Another highly anticipated game in the year 2007 is finally here. That game is none other than Mass Effect. Mass Effect is an Xbox 360 exclusive game that comes from the brilliant creators of games such as Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The video game company responsible for those amazing games is BioWare. BioWare has been teasing audiences with trailer after trailer of this game since 2005. Everyone knew BioWare had an ace up their sleeve that they were keeping a secret.

Fortunately, the cat is completely out of the bag and is no longer hidden. Mass Effect kept on garnering attention from all angles, and the game is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Does Mass Effect live up to the extraordinarily expectations? Luckily, the answer to that question is an emphatic yes. The storyline in the game transpires in a futuristic galaxy. There is an alien forewarning explaining that a portal will be unlocked, and that portal will inflict reprehensible damage to human life. The protagonist in the game is played by Shepard, and he or she (depending on the player) is what is known as a Spectre. A Spectre is someone who is a guardian of harmony. He or she protects those in the galaxy who cannot defend for themselves. On the other hand, there are those perverse Spectre's that are called Rogue Spectres. One of these Rogue Spectre's is the antagonist named Saren.

Saren's primary objective is to eradicate the human race to the point of extinction; furthermore, these motives are due in part because of Saren's perceived notion that humans are impious and lack compassion. A predominate subject matter in the game is the correlation between humans and artificial intelligence. That is a common thread that is exemplified throughout the duration of Mass Effect.

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The gameplay in the game begins like any other traditional BioWare game. You start by customizing your character from the gender to the attributes (ala Jade Empire or Star Wars). BioWare give gamers the option to the modify every single element of the appearance down to the eyes, mouth, hair, and so much more. I attempted to create a character that looked like Nariko from Heavenly Sword, but I failed miserably. Instead, my character wound up looking like a deformed skeleton. In other words, my character ended up looking like Nicole Richie. A skeleton and Nicole Richie are indistinguishable. I cannot tell the two apart from each other, but I digress. The game is classified in the role playing game genre, but the best way to describe Mass Effect is that it is a combination of various other games. Gamers have to take a closer look at Gears of War, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Jade Empire, and the aforementioned Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Players must meticulously examine those games and put them in a blender; consequently, the end result will be Mass Effect. The role playing aspects comes from selecting a character type, earning experience, and spending experience points. Gamers has the option to distribute the skill points they earn in any way they desire. If this process appears intricate, then there is a automatic feature that levels the character up instantaneously. There are pros and cons to this method.

For example, using the automatic option is less time consuming. However, you might not get the experience points properly assigned. The skill set you can use is contingent on the character class for that particular person. Initially, Mass Effect has a slow and steady pace to the gameplay. That all changes after the first couple of hours. This is where the game moves at a much more brisk pace. There is a main storyline campaign and optional side missions.