Mass Effect is the latest must own RPG for the Xbox 360 console.
Those of you who have played Bioware's previous RPG offering of KOTOR will have a lot more ease in playing this game than newbies. To put it simply there a few core controls that are reminiscent of KOTOR, that is not to say it is a KOTOR clone, far from it, but the influences are there.
The gameplay in itself is very slick, cutscenes are not obtrusive in anyway, and the conversation interaction is smooth and easy to use, something that does annoy me is the lack of ability to skip through conversations (I normally have subtitles turned on and read through them), you have to sit and listen to the full dialogue before you can continue, there are references in the booklet that this is to ensure full dramatic effect.
The weapons are in set classes and are capable of upgrades to suit both character and opponent (as you would expect from an RPG), and is quite a simple system to use. The main interface is easy to use, opting for a rotary menu as opposed to cycling through lists to get to the category you want. This is a much faster way of going directly to the screen that you want. This is important, because in a game genre where you can spend about 1/3 of the time in the menus, you want them to be easy to use and intuitive as possible. No matter how good the action part of the game performs, if you have a poor menu system, it makes the game extremely frustrating.
It is just as easy to equip your squad as it is to equip yourself, and also to give them orders in the midst of battle. The game freezes when you hold down your LB or RB to issue weapon changes or biotic/tech commands, making it as simple to use as it is to change weapons.
The gameplay itself has a nice world in which you can interact and discover plenty of challenges and side missions (referred to as assignments) as well as a plethora of characters to interact with.
Squad control can be as interactive as you like, whether you like to issue commands like in Rainbow 6 Vegas, or are happy to let them find their own way. Your squad is as much under your control as your own character, or if that is not your thing, they are quite content to assist you in ways the game AI deems fit, which a majority of the time is coherent with your idea of what they should be doing (though they do tend to take all of the good spots for cover).
There are very few things I can fault with this game, the characters are strong and likeable, the game runs very cinematically, the freedom of choice and consequences that really do have lasting affects on the game, as well as the fun things like designing your own character and different coloured armour/weapons.
Having said that, I do have a few complaints, some of the button options aren't consistent, a majority of the game has the 'B' button as your cancel option, except weapon upgrades, you have to press a to exit, and make sure you have it on the item you want equipped. That means you need to ensure that you go back through the list of upgrades to ensure that you have the option you want before you exit, this make 'just having a look' for better items painful, because I have to scroll back through my list to find the item again or risk having it unequipped.
The other thing, which I also consider minor, is that the textures often are still loading when the cutscenes or stages start, it is a minor irritation, but something that takes you out of the imersive environment, and reminds you that you are playing a game. A very well rendered & textured game, but still brought out of it for a few moments.
All in all I would say this is a must own for any RPG fan.