Mass Effect... a year later

For whatever reason, I had an urge to RPG this weekend and busted out Mass Effect for the 360.

The last time I played ME was 6/1/2008 (according to my last save game), and I was only 6 hours in - just starting up the Feros mission. I don't know why I stopped playing initially - I think it had mostly to do with being so damn time consuming, and partially to do with the inane Mako planet hopping and obtuse inventory system.  But whatever the reason, I'm glad I picked it back up.

Even after aging a year, the graphics are still pretty top-notch. I turned off the "film grain", which annoyed my eyes, but now everything seems so shiny. Oh well, at least shiny doesn't give me a migraine.

The plot is fantastic - the story is really what drives the game, while the combat is fun after awhile it becomes a bit easy and mundane, but the plot makes you want to continue on.

For anyone who gave up on ME because of the inventory system (it's not pretty), I'd suggest taking the time to get used to it. It's not all that difficult to navigate once you figure out how to manage everything, but there's a definite (steep) learning curve there.

I still hate the god damn Mako though. I commend Bioware for the great lengths they went to create all the details they put into their planet descriptions and whatnot, but holy hell does driving the Mako around rough mountain terrain absolutely suck. And it's boring. And aiming the rockets and turret is awful. I did as many side missions as I could in an attempt to further the side plots, but in the end I just found myself loathing everytime I had to take the Mako for a spin.

I'm fully Paragon this run-through, and unfortunately I don't see myself playing again once I'm finished this time through. But I'm glad that I went back to it to finish at all.