MASS EFFECT: A Critical Look Backward

I finished my first run through of Mass Effect on Sunday. Overall, it is a wonderful game. Yeah, it had it's moments when the framerate would slow to zero, but it never locked up on me, and those moments were reasonably rare. (And, honestly, about as common as in KOTOR and KOTOR II -- only the old Xbox would lock up.)

I do have one negative observation, and it's not a big one, but I feel that they skimped on the story somewhat when comparing this game to KOTOR or Jade Empire. My first run through KOTOR took 106 hours. No, seriously -- I still have the gamesave. I finished Mass Effect in about 38 hours -- and that included exploring every single planet, exhausting every Paragon dialog tree I could find, and revisiting all of the dialogable characters on all of the major planets at least twice (I was at the Citadel at least six times.) Add to that the fact that almost a third of that time was spent exploring maps, and we are looking at a significantly smaller story.

Understand that I loved the exploration angle of the game, and the fact that every line of dialog was spoken and acted out beautifully only contributes to my affection for this title. Not only that, but finishing the game was a satisfying experience (unlike Halo 2.) I just see, in comparison to prior BioWare efforts, a shortfall on the breadth of story options presented. While there were some very exciting side-quests and great multi-tiered moral dilemmas (especially on Noveria!), most of the side quests were fairly simple and quick to finish, again in comparison to KOTOR and JE, where the side quests tended to be rather involved.

And there were a couple of places where the story fell short for me -- where I felt like the game teased me to open up new story lines that never appeared:

• Shadow Broker: I was approached at one point to provide some data to the Shadow Broker, which I did (Renegade!) And it seemed as if there would be a continuing subplot involving this mysterious information trader. But nothing else ever happened. Maybe I missed a trigger point somewhere (possible, but doubtful) or maybe when I play through as a true renegade more possibilites will open up. But this plotline felt like it got dropped on the floor shortly after I left the Citadel.
  
  
• The Consort: I was sure that there would be an ongoing plotline here as well. But she was involved in two Citadel-only quests and then her plotline dropped as well. I was convinced that following the Paragon's Path would reunite me with her later in the game, but she disappeared after solving the problem with the slandered Elcor.
  
  
• Hansen (the drunk in Chodda's Den): I never did find a real plot line involving this guy. Did I just miss it? He's a topic of conversation with the mechanic beneath the Med Center, but I couldn't figure out where he fit into the story. It's possible the quest involving him was so short, I don't remember it, but man, it must have been totally insignificant. Or maybe I triggered something with my explorations that short-circuited his part. Anybody else experience something different with him?
  
  Edit: I've since learned that I didn't get the Hansen storyline because my character was an orphan. Interesting!

Again, I think this is a wonderful game, and I plan on playing it through at least two more times after I've gone through the glut of November releases. My complaints here are minor. They just serve to show that the game isn't perfect and to contrast this title against the shadows of prior BioWar giants. Be assured, Mass Effect has safely joined their ranks.

Now it's back to my second most anticipated game of 2007: Assassin's Creed. I'm on Day 6 and should have a retrospective for you all by the weekend.

In the meantime, look for another tip on Mass Effect and several for Assassin's Creed as the week progresses.