Mass Effect

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3921 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,338 out of 3921
  2. Mixed: 443 out of 3921
  3. Negative: 140 out of 3921
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  1. 7ShadesOfEffort
    Apr 18, 2017
    3
    It's funny to see how after Andromeda's miserable fiasco the rest of the series started to look much better and the first one even strted to seem like something good and classic, especially taking into account «Mass Effect: RGB»'s fail . Well, if we're talking about game developers' stagnation and degeneration, then yes, it's the most classic example.
    I'm fine with characters although    It's funny to see how after Andromeda's miserable fiasco the rest of the series started to look much better and the first one even strted to seem like something good and classic, especially taking into account «Mass Effect: RGB»'s fail . Well, if we're talking about game developers' stagnation and degeneration, then yes, it's the most classic example.
    I'm fine with characters although BioWare never stopped to exploit same archetypes over and over again, I like how the universe is pretty elaborate and well-written. Graphics looks good even years later after release. What a wonderful foundation for a great game. But the GAME is bad. This scrappy incoherent mix of Gears of War-like shooting range arcade and rudimentary RPG elements is really unpleasant to play. BioWare have not only abandoned any attempts to come up with interesting and exciting gameplay mechanics, they also did not bother themselves polishing it. Abilities are all same and boring, guns' variativity is depressing (especially for biotics who are doomed to carry only a pistol for the entire game), teammates barely affect the fight, all side quests (outside The Citadel and DLC) are just boring grindfest of same outposts on same lifeless planets. Equipment and inventory are rather obstacle than something adding any gameplay depth, stats and skills are just atavisms from BioWare's RPG developer's legacy. So-called «choices» finally decayed to just «always click red vs always click blue». It's not like good vs edgy answers in dialogues is a big issue for me, the real issue is that at some point BioWare just stopped caring about anything else and started to forcefully shove these «HARD MORAL CHOICES WITH CONSEQUENCES» down player's throat. This worked pretty well in KotOR due to dualistic nature of The Force in SW universe, this worked fine in Jade Empire because it was well-incorporated into the lore inspired by eastern culture and philosophy. The only purpose «CHOICES» serve in ME is to convince players that their choice WILL have real consequences somewhere in further games. Bioware forced people to invest in their game, waste their time on side quests grinding, help crew members with their daddy issues, choose your allegiance and so and so on just because this SHOULD pay off somewhere in the future when the trilogy is over. But they lied. They didn't manage to do that and now I doubt that they even had any plans to. Same goes for story. This game presents itself as a story-based one but it actually doesn't even have a story to offer you. Only promises.

