Too the day off today to play Mass Effect. I’m 6 hours in (game time, not actual play time, which is more) and ridding a planet of an infestation, and I can now conclude with some certainty that any reviewer who has given Mass Effect a score of 100 obviously hasn’t played the same game as me (but don’t get me started on reviewers… really).
It is great. Really. Fantastic even! But when you’re stuck fighting a boss and you have no way of healing yourself or your team mates, it gets a liiiiittle frustrating after the first two hours or so…
And I’m not trying to be a wet blanket here, but even if I wasn’t stuck playing and replaying the same pockets of combat over and over, it still isn’t a 100. The near total lack of a tutorial, the slightly glitchy cover system, the popping of lights and LOD objects.
Or even just the fact that one of the first missions you get will send you driving for half an hour or so, only to have you arrive at a facility that is way beyond your current skills, if you go there directly.
100? No. Fantastic? Yes. But not 100.
But I’m stuck, and I’m crying.
I’m going for pizza.
PS: Had it quit on me twice due to ‘unreadable disc’, despite it being in pristine condition. Thanks Microsoft for producing HDD-less Xbox 360’s, forcing Mass Effect to always run the DVD drive at peak capacity.
Should have gotten Assassin’s Creed instead…
No no, Assassin’s Creed is a great game, but so far Mass Effect is definitely better (for me). It just has some balancing issues and what not. Assassin’s Creed on the other hand only does a handful of things, and so obviously has had more time to get them right (and then feels a bit repetitive).
If I know Michael right, he did get Assassins Creed, and he’s probably finished it by now.
As for Mass Effect: this was the game that could push be to shell out bucks for an Xbox. So it is with both sadness and joy that I hear it’s not a clean 100 (by the way, the Joystiq metareview converted Eurogamers 8/10 to 80/10 — is that cricket?).
The best that could possibly happen now, is that Bioware fixes these glitches for their eventual PC release. In fact, here’s hoping they make it a special edition, like Jade Empire.
Uh oh. I stared getting ‘Disc could not be read’ messages and eventually had to send in the 360. Brilliant design and engineering on that machine. Just a shame MIcrosoft chose ‘Achmed’s Party Hat and Gaming Console Factory’ to build them.
By the way, Michael: How much would I hate Mass Effect?
Let me see, did you play KOTOR? Oh no, that’s right, you didn’t. Well then it’s more a question of why you even bother playing games AT ALL! :)
KOTOR was fantastic. I even enjoyed KOTOR 2. Is Mass Effect anything like KOTOR? ‘Cos that’s kinda what I’m hoping.
Yes, and no. The story and characters are better so far. The acting is really quite sublime (for a game) and most subplots almost make sense!
But the inventory and weapon customization is quite subpar.
i saw a trailer of sorts on my xbox 360, looks like a good game, but i dont know… something about it doesn’t convince me to buy it. (i do like the take cover ability though!)