Retro Review: Mass Effect 1

As talk grows about the series’ upcoming 5th installment, I thought a trip to the world of sci-fi RPG Mass Effect was in order, and since I’ve never played the games, I started with Mass Effect 1. Released in 2007 and met with fantastic feedback, it marks the first of 3 games included in the remastered Legendary Edition, which is the version I played. Knowing little about it besides that it was an Xbox 360 space game, pretty much everything about it came as a surprise. 

Thanks to great writing and the fleshed-out dialogue wheels and morality measures, I became attached to my character and her mission way quicker than I could’ve anticipated, and could hardly believe the complex and interconnected universe of alien species and planets I found myself tangled in. Virtually every NPC you talk to opens up an optional side quest opportunity. For some (namely, myself) that can come as a little overwhelming on a first play-through, but for others, the dozens of tasks that enhance your understanding of the world and its lore are what make the game so good. Playing just a few hours a day and focusing on the plot it’s a relatively short game, but I can imagine my replay where I actually try to do every side quest will stretch it out a noticeable amount. Acting as a pillar for the fantastic storyline were the exceptional graphics and settings. The main downside for me was the number of small bugs and mechanics issues I ran into, mostly regarding my squad’s behavior, generally because the immersion was otherwise so impressive that every little interruption was ten times more annoying than usual. Overall, this game holds up nearly 20 years later as truly phenomenal, and when it comes to storylines and the ability to really customize your experience I just can’t praise it enough.