    2 out of 7: into the trash it goes.    … Expand
  2. Gorbunov2004
    May 18, 2021
    3
    Стрельба убогая, карта и мини-карта полная фигня. Интерфейс убогий и не понятный. Напарники тупые болванчики которые умирают от пары попаданий. В этой игре только сюжет более менее!
  3. RomeoOreo1
    Apr 11, 2022
    3
    Doesn't like it. Because a stupid bug stopped me from playing the game after 5h I don't think my opinion is that important but the 5h I could actually play it were terrible
  4. Outsdr
    Mar 23, 2012
    2
    Mass Effect: A console port with bad controls, a tutorial that tells you to do things that then don't actually happen when you follow the steps shown, dialog that goes ON and ON and ON and ON, spoken by characters with mouths that don't even attempt to sync with the words being spoken, just flap up and down like a muppet, but with even LESS expression; and on top of that ... great googlyMass Effect: A console port with bad controls, a tutorial that tells you to do things that then don't actually happen when you follow the steps shown, dialog that goes ON and ON and ON and ON, spoken by characters with mouths that don't even attempt to sync with the words being spoken, just flap up and down like a muppet, but with even LESS expression; and on top of that ... great googly moogly is it BORING. Run here ... talk to someone for 15 minutes. Run somewhere ... shoot something. See something to loot. Open it; there's guns, ammo, armor, and an option to turn it all into med gel. Select "Loot All" ... get med-gel. Talk to someone for 15 minutes. Watch a cutscene .... for 15 minutes. Honestly, out of the 3 hours I spent on it last night, I think I actually PLAYED for 20 minutes.… Expand
  5. escograu
    Dec 13, 2015
    2
    AI of your teamates and fight is really awful, REALLY AWFUL. Story probably was written in 1-2 nights, cuz is completely not interesting and short like a chinese dick. Story seems like from some old, sci-fi book which costs 1$ and nobody knows that it is even exists.
  6. Mr_Fabulous
    Jun 11, 2014
    2
    Years after its release, I decided to give ME a go after several peoples recommendation. Things started out great, it was interestingly complex and very different from anything else I had played. This feeling quickly faded after just the first mission. The voice acting is what got me first. It was laughably bad except for Joker who was voiced by Seth Green. The story is what got me nextYears after its release, I decided to give ME a go after several peoples recommendation. Things started out great, it was interestingly complex and very different from anything else I had played. This feeling quickly faded after just the first mission. The voice acting is what got me first. It was laughably bad except for Joker who was voiced by Seth Green. The story is what got me next and was the most disappointing. I was always told that ME was a hallmark in story telling games but I found this story to be generic, bland, and slow. Couple this with bad AI, less than stunning visuals, engine problems, and the commanders slow jogging and this turned out to be one of the absolute worst games Ive ever played.… Expand
  7. theNILE
    Mar 14, 2013
    1
    Catastrophe, linear game-play, the one time you do get a choice in missions, one is ridiculously harder which is pretty much the embodiment of developer idiocy. Weapons are imbalanced and taking the harder route doesn't make the game much more entertaining. The storyline is just pointless, you are up against an unknown enemy and all of your missions are pointless in the end, you just killCatastrophe, linear game-play, the one time you do get a choice in missions, one is ridiculously harder which is pretty much the embodiment of developer idiocy. Weapons are imbalanced and taking the harder route doesn't make the game much more entertaining. The storyline is just pointless, you are up against an unknown enemy and all of your missions are pointless in the end, you just kill your enemy and the game is over, nothing is really answered and you don't feel any satisfaction. Level design is terrible as well. If you enjoy real games with real value, this game is to be avoided. ME is just a game created for visuals and people suck it in.… Expand
  8. ZenXianDi
    Aug 4, 2012
    1
    Good cut scene,charactors and decision element, unfortunately,the combat which makes up bulk of the game is hilariously awful.If you are spoilt by fun combat,this game will Make you **** BRICKS.

    Exploration is interesting for an hour until you realise you,re doing the same thing,seeing the thing which is identical 90% of the time and of course DAT MAKO and stupid terrain. Control    Good cut scene,charactors and decision element, unfortunately,the combat which makes up bulk of the game is hilariously awful.If you are spoilt by fun combat,this game will Make you **** BRICKS.

    Exploration is interesting for an hour until you realise you,re doing the same thing,seeing the thing which is identical 90% of the time and of course DAT MAKO and stupid terrain.
    Control during combat is clunky as hell,Shepard is a dumb **** who hump onto random object,stop firing for no reason(not overheating) and of course stop dead in his track for no reason(probably map issue XD).The combat is seriously THE WORST and will never be surpassed,PERIOD.

    Only to add to the stupidity of the combat,your teamate are just statues who just stand and shoot and die,on top of it the animation for all Enemy and teamate are god awfully stiff and unnatural.(Sprinting animation for enemy)

    The enemy AI,s intelligence is for some reason,is light years ahead of your brain-dead teamates.But they still bum rush into your face too often.

    If you,re new,you will die a thousand time,then all of a sudden you become so overpowered that you just steamroll over everything,it is either tedious or bland and never fun.

