Culture

Platforms: PC and Xbox360
4.5/5


I am not a huge fan of role -playing games. I've played around with them; however, I've rarely gotten really excited by one. I got the first Mass Effect because my brother was interested in it, and only started playing it because I was bored and out of other games. I was instantly hooked and, soon, obsessed. The combination of believable characters, outstanding storyline, and a fighting mechanic that makes you aim to shoot or unleash a special power combined to make a game (and later a series) that I consider one of the best ever made.
The storyline is basically your usual once you've broken it down to its barest pieces. You play as an underdog (in this case a human, as humans are new to the whole interstellar thing) who has to save everyone from a world-ending threat – or in this case the universe-ending threat.
The team you work with is composed of many different people, but you can only have two accompany you on missions. Making sure the people who accompany you balance well with your abilities is key, and will make the difference between grinding through the game and really enjoying it. However, making sure you like the two people is also important as it makes the game far more enjoyable, and their comments enjoyable instead of irksome.
One of the unique and wonderful things this series does is allow you to bring your character from the first one into the second one. You can change its class, skill and appearance if you want to. This gives the story a wonderful sense of smooth continuity. Also, if you do this, decisions made in the previous game will affect things in the latter one.