Mass Effect = zomg!

Mass Effect looked like it was one of those games that couldn't necessarily live up to all the hype. Even after going gold and seeing all of the near perfect scores it was receiving I was dubious. Heck I even read one sort of "meh" review about it that sounded more realistic then hype based...

Then I actually played it.

ZOMG!

...As they say. Mass Effect is certainly made of win.

I'm about 12 hours into it now and it is amazingly fun. Once you get past the initial mission and manage to get off of the Citadel for the first time the game really starts to open up. It reminds me of a more modern version of Starflight with about 1/1000th of the planets. Trust me, if you've played Starflight, that's still a bunch to explore. It's certainly a leg up on the very few locations we had in the KOTOR games.

Speaking of which the one partially negative review I read said he was disappointed as M.E. was nothing more then the same game as KOTOR just wrapped up in a pretty new bow. That's like saying that Quake and Half Life are the same game. In a very raw way, they are, but it's the differences that make them stand apart.

Same here.

Oh... and let's talk about that pretty new bow. WOW. They've got some visual tricks going on that are just amazing. A nice motion blur and a movie like "film" ends up somehow making this one of the best 360 games I've seen.

I also think changing the combat from the pseudo-turn-based that the KOTOR series was built on to a more true to form real time combat really helps. It actually makes the combat a bit difficult in places. The AI still could use some help (especially your companions) but the combats are more enjoyable in M.E. then most of the combats in the KOTORs.

And this is coming from the guy that loves all things Star Wars.

So at the end of the day I'm glad I didn't pick up Assassin's Creed and waiting a week for Mass Effect. I'm sure I'll go back and play AC at some point. But not until I've played through Mass Effect at least twice. =)

Anywho, time to finish packing for my work trip to Dublin. Everyone have a great week!

.ungawa

-Spyke