Mass Effect offers a great journey across the stars, set to a backdrop where humanity is trying to assert its position on the galactic scale. It offers plenty of opportunity for exploration, dozens of full developed characters to talk to and have varied discussions with, and interesting options in combat.

The Citadel is the main hub of activity in the galaxy, and the Council governs what happens in the galactic space over which they have authority. Humans are not yet awarded a position on the Council, but do have an embassy on the Citadel. You can choose the pre-made John or Jane Shepard, or you can play around and create your own character, though your last name will always be Shepard to facilitate the dialogue in the game. The pre-determined characters are Soldiers, but there are 6 classes you can choose from if you want to make your own. These are the 3 'pure' classes Soldier (better with weapons and can wear heavier armour), Engineer (ability to manipulate technology including things such as overheating enemy weapons and hacking things outside of combat) and the Adept (using telekinetic powers to throw and lift enemies) and 3 classes which are a mix of any of those 2. Which class you choose dictates which talents you will be able to upgrade during the game.

Your first mission is to travel to Eden Prime with a SPECTRE to investigate a beacon that has been discovered. The SPECTRE's are a covert group of soliders serving the Council, and they are beyond the law and are able to perform their duties as they see fit to get the job done. Before your arrival, a signal from the surface indicates they are under attack from the Geth, a sentient robotic race, thought to have been eradicated from within the Council's sphere of power. The events that follow set up the story nicely; the SPECTRE whom you accompanied is betrayed by Saren, a SPECTRE who has gone rogue, and you discover the Beacon left by the Protheans, a race that has long since been extinguished from existence. Something strange occurs when you discover the Beacon, and it seems to impart a vision upon you, something that you can not understand.

The story continues once you arrive back on the Citadel, and you are allowed to explore. There are many characters who you are able to talk to, and who may offer you assignments that are not necessary or related to your main mission, but you will likely feel compelled to see what everyone has to say. Once you approach the Council with enough evidence that Saren may be a threat, a milestone for humanity occurs, and you are the first human to be awarded a position as a SPECTRE for the Council. Once this part of the story unfolds, you are able to board the Normandy, and begin exploring the galaxy. Ships use the Mass Relay system to travel at hyperspeed to reach other systems in the galaxy. Once you have chosen a Cluster, you can then select which System within that Cluster to visit. Once you visit a system, you are shown that systems Sun and all the planets or objects orbiting it. From there you can select planets to get more information on them, and this may be scanning them to search for mineral deposits, or give you the opportunity to land on it if possible.

When landing on an uncharted world, you will be dropped off in the Mako, your wheeled exploration vehicle, which comes with it's own machine gun turret and cannon. The Mako is an all-terrain vehicle and can scale steep climbs, but it can be annoying to control at times. Some worlds are full of cliffs, and it can be annoying to navigate almost all the way to the top to find that the Mako can't quite make it up that final incline and you have to take a much longer way around. The Mako controls by pushing in the direction you want to go as opposed to steering (ala Halo's Warthog) but it seems to be sluggish or get confused as to what it should be doing. Your team can get out of the Mako, which will be required to survey mineral deposits, or enter bunkers.

When you leave the Normandy, whether on the Mako or into any port, you can select two members of your squad to join you. The game begins with two people on your squad, but you will encounter another 3 on your travels that are of varying classes and have different skills. Combat plays out much like a third person shooter, but is strongly affected by the RPG elements. Depending on your characters class, you may be able to upgrade their talent in the 4 weapon classes (Pistols, Shotguns, Assault Rifles and Sniper Rifles). While you lack skill in these areas, weapon reticules will grow large quickly and your accuracy will be terrible. Holding the right bumber also pauses the game and brings up the talent wheel. Here you can use each characters talents, directing them to a target if one is required, and once unpaused the ability will be used, and then recharge and be unavailable for a period of time. You qiuckly learn that it is not wise to run gung ho into most encounters, and that talents will need to be used wisely in some of the more challenging encounters to survive. You have the ability to heal your team mates, which also requires recharging before it can be reused. Should your team mates fall in combat, they will come back with a small amount of life after the combat encounter is over. It is also possible to have your team mates uses some of their talents automatically, and I found little problem with this. In general combat they could be a little dumb at times, shooting directly at walls that enemies were behind or walking out into almost certain death. While noticeable, usually this wasn't too much of an annoyance.

Experience is earned from taking out your enemies, but is not the only way. Experience can also be earned from resolving peoples problems, investigating things in environments, surveying minerals and recovering artifacts. New weapons, armour and items also become available over the course of the game, which can be found in locked containers (which is where the decryption skill comes in handy) or can be purchased once you have sufficient funds. You will earn money from completing certain tasks, or from selling off the items that you have found that you don't need any more. Once you earn enough experience you level up, and all of your characters progress at an equal rate, regardless of whether they are in your active party or not, so you don't need to worry about constantly swapping in characters to maintain the status quo between them.

Where Mass Effect excels is in the story telling. Facial animations are convincing and the voice acting superb. The characters subtle movements during cutscenes add weight and emotion to the discussion. While there is a main story line which doesn't change, certain aspects do change based on your dialogue choices or actions. Two talents you can put points into are Intimidate and Charm, which can open up additional dialogue options, which can help you get your way. It appears that a replay of the game with a completed save may be required to explore all of these options, as even though I had put all possible points at the earliest opportunity to each of these, there were still some dialogue options I found locked. Several side quests allow you to show how heartless you can be, by giving you the choice as to whether you allow some people to live or whether their grievances should be punishable by death. The story has several twists and without wanting to spoil too much, one of your crew members (and virtually his entire race) suffers from a disease that does not allow his people to procreate, yet Saren has discovered a way to counteract it, though only to pursue his own ends. There are other story elements that can relate to certain characters, and having them along particular missions can yield different results than if they were not.

What is great about Mass Effect is the attention to detail. There are plenty of conversations you can have that you don't need to, and these will often fill you in on certain parts of the backstory. Investigating certain objects in the environment can give you experience, but also adds logs to your Codex. You can vist your Codex at any time, and there are some main entries that are narrated which cover some of the more main topics (Mass Effect drives, the Relays, etc) as well as some secondary information you can read at your leisure. No doubt all of this information would take at least a couple of hours to sift through if read all at once, and provides a great complement to everything you will learn from playing the game proper, and gives you more insight to certain races or events, and grants a greater appreciation for the character interactions in the game.

Mass Effect is a fantastic adventure, enough that I started a second playthrough shortly after finishing the first, which is a rarity for me once I complete a game. A small word of warning for explorers; the end of the story 'locked in' a bit earlier than I was expecting. Make sure you explore all of your side missions early if you want to complete the game thoroughly as you will be unable to do so after the game ends.

Score 9.0