I suppose I've put this off long enough. The original Mass Effect is for me the most definitive BioWare title after KOTOR, in both a good and bad sense. But mostly good! By far the strongest point is the setting itself, this game opens the door to one of the most complete sci-fi universes of the 2000's, taking clear inspiration from the franchises many gamers of the age grew up alongside, while adding its own original elements and playing with a lot of established tropes to create something familiar but refreshing. The game takes its lore and universe seriously, to the point of having an extensive catalogue dedicated just to give a layman's guide to how everything you see works.
As a game, Mass Effect is broken up into three elements: an on-foot squad based 3rd person shooter, traditional RPG elements like dialogue trees and stat development, and exploration sections featuring vehicle gameplay. None of these features by themselves are particularly amazing or innovative, but they do a great job of complimenting one another and flow neatly from one sequence into the next. At best, the result is immersion through gameplay, putting you firmly into the boots of your Commander Shepard character. At least until some of the underlying jank or bugginess rears its ugly head. And the jank can get pretty bad at times, particularly in the obvious level transitions, odd physics interactions, graphical bugs, and occasionally weird handling. I do think KB+M are the way to go with ME despite it being setup for controller play. Getting stuck in a particular section or soft locked by an issue with the engine is rare, but it can happen. Overall the gameplay is "just OK" to start out with, but if you play New Game plus one or more times and start racking up additional gear, it can get more enjoyable. The moment to moment gameplay isn't ME's strong suit, but it's at least a lot better than the D20 gameplay of KOTOR.
Mass Effect is one of the first RPG's I remember where the protagonist is a proper, fully voice acted character, rather than just existing as a bunch of stats and dialogue options a la KOTOR. Regardless of what you choose in character creation, Shepard is already a elite soldier and decorated leader with a great deal of confidence in his or her abilities. While this makes Shepard a more linear character than some, the payoff is that everything Shepard does no matter what you choose, feels like a legitimate interaction with the world and its people. And what people! The character writing and dialogue in ME is strong throughout, from your party to your allies to even the characters you're meant to hate. While you might not end up liking all of your squad, you will inevitably come out with someone you care about. I can hardly recall any moment in the first ME where the dialogue felt forced or cringeworthy, especially compared to later games in the franchise.
The story itself is, in my opinion, mostly good but elevated to great by the cinematic presentation. You don't need to absorb all the background material and optional dialogue on offer to enjoy Mass Effect, but if you do you'll likely become a lot more invested and might even start piecing together some of the major plot points of the story before they actually happen. What's most significant is how your decisions can change those key beats. While the ultimate outcome of the story is fairly liner, some of the options you have allow you to recontextualize certain events or change their overall tone [b]dramatically[/b]. This is great stuff, because it means you're still going to be seeing some fresh content and dialogue on future playthroughs. And of course everything you do on your career will carry forward into the future ME trilogy games if you choose to play them.
This game is a classic, but it'd be wrong for me to say it doesn't have some serious flaws, and is held up more by its writing and ambitious nature. Play through Mass Effect because you have a galaxy to save, not because you're looking for a traditional RPG with solid gameplay or a nuFallout or Witcher title with more action-focused mechanics. Play through this original version specifically so you can experience the heart and soul that was clearly poured into this game by BioWare's best in their heyday. I haven't played the "Legendary" edition at the time of writing, but ME Classic by itself is something any gamer should have in their library.
