Mass Effect | 
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| From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $35.75
You Save: $14.24 (28%)
New (19) Used (4) from $32.00
Rating:  118 reviews
Sales Rank: 274
Format: Dvd-video
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Genre: shooter_action_games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 2000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 1.1
MPN: 19081
Model: 19081
UPC: 014633190816
EAN: 0014633190816
ASIN: B00140P9BA
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new, factory selaed. US version NOT an IMPORT!!! APO, FPO, PO box shipping available! FAST order PROCESSING and SHIPPING!
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| Features:
| • | Experience a rich and engrossing story where your choices decide the fate of galaxy | | • | Engage in emotionally charged interactions with the most realistic digital actors ever seen in a video game, using an innovative new dialog system | | • | Immerse yourself in an incredible new adventure from world-famous masters of the RPG; BioWare | | • | Stunning high resolution graphics, optimized GUI and controls for PC gamers | | • | Dominate the battlefield with new individual squad member command system |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
You are Commander Shepard of the starship Normandy and you are the last hope for all life in the Galaxy. Saren, a rogue member of the elite and untouchable Spectre agents, has discovered the secret to unleashing an apocalyptic force on the galaxy, and only you stand in his way. To save the lives of billions, you must do whatever it takes to stop Saren and prevent the return of an ancient force bent on the destruction of all organic life.
High resolution visuals - highly detailed textures, characters and environments Fully customizable controls - you can re-map the control scheme any way you like Run & Gun Control - You can assign biotic powers or skills to 'hot keys' allowing you to play Mass Effect with a heavier focus on action Decryption mini-game New inventory screen GUI and functionality - The enhanced inventory system makes it easier for you to equip and modify your weapons and armor
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| Customer Reviews: Read 113 more reviews...
 worst bioware game ever July 18, 2008
David A. Visti (Raleigh, NC)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Bioware has historically written great games. This game, unfortunately, is not one of them. First, it has onerous DRM. You can only install the game three times, and then you are locked out.
I would categorize this as an action/rpg. Unfortunately, the combination does not work well. If you like shooters, there are far better games to choose from. If you like RPG's, you will be disappointed with how little depth there is to that aspect.
I wish someone had warned me before I wasted my money on this game.
 One of the best Sci Fi RPG's ever made. July 17, 2008
Martin (Tucson, AZ)
I own a PS3 and salivated over this game since it came out for the xbox and was deprived. But I had a secret weapon. A decent PC gaming machine and patience. It finally came out for PC and despite the awful reviews and horror stories, I just had to risk it.
Okay, this game got butchered for the DRM and the crashes. I agree with everyone as I suffered through an install meltdown. I installed the game, I tried to play it and the dreaded red x box came up stating some wierd technical reason. My heart sunk and I felt like I just bought a 50 dollar coaster. I decided to go to their website for some help. Don't do it! The website was not helpful in the least. So frustrated, I called technical support. Surprisingly, he was extremely helpful despite the thick indian accent. He moved me step through step every click of the way and solved the problem! Throughout technical support was great, but it should have never gotten to that point in the first place. So I agree with everyone on that point. DRM punishes honest customers. It's total (explative). By no means do I plan on playing this game on more than one computer so why put a limit. This is a pure one person game, it's not an MMO so what's with the paranoia? Why limit it to 3? Worse is you need to be online to authenticate the game not once but forever! Once again, this is not an MMO so now you are punishing people who do not have internet access in their homes. Not cool. If this was any other game, I gaurantee I would not buy it. It is only because I don't have any other means of playing it.
Okay, now to the game. Does anyone remember Starflight for the Sega Genesis back in the day? Yeah I'm showing my age. Anyway this is Starflight the next generation! I always hoped for a sequel for the PC or next gen consoles. Alas it never happened but Mass Effect is the same exact thing! From the the free form explaration map, to your alien crew, to even the Mako! Except for the true imersion from exploring your own ship to exploring other worlds on foot, to traveling in the mako. On and on and on. The graphics are beyond amazing in my opinion especially during dialog sessions. The faces are amazing looking. The voice acting is top notch, the music is amazing too. I kind of want the soundtrack of this. The story line is great with plenty of side missions to keep you very busy and a neat little romantic subplot which adds to the space opera feel. This led to some paranoid attacks from fox news and middle aged men and women who not only never played this game but never played video games in their lives. When the so called "sex" scene came to fruition. I laughed. This stuff is so mild compared to MTV which "your kids" watch every single day. Tila Tequila is hardcore porn compared to this.
Now for the bad. The combat system truly sucks. You cannot control the AI characters period. I just let them go and do their thing and pretty much fight on my own. The shooting and targets are not crisp and definite like 1st person shooters which is what this combat is trying to be. The inventory system takes a long time to get used to and is not efficient. It's so unpractical that you end up amassing equipment just because you dont want to go into the inventory system. The game certainly lags and I have a decent rig which I will list at the end of this review. I have never had a crash but at times it seems like it will freeze for a few seconds when I move to the main menu and makes me think it is ready to crash but eventually goes to the menu. Dialoge sometimes skips but not often. These gripes are trumped by the fun factor. The fact is the game played through without crashing once and even though your have combat a lot, your interest lies more in the story and advancing the story.
