Unlike KOTOR, Bioware seem to have deliberately made this game more console friendly. You don't have a proper inventory... just a big long list of the stuff you've got... also, no searching bodies for loot... although, that's a nice time saver... the level up situation is a lot simpler than previous games Bioware games too. Given the combat logistics, it's not surprising the D&D rules are out the window. There are no attributes like strength, intelligence etc. to mess around with. All you've got are the various skills your class has, some need to be unlocked but beyond getting a specialisation - these are the skills that will have to do you for the entire game.

The rogue equivalents in this game basically get a bunch of tech related stuff that lets them mess with other people. Affect the overheat of their weapons, hack AI and so on... the caster equivalent use mass effect things - which equate to toss people around, mostly... which NEVER stops being hilarious to watch. Plus it tends to render groups of enemies all floaty and useless... and the DoT warp allows you to bypass shields... which is a real bonus with some enemies.

And of course, what kind of Bioware game would it be without the aspect of morality? As with previous Bioware titles, you are often presented with opportunities to act nobly, selfishly or just indifferently. At times, conflict can be entirely circumvented by the correct dialogue and at other times, one can force conflict with a suitably belligerent attitude and even the most satisfying - cold blooded murder in public for your own gains.

An example - choosing the Earth background means at some point your character will be approached by someone from a gang you used to run with. He asks you to talk to a turian who is has a fellow gang member in custody. Naturally you can either choose at this point to take the mission or tell the guy to get lost. When you proceed to the turian, you can then either try and persuade him to free the criminal or tell him the gang member's plan. The latter prompts the gang member to arrive at which point you literally have the option to just turn around and shoot him in the head to prevent him from spreading stories of your somewhat chequered past. So, essentially all the depth that you'd expect... one very slight difference is that the dialogue responses are not word for word what will be said but rather the general tone but as you'd expect the choices you make mould the game and there can be significantly different outcomes given your responses.

The most vexing thing about the game is... just as things seem to be gaining pace... it's over. The main missions and a good portion of the sidequests can be be completed in a little over 20 hours... naturally, there are more sidequests for those inclined to go looking - there are several systems that you never have any cause to go to which are there essentially for the purposes of additional missions. The main plot breaks into essentially 7 missions - naturally, you can just play through them at any point - but it's not exactly compelling. There's no sense of uncovering a mystery like there was in KOTOR - you fight your way through the requisite bad guys and then are generally treated to a few steaming portions of plot exposition. In fact, several times this plot exposition is really only tangential to the main plot and so there's something of a feeling that you're really only seeing the development of the main story in the final act where it's essentially threeish exposition fests which explain something that any astute player will probably have clocked pretty soon into the game.

The fact that the story itself is built upon sci-fi cliche upon sci-fi cliche doesn't help. Ok, there are some aspects of sci-fi that are just so cool that people can't help but use them over and over but surely a different spin could have been put on things... compared to compelling yarns that Bioware has done before this one comes off as too short and too shallow. KOTOR gave you pretty extensive dialogue options with your crew and while there's some banter in the levels, the interaction never really gives you any feeling of true depth and there are hardly any of the spontaneous NPC on NPC interactions of those games - a little talking in lifts but that's about it...

But then, given the games length - that hardly seems surprising... and it really is to its detriment. While Mass Effect certainly does a good job of hitting the ground running the main plot missions don't feel particularly pressing until the last act and then when there's all that momentum built up - the credits roll. Now, as mentioned above - there is the option of galactic exploration, fly to clusters and get assigned missions when you get there, find a bunch of things etc. There's no doubt that there are many more hours in the game for someone who fastidiously WANTS to 100% the game... but surely if the game was better designed then these wouldn't have required you to go somewhere "just because"... and it seems fair to comment that Mass Effect WAS advertised as epic and seems to think of itself as epic... the potential was there but it's never realised and the fact that this is apparently being stretched across a trilogy seems to be a concession to EA's lust for profits over quality games rather than any sort of vision of Bioware.

In the final analysis, it's a fun game that can be enjoyed by RPGers and action game fans in roughly equal measure - although RPG fans may be left somewhat disappointed by the rather shallow dynamics - and while it's good, it feels as if it was really just getting started. No sooner have you got into the swing of things than it's over - oh, naturally there's the replay value of going through it again, looking for those random sidequests, playing it as evil instead of good, etc. but it's never really the same the second time through and given that this game is from Bioware, it's rather disappointing that it's all over so soon. Which is, in it's way - a backhanded compliment... but then, when you're forking over your cash for a game, you probably want something that will take you more than a few days of hard gaming to burn through, don't you? In fairness, still better value than going to see a film and it is enjoyable, pretty and interesting... it's just a shame that it's (relatively) shallow and short... let's all hope that Bioware hasn't sold their soul to the devil by working with EA...