Top 10 best things in Mass Effect part 1
So last time out I did the 10 worst parts of one of my favorite video game series, Mass Effect. And now that we got the bad and depressing out of the way, its time to move over to a high note. So without any further ado, part 1 of the 10 best things in Mass Effect
#10 Steve Cortez. Mass Effect 3
In my opinion Steve Cortez was one of the best parts of Mass Effect 3. Not for his character per say (which was at least on par with most of the playable squadmates) but for the role he played as Shepards shuttle pilot. Until I played ME3, it had never really crossed my mind to wonder about who was flying the Shuttle that Shepard took everywhere in ME2….and now thanks to Cortez, that question bothers me every time.
And hell, simply having a shuttle pilot seemed to open the door to having things actually happen in the shuttle….like briefings, conversations, or even using it offensively, things that were only made possible by the realization Shepard wasn’t actually busy flying the damn thing himself.
So yea, it’s a small thing, but the lack of a previous pilot is felt in the other ME games….so that makes it one of the best things.
#9 Thermal Clips/Ammo Power. Mass Effect 2 and 3
Alright, so I kinda hate the story of Mass Effect 2, but I cant deny mechanically the game made some awesome improvements, like thermal clips.
In Mass Effect 1, pretty much everyone would get a gun and spam shoot it until it overheated. That, and some power usage was it combat wise.
Thermal clips put an end to that. No longer could you afford to waste ammo, your shots had to count. Plus, having limited ammo made it possible to have guns that fired at different rates without breaking the game play. So now you had high rate of fire, but low damage weapons, and low rate of fire, high damage weapons, which added a whole new level of strategy to the game…..especially if your Shepard was a solider (like most peoples first one) or even a Vanguard or Infiltrator against an enemy immune to your powers. I know it got pretty fairly panned in universe (thanks Conrad) for not making any sense. But from a gaming point of view it actually worked.
In my opinion Steve Cortez was one of the best parts of Mass Effect 3. Not for his character per say (which was at least on par with most of the playable squadmates) but for the role he played as Shepards shuttle pilot. Until I played ME3, it had never really crossed my mind to wonder about who was flying the Shuttle that Shepard took everywhere in ME2….and now thanks to Cortez, that question bothers me every time.
And hell, simply having a shuttle pilot seemed to open the door to having things actually happen in the shuttle….like briefings, conversations, or even using it offensively, things that were only made possible by the realization Shepard wasn’t actually busy flying the damn thing himself.
So yea, it’s a small thing, but the lack of a previous pilot is felt in the other ME games….so that makes it one of the best things.
#9 Thermal Clips/Ammo Power. Mass Effect 2 and 3
Alright, so I kinda hate the story of Mass Effect 2, but I cant deny mechanically the game made some awesome improvements, like thermal clips.
In Mass Effect 1, pretty much everyone would get a gun and spam shoot it until it overheated. That, and some power usage was it combat wise.
Thermal clips put an end to that. No longer could you afford to waste ammo, your shots had to count. Plus, having limited ammo made it possible to have guns that fired at different rates without breaking the game play. So now you had high rate of fire, but low damage weapons, and low rate of fire, high damage weapons, which added a whole new level of strategy to the game…..especially if your Shepard was a solider (like most peoples first one) or even a Vanguard or Infiltrator against an enemy immune to your powers. I know it got pretty fairly panned in universe (thanks Conrad) for not making any sense. But from a gaming point of view it actually worked.
Also Ammo Powers did help simplify the hell out of the inventory system. I honestly hated having to change out every single characters ammo every time I fought a different kind of enemy as it took forever, so the ammo powers were deeply appreciated.
Admittedly the ammo powers would have worked just as well without the clips but as both were introduced to help fix the same micromanagement and balance problems with the weapons in the first game, it seems fair to rank them as one thing
#8 Mako, Mass Effect
Ok so I get why people hated the mako and its planet roaming. I might have hated it too it I didn’t have the maps of all the planet surfaces on hand, so I could drive straight from 1 point of interest to the next in a hurry.
