Mass Effect (Platinum Hits) (Xbox 360, 2009)

This game is by far one of the best games I have every played. It incoporates an excellent blend of RPG and Shooter style gameplay.
The storyline and plot are an amazing idea. The game takes place in the future when space travel, human colonization on far away star systems and planets are an everyday thing and alien species are both your friends and foes. Nothing compares to this game.
You play through as a Commander Shepard of the Alliance, (the human military in galactic space), completing quests and tasks assigned to you by your superiors and ones that you choose to take on yourself by freewill. Meanwhile you are achieving your ultimate goal of saving all life in the galaxy from a repetitive complete galaxy-wide extinction that occurs every so many years, all the while traveling to different star systems and planets to complete these missions.
Once I started to play this game I couldn't put it down. If RPG's and Shooters are your thing than so isn't this game.

Mass Effect is probably the best science fiction game and one of the best RPGs you can buy on the market right now. Voice acting is solid, character animations are great, and the story is extremely engaging. Mass Effect is like a really good book: you may find that HAVE to stay up all night to beat the game once you get close to the end!

I've seen many people comment that Mass Effect's combat system is not as good as Gears of War or other related 3rd person games. That may be true, but the combat is still very fun, and any flaws in the system never take away from the whole feeling of the game. If I had to complain about it, I would say it's a bit too easy (there's absolutely no reason to play the game on "casual" difficulty, or even "normal" for most experienced players). If you beat the game once, however, you will unlock harder difficulties.

The best part about Mass Effect is definitely its story, which is written by a professional novelist and is extremely compelling and original. You also have the option to travel to other worlds to do side missions, but these are not as detailed or necessarily as interesting as the main story, so some players may get bored of doing them after a while. However, Mass Effect does give encouragement to keep coming back for more, since beating the game multiple times and performing other accomplishments in the game unlock permanent bonuses and special abilities for current and future characters.

Since the game can now be found for around $20 in stores for both the PC and 360 versions, you really have nothing to lose by buying Mass Effect right now, but a whole lot to gain.

Mass Effect is the first of 3 games that have been put developed by Canadian based BioWare and published by Microsoft Studios. I had stumbled accross a great sale on Mass Effect 2, but decided to buy this copy of Mass Effect as I read in the notes for Mass Effect 2 that you can import your character from Mass Effect 1 for use in the second game-that was unique and so that is exactly what I did.

The game is graphically very detailed and the characters are well developed. There is a good mix of intense battles, followed by walking around and investigating and interacting with other npc's. You can choose your path of evil or good by the conversations you have with each of these npc's. The dialogs can sometimes take a little while to get through, but it's not distracting enough to take away from the fun.

What makes this game extra appealling is the replayability. You can play the game through as a "Good Guy" and then repeat the game as a "Bad Guy" and have a different experience. Also-you can play it through as a "jump into the action-guns blazing, take no prisoners" approach, or you can go back and play the game as a stealthy, sniper from a distance" player. For the size of the game and the content, it really makes for a great investment. Plus there are at least 2 downloadable content missions you can acquire for Mass Effect. The first one is shipped with the Platinum version of the game.

I first played thuis game at a friends house and ever since I have been wanting to own it. The story is fantastic that can keep you guessing, even more so with the rpg element involved. The gameplay is a little rpg-ish with about a hundred weapoon and armor upgrades but seems more like a third-person shooter in a somewhat sandbox enviroment. There are many planets to explore and discover missions and relics from the past. The game is alos host to downloadable content for those with the proper internet service. The exception of course is on the version I bought, the Platinum HIts version, comes with the "Bring Down the Sky" mission with a new planet, new enemies, and more gameplay. It also came with commentaries from the makers of the game which is cool, imho. If you get a chance try it out, do it. If you like it, buy it and enjoy the first of the (soon to be in about two years) Mass Effect Trilogy

Excellent game if you like RPG type games. Endless hours of fun at least 40plus hours 1st time thru. Various game features and options that let you make your adventure your adventure. If you like Star Wars Kights of The Old Republic or Oblivion you will like this. Lots of weapons, gadgets, and upgrades. Lots of character custimization and groupings. Just overall a 10+ outta 10 rating.
Thanks, Tim