The first one was very overrated, IMO. The vehicle sections were dreadful, and they were at least a quarter of the game.
Of course, this is also coming from a PC gaming purist who has been playing FPS games for 10+ years, and one who thinks the over-the-shoulder cam is silly.
Got the Collector's Edition coming (pretty pissed that the yanks are getting the good stuff earlier yet again), 2 saves are waiting to be continued with ME2...
Yes the tank was a bit poor, and space really isn't much of an excuse when gravity and handling is always the same - whether you're on the moon or a planet with such pressure you can't be outside for too long... That can't overshadow the great story and the gameplay though... It definitely is one of the best games I've played so far, and I can't wait until I get the next installment...
Are there still going to be other planets to explore? And if yes, will they be more detailed than in the first one? This was my only real concern about ME... all planets looked the same (as well as the inside of the buildings/facilities on these planets).
I have played the first game but not finished it, i got to the part where you get the "god like power upgrade thingy" and gave up on it after a missions after that part but installed it again, so will give it another go sometime soon.
I just completed the campaign with the character I want to port to ME2 and I'll be picking this up on day one. I absolutely love the original. Alright, the Mako control is rubbish and the non-mission planets are a little dull, but that doesn't really take away from the epic story and the level of depth you can uncover if you enjoy poking around as much as I do. It took until my 3rd playthrough (with a spreadsheet to track my progress) before I got the Completionist achievement and I think that's pretty impressive.
Although I love(d) the first one, I never really felt (or feel with many games) the desire to retread old ground by following on with succesive playthroughs.
I am glad one of my main bugbears (the shocking inventory system) in ME1 has been done away with, although I am not sure the new system (weapons lockers / loadouts) is a better replacement as it sounds a little lite.
Yeah, who'd have thunk it? Turns out I quite like spreadsheets It was the only way I could keep track of which planets I'd scanned for minerals/artifacts, which I'd landed on, the decisions I'd made on the missions, etc.
I'm with you on the "lite" inventory system. The old one was horrible and it was nearly impossible to leave your pockets empty enough that you didn't have to keep clearing it out, but I'm not sure how the new system will work. I guess time will tell.
I said from the start that the Mako was pointless. Who would use a wheeled vehicle to explore uncharted planets? Something that flies would be much more sensible
The game is total crap. The character evolution system is totally shallow ( even compared to mass effect 1), there's basically no real equipement/inventory and the story line is ridiculous.
In the end it is just a shooter and not and especially good one.
The few good things of mass effect 1 have been thrown to the recycle bin.
half way through...
It is amazing game, Storyline and gameplay reminds me good old Star wars KOTOR, well perhaps without lightsabers and better graphics. It is absolutely stunning game imo. I think i started with wrong direction: I'll try the first after i've finished secondone .
I think bioshock(almost finished also ) has to wait for some time now...
It's been very well recieved by a lot of people, so quite curious now to give it a go.
I was really looking forward to Dragon Age Origins until it actually came out. It seemed Bioware had settled on a very plain looking fantasy setting, not much imagination in the characters. Lost interest.
Mass Effect 2 looks good though. I'm disappointed I didn't play through the first game now because apparently you'll get more out of the second game by doing so.
That's probably what turned me off the original Mass Effect. I couldn't get into Gears of War either... But it works fine in Batman, Arkham Asylum and we seemed to get by fine in those old RPG games with the top down or isometric views.
The parts where you actually had to shoot stuff were piss easy. I don't recall ever having any kind intense firefights that I found challenging, nor did I have to reload savegames much, if at all.
The story felt as though the producer's 14 year old son wrote it, so predictable and full of sci-fi cliches as it was.
The over-the-shoulder cam is just another example of the Hollywood-ization of the gaming industry.
FTR, BioShock was also severely overrated. System Shock 2 did it first and did it better.
But it works fine in Batman, Arkham Asylum and we seemed to get by fine in those old RPG games with the top down or isometric views.