Mass Effect (PC): More to Do

Liara T'Soni

What a difference three hours makes.  The first three hours or so of the game is very linear since you need to convince the council to make you a spectre before you can take direct command of the Normandy.  But, once you have that command, the game really opens up.  There are at least a dozen sectors you can go to explore and each one has one or more star systems to explore and with each system are numerous planets.  While you can't land on every single planet (I mean who would want to try and land on a gas giant anyway) you can still find things by surveying them.  These surveys are for a number of optional side quests that encourage exploration.  And even when you can't do anything at all with a planet, there is still a short blurb about it and a listing of its characteristics, lending to the detail of the game world.

After becoming a spectre I decided to pursue one of the story quests to rescue Dr. Liara T'Soni.  While I would have loved to just jump into exploration and side quests, I knew I wanted Liara as one of my companions through out the story as she is the equivalent of the Adept class for the PC.  My other companion that I will be using mostly is Tali, who is the equivalent of the engineer class.  Since my Shepard is a soldier, this team gives me equal ability in combat, tech and biotic skills.

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

I did spend some time exploring, discovering the fate of an excavation team and attempting to rescue a kidnapped ambassador.  After these explorations and side quests, I decided to return to the citadel and see if any new assignments had opened up and to see if I could get any new licenses for my trader.  While there I helped a few people mainly by mediating.  I don't have a problem with this at all.  It makes the spectres more than just covert operatives.  It gives the sense that the people of the citadel and other areas respect a spectre's opinion and advice.  It adds more depth to the world.

One thing I will say, how ever is that some of the scripted encounters can be tough at low levels.  I found both the encounter before entering the mine and the one with the Krogan to be rather difficult for a level 10ish squad to deal with.  Both encounters took multiple tries before I found a strategy that worked.  Although, I do see this as a good thing, and as I have leveled, I do notice that I am becoming more accurate and I am doing more damage.  I was apprehensive about how much effect the RPG mechanics were going to have on the shooter mechanics and I am pleased with the result.

Another point I am trying to figure out is what weapon upgrades to use.  I hope that becomes more apparent as time goes on, or that they don't have a major effect on the game.

As I stand now, my part is at level 14 after six hours of play.  I intend to do more exploration and side quests for the time being.  Maybe go and play through the DLCs as one of my next goals.  As for now, this game is staying in the now playing list.