From: tcaz2 | #129
Really solid gunplay with lots of options for different kinds of characters because of the RPG systems, likable characters, a great story set in a really fleshed out world, lots of good side quests (lots of bad ones too: see almost everything on the generic planets, but most everything on the citadel and a few others outside are great)... I don't see what's not to like aside from the mako stuff unless this just isn't your type of game.
See, this reply is more like it.
I have not seen any sort of solid gunplay in this game. In fact, I think it's been one of the sloppiest gun controls I've ever played. I've had a few people tell me the controls for weapons aren't good until the next game.
The RPG system is rather poor, and the stats that are raised seem rather poorly organized, and the ideas around the various upgrades seem like they could have been much more refined. I mean, one of the upgrades for the powers upgrades the radius of the rest of your attack powers. What is that silliness?
I cannot even fathom this game having likeable characters since all of them but two are so vacant and/or devoid of personality.
The story seems pretty good, but I still haven't really gotten into it, and it seems like they thought a lot about their world, and they give you a ton of information on that.
There are very, very, very, very, VERY few good side quests. It's all the same maps on the same re-colored worlds with the same three enemy types. I've quelled every single uprising in exactly the same way (most of the time in exactly the same kind of building too) and very few have had an imaginative story behind them.
This seems like the kind of game I would really enjoy, but there's really not much to this game at all. It's poorly designed with goofy RPG elements, there are still glitches I run into, the characters have next to no personality save for a few and some are just plain annoying, and the gun controls are still not nearly as refined as they should be for a game like this, your allies are made out of fly paper most of the time, rendering them annoyingly worthless for the most part unless you upgrade ONLY the defensive kind of upgrades (which are mixed with other kind of upgrades for some reason), and the side quests are so annoyingly bad and similar to each other. Oh, and there are like, four different kind of enemies, so any time a cool one does come around, you get to enjoy it for a few moments until you fight 1,000x more of them who fight in exactly the same way.
I'm going to finish this game, and I do hope that the storyline makes up for what is otherwise a lackluster gameplay experience. But I cannot fathom calling Mass Effect 1 a great game.
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