The Mass Effect trilogy may become the Star Wars of video games.
Another positive from this game is how the choices you make determine the outcome of the story and characters. Of course, this has been a staple in BioWare games, and it does not lack at all in Mass Effect. The player can range from the ever-loved hero of the galaxy to the Jack Bauer (you are an **** but you get the job done) of the universe. If you prefer neither of these, you can take the straight neutral approach, but the outcomes of certain scenes and dialogues may not be as satisfying. The combat will appease most FPS players, though on harder difficulties more than just running in and blasting everything that moves will be needed to beat the game. With that in mind, this is not an FPS, but an RPG with a shooting element. In order to successfully complete the game (again, especially on harder difficulties) the player will need to combine both simply shooting the enemy and making combinations of biotic and/or tech attacks. The biotic attacks closely resemble force powers from Star Wars, whereas the tech abilities would be equivalent to a hacker or some sort. All of the classes play differently, which allows several playthroughs of the game. Whether you want to go all combat with the soldier, all biotic or tech with the biotic and engineer, respectivelly, or combinations of all three with the other three classes, it is entirely up to you. While the game itself sets the bar for storytelling and cinematic appeal, what does keep it from being completely masterful is in its other parts. It seems that the "open-world" aspect had gotten the short-end of the stick, with almost all side quests being repetitive and sometimes dull. The lack of creativity in the side quests' planets bring down this aspect too, with every secondary planet containing 3 common things: a debris of some sort, an anomaly of some sort, and a building or place relating to the quest. These quest related places seem to be rather small and desolate, with every side quest taking you to some barren planet with barely any signs of life. A change of pace would have been to create some planets with these side-quests that had more liveable atmospheres. Create a couple of places like Noveria, one of the main quests planets, in which maybe you had to pick up a package and deliver it to someone, rather than the repetitive shoot-kill-receive your reward-mission.
The squad command in combat tends to be rather weak as well. The player would be better off just keeping your squadmates with you, rather than try to use tactics in movement to acheive victory. In most cases, splitting up really isn't the greatest of ideas (especially if you are by yourself and have a Geth Destroyer barreling towards you, trust me) and, excluding the power and weapons tab, there is not really many options of what to do with your squadmates, other than have them follow you or stay in some spot.
There tends as well to be small graphical hiccups, more noticeable during cutscenes. I suggest freeing up some space on your harddrive, because that seemed to keep these load-in problems to a minimum. Overall, however they shouldn't distract you from playing the game.
Overall, Mass Effect is a must-have for any Xbox 360 owner, and is the beginning of a story and franchise that will have plenty more to come in the future. It has opened a new universe in sci-fi, enough to stand among the Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, Fallout, and countless other sci-fi universes in both cinema and video games. In fact, this game contains the best of both worlds: cinema and video games.
When the release of Mass Effect 3 comes, will countless numbers of people be waiting in line dressed as Quarians, Turians, and Asari just as those who wait for Star Wars movies will? With the success of this game, it is doubtful it won't happen.