    If you can withstand **** combat,the game is quick to reward you with unpredictable glitches and bug,and lack of autosave will force you to go through hell repeatedly

    Avoid this game like plague ,start with Mass Effect 2 instead.    … Expand
  9. Wineneeder
    Sep 30, 2019
    1
    This is the effing game everyone liked in 2007? It looks like **** for the time, the textures are that xbox 360 low res crap and the gameplay is horrible. No wonder RPGs are all horrible now.
  10. EptaEpt
    Sep 13, 2022
    1
    Sorry, but positive feedback is not available in your region. At least until your leadership changes the two-faced policy in their actions and statements.
  11. SteveP
    Oct 15, 2008
    0
    This game will only run after you complete an internet activation - no internet connection, no gameplay. You are limited to 3 activations - the product description does not clearly explain this - customers are being cheated. Beware, the game secretly installs the copy-protection software SecuROM which many people consider to be malware. It is likely to cause problems with your computer This game will only run after you complete an internet activation - no internet connection, no gameplay. You are limited to 3 activations - the product description does not clearly explain this - customers are being cheated. Beware, the game secretly installs the copy-protection software SecuROM which many people consider to be malware. It is likely to cause problems with your computer and is almost impossible to remove.… Expand
  12. JohnM.
    Jun 21, 2008
    0
    The most unstable game I've ever had the misfortune of installing. It really destroys all confidence in the reviews that the 'professionals' have posted concerning this game (and any other game for that matter). How they can hand out 9/10 and 10/10 reviews for this pile of steaming turd is beyond me. I think it demonstrates quite clearly how the 'review' industry The most unstable game I've ever had the misfortune of installing. It really destroys all confidence in the reviews that the 'professionals' have posted concerning this game (and any other game for that matter). How they can hand out 9/10 and 10/10 reviews for this pile of steaming turd is beyond me. I think it demonstrates quite clearly how the 'review' industry really operates. Don't waste your money on this half-finished, bug ridden rubbish.… Expand
  13. Patrick
    Jun 8, 2008
    0
    This game will not let you save most of the time (even out of combat). So you can not quit playing when you want to do something else or have to use your computer. Customer support told me this is not a bug and will not be fixed. Game went back to the store.

