I played it on XBox 360. If you don't know, Mass Effect was developed by BioWare, the same people who developed the single greatest single-player RPG of all time: Knights of the Old Republic (some may disagree with me, but that's okay because they're wrong). This is a bit of a problem for Mass Effect, as it's rather like being Ron Jeremy's son. You're going to disappoint people, no matter how hard you try.
So is Mass Effect another KOTOR? No. I don't think the writing is as good as KOTOR's was. When people play KOTOR they already know Star Wars, so the game just has to explain a few little things and then gets right down to telling its own story, and that's a big advantage. In Mass Effect the settings is entirely Bioware's own, and they end up spending half the dialog and voice acting just explaining the backstory. So the story is less immersive, and you're always getting interrupted by ancient history. What makes KOTOR brilliant is that it's not really a game... it's a fantastic piece of interactive fiction. There's lots of choices of places to go and things to do, and the dialog feels quite interactive. Like every RPG you're on rails, but you don't really notice them, and combined with the expansive feel of the Star Wars universe, it gives the game a very immersive feel.
But where KOTOR hides its rails from you, playing Mass Effect is like going hiking in a train switching yard. Every cut scene gives you choices of things to say, but 90% of the time the NPCs ignore you. Yes, the universe is open for you to roam about in at your pleasure, but there's really nothing to do other than follow the linear storyline. Sure, you can say there is that one huge decision to be made, but that doesn't make it immersive interactive fiction, it makes it a half-assed choose your own adventure book.
Combat gets boring after a while. It's realtime, unlike KOTOR's turn based system, but somehow it's just not as fun as lightning bolts and choking people to death with your mind. But Combat is pretty unimportant since there's only one hard fight in the game, and that's at the end. The learning curve is pretty retarded actually, the game completely fails to prepare you for the boss fight.
Now realise that I'm comparing it to KOTOR, and that's very unfair. KOTOR was a brilliant game and not easy to measure up to. I played through KOTOR about three times in a row the first time I got it, and have pulled it out another couple of times on occasion. I played through Mass Effect, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it hasn't inspired me to play it again. On its own, it's the best RPGs I've played since KOTOR. Just don't go in with unrealistic expectations.
P.S. It's usually easier to tell your party members to hide somewhere safe and kill everybody yourself. One thing Mass Effect has in common with KOTOR is your allies aim like stormtroopers.
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