I’m Commander “Bess” Shepard and this is the first part of my War with the Reapers!
Three years after playing Bioware’s excellent “Jade Empire”, I was happy to learn that they did another RPG-adventure game, which would happen not in an ancient past but in the future, down in space. Following the same concept of creating a customized character commanding a team of adventurers/soldiers, this game differed from Jade Empire by giving to our hero, Commander Shepard, either a female or a male voice/body. Although I think both do an excellent job, I have to say that I preferred the female voice of Commander Shepard, done by the excellent Jennifer Hale who does in this trilogy her most popular role so far. Indeed, her voice carries emotions and is versatile according to the players Paragon (good) or Renegade (evil) actions, up to a point that many have wished that Bioware offered a game cover with the female Shepard and Youtube users praise her work.
But what really stands out in this game is how the story has been developed as trilogy dedicated to Shepard’s war with the Reapers, as she discovers and tries to warn a Galaxy Council that an invasion will happen and that everyone will die if nothing is done. Over three games, she will associate herself with characters having ambiguous intentions, even experiencing with some of them romantic relationships, and accomplish Primary/ secondary quests all over the galaxy. As such, their resolutions will either have a direct or indirect influence with the last two games, since your saved games can be transferred on the second and third Mass Effect games.
Taking my game experience as an example, I called my Commander “Bess” Shepard, in honor of Lars von Trier’s character “Bess McNeil” from “Breaking the Waves”. Then I customized her face by giving her Black lipstick and dark red-purple hair, which gave her a cyberpunk look much more interesting than the plain face offered on the female Shepard at the start of the game. For those who are hesitant in giving your hero a customized look for fear of giving something awkward, the game offers a random selection of looks that you can either modify or keep if you find the choices acceptable. Along with other origin choices to give plot depth to your Shepard, I felt Bioware gave excellent character customization.
Of the story, I’d say, without giving out any spoilers, that this game is the start of Shepard’s career as a Spectre, a professional agent employed by the Galaxy High Council, who finds out that Saren, another Spectre, has become traitor and is involved in a conflict involving the Reapers, dangerous creatures whose legend speak of an apocalyptic ending when they’ll reappear in the galaxy.
In the gameplay, you not only get to command a whole team of characters and a ship called the Normandy, but you also get to explore planets with a tank called the Mako. Of the things that I least liked, I’d say that the Mako displeased me since exploring several planets slowed down the rhythm of the story as you had to find on each one your quests and resources locations. As such, the story’s much better when you dive right into the action and do the quest, which they did starting from the second game. For the side quests, I liked doing them although I’d say that I wished that the majority of them would not be given on the Citadel. I would have preferred instead if the game had given some of them on other explorable cities on different planets, like in the last two games. Speaking of them, I just think it’s a good thing that in the last two games. the characters moved around when they talk in the second game and don’t stand still like in the first game. Indeed, by making them move around, the characters felt more like real people than 3D game models.
Of the soundtrack and visuals, I’d say the quality is awesome on an HD television screen with Surround Speakers. It makes the game a better experience than on a standard television set and I was astonished to see how they became richer over the next games. Especially for the character designs on Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Tali, and Joker, who became more present in the next game and had funny interactions with EDI, another favorite of mine in the second and third parts. Of my romance, I did it with Kaidan, but I really wished I could have done it with Garrus instead since he was funnier and more conflicted with himself than Kaidan, whose personal story only gets interesting in this first part. I heard that this first game originally offered, for Male Shepard, a homosexual relationship with Kaidan as I’ve heard players apparently found audio clips presenting this relationship in the PC version. But for unknown reasons, the makers never put it in the final product, instead introducing it in the third part of the game. Which is disappointing as it would have enriched the character of Kaidan and made him more interesting.
In the end, I’d say Mass Effect introduces the main characters and sets forth the path points certain groups will take in the eventual games. Whose story gets more mature and better. Maybe not to everyone’s personal satisfaction, but to a great storytelling level.
Omnes's Oasis 