Everyone Loves Shepard - Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Review

Developer: Bioware | Platform: PS4 | Playtime: 21:30 | Platinum: 23:40

One of many iconic franchises that somehow slipped by me over the years, Mass Effect has been high on the list for me to try. The impending Mass Effect likes – Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn – have given me the motivation to start them. Playing via the Legendary edition, I can see why people love this franchise even after all of this time.

Minor story and gameplay spoilers follow, reader discretion is advised

The basic premise is that in the 22nd Century, Humanity discovered ancient alien technology and a new element that brought them up to speed with the intergalactic community. You play as Commander Shepard, your own custom human captain on a mission to collect a new alien artefact. Things go awry when an alien species not seen in over 200 years attack.

As this is an RPG, you’ve got dialogue options. I don’t think this game created or pioneered them but the dialogue wheel is your main avenue of discussion with people. I was pleasantly surprised how much dialogue each character had, it really adds to the already fantastic world building. I discovered a new species I didn’t know beforehand – the Elcor, and they became my favourite species to talk to. There are choices to be made throughout the game and I genuinely felt invested in the choices I made.

Levels are not open world, nor linear but I also wouldn’t go as far as to call them sandbox. Each level is a medium space that has an obvious path of progression but enough space to explore and engage in minor side quests. Side Quests are often little more than fetch quests but they’re enhanced by the dialogue and narratives behind them.

Combat generally is a bit janky but gets the job done well enough. Squads are comprised of 3 members being the player and two squadmates of your own choosing. Each character has a class and weapon speciality so having 3 allows you to always have your bases covered, one of each major discipline or mixing and matching to however you want. Playing as an Adept, one of the Biotic classes, I chose to have two Tech classes. Partially because they were tech but mostly because Garrus and Tali were my favourite companions. Having to choose between effectiveness and personality will be tough for people. Each character has access to all weapons and types at any given times so even if they don’t have the relevant proficiency, the team can be ready for anything. You can choose which guns your squadmates use and when they use their powers but you can also change their setting to actively engage with enemies, meaning they’ll use their own powers and the right guns for each scenario. I never noticed anything being a problem so they’re usually decent.

Over the course of the game, there’s six companions to unlock and they’re all really fun to be around (Save for the humans, they’re a bit boring). Different missions can elicit unique dialogue from your companions too which is fun. Tali, Garrus and Wrex all have optional loyalty missions to further explore their characters but they can be easy to miss.

I’ve heard bad things about them but the MAKO missions aren’t too bad at all. Yes the controls are a bit slippy but the missions (Sometimes during main quests, primarily through Planet exploration) are always alright – never terribly exciting but exploring is a fun change of pace.

I had to do a little research on this but of the two DLC the original game had, only ‘Bring down the Sky’ is included, it’s a fun little side jaunt not much to say about it, seems just to be a way to introduce the Batarian race before the sequel.

I don’t think this review does my feelings justice, perhaps because I’m already midway through the second game by the time I’m playing this. I really enjoyed the game, even if it is a touch basic and hard to talk in depth. Definitely worth playing, go play it.