Had the potential to be Bioware's best game ever, but because of some flaws, must settle for OUTSTANDING instead.
The inventory system is horrible, the sidequests seem tedious and unrelated to the primary story, and there are numerous loading screens to be found. TONS of them!
WIth that out of the way, this is easily Bioware's best game since KOTOR, and if it weren't for the drawbacks I mentioned shortly before, might arguably be better.
No one doubts Bioware's ability to tell a good story, and Mass Effect is a great one. Every world introduces a new element to the story, and all of it is handled well, adding to the interwoven plot without feeling thrown in out of nowhere for the sake of patching up a plothole. The vision for this story was enormous, bigger than the 100's of world that exist in the game, and the execution of the story makes sure that the potential is well lived up to.
Much to it's credit, the improved graphics over their former games help make this story stronger. The game is so cinematic during the cutscenes, it makes you forget you're palying a game. It feels more like watching a movie, but movies seldom look this good, or tell stories this well.
This is not to say it's like a Final Fantasy game, where the cinematics obviously overshadow the standard combat. The combat system, while not terribly difficult, does give a sense of urgency and intensity that makes you feel like you're a small recon strike force, going into places other people can't. Which, incidentally, is exactly what your team is, so it succeeds in selling the importance of your missions, and your character's roles in the story.
As per usual, there's a love interest (multiple, actually), which seems to be a bioware standard in RPG's. Unfortunately, for people that play the game wanting a good one of these (and I'm one of those people), this is where the story telling is not up to Bioware's typical level of excellence. As a male player, neither woman seem terribly compelling as a love interest, and while revealing facts from these characters develop while persuing the love interes, there is never a sense that these characters are making a genuine connection, and sometimes, it hard to see why they like eachother. There's no sense of clandestined, star crossed love here. At best, it's just two people who find eachother intriguing, and hook up in fear that their lives are about to end. Which, some might argue, is more realistic, but I don't play space opera sci-fi RPG's for realism. I have real life for lackluster, kinda sorta, and under these circumstances 'why not' relationships.
Romance aside, the characters are wonderfully interesting, both independantly, and in the context of the main story. Bioware has always shined in this respect, and Mass Effect does not drop the ball. Every character, by games end, is well fleshed out, and beyond that, very likable. I can't even make that claim of KOTOR, as a couple of the characters plain annoyed me. All the characters in this game are loaded with integrity, and are very easy to like, and relate to.
I covered the bad, while tiresome at times, does little to affect the main story (outside of loading screens), so they're not worth going into in detail.
The universe of Mass Effect is large, and the story is absolutely wonderful. It's worth renting a 360 for the weekend, and telling your family and friends you'll see them again on Monday. Bioware fans have waited for a game that would prove that Bioware was bigger than KOTOR, and Mass Effect, while not better, certainly exceeds it on some levels, and creates an equally unique universe just as compelling and worth your time right now, as it was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.