Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2

To sum up Mass Effect into one word would be difficult but I would say Epic.

Yes the first of three instalments in the BioWare trilogy Mass Effect was a hit. Using the same type of game-play that made the KOTOR series popular Mass Effect adds little to the formula, But it does change it some what by adding a 3rd person shooter element to the mix.

Graphics: they look nice on a mid-range machine and it is easy to find your self stopping to admire the environment and there are many environments to admire, From cityscapes to rural settlements to dig sites and star ships and even spacestations.

Game-play: as you would expect is similar to that of KOTOR however the focus is moved to gun-play and Biotic powers (Force powers) with the addition of using cover to hide from all the suppression fire the AI will throw at your Player Character (which you can customize from the start). Apart from the apparent hatred the AI has for you it will also take down any of your companions who are stupid enough to hag out their butts which they tend to do regularly as they rob you of your kills and/or charge at the formidable Krogan warriors and attempt to kill them with their fists.

Story: If anything can be said of Bioware its they write good stories which you can manipulate as you traverse the game environs in the form of good and bad decisions as-well as making decisions that will effect the way the story plays out some of which are subtle and others are not.

There are some vehicle sections some of which are fun and others are just tedious and boring and sometimes they seem pointless and give you an unnecessary edge over the poor bastards who are set in your path.

Missions: your goal is to hunt down and take down a dude called Saren who believes that the only way to save his people is to side with an AI warship called Sovereign who in turn is hell-bent on calling in his fellow AI ships to farm the races of the galaxy out of existence. Along the way you will pick up or stumble onto plenty of side missions which you can complete in your own time in order to collect credits and equipment which you will use to further your mission.