Mass Effect (PC): Taking aim at RPGs

Mass Effect is an action/shooter RPG from Bioware.  I have to say I am a fan of Bioware, having enjoyed playing the Baldur's Gate games, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age: Origins and KOTOR, though KOTOR is the only one I beat.  Mass Effect though seems to have the same pull on me as KOTOR did.

In Mass Effect, you play as Commander Shepard, an officer aboard the SSV Normandy.  The game starts with the Normandy on a shakedown mission to retrieve an artifact from Eden Prime, however, when the Normandy arrives, they find the settlement under attack by the Geth.  Apart from some initial walking around the Normandy gathering info, the player is almost immediately thrown into the action on Eden Prime with two NPC companions.

The game is an RPG/FPS hybrid.  It controls much like a standard FPS, except the targeting reticule is rather large and your actually chance to hit your target within it based on your character stats. Many other RPG elements, such as experience and morality are prominent in the game as well.  While the player is Commander Shepard, Shepards, gender, class, background and appearance are chosen by the player.  The class effects what skills the player will have access too, while the background gives Shepard points towards renegade and or paragon, depending on what background you choose.  The paragon/renegade morality system affects things such as dialogue options and what side quests are available later on.

The game also has an achievement system within it.  While this isn't a selling point, or a feature I look for in games, Bioware actually made the system more than just bragging rights.  Certain achievements confer bonuses to your current and subsequent play troughs.  These bonuses could be small boosts to stats or additional skills that you can have Shepard train in.  Its a nice touch and gives the player more reason to try and earn them than just gamer points.

Currently, I am about three and a half hours into the game.  Up to this point, the game has been linear, going through Eden Prime to find the artifact and then conducting an investigation in the Citadel to prove that Saren has gone rogue.  As a result of my investigation, I have been made a Spectre and assigned with stopping Saren.  I believe from this point the game opens up greatly, and will give me plenty of options on how to proceed.  A quick look at the game map shows that there are many places to explore and many of them have no connection with the main quest.  I have heard there are many side quests, both in the Citadel and throughout the galaxy.  I also have the Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station DLCs to play through as well.  Finally, on my party select screen there is still a character greyed out, meaning I have one more person to recruit to my party as well.

That said, I think my next course of action will be to find the final companion and then explore some of the side quests before continuing in my hunt for Saren.