But honestly I vastly prefer the mako to the planet scanning BS of ME2 and ME3. The Mako allowed for multiple events to take place on a given planet, and allowed for a storyline to be split across locations without cut scenes. And at least in the “bring down the sky” DLC allowed for multiple objectives that could be completed in any order, and actually doing them out of order (finding the dead scientists first) increased the creepy feeling of the whole DLC.
Not to mention all the main mission maps in ME had long Mako sections, and I honestly remember Virmire, IIos, Feros and Noveria far better and clearer than I do any of the planets from ME2 or 3. Now some of this might be due to better writing, but given that I also remember names of planets like Xawin, Chasca and Klensal or the views from Luna and Terra Nova better than any of the not main plot planets I could land on in ME2 or ME3, I gotta chalk some of that up from being able to personalize myself with the planet via the Mako.
The one down side to the Mako….it seems like shepard switched his out like 5 times in the story for abandoned ones he’d find on planet. The hell is up with that? Like I get that there is more than one Mako, but do they all use the same key?
Also youd think the one kept in the top of the line alliance ship would be in better condition…and possibly be more advanced than the ones found on planet…or at least contain alliance access codes….or even just have a full fuel tank. Point is, I don’t really think its something youd want to leave behind just because you found another one with the keys in the ignition.
#7. Citadel DLC. Mass Effect 3
Its been called the ultimate Mass Effect DLC and it really is. The main plot may not be original, but it contains approximately 2/3s of all the best lines in Mass Effect. And hell every single character in the story gets a chance to shine….even Glyph.
Then we have the party…….possible the best hour of mass effect you will ever play and some of the best NPC development of the series. Again with a huge cast (all most all squadmates, plus Joker Trayor and Cortez)everyone gets there moment to shine and their characters get massively fleshed out…..even Kasumi and Zaeed the DLC characters from the previous game (who basically because of the fact they were optional DLC get the least facetime in the main game). In fact, with the exceptions of Legion and Mornith every single character can appear in the party (based on choices made across the series) even dead ones.
Also, just for the fuck of it, the DLC contains a “final goodbye/hangout” scene with all the characters…..even ME3 squad mates like Garrus/Liara/Tali who got one in the main game…and actually some sqaudmates get 2. And to be honest those really are some of the best scenes of Mass Effect (looking at you Zaeed and your claw machine)
Basically if you love Mass Effect for the characters, you cannot play the game without this DLC
#6. Combat system. Mass Effect 3
Ok so no matter what you thought of Mass Effect 3’s ending….or even the game at all, there is no denying that its combat movement system is freaking awesome.
First you get an unarmed combat system that actually works….not just a random elbow or kick (mass effect 2) or a charge (Mass Effect). Its got soft quick hits or a charged heavy attack that knocks your opponent down.
Not to mention you can move from cover to cover, or even around cover…….something that you instantly notice the lack of if you go back to the earlier games and get shot in the head when trying to move around the battlefield. And every way you move around cover, be it moving laterally to another piece of cover, around a corner of cover, or forward to a piece of cover has its own style and animation.
You can also now vault over things at a full charge, no ducking into cover required. This is awesome for when you need to rush into (or out of) a fight or move quickly across a map or what have you.
Plus you can jump, albeit in specific locations. Maybe not that useful in direct combat, but it does make moving around the map much more interesting….and it has limited combat use when available for flanking maneuverers…and the fact I can even use that term in a mass effect game shows what a great system it is and what potential it allows.
Honestly there is very little from later Mass Effects I wish I could go back and add to the original to make it better….this is the one of those things that’s the exception.
So there you have it folks the bottom half of the 10 best things about Mass Effect. Although Im behind schedule I do expect to have the second part (the top 5 best things) done by Saturday at the latest.
