Mass Effect?

[Peench]

It seems that the drought of awesome games from early this past summer has been washed away with a deluge of incredible games. I still have a stack of unopened games waiting for me on my shelf from the past month or so. The sheer amount of incredible games on the horizon makes my wallet shudder at the thought of having to purchase them all. I have actually held off on Assassin's creed for the simple fact that I haven't had time to play the games I have, let alone new ones.

Mass effect, though, is something altogether different for me. When we saw the demo at E3 in 2006 I was awestruck. The concept behind the game along with the incredible facial expressions immediately drew me in. I knew I was looking at something that I thought would be awesome. The gameplay and other videos seem to support my initial thoughts.

Then I got the Mass Effect Revelation Book that introduces all of the back story on the main characters. Here was a backstory to rival Halo in depth and possibility. The sheer size of the Mass Effect world in the game has me thinking this game could eat up hours of my time. It might even knock Oblivion off its perch as most hours played for me.

I'm wondering though, is it just me? Or does a great looking story, amazing graphics and essentially customizable gameplay (first person shooter, tactical and/or path choice) appeal to everyone?

Will you be picking up Mass Effect?

[dmiller68]

Yes, I'm buying it.... Of coarse I buy all games.

[Gordon]

I am torn between saying yes and no. I will not get the game because I have it.

[lovekeiiy]

I expect to get the game too. Just not sure when. I may wait till have gotten through some of the games I've recently gotten.

[EdM]

Absolutely! For the most part, with me, if Bioware makes it, then I'll buy it. I'm a blind follower Bioware fanboy.

[Thornes70]

This is probably my most anticipated game - ever. That's a huge statement when you think about all of the games that have just hit us... Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, CoD4; I'm even looking forward to this more than Frontlines: Fuel of War. Mass Effect tops them all!

Hopefully it'll live up to expectations.

[WormholeXtreme]

I guess I'll rent it to see what all the hype is about. You never know I might like it. If I do then I will purchase it. But for now I have no plans to buy it.

[JParker0105]

Im going to rent.

[AlphaQ GehaD]

On Que at GYG

[D_Litch]

My buying via 'Rent to Own'.

[Desi Cuse]

If not tomorrow then Wednesday.

[Leftie247]

I have been eagerly anticipating this game for a long time. Fallout 3 is the only other game I can think of that I want as bad as this one.


Leftie

[Peench]

I have my copy in hand. Now if only I didn't have a meeting tonight and one out of town tomorrow.

[Fragmintz]

Originally Posted by Peench

I have my copy in hand. Now if only I didn't have a meeting tonight and one out of town tomorrow.

You think that is bad? My box got the red ring of death three weeks ago. I had it repaired and MS sent me a new one last week, just in time for Mass Effect launch. I open the package on Sunday and find that the whole front corner of the console cracked open during transit. Now I am waiting for another shipping box, and it will likely be about 2-3 weeks until I get to enjoy the game.

So quit yer whining about the meeting Peenchy!

[Epyon MX]

So I have it now and I'm really not enjoying it. The gameplay portion is unsatisfying and confusing. My squadmates keep dying and I don't know how to fix that. I don't know how to heal them. There are almost no tutorials and the controls are incredibly confusing. And there's the pop-in and stutter. The only time the game stutters is when there are cinematics! That makes no sense and it ruins the presentation.

But I'm LOVING the story and I'm only 1 hour in.

It's such an odd game because it's not really a shooter. Place your target in your reticule and then the game does the calculations based on your character's skill, your gun's attack power and enemy defense along with accuracy to determine if your shot hits and how much damage it does. And there's a weird cover system in the game along with a sprint mechanic.

I dunno, man. I dunno. It's like this game wants to be everything. It wants to be a shooter, but it's not. And the RPG mechanics are buried and poorly presented.

Ulgh. I got a 'dirty disc error' about 10 minutes ago and lost 10 minutes of conversations. I turned off my Xbox and am questioning when I'll start playing again. I'm tempted to go back to Assassin's Creed since that plays great and has an awesome story. Mass Effect is disappointing at this early stage but has an incredibly compelling story. Hopefully, so more time with the game will see a gain in familiarity and an improvement in my opinion. But now.... yeesh.

I'm not giving up, but this isn't turning out to be the mind-blowing experience that I expected/ heard about.

I'm going home to Tennesee tomorrow and need something to do on the plane. I might pick up the book are read that for the remainder of the week since I won't be able to play my Xbox.

[Peench]

I haven't had a chance to play as I have to be out of town tomorrow for a meeting (is that good enough for you Fragmintz?!? - on the real sucks about your xbox man!).

Interesting comments Ep. Very odd. Definitely pick up the book if you like the story in the game so far.

[Levai]

I have to say, at this stage for me (about 3 hours in) I have mixed feelings about Mass Effect. I really want to like it but I have some of the same problems EP mentioned. Particularly I'm still adjusting to the controls. This game just throws you to the dogs story and gameplay wise. Hell, I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to reload my weapon only to find out later that you don't actually have to reload. As a funny side note I accidently threw one of those mind grenade things and almost killed myself trying to figure out how to reload.

Those annoyances aside this game is incredibly engaging with it's story telling and the dialog is just amazing. I usually get bored with rpg's that have long sequences of "go talk to this guy go talk to that guy" but ME does the dialog in a way that seems to put a fresh spin on the story telling element that keeps you involved. You almost feel as though you're participating in the convorsation rather than the typical player chooses A = npc says B or player chooses C = npc says D kinda crap you see in a lot of rpgs.