    Not usable by people who have a life or use their computer for something other than Mass Effect.
  14. EliasO.
    Aug 18, 2008
    0
    The story is about the only thing that makes up for the rest of the games flaws - Riddled with bugs, weapons overheating and staying overheated etc! And the downloadable content package is just one mission, and I doubt the other packets that come out will be free..It's just not the style of EA Games, they'll probably push out a lot of content for pay. CONTENT THAT SHOULD BE FREE!
  15. PaulT.
    Sep 6, 2008
    0
    Limited to 3 activations. Nothing is said about this on the product labeling and descriptions. Consumers are being cheated. How will you install this game in the future when they turn off the activation server?
  16. JamesH
    Aug 10, 2009
    0
    This game fails to ever run on vista until you preform a work around and Bioware is too freaken lazy to even produce a patch. The game has cheap graphics and predictable plot. The only saving thing about this game is its creative dialog which becomes boring after an hour or two of game play.
  17. AnonymousMC
    Sep 12, 2008
    0
    There's nothing special about the story and I can name at least 100 games with better storyline than this crap. The shooting is extremely boring and requires no skill at all, because the creators tried to make it look more like an RPG, but I can hardly classify this game as an RPG, it's more like a third person shooter with customatisation of the character. Another extremelyThere's nothing special about the story and I can name at least 100 games with better storyline than this crap. The shooting is extremely boring and requires no skill at all, because the creators tried to make it look more like an RPG, but I can hardly classify this game as an RPG, it's more like a third person shooter with customatisation of the character. Another extremely overrated and overhyped game.… Expand
  18. StephenY.
    May 18, 2008
    0
    Normally I would never consider rating a game before it comes out but in the case of Mass Effect for the PC I already know everything I need to know about this game to come to the conclusion that no one should purchase it. This is a real shame because my reasons for this are not because I think the game will not be fun, but because Bioware/EA has chosen to encumbered this game with Normally I would never consider rating a game before it comes out but in the case of Mass Effect for the PC I already know everything I need to know about this game to come to the conclusion that no one should purchase it. This is a real shame because my reasons for this are not because I think the game will not be fun, but because Bioware/EA has chosen to encumbered this game with â??Digital Rights Managementâ?… Expand
  19. thefnord
    Jul 9, 2009
    0
    Never have I played a game in such a state of disrepair as this. Not only are there bugs around every corner, but the enemies are stupid, the acting is bad (though some good people make starring appearances, they are very few), and the story is pried directly from the frozen dead hands of the amazing science fictions of old, such as Star Trek and Star Wars, among other less-renowned Never have I played a game in such a state of disrepair as this. Not only are there bugs around every corner, but the enemies are stupid, the acting is bad (though some good people make starring appearances, they are very few), and the story is pried directly from the frozen dead hands of the amazing science fictions of old, such as Star Trek and Star Wars, among other less-renowned series and films. I didn't find many plot holes, but everything was predictable and generic. Add to that cinematic effects and you have a gaming masterpiece. This is my first and last BioWare purchase.… Expand
  20. J.N.
    May 31, 2008
    0
    Not sure what systems the professional reviewers used, or were they possibly supplied by Bioware? Why do I ask? Because the game is HIGHLY UNSTABLE, with problems ranging from FPS Crawl, GPF's, Crashes, OS REBOOTS, unexpected termination of other background tasks, and even in one instance I saw a potential case of OS Filesystem corruption (likely due to another unexpected reboot). It Not sure what systems the professional reviewers used, or were they possibly supplied by Bioware? Why do I ask? Because the game is HIGHLY UNSTABLE, with problems ranging from FPS Crawl, GPF's, Crashes, OS REBOOTS, unexpected termination of other background tasks, and even in one instance I saw a potential case of OS Filesystem corruption (likely due to another unexpected reboot). It would be good advice to wait at least 3-6 months until they and/or Nvidia (or ATI, as they're having problems too) get out enough patches & fixes to get the game stable. As it stands, I gave it a rating of 0 (zero) as I can't even get into the game itself to sample the gameplay. ASUS P5N32-SLI w/Intel C2D E6600 @ 2.4GHZ, 2GB Corsair RAM, Creative Labs Xtreme Gamer audio, 2xNvidia 7950 GX2 (Quad SLI), Windows XP Professional SP2. Naturally the sound and display drivers are the newest available.… Expand
  21. SethEvandor
    Jul 12, 2014
    0
    I've always called this game **** Effect" because really it's empty, devoid of interaction with environment, linear (the one exception is when you're supposed to pick the first mission because it's easier - I don't know why), and just basically a shooter with skills and items. It's not really an RPG. Your decisions are not important and you won't care. There are planets you can "explore"I've always called this game **** Effect" because really it's empty, devoid of interaction with environment, linear (the one exception is when you're supposed to pick the first mission because it's easier - I don't know why), and just basically a shooter with skills and items. It's not really an RPG. Your decisions are not important and you won't care. There are planets you can "explore" but really they're massive open areas with barely anything on interest. The game doesn't make you want to use the skills, it makes you want to just shoot. This game could of been a great RPG, but instead they went along a similar route as KOTOR, where action is the focus and anything time consuming just make the game feel like a chore. This game wasn't designed for PC, so I have to give it zero. It was the worst RPG I have ever played.… Expand
  22. OberiousLocke
    Aug 19, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Edit: Due to BioWare's recent middle finger to the fanbase, announcing it's focus on books and multiplayer and telling the people who wanted single-player DLC and content in Mass Effect: Andromeda to **** off, I will be changing all scores for my ME series reviews to 0.

