Mass Effect has been one of those games that has been recommended over and over and over to me and for whatever reason, I never actually picked it up. This despite it existing in the form of the Legendary Edition in my Steam backlog for who knows how long! You play the game as Commander Shepard and get to start with a few basic customizations to help make him (or her) your own character. I was initially mildly annoyed that I couldn’t change the last name, but after playing the game I understand that it was such an integrated part of the audio, it made sense.
The basic concept of Mass Effect is that you’re in a race against Saren to gather alien technology for your own individual needs. Saren, wanting to bring back an ancient alien race. Shepard, for wanting to push forward the human race. Along the way, you’ll meet a cast of characters that you can bring on to your squad to help fight along side you. I definitely developed favorites as the game went on, mostly because of the in game banter between them (specifically Ashley and Tali), but you never quite knew what you were going to get if you brought along Wrex. I really enjoy the choices matter aspect of Mass Effect, and games like this in general, and there were times where I felt like the choices didn’t matter much, and others where it was literally a life or death decision between two of your squad mates 🫡 Kaidan.
The game, despite its age, still looks incredible and runs perfectly on the Steam Deck. There were several times when I was out and about, whether running through the Citadel, or cruising around in our APC in various worlds, I literally stopped to look out at the background. The cinematics also brought a beautiful flare to them even down to the scene that plays when you warp to another world. I can only imagine that the future iterations of this game look even more gorgeous.
That being said, there are definitely areas where the game’s age shows. Especially in some of the worlds you jump to. I felt it had the same issues that the first Dragon Age game had where you kept going to all these different places, but they were the same rendered location with just different mobs and treasures. I can give it a bit more of a pass here because I do believe that in a space expansion we would likely use cookie cutter buildings, but it still was noticeable.
Overall, my only regret with playing Mass Effect is that it took me this long to actually play the game. I do look forward to playing the second one, which I hear is the best entry, but I’ve got a few other games I’m going to play before I jump back into this world.