The Final Frontier

Game: Mass Effect
System: Xbox 360
Release date: November 20, 2007
Developed by: BioWare
Published by: Microsoft Game Studios

**Top 100 game**

Mass Effect, the first episode of BioWare's planned three-part space saga, is one of the best RPGs on the Xbox 360 and another gem from BioWare which has produced some of the finest role-playing games on the computer and for console systems in the last two decades. With its engaging plot line, deep mythology and focus on interactive storytelling, Mass Effect follows in the tradition of earlier BioWare projects Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire.

Mass Effect is set far in the future when technological advances and life-changing scientific discoveries have allowed humans to travel beyond Pluto. As Commander John Shepard, players must uncover a conspiracy which threatens Earth, its colonies, and the tripartite alliance of alien species which governs most of the known galaxy. Along the way, Shepard will welcome new friends and allies who will help him in his quest to track down a traitor and uncover an ancient evil.

Although Cmdr. Shepard is the default hero in Mass Effect, players can chose to play as a male or female customized avatar; they can alter his or her alter facial features and class. Once created, however, the custom-built avatar will progress through the game along the same trajectory as the default character. Like previous BioWare games, players throughout Mass Effect must make minor and major decisions which affect gameplay and which alter two morality scales: "paragon" and "renegade." Past choices will affect how new characters interact with Shepard.


Mass Effect is played across a number of alien worlds. Shepard's prototype stealth ship can travel light years in mere seconds by using ancient deep-space matter transporters called mass relays abandoned long ago by an extinct alien race. Players can choose to merely travel to planets which once traversed will propel the plot forward or can survey unknown worlds, collecting rare minerals, completing side-quests, and finding new weapons and items.

Combat in Mass Effect takes place in real time. Armed with weapons which include pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and (in the case of Shepard) grenades, members of the three-person party engage in firefights with aliens, hostile robots, and other unfriendly creatures. Combat is a major factor in Mass Effect; stripped of its RPG structure and trappings, it would make an excellent shooter.

Score: 95/100