If you have an x box 360 get it for that, but if you don't have one it just might be worth the risk, but make darn sure you have the right pc specs!
As promised my spects:
Sony Vaio Desktop PC
2.8 Dual Core Pentium D
2 Gig memory
300 gig hard drive
Nvidia 8800 640mb GTS Graphics Card
Windows Premium Vista
It's a'right, but it's no KOTOR... July 17, 2008
Ravi (Dallas, TX)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I guess the title pretty much conveys what I feel about this game. I'm almost through with my campaign, and while the overall impression is positive, I still can't avoid the feeling of being a little underwhelmed.
The story is "epic' but that doesn't mean that its riveting and enthralling as well. It goes along predictable lines, almost as if it's on auto-pilot. A few more twists and turns wouldn't have hurt, and there are hardly any "consequences" to your decision and actions. What's going to happen, WILL happen. The choices that are given to the player are mainly cosmetic and do not affect the way the story unfolds. The side-quests have no bearing on the main campaign, and have no meaning other than being a way for you to earn some XP's.
The shooter element, while welcome in an RPG, feels a little awkward. There's no first person perspective, and for those of us who enjoy a good shooter as much as a good RPG, that's a bit of a let-down.
Graphics : Even on the mid-range graphics setting that I mostly played this game on, the visuals were fairly decent. Even though my system is hardly cutting-edge, I do sometimes set the graphic options to max (sacrificing playability), just to check out how good a game CAN look. The visuals on this game are definitely good, but not quite the "mind-blowing" experience that some have labeled them. I believe PC graphics can be a lot better than what we see here (perhaps something to do with the fact that this game was created for XBOX, and then ported over to PC). A baffling thing I noticed was that the graphics engine performance was not very consistent. You would think that if you increase the eye-candy, the performance would suffer, and vice-versa. This was hardly the case with me. There were times that I could run absolutely stutter free on the highest graphics setting, and other times I would get stutters and low FPS even on lower graphics setting for the same map area. Almost as if the amount of eye-candy I had on had no effect what-so-ever on the performance. It would be smooth as silk when it wanted to, and choppy when it felt like it. This could be because of the fact that my machine was below the recommended-specs (though sufficiently over the minimum reqd specs), but at least you would expect some consistency.
Audio : The voice-acting is uniformly good, though I can't understand why everyone has to scratch their head while in a conversation... :-). The music was fine, though I turned it down fairly low, a personal preference. The guns sounded fine and powerful enough.
The inventory system is a PAIN. There is so much you need to do on item by item basis, that you spend more time in your inventory screen than you would care to. I wish they had some option to select multiple items and perform some action on all of them.... instead of clicking one, selecting an action (like "Convert to omni-gel"), then clicking "Yes" again on the "Are you sure?" screen... FOR EVERY ITEM. I am a software designer by profession and KNOW how irritating it is for the users to perform the same thing over and over and over again. Just give a "Do all" option, and an "Undo" option if the user makes a mistake. It's not that tough..:P
Mako : The vehicle isn't really as tedious as some others have made it out to be. I quite enjoyed the missions where you take this bad baby and kick some bu#t. Sure, its a little twitchy, but you soon get used to its handling, and can ride at a fair clip in it. My only complaint with the Mako was that if you've zoomed in on some target, there really is no way to tell which way the vehicle is facing, so navigating and shooting at the same time was a bit cumbersome.
The DRM Issue : Really, it seems to be blown a tad out of proportion. It's NOT a root-kit people. It seems everyone and his uncle is giving the game a 1-start rating because of the DRM (most of them don't even have the game and quite a few don't even know the intricacies of the DRM software). While I personally don't like the DRM strategies being used by the game publishers, I also understand the need for them. As long as their DRM schemes don't hurt my computer (which they haven't so far), I am ok with it (though not too happy). But DRM is here to stay, so live with it folks, and do some research if you're really concerned. 90% of the stuff flying around about DRMs are rumors perpetuated on blogs and discussion forums.
Overall I'd say its a fairly decent game, but if you go out expecting this to better or match KOTOR, you'd be disappointed. Play it for what it is.
Oh, and I just had to mention... I am SO glad that this RPG is not a fantasy RPG. I am just sick to the bone (as I suspect are many others) of hacking and slashing and throwing spells, and killing wizards and dragons and skeletons.. Mass Effect was certainly a very welcome change from that.. :-)
**** SPOILER ALERT ****
The following part (or whinings, take your pick, LOL) talk about specific elements of the game. If you wish to have a virgin experience of the game, read no futher.
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The game starts of with CHEESE.. UPPER CASE.
A scared dock worker, that too one of questionable integrity, SAYS that he HEARD (not SAW) the other Turian being referred to as Saren, and you go to the council and argue as if thats the ultimate evidence. Then you act so indignant when the council (rightfully) declines to act on that evidence. Then Ashley makes a comment to the tune of "I can't believe how the council could ignore all the evidence we had. They must hate us.. boohoo". Well, stuff it, sister!! What evidence are you talking about? You HAVE none, quite yer whinin'. We've had enough of that from Anakin in episodes I thru III.
