It’s 7th November today, which in the Mass Effect fandom is N7 day and coupled with SciFi Month, this seemed too perfect not to talk about one of my favourite Sci-Fi franchises of all time (it might actually top Star Trek).
Mass Effect was originally an Xbox exclusive role-playing game that came out in 2007, and my younger brother got it for Christmas that year. I remember looking at the box and thinking it looked very cool, especially since I’d absolutely loved Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, also made by BioWare in 2003, and I desperately wanted more games just like that one with a great story, choices that would affect the world, and characters I’d fall in love with! And that would let me play as a girl!
Obviously, this was my brother’s game (and Xbox), so I had to wait for him to be bored with it before I could have a go!
You play as Commander Shepard, an N7 special forces operative working for Earth’s System’s Alliance Navy. You’re already a well-known and distinguished soldier, and have been given a special mission to investigate an ancient alien ruin, when you get attacked by a mysterious enemy and when you touch the artefact get visions of a coming war and death across the galaxy. You quickly end up named as the first human SPECTRE (Special Tactics and Reconnaissance) agent by the ruling body of the galaxy – The Council. This is a huge deal for humanity as well as you personally because there is not yet a human on The Council, and this is the first step on that road. This new status means you become a free agent with special powers to investigate whoever you want, and Captain Anderson (Keith David!) gives you his brand spanking new ship – The Normandy SR-1.
All of this is very cool! You get to be a space detective to investigate the coming threat, and make new friends and alliances with a host of alien races across the galaxy, learning more about the history and politics. The choices that you make along the way will change outcomes later in the game. The main quest is great, but so is every side mission! All the side quests give you a bit of story that fleshes out the world, and a lot of them will be story threads that recur in later games.
The galaxy in Mass Effect is incredibly rich. It just feels expansive and real.
Choice – it’s my story
I think this was the first game I played with a character creator that let you change individual facial features and hair, and any play-through requires at least 30 minutes of perfecting my Commander Shepard. Mass Effect is notorious for making it impossible to create a non-hideous male Commander (I tried once, and ended up back to the default!), but honestly, the female version is great for a game from 2007!
I never lasted long whenever I have thought I should try to play as the male Shepard for some variety. I don’t think the voice acting is as good as Jennifer Hale’s, and I find him really bland, and I don’t get as invested.
I have replayed the entire Mass Effect trilogy at least 8 times. The last time was in 2021 when they released the Legendary Edition with all three games on PS4 (so I can finally retire the Xbox 360!). I play it almost exactly the same every time!
- Female Commander.
- Either Vanguard or Adept (I love the blue space magic). Usually, Vanguard, because I fucking love the charge and nova biotic combos in the third game. So satisfying!
- I play Paragon except for sometimes punching that reporter.
- Kaidan over Ashley.
- I always save Wrex!
- I only ever romance Kaidan, even when he’s angry with me in ME2.
- Save the Rachni Queen.
- I pick Samara over Morinth.
- Everyone survives ME2 (I honestly don’t know how anyone fucks that up).
- I cure the genophage.
- I broker as much peace as is possible – the Geth and Quarians should be friends!
- Red ending.
The only thing I changed up is my origin story, which does impact some minor side quests and bits of story in the third game (the time I was a navy brat and still had live parents was nice).
I have even played the trilogy through on Hard a couple of times! I never play games on Hard – I’m a strictly “normal” girl, or occasionally even story mode!!
I love them all
I think the reason I never want to deviate from my choices is that the story and the characters have come to mean so much to me that they almost feel like real people. They have complex back stories and motivations. and distinct personalities, and my relationship to them grows, too. When I play Mass Effect, I really enjoy talking with my crewmates! The Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC is hands down the most fun and the most engaged I have ever been with a game, and the best part was just messing about with all my friends at a party! I actually get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I think about it!
I can never romance another character because it would actually feel disloyal to Kaidan. I also think Raphael Sbarge’s voice acting is wonderful. I will happily wait for him to come back to me in ME3, I’ve got more than enough going on with my suicide mission in ME2, and he doesn’t need to see me die twice!
The wait is also totally worth it.
I was thinking I’d try to rank the companion characters, but that has to be a whole post, and probably after I replay the entire trilogy again, just to be sure I definitely get it right.
While the ending of Mass Effect 3 is a huge let down (they really fucked it)… up until the last 20 minutes, right up until you enter the Catalyst, is the best gaming experience I think I’ll ever have.
The final game always makes me cry! Listening to the soundtrack will bring me to tears. I also love the soundtrack… I am listening to it this evening while I write this!
I think aside from the rich world and the engaging characters, what I like about it is that the Earth System’s Alliance (and The Council) is a bit like Star Trek‘s The Federation, but more obviously military with cool armour, guns, and biotic powers (blue space magic, as I like to call it). I can zip around in my cool ship, with my cool alien pals and solve conflicts with diplomacy a lot of the time, and I am working to make the galaxy a better place.
BioWare posted on their blog for N7 day this year and said that another Mass Effect game is in the works. I did play Andromeda, and while it was a good game, it was not a good Mass Effect game. In fact, I remember basically nothing about the plot or the characters from that and have never had any desire to replay it! So I am a bit worried and would rather they didn’t make another one, to be honest.
There is also an Amazon Prime TV show in the works. The blog post did at least confirm that that will not be retreading Shepard’s story and instead will take place elsewhere in the universe and timeline. So maybe there is some hope there. I still don’t know, though… I think it will be very difficult to make the alien characters that are integral to the universe look good in a TV show or movie when standing next to a real, live action human.
