Mass Effect (2007)

First game is good, but second and third are outstanding

It's Dec 2024 and I ran into a sale for Mass Effect 1, 2, & 3 all in a new remastered package. I never played Mass Effect before so I thought I'd check it out, but I'm using an older PC so it didn't look like it would run well. I went ahead and got Mass Effect 1. It was about $4.50 (the whole remastered package was the same price) and so far it's been a lot of fun. I'll definitely be finishing the game, at least once, and would recommend it as a great bargain.

Obligatory recommendation because this is one of my favorite games. Completed it three times on Xbox, PS3 and PC. Not really recommended if you don't want to mod and troubleshoot for this to work. This game just doesn't work anymore on modern systems and without patching this yourself there are major visual glitches and crashes ahead. Other than that, this is the same classic and it's still here if you're averse to the new version for some reason.

I'm gonna have to downvote this game. Because by now it aged badly. lol Trying to replay it to get another save game for the series, I found out the game isn't able to reach current day resolutions, so I'm forced to play this in a tiny window. I suppose there's a mod for this somewhere. It also seems to have a memory leak, or rather, can't seem to allocate the memory it requires, and crashes often due to that. This can be worked around with a program called "Large Address Aware", but obviously it seems this game is just old and done with for the devs since issues like these weren't patched. So in terms of functionality, I guess it's just better to buy the Legendary edition, since it's released more recently and more likely to work properly on a modern PC.

Game's not 100 gigs and doesn't require you to download EA's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ service to launch the game that you just spent 2 hours downloading. No controller support, but that's okay. It's a lil more buggy than the Legendary Edition though. That's about the only reason I'd recommend that version over this one. Game itself is just KOTOR but actually fun.

Better than the legendary version IMO

form the golden age 9.5/10

To answer a question I had before buying this version of the game in 2025: it ran quite well on my computer! I had a lot of problems with the Steam version of Dragon Age: Origins (to the extent that I basically had to apply a mod just to play it at all), but Mass Effect 1 ran smoothly on its own for the most part. In 50 hours of gameplay I only had one crash. I'd say that's pretty good for a game from 2007! The graphics also hold up surprisingly well in my opinion -- some of those planetscapes were still absolutely breathtaking to experience for the first time even now. Generally, the design direction of the game is strong enough that it holds up great despite its chunkier polygons. If you're not allergic to older games in general you'll be fine. Anyone looking to buy the game in 2025 will probably be wondering whether to get this version or the Legendary Edition, and honestly I think the main two differences are just price vs computer space. The Legendary Edition is overall cheaper, as it's sort of a bundle of the original trilogy, but honestly the original game still holds up without the remaster imo and takes up far less GB. So really, it will depend on your specific needs, I think. The original versions of Mass Effect 1 and 2 also don't have Steam achievements if that's a deal breaker (although there are in-game achievements). All of the games' original DLCs are included for free now too. In terms of gameplay, there are clunky elements to the combat, and a lot of repetition in quest design (especially side quests -- get ready to know two or three enemy base designs very very well lol). But I think what brings people back to this game has always been the story. Personally, there are elements of the writing I find... silly at best, rather ignorant about American militarism at worst. (The politics of this game in general.. hoo boy. The series as a whole is weirdly obsessed with eugenics as a plot point, and I mean weirdly, to a weird degree. It's weird.) But the slow build-up of the plot's mystery, the cool aliens, the genuinely deep and enjoyable characters, the freaky awesome space horror elements, the dumb explosive action movie hype moments... all of that together made for an experience that I was just super invested in by the end. The climax of this game had me hootin and hollerin. Despite the obvious flaws, I was very much on board by the end of it, and I think that's this game's real strength. It takes skill to concoct an experience that is just, at base level, so engaging and fun. And I think that's why people never forget this game -- it just accomplished that so well.