Mass Effect - Room for improvement:

OK, I've plugged about 19 hours into Mass Effect, I took off and did
the side-missions after getting the Specter license and just now got
around to dealing with Benezia, I think I've put enough time in to
talk about some major and minor gameplay issues.

1) The mission where the scientists have been turned to "Husk" by the
alien technology, there's a rock in the main chamber with a glowing
center. If you, like me, approach the rock to investigate, the player
will get stuck on the terrain and be unable to get away from the rock.
It would be possible to fix this by having a simple jump button. As it
was I had to re-load a saved game and start over.

2) We should be able to switch characters a la Knights of the Old
Republic. When the main character "dies" control should revert to a
surviving member of the party instead of just ending the game. The
game should end only if the entire party is wiped out because...

3) One hit kills are cheap and they suck. During the fight against
Benezia I had to re-start many times because the snipers were able to
kill my main character despite having 5 power bars on the shields and
full health. Yeah, I know, they're snipers... but what's the point of
having 5 layers of shielding if they, you know, don't actually shield
you from anything.

4) The Mako drives fine. But... The aim on the cannon can be thrown
off if you're just a little too high or low. I've unloaded thousands
of rounds a Thresher Maws and gun turrets and done ZERO damage because
I'm on a slight incline or decline. Maybe some sort of "lock on"
button would be appropriate?

5) As long as we're talking about the Mako... There should be vehicle
upgrades just like there are weapon and armor upgrades. Stronger
cannons, missiles, better armor, that kind of thing.

6) There should be a greater variety of planets. How about a water
planet that requires a hover-craft option for the Mako? Forest moons?
Come on... anything other than rock and more rock.

7) Again, as long as we're talking about different planets, what about
gravity? Shouldn't each planet have a slightly different gravity?
Driving the Mako around the moon was just ridiculous with the same
gravity as everywhere else.

All in all I'm pretty impressed with the game, these are just minor
distractions from an over-all positive experience. Not a perfect 10
game by any stretch of the imagination, it's currently averaging 92 on
Gamerankings which might be a point or two too high.

- Jordan
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Mass Effect - Room for improvement:
    ... If you, like me, approach the rock to investigate, the player ... surviving member of the party instead of just ending the game. ... As long as we're talking about the Mako... ... There should be a greater variety of planets. ...
    (alt.games.video.xbox)
  • Re: Mass Effect - Room for improvement:
    ... If you, like me, approach the rock to investigate, the player ... surviving member of the party instead of just ending the game. ... As long as we're talking about the Mako... ... There should be a greater variety of planets. ...
    (alt.games.video.xbox)
  • Re: OXM gives Mass Effect 2 a 9.5
    ... I'm kinda sad about the "less items" in the game you won't find lots ... Gone is the MAKO I'll miss you warthoggy-ish pal, ... planets weren't so barren. ... mention in the 9.5 score box "Main story is a bit disappointing" ...
    (alt.games.video.xbox)
  • Re: OXM gives Mass Effect 2 a 9.5
    ... I'm kinda sad about the "less items" in the game you won't find lots ... Gone is the MAKO I'll miss you warthoggy-ish pal, ... planets weren't so barren. ... "Sadly combing planets for rare minerals isnt just tedious its plain ...
    (alt.games.video.xbox)
  • Re: OXM gives Mass Effect 2 a 9.5
    ... I'm kinda sad about the "less items" in the game you won't find lots ... Gone is the MAKO I'll miss you warthoggy-ish pal, ... planets weren't so barren. ... While Ubisoft made Assassin's Creed 2 deeper than the ...
    (alt.games.video.xbox)