Thankfully the level of cheese rapidly went down after that. I nearly put the game down after that. Thankfully I continued hoping things would get better, and they did.
2. A cycle of 50,000 yrs..? Oh come on. Thats not even a drop in the ocean when compared to the cosmic time-line. If they keep wiping away intelligent races every 50K years, where do they get any intelligent races from? Evolution doesn't happen overnight, you know. And "theatrically" 50,000 years lacks the impact of something like "every 2 million yrs", or something like that. That would make this a really BIG event.
Thoughts Concerning the DRM July 17, 2008
Zachary Petit (NY)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I do not own this game, though I will attempt to acquire it shortly and will update my review accordingly. I am here to note that although this game comes with DRM security technology, there are dozens of cracked versions all ready available at numerous pirate software websites. I suggest that all of you that are complaining about the DRM feature do as I will do: buy the game, and download a back-up copy that will still work in the event that BioWare happens to go down the tube. Support the company that produces these great games and protect yourself the only way you can. Hopefully these companies will develop a better model of software security soon.
Immersion into Science Fiction July 14, 2008
Richard P. Marsden
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a review for those of us who saw Mass Effect on the console and happened to own a pc. So I'm not going to compare it to the console, let's just see how it stands on its own on the pc platform...
The plot is interesting. An evil villian wants to destroy the galaxy and you have to stop him. Ok, nevermind not so interesting. But the subplot is! Humanity has joined a galactic Council, and as the new kids on the block are seeking to prove themselves. During the game you'll find your loyalty to humanity and to the galactic Council at odds. The choices aren't clear cut good/evil like we saw in Knights of the Old Republic. While the plot may not be 'new', the game does a great job of making you feel like you are a part of a Space Opera!
Plenty of side missions though they don't seem to have an overall bearing on the game. There is a romance subplot which earned lots of hype and a temporary ban in Singapore and is so tame you have to wonder 'why'?
Voice acting is well done and used for every NPC and character that talks to you. How many times have we played a game where only some of characters are voice-acted? Oblivian comes to mind. How good is the voice acting? If you know your Star Trek you might just recognize some of the voices! They used more than a few proffesional actors and it showed.
Graphics are actually quite stunning. People complain that there are glitches and sure, there are. However, the body motions, skin tones, facial expressions and fluid movement of the characters blows something like Oblivian out of the water. The aliens and people 'look' real and they move in a more graceful manner than the characters of other games. Lips don't quite match up to speech and I think that's gaming's next big challenge.
Buggy? A bit, squad controls are difficult to use and your friendly AI aren't the brightest lot. There are some graphic glitches but nothing that makes the game unplayable.
Combat? Similar to other bioware games. However they really went for ranged combat over melee and did their best to have cover and move and fire tactics. Does it work? No. The AI (enemy and friendly) aren't bright enough to use the environment as well as you can. Or even close for that matter. Your own character can get a bit confused to. Many a time I was knelt, with my back to a wall, only for the enemy to flank the wall and not show up on my hud as a potential target until I detached myself from over.
Replayability? The game has plenty of venues to visit, but you see most of it all the first time through. No major changes in storyline besides following the Paragon or Renegade path either and maybe a few subplot tweaks. Some may want to play the game again as a different class, but I don't think that alone would inspire me. The game isn't 'sandbox' enough for me to play more than twice.
Rated M! Wow...talk about overkill. Blood? Hardly any gore compared to most games. Nudity? Ummm, I think a Pert shower commercial shows just as much. Language? Nothing that matches up to late night tv. Violence? Ok, plenty of that. I don't mind when games get the M rating, but if they do then I sure wish they would make the game for the older audience. Don't dumb things down for the young teens! Mass Effect, for all its 'M' rating, is a game directed at the teen crowd. It isn't dark, it isn't complex, and the sex is so mild you have to wonder why the 'panic' over it. I think the gaming industry has to learn how to do an M game. The Witcher, there's an M game! Grand Theft Auto, also M...and played by young teens (sigh). Mass Effect...how it ranks into the same field as those two is beyond me.
DRM? So apparently I can only play this game if I'm online and ask Bioware if it is 'ok' to play. Hmmm, so I can't play this if my internet connection goes down, can't play this on a laptop, on say an airplane, and in a few years I may not be able to play it at all? That's a pity and software companies need a better way to protect against piracy than to punish honest buyers. It's my game, I bought it, it isn't an online game, ergo I shouldn't have to be online to play it.
Pros: The game tries to immerse a player into a science fiction film, and I think they did a great job with the tools at hand. They wanted to tell a story and did a fine job of it, and the graphics surely enhanced said story!
Cons: Combat AI is pretty terrible. DRM makes me suspicious. M for mature when it isn't.
Worth $50? Mmmm, yeah. You do get a fair ammount of gameplay out of it even if you only play once. I think if it drops to $39.99 it's a steal!
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