Mass Effect

Bioware's highly-anticipated sci-fi, role-playing game Mass Effect hit stores this past week, and it is truly the epitome of a mixed bag. Set in the future of our very own Milky Way galaxy, the story revolves around the actions of Commander Shepard and his-or her-crew aboard the spacecraft Normandy. You are thrown in the midst of an evolving story as you race across the galaxy, fending off the end of civilization and all advanced life.

Like most grade school essays, the ideas are good, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Many of Mass Effect's key features, such as dialogue control and squad interaction, feel incomplete. More often than not, your companions will stand still and die rather than seek cover.

The highly-touted dialogue control is absent. There are no real ways to interrupt dialogue in a meaningful way other than to save time by skipping through the chatter. The good-evil system has only marginally improved from Mass Effect's predecessor, Knights of the Old Republic. Despite the constant reminder that your decisions matter, the story is linear, and the real choice is between talking and fighting. Beyond these major let-downs are a host of small issues: no introduction, frequent loading, freezing and many more. With the expectation of quality, such obvious flaws translate to added disappointment.

However, a reward is awaiting your patience and forgiveness. The space opera Bioware crafted is the realization of a mix between Firefly, Star Wars and Baldur's Gate. The story is epic and well-paced with lots of group interaction and personalities to explore. In Mass Effect there is not a poorly-spoken sentence-no matter how dramatic, threatening or sarcastic. The voice cast, which includes Seth Green and the Arbiter from Halo 3, is superb. The world is rendered beautifully-which accounts for a lot of the performance issues. Character textures have never looked better, and the environments are expansive, with many wide-open areas for exploration and combat.

The fighting-past the sharp learning curve-is intense and only increases after the first play-through, as harder difficulty levels become available and foes are noticeably tougher and more intelligent. The vividness of the fire fights shine through in each encounter. You will find yourself ducking behind crates, shooting from cover, throwing grenades and unleashing lethal yet beautiful abilities.

Overall, the positives strongly outweigh the negatives. The three separate character classes, different plot paths and ingenious XBox 360 achievements-they actually unlock bonuses-are more than enough reasons to replay. The first part of Bioware's three-part essay has been written and, beyond its poor punctuation and frequent hanging participles, the story shines through.