It's hard enough to stand out amongst the flood of new releases that deluges the end of every year, but something even harder to do is meet expectations when your game just happens to be made by BioWare. The game in question is Mass Effect, BioWare's galaxy-spanning action RPG. Hype is no stranger to Mass Effect, but with the BioWare pedigree from titles like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights, most would agree the attention is justified.

In Mass Effect you play as Commander Shepard, a character you can fully customize in terms of gender, appearance, and abilities. In true RPG form, Abilities come from your chosen class, from standards like the gun-toting Soldier to the Biotic-dabbling Adept. Mastery of classes will naturally open up more complex options. General combat revolves around a squad-based mechanic where you only have complete control of Shepard. The complete customization of Shepard from the aforementioned abilities to even his/her morality may prove to be quite a timesinker.

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What is Biotics? Biotics is, simply put, the game's magic and refers to the game's title. "Mass effect" within the game universe is tied to a discovery of an invisible matter along the lines of the real-life scientific hypothesis of "dark energy" which is said to be, among other things, accelerating the expansion of the universe. Certain beings can manipulate this dark energy and voila - you have Biotics. Combat is only one side of Mass Effect's attraction. Interaction with NPCs through complex dialogue choices is a BioWare staple thanks to Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire and Mass Effect has promised to up the ante in this area. In lieu of choosing from a list of responses, you choose your general attitude from a wheel and your character will respond thusly. You can also interrupt NPCs while they are speaking and they will emote appropriately. Players looking for replay value need look no further from the gaggle of options from these interactions alone.

In short, Mass Effect's appeal to the hardcore gamer may be as wide a span as the adventure it contains. BioWare has also confirmed that it is the first of a series, though EA's recent acquisition of BioWare has raised questions as to whether the series will remain an Xbox 360 exclusive as it is now. Regardless, Mass Effect ships to the Xbox 360 in North America on November 20 and in Europe on November 23.

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: BioWare
Release: Nov 20, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Live | Limited Edition | Mature

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