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| Mass Effect | 
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| From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $21.99
You Save: $28.00 (56%)
New (28) Used (6) from $21.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  136 reviews
Sales Rank: 284
Format: Dvd-video
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
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
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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 131 more reviews...
DRM'd to death August 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I wanted to love this game. I even tried to love it. But I couldn't, and here is why:
1. DRM that sucks the life out of everything good the game has to offer. We as consumers have got to stop accepting this garbage. It limits playability, prevents legitimate use of the game we purchased, and treats the consumer as "guilty until proven innocent." I really wish I had NOT bought this game for that one reason. Never again will I give my money for a product with DRM.
2. Poorly ported. As many others have noted, the camera that follows Shepherd around is frustrating, and doesn't allow for the immersive quality of a first person view.
3. Control of the rover vehicle thing is clumsy and frustrating. The physics on planet surfaces is so poor that I didn't want to do many of the side quests. You can drive up nearly vertical surfaces, bounce hundreds of feet down the sides of mountains without suffering any damage, all using slippy controls that don't feel right for a bad-*** personnel carrier.
4. Many sound bugs. The processing of sound in this game is horrible. The sound fades out during many of the movie sequences. The only option is to turn on subtitles, which hurts immersion into the game. At other points in game sound glitches cause ambient noise to disappear while shooting a weapon, or the opposite, so that you only hear ambient sound, and muffled or nonexistent weapons fire. I have a extremly high quality sound card, the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude so this is NOT due to my system. Even the recently released patch does not solve this issue.
5. Inconsequential rewards for accomplishing side objectives. There are two levels to this. The first is that if you take the time to find all the rare earths, gases, metals, etc., you are rewarded with nothing more than cash. That would be fine if there was anything worth buying with it. However, once you're level 25+ all of the weapons you can buy are either the same, or inferior to what you already have. The mission based side quests provide little reward also. There are very few bosses, and they never drop weapons or equipment that is specialized or unique. I was hoping that side quests would allow access to weapons and armor that were otherwise unavailable. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Other than being a completenic, there is no reason to pursue side quests at all.
6. Short main campaign. The main campaign can be completed in 20 hours or less. That would be fine if side quests were more rewarding, but they're not (see #5). I liked the main campaign quite a bit, and thought the story was fairly interesting, but it would have been nice if the story took less of a linear path. What I mean by that (given that you can choose to go to the planets in any order) is it would have been interesting if the game required you to return to planets you had previously visited (other than the Gate) for additional objectives/story arcs. For example, a mission that required you to travel to several different planets. The main campaign would not have been disappointing in the slightest if they had made it less linear.
So all that said, why 3 stars and not 1? Because the game is not a total failure. The storyline is much better than average, the voice acting and writing is of a very high quality, and the combat is pretty fun. This game is not a failure, it is just not that great. It doesn't deserve 1 star anymore than it deserves 5.
Again, the principle reason NOT to buy this game is the awful DRM that infests it. We as gamers and consumers need to show that we will NOT accept crippled games that we are essentially leasing. We need to put our money where our mouths are and avoid these games until their makers start to pay attention. If enough of us refuse to buy games with DRM, eventually they will get rid of it.
The principle reason to buy the game are quality writing and acting, a good storyline, and entertaining combat sequences.
***Whenever I write a review that mentions DRM, I like to give a plug for Amazon. They have DRM free music downloads. If you're going to buy digital music, buy them from Amazon.***
 one of the worst games I've ever played August 19, 2008
Games I liked for reference: the Total War series, KOTOR series, Fallout 1, Jagged Alliance, Sins of Solar Empire to name a few.
However, this POS is horrible. BORING. Spent way to much time just running around. The inventory management system is annoying. They make it difficult to give the best weapons to the best people. You have to click around every time. Also, you have no idea if a person is really effective with a given weapon. KOTOR had the great idea of allowing you to see the combat log(D&D style).
In everyway this game falls short of a real PC game. I'll be much more careful of buying anything from BioWare in the future.
 A great experience and a lot of fun. August 18, 2008
A lot of people have complained of bugs and other issues, and I am sure they are telling the truth. I was one of the lucky ones and had literally zero issues or bugs and I replayed this game four times. Although it gives off a sandbox feel at first, it is deceptive as you will quickly discover there are just minor variations to a rather linear plot. You have to accomplish the same objectives on various planets, for example, but you can do them out of order.
Still, the game is of cinematic quality and has great production values. The PC version , if it works ok for you, is astonishing. I really enjoyed it and those I recommended it to also purchased it and had no issues. They also enjoyed it a lot. Great game, a definite A.
Big Success August 15, 2008
First, I need to say that this game is lovely. Lighting is dynamic and the feel of the game is almost surreal. I pre-Ordered this game and had no problems out of the box. I play this cutting edge title on a computer that is almost 4 years old, but it was configured as a gaming machine (XPS gen4). The video card's chip is a an nVidea 7950 w/ 512MB, CPU is 3.25GHz(single core), 3GB RAM, Win XP. I suspect that most folks that are having issues with the game are playing with underpowered machines or vista or both.
Like some reviewers i found the targeting and movement ports from XBox360 a little annoying because it did not fully utilize the mouse. But I quickly adapted to it and it became less irksome as I played.
What makes this game great is the story. It is like a good scifi book--or maybe a movie. The characters are generally likable--or at least engaging. Just like a really good book, I reached the pinnacle of the story late at night, and had to play it through to the end... I love stories that compel you to finish them. When I was done, I eagerly started a new character, with different skills to replay the game making different choices. Replay should be further enhanced by an upcoming expansion for the game (not yet available).
Combat is definitely a large part of the game, but there are many FPS games that send you to the lab to clean up the results of bio-tech experiments gone awry. The thing that makes this game unique is the story, composition, and character development. Your decisions are important and affect future game play and other characters.
Voice acting is great. Although *Chuck Norris* is not listed as a voice actor, the actor providing the voice for the male protagonist sounds just like him. I swear, he must have used a pseudonym. Marina Sirtis (Star Trek TNG; Deanna Troy) does a NPC voice as well. All in all the voice acting is superb!
I think anyone who enjoys sci fi--especially readers--will enjoy this game. I say this because the story line, not because there is lots of reading involved. If you are running a cheaper system, you may want to play close attention to the negative feedback by people that have had problems to determine if you can run the game on your machine. Enjoy!
don't let these non-specific reviews taint it. August 11, 2008
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
this game = ownage. it's incredible. 3rd playthrough i'm practically having just as much fun (first two were on 360). plus i get to do the expansion pack thingy for free on pc.
it looks better, loads faster, and has better menus. the control scheme blows the 360 controller away.
if your pc can run it well, play this game. it's the best single player rpg experience i've ever played. this counts all snes, ps1, you name it. mass effect is the best rpg ever.
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