Humanity’s first contact with an alien race occurred in 2157. By the year 2183, mankind has mastered the ability to travel throughout the galaxy at faster-than-light speeds, bringing them in contact with lots of alien races. Since then, humanity is struggling to find its place in the galaxy and at the same time be accepted by other races.

As I said, you play as Commander Shepard, who travels with his ship Normandy around the galaxy for the greater good of galaxy and humanity itself. Shepard is promoted to the rank of Spectre (special agents that can go everywhere and do everything, kill everyone they please – they have no limitation in fulfilling their mission) and is now after another Spectre gone rogue. The rogue Specter’s name is Saren and he might be the one who will summon an ancient civilization of robots that are about to wipe out the entire universe. But you are not alone in this mission. Another 6 teammates are with you in this, each with his own special abilities, unique character and race. There are 3 women in your party that you can chat with, making them falling in love with you; but that’s all I’m going to divulge.

Completing quest will earn you money, items, influence and of course experience. Each time you get enough experience points you will get a new level and talent points to spend on your skills. A dozen skills (talents) are available to you and your teammates which will increase their level every time you will. If you don’t want to spend time choosing what talents you think are best to upgrade, an Auto-Upgrade button will do this for you and your allies. For example, Tali’Zorah nar Rayya, a member of your team is a Quarian Machinist and it would be wise to increase her Electronics or Decryption talents, (that will help you a lot in the beginning of the game) instead of First Aid or… I dunno, make use of Shotguns.

While exploring and traveling all over the place, you will find lots of crates, lockers, containers and so on, filled with guns, upgrades, armor or artifacts. More and more sophisticated items will come as you progress in the game, the outdated ones can be sold or transformed into Omni-gel (used for bypassing encrypted data). Every weapon can support up to three upgrades (like more accuracy, more damage, heat absorption, weapon stability, detect invisible enemies and more) while the armor can support only two upgrades (for shield recovery, hardening, resist to one type of damage, cooldown reduction and so on).

Traveling in Mass Effect universe is possible using Mass Relays, technology invented by an ancient race. These Mass Relays are capable of transporting a ship between entire systems, star clusters found at hundreds of light years away. The system is composed by several planets, some can be surveyed, and some are just part of the system while others can be explored if landed on. On the surface of the planet, you can travel by feet or using a 6 wheels vehicle that can climb through mountains or any type of terrain with ease. The name of vehicle is Mako and it is also equipped with a turret for combat situations. Pressing the Left Trigger can zoom in the target while Right Trigger and Right Bumper will shoot bullets respectively heavy projectiles. After an intense fight, you vehicle might be damaged. In this case, Omni-gel would do the trick so try to have some to spare anytime. If you happen to get stuck, Mako can use boosters to lift the vehicle several feet of the ground.

Conclusion

Mass Effect delivers lots of gameplay, every decision being critical in the future story of the game. With great graphics, characters emotions and storyline as well as being a good guy or bad guy, lets you speculate about the fate of the universe that can be shaped in many, many ways. This game is a masterpiece and Bioware has overdone themselves, all in all Mass Effect is a must have.