    Mass Effect is the beginning of the original Mass Effect Trilogy (1/2/3). A science fiction third-person shooter/RPG, our journey takes place in the relatively distant future of 2183. You are Commander Shepard, an enlisted member of the Systems Alliance, Humanity's face to the Galactic community, who becomes the very first human Council Spectre, the elite of the elite, who answer to nothing but the Council, the ruling committee made up by 1 representative of the 3 major species of the Milky Way, The Turians, Asari, and Salarians.

    You start out with character creation, choosing your class, personal history and military service record, and customizing your face down to any scars you'd like. You also gain access to a repertoire of weaponry and armor that you can customize, with things like First-Aid systems in armor to slowly regenerate HP to specialized rounds that will rip through Organic targets for weaponry. On top of all this, each class comes with an expansive talent tree that you can fill out however you please. My only gripes with this gem are twofold. A) The inventory. It starts off slow, with maybe an item or two, and occasionally you'll get some after killing things, but as the game progresses, it begins a lootstorm of annoying proportions, to the point where I just mod my game to unlimited inventory and omnigel, and sell/destroy anything I don't need. B) The Talent Tree, while good, is disproportionately big to the amount of points you actually get without aggressive sidequesting.

    The game itself opens up after this to reveal a huge world for the player to explore, and codex entries to fill out even the seemingly unimportant bits in the background, even to how the weapons work. Worlds to explore in the Mako (a ground vehicle with a drunken rhino somewhere in its family tree, given how it handles) and side missions taking you from planets where you get ambushed by giant, angry space worms, to stations to rescue a man from extremists.

    Throughout your journey, you will meet people and recruit squad members to fight by your side, through thick and thin. An Asari politician who hires you and tricks you into killing her pirate sister, and a Krogan mercenary you recruit who also wants the head of someone you're after are just two examples of the unique people you will encounter, not to mention the romance you can build by conversing with squad mates in between missions.

    You also need to be conscious of your choices, as they can have minor repercussions or massive ones down the line, and affecting your Paragon and Renegade scores, to shamelessly steal two lines from Mass Effect 2's loading screens, lead to you either becoming the ultimate hero, or the ultimate badass. Will you choose to save the mind controlled innocents of Zhu's Hope, or try to save time, gun them down, and hope for the best after you kill the one controlling them?

    Last we touch on the Music. While a fair bit of it is synthetic, to keep with the futuristic tone, doesn't lessen any impact of anything. From the background music as you fight long and hard against the forces of Saren, to the epic orchestral tracks at the end, as the Normandy flies off into the cosmic Horizon to fight forward, it does amazing work at adding to the already deep world you fight in.

    An honorable mention purely because it's one of my favorite things in video games, the Save import. When you have concluded your Journey and move onto Mass Effect 2, you can use the config tool to copy your saves over to the ME2 directory, where you can import your Shepard into 2, then onto 3 later. Including all your choices, and the consequences.

    tl;dr - Mass Effect is the beginning of a trilogy that truly lives up to the word "Epic" with music to match the futuristic tones, beautiful locations and memorable people each with a personality and history of their own, despite iffy inventory management and talent tree's you could choke an elephant with.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PC Game of 2008
6
#6 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
5
#5 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 45 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 45
  3. Negative: 0 out of 45
  1. GameSpot
    90
    Whether you're a seasoned Spectre looking to suit up again, or a newcomer who has never set foot on the Normandy, the refined PC version is your best choice for experiencing this excellent game.
    Read full review
  2. PTGamers
    95
    Mass Effect PC wasn't rushed, this version has clearly been thoroughly thought-out to exploit the advantages of this platform.
    Read full review
  3. G4 TV
    100
    Computer owners are getting everything found in the Xbox 360 game, including achievements and online leaderboards, but with better visuals, smoother action, and a more streamlined interface. That the game rings up at a lower retail price and offers the first expansion pack as a free download is simply icing on the cake.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »