In a Nutshell
In 2183, war was beginning. As Commander Shepard, it is up to you to explore the galaxy, right wrongs, meet interesting people and shoot down a ton of bellicose robots for the good of the galaxy.
Story
the story of Mass effect is nothing particularly special. The plot has its twists here and there, but is rather simple and a bit flat. The plot is reminiscent of pulpy sci-fi, which, if you enjoy, you'll probably enjoy a lot here. It's not that the plot is bad, but it's not terribly interesting or innovative. The way the story is told hinges greatly on characters, which gives you plenty of occasions to stamp your choices and direct parts of the plot where you want it to go. The storytelling lacks a bit of depth, though, rarely hinting, always telling or telling you to read about it later. There isn't a lot left to guess or interpret, it's all very clear-cut which I found a bit shallow.
The large amount of in-game documentation helps understand the world immensely and certainly hints at a complex world, but it doesn't do it that competently, learning about the religion of a species through a document isn't the same as learning of it through dialog or, even better, through exploration of a well designed area. This is a definite flaw, not much of the world is really hinted through the areas or demeanor, most of what you'll learn about the world of Mass Effect, you'll read about it in the Codex rather than infer. it's not, in itself, a bad practice, but learning about a world as you explore it is always more fulfilling than learning by reading about an aspect of it.
If the story has it's high point, however, it's the characters. The main characters all have their arcs, their worries, they are well-rounded and interesting. Each of the party members have occasions where they'll tell you more about themselves, their culture, their background, their own stories are usually quite interesting. The crew is sympathetic, flawed, they're all very human, which makes some choices quite dramatic throughout the story. All in all, this redeems some of the flaws of the story and certainly makes this aspect more than merely adequate.
Gameplay
Mass Effect mixes RPG elements with Shooter mechanics rather well. The controls are tight, the shooting feels right and the removal of an ammo system is something I personally applaud. During fights, the ability to pause the action to survey the area and use abilities is a good addition which adds a certain tactical edge that would be missing otherwise. It's simple to survey the situation and use the special ability you need to, or tell a teammate to target a specific enemy or seek cover elsewhere. The AI is decent enough, enemies seek cover, try to shoot from it whenever they can, snipers are often parts of fights and are well-positioned, some enemies will try to charge you, mostly zombie-like enemies but also some that are very resistant to damage. Your teammates are competent, keeping a good eye out, reacting to enemies getting close, using their abilities when they feel they need to. Sadly, while behind cover, it is sometimes a bit hard to pop out and aim or shoot at enemies that went around the cover or come at you from behind.
Outside of combat, you get to manage your squad's abilities and equipment, using RPG style point-buy, letting you buy upgrades to your abilities as you level up. One of the biggest flaws in the game is the inventory system, which has a 150 item limit, but no way to properly sort the equipment. It's much harder than it needs to be to find a specific mod for a gun or body armor due to the absence of any sorting. On top of that, you end up with a very large amount of guns and armors that are often completely useless. Each manufacturer has different statistical priorities, but only a handful of models are of any use, they're often much better in every regard than the other models.
While exploring, you will be on foot or on a vehicle, the Mako. The Mako is much maligned, described often as hard to control, but I found that you get used to it rather quickly, and it is quite an agile vehicle, capable of driving on almost vertical walls and even jumping, which makes it actually quite handy for dodging large, slow-moving anti-vehicle shots. You can also explore the galaxy, hopping from star system to star system, finding planets to survey, hoping to find minerals or artifacts and planets to actually explore, where you'll find quests, enemies, artifacts or minerals. There is a lot to explore in this game, which certainly lengthens the game's life.
Speaking of quests and sidequests, you get a lot of options in terms of how to tackle quests. Tracking how "by-the-book" or not you are, you gain Paragon or Renegade points for most of your choices. It's not a very deep system, and it really only means there's two storylines, one in which Shepard is a heroic righteous soldier and one in which he is an underhanded one who gets things done, collateral damage be damned. Still, that does give you a lot of occasions to feel like you are changing the story.
Presentation
The game looks rather good, considering it came out in late 2007. It still holds up today, though some textures on models looked blurry during close-ups. Still, most models look quite good and there are a lot of nice little details on them. The creature designs are pretty good, succeeding at making aliens look alien, especially races like the pressure-suit wearing Volus or the luminescent hovering Hanar. Most planets were rather barren, but offered impressive vistas thanks to great skyboxes, with the main plot mission planets being absolutely great, covered with lush details. An interesting detail is the film grain effect that manages to tie everything in and make the game look very cinematic.
The music is nicely composed, enhancing dramatic scenes, intensifying action scenes, doing everything good music needs to, and there's not much more to say about the score. It's good, it's fittingly grandiose, it's an all-around nice score.
Verdict
Mass Effect manages to bridge the gap between two very different genres and manages to do it very well. With solid gameplay, great characters, and a very nice presentation to tie it all into a nice package. It has its flaws, but it an all-around great game. If by now, you still haven't played it, I strongly suggest you pick up a copy for your platform of choice and do yourself a favor, you deserve it.
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