Admittedly the ammo powers would have worked just as well without the clips but as both were introduced to help fix the same micromanagement and balance problems with the weapons in the first game, it seems fair to rank them as one thing
#8 Mako, Mass Effect
Ok so I get why people hated the mako and its planet roaming. I might have hated it too it I didn’t have the maps of all the planet surfaces on hand, so I could drive straight from 1 point of interest to the next in a hurry.
But honestly I vastly prefer the mako to the planet scanning BS of ME2 and ME3. The Mako allowed for multiple events to take place on a given planet, and allowed for a storyline to be split across locations without cut scenes. And at least in the “bring down the sky” DLC allowed for multiple objectives that could be completed in any order, and actually doing them out of order (finding the dead scientists first) increased the creepy feeling of the whole DLC.
Not to mention all the main mission maps in ME had long Mako sections, and I honestly remember Virmire, IIos, Feros and Noveria far better and clearer than I do any of the planets from ME2 or 3. Now some of this might be due to better writing, but given that I also remember names of planets like Xawin, Chasca and Klensal or the views from Luna and Terra Nova better than any of the not main plot planets I could land on in ME2 or ME3, I gotta chalk some of that up from being able to personalize myself with the planet via the Mako.
The one down side to the Mako….it seems like shepard switched his out like 5 times in the story for abandoned ones he’d find on planet. The hell is up with that? Like I get that there is more than one Mako, but do they all use the same key?
Also youd think the one kept in the top of the line alliance ship would be in better condition…and possibly be more advanced than the ones found on planet…or at least contain alliance access codes….or even just have a full fuel tank. Point is, I don’t really think its something youd want to leave behind just because you found another one with the keys in the ignition.
#7. Citadel DLC. Mass Effect 3
Its been called the ultimate Mass Effect DLC and it really is. The main plot may not be original, but it contains approximately 2/3s of all the best lines in Mass Effect. And hell every single character in the story gets a chance to shine….even Glyph.
Then we have the party…….possible the best hour of mass effect you will ever play and some of the best NPC development of the series. Again with a huge cast (all most all squadmates, plus Joker Trayor and Cortez)everyone gets there moment to shine and their characters get massively fleshed out…..even Kasumi and Zaeed the DLC characters from the previous game (who basically because of the fact they were optional DLC get the least facetime in the main game). In fact, with the exceptions of Legion and Mornith every single character can appear in the party (based on choices made across the series) even dead ones.
Also, just for the fuck of it, the DLC contains a “final goodbye/hangout” scene with all the characters…..even ME3 squad mates like Garrus/Liara/Tali who got one in the main game…and actually some sqaudmates get 2. And to be honest those really are some of the best scenes of Mass Effect (looking at you Zaeed and your claw machine)
Basically if you love Mass Effect for the characters, you cannot play the game without this DLC
#6. Combat system. Mass Effect 3
Ok so no matter what you thought of Mass Effect 3’s ending….or even the game at all, there is no denying that its combat movement system is freaking awesome.
First you get an unarmed combat system that actually works….not just a random elbow or kick (mass effect 2) or a charge (Mass Effect). Its got soft quick hits or a charged heavy attack that knocks your opponent down.
Not to mention you can move from cover to cover, or even around cover…….something that you instantly notice the lack of if you go back to the earlier games and get shot in the head when trying to move around the battlefield. And every way you move around cover, be it moving laterally to another piece of cover, around a corner of cover, or forward to a piece of cover has its own style and animation.
You can also now vault over things at a full charge, no ducking into cover required. This is awesome for when you need to rush into (or out of) a fight or move quickly across a map or what have you.
Plus you can jump, albeit in specific locations. Maybe not that useful in direct combat, but it does make moving around the map much more interesting….and it has limited combat use when available for flanking maneuverers…and the fact I can even use that term in a mass effect game shows what a great system it is and what potential it allows.
Honestly there is very little from later Mass Effects I wish I could go back and add to the original to make it better….this is the one of those things that’s the exception.
So there you have it folks the bottom half of the 10 best things about Mass Effect. Although Im behind schedule I do expect to have the second part (the top 5 best things) done by Saturday at the latest.
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