#Mass effect legendary edition review series#

Kaidan still sucks though.īeing the first game in the series, on a technical level it was always going to be the longest bow to draw. Updated visuals or not, the story and character writing is still top notch, and still just as easy to get lost in. Characters like Tali, Wrex, Garrus and Liara, who had languished on the peripheries of my subconscious gamer memory for so long, suddenly sprang back to life and the nostalgia hit was strong. If you’re like me you’ll probably overlook the ordinary action and simply revel in meeting old friends again. However, as a gateway drug to the rest of the trilogy, it is essential playing. The cover system is beyond clunky, guns and biotic powers lack punch, enemy AI is awful, and the RPG elements are undercooked. Let’s not sugarcoat it, the gameplay in the original Mass Effect has aged about as nicely as an open bottle of Passion Pop in the sun. Whatever misgivings I have in this remaster are not nearly enough to tarnish my love for the series, a love both renewed and proven true. For the purposes of this review I will be mostly addressing the technical aspects of each title, rather than addressing the specific story beats, but I will emphatically say that the Mass Effect story, and the brilliant characters that paint it are still wonderful in every sense of the word. Few games have ever made a technically evil playthrough feel so good where you feel like you’re doing it all for the right reasons, and so bad when you realise that the sacrifice might be greater than you were initially willing to make.

I was once again the non-compromising intergalactic arsehole who got the mission done at any cost, all while fiercely protecting my loyal crew. Even after well over a decade, I slipped straight back into the persona of my Renegade FemShep like I was pulling on a favourite old shirt. While some of the games’ mechanics and stylings may have aged with slightly less grace, there is a beating heart at the centre of Mass Effect’s universe that still has the power to draw you into it like a Singularity biotic of emotion.

#Mass effect legendary edition review series#

As I fired up the remastered Mass Effect Legendary Edition, I was wholly aware that this well-meaning modern remaster was dragging my beloved back into the spotlight almost a decade after its final chapter had concluded, and was also entirely capable of dispelling some of the illusions about the series I had perhaps created out of wistful nostalgia you can put lipstick on an old pig, a really great old pig you genuinely loved with all your heart, but it doesn’t mean the bacon still tastes good. But these games are…old…and as can happen in the gaming world, not everything that’s old and revered turns out to be truly timeless. In credit to BioWare’s storytelling prowess and their ability to weave in both subtle and monumental gameplay decisions that shaped the narrative over three whole games, it’s unlikely that any two peoples’ thoughts, feelings and experiences will be the same either.

Ask any fan of the trilogy about their experience with it and they’ll no doubt get that misty look in their eyes, staring into the distance as they recall the epic tale of their ragtag crew of humans and aliens who struggled to save the galaxy against all odds, and perhaps even shed a tear for those who didn’t make it to see the new dawn. Much like BioWare’s other lauded RPG Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, the original Mass Effect game and the brilliant trilogy that it eventually formed one third of has left an indelible impact in the gaming community. The original Mass Effect came out in 2007, but somehow it seems like the intergalactic space opera has been around a lot longer than that.