Mass Effect (Xbox 360)

What's to like: -immersive and epic story -lifelike characters with detailed skin textures and facial animations -expansive explorable galaxy -multiple outcomes to a multitude of quests -fun, fast, and furious combat third-person shooter style -outstanding voice acting with several recognizable voices -detailed character customization: choose gender, appearance, and class -upgradable weapons, armor, and equipment -the choice to be naughty or nice What's not to like: -after loading an area, the textures take several seconds to appear -long, slow elevator rides -managing your inventory can be a headache -compatriots AI is sketchy, they like shooting walls What else: -dialogue heavy, a lot of conversation. this adds to the immersiveness of the game but if you have an itchy trigger finger, you may find this annoying

Nobody, not even the geniuses behind Final Fantasy, can craft an RPG like Bioware. This game is one of the few in which you actually play a role, rather than watch cutscenes in which the role is played for you. In just about every interaction, you the player get to decide what your character thinks, says, and does. The universe of Mass Effect is totally original, and more fully fleshed out than just about any other RPG world. It's so well made that you're actually interested in side details that tend to be boring or tedious in other games. It's full of awesome characters that are almost never cookie-cutter archetypes. It does a very good job of engaging you with the characters in your party, and thus makes some of the decisions you have to make about them painfully difficult. Combat gameplay is not perfect but still entertaining. It blends third-person Gears of War shooting with its RPG special ability trees, but balance is tilted toward the latter because NPCs tend to shoot at walls. The quest and plot structure are classic Bioware, meaning you'll frequently find yourself surprised by plot twists and go through each story a different way each time. The game is appropriate for mature teens. It's not bloody or profane. The M rating mainly stems from one... ahem... love scene (that CAN be avoided) and the player's ability to make Machiavellian decisions with the characters in the game.