While much of what's been written about the game compares it to it's predecessor, knowledge of or previous experience with the series is unnecessary.
It's a fantastic shooter and enthralling RPG. Characters are surprisingly real, voice acting is the best of the current console generation, graphics are fantastic and the world is fully imagined and captivating.
There are only issues I have with the game. Scanning planets for elements is a boring time suck. Elements CANNOT be sold for credits which is lame considering money is in short supply. The only other issue is that the game is rather short. I was expecting a much larger world on the scale of GTA4 or Fallout 3 where small Star Trek like adventures were hiding in every system.
The 'free' DLC that comes with the Cerebus network is fun but not essential. It's an interesting business strategy that hopefully isn't going to become an interesting standard. To date there is one simple crew member/loyalty mission and a few pieces of equipment. I don't replay games so I love the idea of being surprised by new 'free' DLC, especially with a RPG. It's a reason to come back to the sandbox and remember why spending $60 on a game is OK.
I have to admit I found the relationships with my hot female crew members exciting. Not in a pervy CG porn way but as a challenge that didn't involve shooting guns, delivering a package or scanning planets. However, I wish that the makers of games such as this that are geared towards older audiences would stop being afraid of including nudity. Boobs, sex, violence, give us what we want already. As long as it's not button mashing to pull off combos, sex as an element of adult gaming is one more facet of story telling that developers need to embrace.
One of the best things about the Mas Effect series is the companions you meet along the way. So here is a tier list of all the companions from Mass Effect!
To think that Bioware at some point was capable of doing games like this, you see those characters and remember them like good old friends, and now check ME Andromeda, Anthem, Veilguard etc and wonder what the hell happened.
some in andromeda are decent, I agree with peebee and Vetra being good companions. Except Liam he's trash tier
it's like bitch but your shirt back on, your not blue or spikey get away from me
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
Wealth of Geeks explores some of the best gaming romances that have stolen our hearts over the years.
however I dont agree with the score for the graphics, a little too high IMHO. Extremely muddy textures here and there, lack of geometry/ decent particle effects (in most places, somee are pretty good) characters are the best looking part of the game, however even they only look "reasonably" good.
A 10 for gameplay is a bit silly too. The game was, although relatively cinematic, quite banale and repetetive.
Voice acting was a bit meh and animation quite blocky, too.
However Im taking all these obvservations from the PC version running @ max. I expect that the 360 version has quite a few jaggies and worse textures.