one. Grats.

Anonymous said...

I finished ME a couple of weeks ago. It was a great game but I was left wanting more and I cannot wait to play the next game in the series. I also heard that Jade Empire 2 is coming to 360 so more fun is on the way. :)

Bildo said...

Definitely should be another good year for the 360, with Fallout 3, GTA IV, Age of Conan (maybe), Devil May Cry 4, Saboteur, Mercenaries 2, Ninja Gaiden 2, and many more.

Good time to be a gamer, I say. Because this year will also see (hopefully) some really good AAA MMOs that offer something new to the table. Maybe even Spellborn will see the light of day this year.