Title: Mass EffectPlatforms: Xbox 360 ESRB: M

From the people who brought you the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, Bioware delivers one of the best RPGs on not only the Xbox 360, but one of the best RPGs ever made. Mass Effect offers challenging combat, an extremely interactive and grabbing storyline, and a heck of a fun time. The game requires that you make tough decisions in both conversation and combat situations that ultimately alter how the game is played and how the story unfolds.

The storyline is very immersive. It takes place 200 years in the future where universe of galactic peace is threatened by a renowned special agent gone rogue. You take the role of Commander Sheppard, a man (or woman depending on your customization choices) who controls the Normandy, one of the best ships in the Alliance fleet. This rogue special agent, or a Spectre as they call them, is a part of the Turian species whose name is Saren. He betrayed the Alliance and has brought back a robotic race called the Geth, who were inactive in the galaxy for several thousand years. Without spoiling too much of the story, you need to defeat Saren and his army of Geth.

In the beginning, you can choose a pre-made character or make your own. You can choose your own gender, facial features, and kind of personality, which affects how everyone in the game treats and reacts to you. The classes you can choose from include Soldier, which specialize in weapons, Adept, whose specialty is biotics, and Vanguard, a combination of both. Biotics is the special power in the game that connects powerful brain waves to the physical needs of the person that controls the biotics. In other words, it's a knock-off of the Force from Star Wars. But that doesn't keep it from being cool. You can lift, throw, or blow up the weapons of your enemies. You can also create a temporary shield barrier around you and your squad mates.

You can have a squad of up to two other people. You can eventually gain up to six people of all races, genders, and abilities to choose from. You can power up you and your squad by spending points on abilities that are received by gaining levels from collecting XP. You can gain XP by gaining knowledge base about the galaxy, killing enemies, or by completing primary or side missions and conversations. You can also equip weapons, armor, and upgrades to your squad as they are gained throughout the story.

Without a doubt, the most interesting part of the game is the many ways you can talk to people. Every time you get an opportunity to say something, a small menu comes up at the bottom of the screen with several dialogue options to choose from. These can range from nice or mean things to say or certain courses of action to take. Deciding what to say or do can mean the difference between life or death, an enemy or an ally, reward or consequence, and good or bad reputation. For example, you can choose to save one squad mate or another, or help a person out or not. Each decision makes an impact on the story and has its own benefits and loses.

Mass Effect is a must-have for any RPG lover or anybody who enjoys a good game. It has a good replay value and is definitely worth every penny of your purchase. This game is certainly more bang for your buck.

Score:

10/10