REVIEWS OF THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
IN THE LABF
ans of Star Wars and Star Trek fi nally
have a role-playing game that’s worthy
of their love. Mass Eff ect takes the most
compelling themes and ideas of both franchises
and mind-melds them into one of the best sci-
ence fi ction games we’ve ever played.
Aft er fl eshing out our digital avatar with the
robust character customization engine (we cre-
ated a bad-ass female war hero), we dived into
an engaging story that put the
fate of the galaxy in our hands.
The primary quest charged us
with investigating the
reemergence of a long-
lost race of machines
that wiped out an entire
species of advanced
aliens 50,000 years ago.
Through the 20-hour
campaign, we explored
numerous planets,
resolved alien conspira-
cies, and forged relationships with a believable
cast of NPC allies.
Mass Eff ect’s rich selection of side quests
helps fl esh out the main story, and we loved
the innovative conversation system. Dialogue
trees are presented in an intuitive radial selec-
tion circle that lets us steer conversations in a
plethora of directions depending on the tone of
our language—all the characters are amazingly
voice-acted as well.
When talking couldn’t get the job done,
we turned to the fast-paced combat system,
which actually requires some skill. Aiming with
a mouse helped us survive fi refi ghts, and thenewly designed PC combat interface is much
better than the Xbox 360 version’s. It’s too bad
the inventory system hasn’t been improved—
rifl ing through hundreds of weapon upgrades in
the equipment menu is a drag.
But we forgot about the game’s little an-
noyances aft er being immersed in the gorgeous
high-resolution graphics—Mass Eff ect runs
smoothly at 2560x1600 resolution (though turn-
ing off the “fi lm grain” option is recommended).
Mass Eff ect’s epic story is both moving and
fulfi lling; the game’s universe is rich with details
and feels infused with life. We can’t wait for the
inevitable sequel. –N O R M A N C H A NMass Effect
A truly stellar science fi ction epic
Character feats like Lift and Warp let you throw enemies off guard—just
don’t call them Force powersVERDICT$50, http://www.masseffect.com, ESRB: M9
Engrossing campaign,
great dialog system,
visually striking environ-
ment and alien designs.Messy inventory sys-
tem, some pointless
locations, only one
ending.DEEP SPACE NINEMASS EFFECTTEROK NOR