The wonderful detailed story makes up for any short comings. WOW!
GOOD:
- Extremely detailed story with a variety of interesting characters. The cinematic cut scenes are beautiful to watch. You really feel like you are developing a your own movie experience.
- As with most RPGs, you are given a moral compass to pursue. Also, you can select your the type of soldier to play as; combat, engineer, biotic, etc which offers great replay options.
- I liked the addition of the Mako vehicle within the game. Adds a variety to the combat.
- First rate scenery! Planets are diverse with hazards to take into consideration during exploration.
- Lots of planets to explore.
- Variety of colleagues to take with you on missions with various skills. I found if you don't take certain ones you won't be able to open encrypted areas.
- Straight forward game play controls.
- I found the Prima Game Guide very helpful. You get a lot of in depth help and information on weapons, armor, locations, everything.
- Sound is excellent especially during cinematic scenes.
- Tremendous value for your dollar. I played for 38 hours completing main story and all side quests. Got on sale through Steam.
- No freeze ups! I still saved often just in case my character didn't make it.
Bad:
- Your male character (Shepard) is the worst voice actor in the entire game. His speech is not fluid; it's choppy. It's as if he's trying too hard. You get used to it though.
- Weapon options are very limited. The only other RPG I have played was Fallout 3. Compared to that, you don't get many at all. As a soldier, you get a pistol, sniper rifle, shot gun, and some grenades as well as armor. You earn increasing more powerful varieties of those types. It would have been nice to have a larger variety.
- Side quests are uninspired and get tedious. You go to a planet, explore to obtain a few artifacts, find the bases, kill the bad guys, loot the base, repeat. The scenery changes, but the side quests are basically all the same expect for a few.
Overall, this is a wonderful RPG. The main story will draw you in and hold you. It's well worth playing. Looking forward to Mass Effect 2!