Review: Mass Effect (360)

+'s

-very interesting story

-good character building options

-'s

-poor AI (enemies will often look at you without firing, even at higher difficulty levels, and certain friendly AI characters will die every couple minutes in firefights)

-combat is so-so (OK for a first-person RPG, but comparing the game play to Gears of War, as several journalists have, is completely ridiculous)

-repetitive gameplay (very little variety in side missions, and 4 main missions are very similar as well)

Neutral

-presentation (graphics and sound are very average for a late 2007 game)

Overall, Mass Effect reminds me of Too Human in several ways: it's a game that wants to be excellent, but several things are holding it back (and both suffer for being developed as trilogies from the start).  It's not quite as unrefined as Too Human, but it definitely feels a bit unpolished (another 6-12 months development time would have done wonders).  I'm beginning to develop a theory that Microsoft Game Studios push their partners to release games at strategic times rather than when the games themselves are ready.  All that said though, I'm still interested to see the improvements Bioware makes for the sequel.