Mass Effect is brought to us by Bioware, which is why the striking resemblance of this game and Knights of the Old Republic is so evident. Although stylistically and in some game elements they are similar, Mass Effect takes the action to a more real-time level. Pretty much the story of Mass Effect is one of a space Commander trying to save the world, fairly standard for any good RPG. Mass Effect can almost be equated as KOTOR in space with more gunplay, considering you can use pistols, rifles, sniper rifles and shotguns.

Mass Effect has a bit of Lost Planet mixed with KOTOR and uses the team strategy to a tee. Pretty much you start as a commander visiting a planet on assignment and you get two other soldiers that join your mission. You don’t directly control the other two people in your party but can change their equipment and level them up. You control your main character and can indulge in pure fire fights with enemies where you take cover and shoot around crates or use your Mass Effects or as I like to call them the Force, hehehe. There are different mass effects or powers that you can use by pulling up the right bumper on the fly, this unfortunately stops the action, which can be a bit cheesy, but the powers are pretty cool.

Mass Effect can be a bit confusing, as it throws a lot at you very quickly in the first few chapters. Not only are you trying to learn the controls and menus, but you are also being thrown enemies and missions. The learning curve is steep, but very rewarding once you start getting the hang of things. My main mistake was I never leveled up my characters so I was fighting all the way through the first chapter with base characters and wondering why it was so hard.

Mass Effect lets you explore different planets in a nonlinear fashion, which is very nice and allows you to customize your party with whoever you convince to join your fight along the way. One of the interesting things about Mass Effect is the ability to customize your responses and dialogue with all characters in the game, it pretty much becomes a “pick your adventure” of sorts, that can have your main character as a brash over whelming ass or a bleeding heart liberal. I like to mix up my dialogue choices and have my character mix up his angry tirades with spots of niceness.

This title looks to fill up a lot of my gaming time within the next few weeks, but expect a full review soon.