RETRO! 'Mass Effect' | Part 2
Gigamov writer David Nolan continues to record his immediate reactions to the 'Mass Effect' games as he returns to the action-shooter-RPGs yet again.
Last time, we established the career of Paragon, Spacer, Sole Survivor Zoë Shepard. After the attack on Eden Prime, we have made it back to the Citadel and now need to convince the Council of the nature of the coming crisis. More critically, we need to prove that top Council Spectre Saren is a traitor before the Council will authorise action against him.
We start off with a small dialogue cutscene establishing the archetypes of the Council’s members and the human Ambassador Udina. Udina is a classic sci-fi politician and a sharp contrast to the austere sincerity of Captain Anderson. After a conversation with the Council, and Saren himself, goes against you, the Citadel is now yours to explore and the investigation is in your hands.
With two different paths to go down, whether you go for the organised crime path or corrupt cop path, you’ll end up with two different extra squad mates. The organised crime route will get you Urdnot Wrex, a dinosaur-like Krogan who specialises in close combat, while the corrupt cop route will net you Garrus Vakarian, an anthropomorphic bird-like Turian who’s better at long range. The best approach is to tackle both quest lines and gain two new alien allies.
While exploring the Citadel, the ‘Mass Effect’ universe is revealed in a number of different ways. Whether through flavour text available in the in-game Codex, investigating questions directed at characters or simply exploring to see what stories present themselves, the world has varied stories to tell, many long-term minor characters and a variety of side quests available to interact with at this early stage.
Some of these side quests, like aiding a police officer with an illegal weapons mod sting, are simple and worthwhile while others - like scanning all the keepers and resolving a pointless dispute between two scientists - are straightforward, yet shallow and dull; this is one of the major flaws to be identified in the first ‘Mass Effect’ game. While the basics are well built, they tend to be fairly simple and too easy or too time-consuming to be truly engaging. It’s a shame that this game had to be the one that the other two learnt from as the story is probably the strongest of all three.
After being involved in a shootout in a strip club (just like all the greatest space heroes), we meet up with Tali’Zorah nar Rayya (or Tali) - a Quarian on her Pilgrimage. Once we learn what all these terms mean, she tells us that she has the proof we need, and so becomes part of our merry band of space heroes. Once we have presented the evidence of Saren’s betrayal to the Council, they agree to make Shepard into a Spectre and authorise them to take out the traitor using any means necessary. Now all we need is a ship... Which ship will we end up with?
As bold a move as it would have been to introduce a whole new home base as this part of the game, it would have been a lot of work for a red herring. Instead, Captain Anderson resigns and gives you command of the Normandy - the most advanced space vessel humanity has produced. With several different leads to pursue, the galaxy is now yours to explore as you please. But since there’s still one squad member blacked out on the selection screen, it’s rather heavily hinted at which choice you’re meant to take at this stage.
So, with our new ship and Spectre team assembled, Shepard heads off into the Artemis Tau star cluster where Dr Liara T’soni - daughter to Saren’s busty off-sider Matriarch Benezia - is studying ancient ruins. The cluster system in this game is actually a little better than in others of the same genre. While the gameplay elements of actually flying the Normandy through space might be a little more compelling, this game’s map screen, together with the ability to jump from any system to another, is more realistic of what commanding an advanced spaceship should be like, instead flying to specific points to jump long distances through space.
When exploring a star cluster, or more specifically a star system, there will be plenty of worlds to explore superficially. There’s a history written for every world stretching from a couple of sentences to multiple paragraphs; this part of the game makes the universe seem big, but there isn’t that much to do when you’re down on each planet besides drive the unwieldy car to the three or four points worth investigating before heading back to the Normandy. Even the buildings that make up most of the major fights on these uncharted worlds tend to be mostly copy-and-paste versions of one another. Narratively, this makes some sense considering pre-fab buildings would be the kind you’d expect to come across on isolated and unsettled worlds. However, a little more creativity in the layouts of each site could have struck a nice balance between the hard sci-fi elements and fun gameplay design.
With a couple of worlds scoured for resources, it’s time to get our final squad member Liara, who is on the isolated world of Therum. The mission seems to have been designed under the expectation that this will be the first place you’ll visit once leaving the Citadel, as a number of encounters are designed to teach the player about the mechanics of the game. The first half of this mission is spent in the Mako tank, and this section ably demonstrates what Bioware was aiming for with the vehicle. The manoeuvrability of the Mako works well on the slightly uneven, but still straightforward nature of this section. The heavy Geth infantry are capable threats on higher difficulties and the player needs to learn how to dodge aggressively with the Mako to succeed. Following a few decent firefights, a convenient rock fall forces the squad out of the vehicle and the rest of the mission takes place on foot.
The first encounter is a sniper fight and might be the first time a player will pull the sniper rifle out unless they particularly prefer that kind of weapon. The sniper is another idea that doesn’t really work, with the aim needlessly difficult, making the sniper class almost entirely useless in this game.
The next fight though is fun, though admittedly tough. Fast moving enemies - though weak, mixed with a hard-hitting but slow-moving heavy is a common combination that works well. Utilising yours and your squad’s powers is a must to succeed further, teaching the player how to properly navigate and play the game. Once the fight is over, it’s time to head into the mines to find the doctor.
Shepard’s squad quickly comes across Liara, who is trapped in a security device for her own safety. While you can investigate several topics with the trapped Asari, now doesn’t seem the time, so we must fight the Geth in the room to allow us to deactivate the force field. While a large mining laser might seem like overkill, it’s perfect for getting through ancient walls. Once through, Shepard frees Liara and we can learn a little about the scholar and what she’s doing in an isolated ruin (turns out that’s what archaeologists do). Once done with learning some lore, we move on to fighting the final fight of the mission: a Krogan battlemaster and his team of mercenaries.
This fight is a big test for the early game. Have you learnt all the important details about cover (though fairly underdeveloped in this game), using your powers, responding to your enemies’ weaknesses? This fight will tell you one way or another. It can be really difficult, especially if this is your first destination after leaving the Citadel, and particularly with that Krogan running around trying to beat you down. It’s a great fight and caps off what is probably the best mission in the game from a design standpoint.
After successfully beating all the nasties, you make a dramatic escape from the collapsing ruins, with the opportunity to learn a lot of lore from the post-mission debriefings. Unfortunately, Liara falls into the role of exposition handler, and while the position is often needed in a sci-fi story such as this, it would have been nice to have other characters performing this role, allowing Liara to breathe a little, and give other characters more scope.
And with that, this is where we’ll leave it for now. We have a full house and are ready to explore the universe with our team of badasses with government approval. A number of side quests are available, along with two other main quests so far.
What path will Zoë Shepard take next?
