BioWare, masters of the branching storyline that is a hallmark of a great RPG, can rightly consider the Mass Effect series as their career-defining masterpiece; although a shout-out should be reserved for 2003’s seminal Star Wars : Knights of the Old Republic. Mass Effect is a tale of intrigue, deceit, military might and a people trying to find their way in the galaxy they live in; this is science-fiction at its best.
With some new game-ending DLC in the works for Mass Effect 3 (Mass Effect 3 : Extended Cut) and purportedly landing sometime within the next month or so, it would be nice to revisit the trilogy, and take in everything as a whole. So if you’re new to the Mass Effect series, and have no clue what it’s about, or have your doubts that anything other than Diablo III, Skyrim or WoW do not deserve your time, let’s take a look at what the fuss is all about.
To infinity and beyond
Mass Effect is set in the 22nd Century (2183 is the starting year, to be precise) as humanity has discovered ancient alien technology on Mars that allows manipulation of gravity and space-time through the creation of ‘mass effect’ fields that allow things such as faster than light travel and near instantaneous transportation from one end of the galaxy to the other, through massive floating portals in space called Mass Relays.
Humanity begins its journey into the deep void of space, and stumbles across a vast pan-galactic alien community
Humanity begins its journey into the deep void of space, and stumbles across a vast pan-galactic alien community, comprised of races that have cultures and traditions measured in millennia rather than centuries; with shared wisdom and experience that the ‘young’ human race can only dream of. This inevitably, results in tensions developing between humanity and the rest of the galaxy, as they try to find their place in a universe that just got a lot bigger.
There are three races that dominate galactic politics and control the Citadel Council (which oversees all known life in the galaxy); Asari, Turian and Salarian. The Asari are blue-skinned, female in appearance, and can live up to a millennium; they have taken the role of being the galaxy’s diplomats. Turians are analogous to humans, although are avian in appearance, have a deeply ingrained sense of civic duty far beyond any race and is the galaxy’s major peacekeeping force. Salarians are a short-lived, but hyperactive race of bipeds that are amphibian in appearance; they are renowned for being genius scientists and, funnily enough, exceptional military commandoes and intelligence operatives. There are plenty of other races as well in the ME universe.
It is into this galaxy that Commander Shepard appears, one of humanity’s rising military stars and a graduate of the Systems Alliance military’s N7 program. What starts out as a simple shakedown cruise to the human colony of Eden Prime for the SSV Normandy, an advanced navy frigate and joint-venture between the human and turian military, turns out to be the beginning of a saga that has rogue council agents, invasions of synthetic life forms, and a machine race bent on destroying all life in the galaxy.
It’s not about having the bigger gun
Gameplay across all three games does not stray too far from what was established in the original, with events unfolding from an over-the-shoulder third person perspective similar to Resident Evil 4 and 5. The major changes across all three games have to do with pacing (it gets faster as the series goes along), and inventory management (too much in game 1, none at all in game 2, and just the right balance in game 3). Mechanics such as vehicular movement also evolved game by game, with game 1 having yawn-inducing segments of planetary exploration, game 2 streamlining this, with the option to fly a shuttle (part of DLC), and game 3 streamlining it even further.
Combat involves the use of weapons, tech powers and biotics. Biotics is a result of people who have been affected by element zero and can manipulate mass effect fields, and this function like magic. Tech powers affect enemies’ technological capabilities (e.g. shields), and weapons are, well, weapons. Game 1 had weapons that did not have any ammo, but had cool down periods should a weapon be used too much due to overheating. Games 2 and 3 evolved to have a system called ‘thermal clips’ which are not weapon specific, but have limited capacity and are ejected to siphon heat off weapons for continued use. A weapon cannot be fired if it does not have a thermal clip. Thankfully, all enemies drop thermal clips, so this isn’t really an issue.
All three games had you traversing a galaxy map with different locations, with areas divided into star clusters, then solar systems, and then planets. This being an RPG, there are level progressions and power upgrades, with a level cap of 30 for ME1, level 50 for ME2, and level 60 for ME3. And of course, you can keep replaying as the same character from ME1 all the way through to 3.
The consequence of choice
What sets Mass Effect apart from other games is choice. Not just the illusion of choice, but choices that actually influence the storyline
What sets Mass Effect apart from other games is choice. Not just the illusion of choice, but choices that actually influence the storyline. Characters can die, galaxy shifting events can be changed and the destinies of whole races can be radically altered. In their marketing release for Mass Effect 3, BioWare rather proudly mentioned that in order to determine the state of the galaxy for the game, thousands of variables would be pulled from save data from games 1 and 2. What seem like minor decisions in game 1 can have universe-altering ramifications in game 3.
This means that no player can have an experience that is 100% identical to anyone else’s. Add 6 different playable classes, 3 different origin stories for Shepard, 3 different scenarios in which Shepard rose to prominence and a customisable appearance for the protagonist, and you have a gameplay experience that has millions of permutations.
You are Commander Shepard. But Commander Shepard is not you
In a saga that has spanned three games, 7 years and thousands of decisions, millions of players around the world have stepped into the shoes of Commander Shepard, and forged an experience that no one else would have had. When I first booted up Mass Effect 3 a little over two months ago, and set about importing his red-haired, sharp-featured and green-eyed Aidena Shepard from Mass Effect 2, it was the beginning of the end for a journey that only Aidena had been through.
It was at this point in the series that the thought finally dawned on me that it had ceased being a story that BioWare had crafted for me to experience. This was my story
It was at this point in the series that the thought finally dawned on me that it had ceased being a story that BioWare had crafted for me to experience. This was my story. This was my Shepard. And in doing so, Mass Effect had become more than just another game. Aidena had grown so much in my mind that she had ceased to become just an avatar for me to navigate the game with. She was her own person. A character that had been given birth through my impetus and impulses. Through my prejudices and inclinations. She was tough, quick on the mark and possessed humanity that would rival any asari or zen master when it came to her depth of wisdom and insight.
Making decisions later in the game, I came to realise that I was trying to figure out not what I would do, but what Shepard would do. And no matter what the decision, I knew she would be able to live by it and see it through. If I had been in her shoes I doubt I would have been able to make the same calls. Her decisions took on an organic nature of their own, determined not by me, but by the person I had helped her become.
It is a staggering amount of emotional investment to have in a character that is essentially a bunch of polygons and code, and a testament to the richness of the subject material. And rather handily explains the outrage over how the series ended. This is a universe you are happy to play in, to believe in. And that is the beauty of the entire experience. You care. You feel. You go beyond what you would normally experience, or allow yourself to experience, compared to any other game.
In conclusion
The Mass Effect trilogy has had a more profound impact on my psyche than anything other than faith and Star Wars in my lifetime. It is a stunning achievement, epochal in scale and transcendent in its discussions on the future of the human race. It also begs a realisation of sorts to be acknowledged: we are just one technological discovery away from this version of the future.
That then, begs another question; after all this while looking for life elsewhere in the universe, would we be able to deal with it should we ever find it?
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