Does Mass Effect Hold Up In 2020?

Does the original Mass Effect hold up in 2020's high-tech climate? I decided to find the answer to this question while hiding away in lockdown.

2007 was a time of technical innovation for the gaming industry. This is where many of the blockbuster franchises either broke out or began their journey, with names such as Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Assassins Creed, Portal, the list just goes on. It was the beginning of many beloved dark stories, the cookie cutter shooter mechanics, new dimensions in puzzle solving. And amongst the hailstorm of fantastic, legacy-founding titles, lies Mass Effect. Today I am going to be exploring the question of whether Mass Effect 1 still holds up today.

Despite its themes of sci-fi combat and space exploration, everyone knows that the Mass Effect series’ golden features lie in its RPG mechanics. You may feel as though branching story paths and relationship growth is something that every game studio and their subsidiaries try to tack onto their pre-rendered ‘demos’, and for that you can thank Bioware. I recently read the description of a game on Steam that actually advertised itself as having golden age Bioware storytelling. Having played Mass Effect 2 and 3 in the past, I decided while I have this free time on my hands that I wanted to pay the original a visit to figure out how this all started and what made the franchise so successful from the beginning.

Initial Thoughts

I had been warned about the aging of the game but had still been quite taken aback on my initial boot up. Don’t laugh. Compared to other releases of that year, I was quite surprised by the low quality. I should note that this footage is all in a square resolution because I didn’t realise I could scroll down lower on the menu to get more scale options, so amusingly played the majority of the game like this. Between the UI problems and horrible film grain (which I also later toggled off) this led me on to research the budget it had and, equally importantly, the studio. Wikipedia states that the game uses Unreal Engine 3, which was brand new at the time the development started, and that the first ‘six to eight months were spent conceiving how the game would look’. I had some trouble finding the actual budget though. One source claimed it was $2.7 million, which seems far too low, another estimated $15 million. Still, with all the numbers and time considered, the game received positive reviews from critics for its ‘cinematic visuals. Many sites have praised the game for its focus on storytelling over gameplay, but few mention its visuals, which my potentially blinding nostalgia tell me are far inferior to Mass Effect’s competitors.

Shepard and Storytelling

And speaking of, another thing my good memories must have masked is the pile of two-ply cardboard monotony that is the male protagonist Commander Shepard (you can also choose to be ‘femshep’, who I find has slightly more character). In Mass Effect, you can save the universe by murdering your way through crowds of galactic crooks and ancient aliens, or through diplomacy with the voice of an angel. This had originally been something that I laughed at; a game about speech and social conflict having the voice lead with less charisma than a wet sausage. But with the wider knowledge that I have, maybe a bland protagonist is not such a bad thing; prime example being the Fallout series, of which Fallout 4 was the first to feature a fully voiced player character, and which was widely slated for having a fraction of the versatility of its predecessors, Fallout 3 and New Vegas, that don’t. This lack of a voice, or in Mass Effects case: emotion, can lead the player to having their own imaginative experience where the narrative is lead by their own mental commentary and inner thoughts. This ultimately leads to a less targeted narrative, but a more personal one, with wider choices leading to other experiences. I am always amazed by the level of creativity that developers can dream up with no source material. The Mass Effect series explores an enormous fictional universe with politics, cultures, races, the list goes on. Despite my inability to find budget information, this leads me to believe that the vast amount of time and effort put into the generation of the galaxy of Mass Effect might have something to do with the higher speculations.

Combat

The combat and shooter aspects of the Mass Effect games have never been the focal point, however I hadn’t a clue what this statement actually meant until I played Mass Effect 1. You immediately notice that veteran super-soldier Shepard can’t hit the broadside of a barn, and that your squad-mates would rather stand in a crossfire than take cover which will cost you heaps of precious medi-gel if you choose to rely on them. I found the combat encounters frustrating more often than not (despite opting to play on hard) and wanted to blast through them as quick as possible so I could get to the interesting sections of the game…hopefully. However, there is quite a lot of inventory management involved – a feature that was pretty much cut out of the later games – and it is a key element in ensuring Shepard is prepared to fight the tougher enemies, restricting my chances of speeding through boring, none-plot points. Instead I found myself pinning to the back wall of an area and dinking enemies from afar with the sniper rifle (I chose the soldier class), which also seemed temperamental at best. Mass Effect is also of an age where manual saving is vital. Haven’t quick saved? Enjoy jumping back to a previous room and going through that important conversation again. Do you choose the fastest dialogue or stick to all the questions you already know the answers to for role-play sake?

Soundtrack and Cinematic

I struggled with the visuals at first, but the development team’s attention to detail really helps to bring the game alive as a narrative piece of art. The cinematography contributes to the storytelling and, although the animation looks ropey in a lot of places, I could infer the heartfelt tale the devs wanted to tell. This is such a large part of the style of Mass Effect that it is hard to describe without simply showing you. The soundtrack is well fitting of the space opera genre and combines 80s themes from the likes of Blade Runner and Star Trek with more modern electronic vibes, and even orchestral sections which do a fantastic job of painting the Milky Way galaxy in the 22nd century.

The Driving (Mako)

And we finally come to, what is by far the worse part of Mass Effect in many people’s eyes; the Mako all-terrain vehicle. I use the term ‘all terrain’ lightly. Let’s just say it somehow makes the on-foot combat feel smooth. I’m not sure what you would expect from the driving mechanics in a game like Mass Effect, but it probably lives up to them. I do have to admit though, the ideas at play in the exploration sections are very ambitious and, again, its another indication of the scale that Bioware were trying to convey. Towards the end of the game I found I actually began to enjoy the alternative perspective that the Mako vehical provided, and while it is widely regarded as the a pain to get through, after finishing the game I developed a soft spot for the gameplay that it provided. If I had more time I could definitely see myself sinking more time into the optional parts of the game.

All In All

Despite my negative comments on the title, there is definitely a lot of charm about the game. Does it hold up? By today’s standards I can comfortably say no. In a time of visual technologies and twitch-shooters, a game’s basic mechanics leaving you stressed removes the chance of it being a contender really. But in 2007? I can definitely understand why the franchise became so successful. It basically brought multi-choice RPG gameplay into the mainstream and without it we wouldn’t have some of the massive titles we do today. The further I delved into the story, the more I began to understand why many fans of the series consider Mass Effect as the best instalment in the franchise. I found myself drawn to the expansive lore and character progression and eventually even got my head around the driving. It is without doubt a wonderful insight into the creation of a development formula that defined a generation of AAA game franchises and I would recommend any sci-fi enthusiast to try it. I am looking forward to continuing my Mass Effect story into the next game.