Mass Effect Hands-on Preview

Mass Effect is due to materialise on the Xbox 360 in just over a week and to celebrate VideoGamer.com is bringing you a series of reviewer’s diary updates in the lead up to our huge review. So for those of you anxiously awaiting news of that dispatched pre-order, sit back and enjoy as we chart our progress through the game every sci-fi fan’s been craving for months – there’s a lot of universe to get through.

So, onto the final part of our Mass Effect reviewer’s diary (if you missed the first two you can find them here and here – where have you been?). I’d like to talk about my favourite bits so far, and my not so favourite bits. First my not so favourite bits (always good to leave on a positive). What you won’t see in Mass Effect is big boss battles – the kind of spectacular behemoth type encounters you saw in Halo 3 for example. From what I’ve seen so far what you get is a fight that’s much tougher than anything you’ve done before, but against an enemy you’ve seen before. So, you land on the planet in the Mako (more on that later), drive around for a bit, get out, enter a complex, get embroiled in whatever is going on there, including multiple side quests, and work your way through numerous bad guys before taking out the boss, which have been underwhelming so far. This might all change as I work my way through the game, but so far the double hard bad guys haven’t been particularly double hard.

In the main getting around Mass Effect’s universe is great. Via the extremely cool Galaxy Map you pick your star system – Milky Way included – and select what planet you’d like to land on. But things change somewhat when you’re on foot, in a complex or even in the Normandy itself. Most of the game’s structures have lifts – numerous ones at that – and they take what feels like an age to get you from A to B. While I suspect this is intended to disguise the game’s loading time it can be extremely annoying, especially when you’re in a hurry.

The Mako – the vehicle used to speed around planet surfaces – is like a cross between the APC from Aliens and a dune buggy. Vehicle movement and the targeting reticule is controlled with the analogue sticks. You can fire normal machine gun blasts and a slow to recharge cannon blast and you’ve even got a jet-boost so you can bounce around the place. So far, for me, the Mako is a bit boring to use – you move forward a bit, blow up some droid armour and then move on. This might change later in the game, but right now Mako sections just feel long, and make me long for the next on-foot fight.

Which leads me nicely onto my favourite bits. I spoke a bit about this yesterday, but now I’m well into the game the combat is much more spectacular. It can be absolutely thrilling at times – like when one of your squad uses a biotic ability to lift an enemy Force power style while you snipe it mid air (yes, it took a while, but the sniper rifle is now fantastic). Or like when you order your squad to concentrate fire on a bad guy, drawing its attention so you can flank and pick it off with a crushing tech talent. I must have killed hundreds of bad guys already, and yet the combat hasn’t started to grate. Again, ultimate judgement is reserved for the review – but the depth in the combat is such that I actually look forward to an ambush.

I still haven’t completely wrapped my head around the sheer scope of the game. There’s even more to do in Mass Effect than I previously thought. Apart from the countless side quests and uncharted planets to explore you can survey worlds and collate data on them, kind of like searching for collectables in a platformer. There’s even historical artefacts to uncover, as well as hidden tidbits about the Mass Effect universe, its alien races, history and culture. As I’m working through the game my Codex – my handy guide to the universe – is expanding. Most of it is voice acted, so it’s great to just put the controller down, sit back and enjoy a Mass Effect history lesson from time to time. Pretty geeky I know, but this world is just so vast and detailed that I can’t help but be sucked in.

But by far the best thing about my time with the game so far is the thought of what’s to come. I’m playing as an Infiltrator – a kind of long distance specialist who concentrates on reducing enemy capabilities with tech talents until they’re a gibbering, sitting duck. I’m also role playing as a hard-nosed bitch, being rude to everyone and ruthlessly getting the job done at any cost. But I know that once I finish the game I’ll probably play through again as an Adept so I can get to use all those lovely biotic abilities (I’m looking at you singularity) for myself. And I’ll play differently – as a righteous knight in shining armour. For me a mark of a good game is how compelled I am to replay it once I’ve finished – like with a good movie. I’ve not even finished Mass Effect yet and I want to play it again.

As this Mass Effect reviewer’s diary comes to a close I’ll leave you with my final parting impression: the game’s looking great. As anyone here at VideoGamer.com towers will tell you I’ve been purring like a pampered pussy cat all week, and it’s all down to Mass Effect’s mesmerising spell. I’m even excited about writing the review, which you’ll be able to read yourself come 5pm (GMT) on Monday. Until then, you’re on your own – I’ve got a galaxy to save.