A space odyssey of role playing proportions.
Players can customize their character to look anyway they wish. The character can be African American, Asian, Latino, White, old, young, male, or female. The graphics are stunning and the game play is solid enough. This isn't a straight up shooter, it's an rpg, so when you level up, it becomes necessary to spend skill points to strengthen your character--which can come in one of six classes.
The game isn't without it's flaws, load times are horrendous and sometimes in the middle of the action, there are more load times which cut away from the immediacy of the moment. Also, there's a lot of chat--quite a bit of it in fact. Which brings me to my next point. What makes Mass Effect so great is also it's Achilles' heel. You can control the story by either being a Paragon (good guy) or Renegade (bad guy). Based on your actions, the game adjusts itself and the story line compensates for your words and deeds. There is a moral code throughout the game and if you want, you can be a combination of both paragon and renegade. There isn't much fun in being a renegade, because for the most part, you get yelled at a lot--just like in real life if you're a jerk. But because of this story mechanic, the game has quite a bit of dialog. It's recommended to go through all of it to get the most out of the story, but sometimes you just want everyone to shut the hell up so you can blast something.
Overall, the game is great. Great customization, great graphics, and interesting plot. Definitely worth a purchase.