I recently got a copy of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. I never played Mass Effect and have never found sci-fi or shooters that interesting but I wanted it for the reputation that the original games had, spoken of so fondly by many and from the makers of Dragon Age it had to be worth a try. I have avoided as much hype and spoilers as possible.

The opening section of the first game introduces the hero, the basic game mechanics and introduces the villain. It’s decent enough as an introduction to the game and it had me interested in playing more.

Then I got to this huge planet sized spaceship looking thing that the characters called The Citadel. The Citadel is one of the most boring areas I’ve seen in a game in a long time, everything was so white and clean, there was very little character in the design, I’m disappointed to be honest. However The Citadel is obviously a story area which allowed me to meet more characters and almost every one of them seemed really dull, two of the alien companions are the only characters I enjoy listening to. Needless to say I was happy to leave The Citadel.

I went to a planet called Noveria after looking at a galaxy map that wouldn’t let me explore anything (frustrating). Noveria was where my view of the game started to change. Instead of the incredibly boring wandering round of The Citadel there was a chase, a mission to find some woman who was behind a door, corrupt law enforcement, a driving section, a monster outbreak and moral choices. The game was starting to show its appeal.

There are annoying things about the game like unpredictable enemy powers on harder fights which make a reload almost unavoidable the first time around and having to pull up the map constantly because the mini-map gave me no sense of where I was going. I also don’t like the dialogue system which is basically a good bad or neutral choice most of the time, it reminds me of the Dragon Age 2 one which even by that games release wasn’t the best.

Although I haven’t formed a full opinion of the game yet I’m starting to have a positive outlook on Mass Effect and given that this is just the start of the first game I could end up enjoying the others quite a bit if they continue to impress.