Mass Effect 1 is not an easy game to get into. It's one of those awkward seventh-gen titles where the developer throws stuff at the wall to see what sticks. So some parts feel bare-bones and other systems seem pointless, but there is a strong narrative that makes it worth visiting.
GOOD: The story and world has it all: a vast universe full of distinct alien races, a memorable villain, a cast of cool allies, a series of interesting reveals, and towards the end some very hard and heavy choices. The music is excellent too.
MIXED: The combat is functional, but unbalanced. It is possible to gun down two-dozen robots without a scratch, only to be killed by a rocket you didn't see coming.
The RPG mechanics are half-baked. There's a lot of numbers and a lot of items, but little polish. It's telling that the sequel could eject 90% of this busy-work and lose nothing.
BAD: Pretty much everything outside the storyline planets is unmitigated crap. There's over 30 square-miles of barren scenery littered with the same four interior maps. Little voice-acting, a reliance on text-boxes, and no unique assets. This side-content is such a jarring contrast with the main content that it would have been better if it were scaled down or removed completely.
CONCLUSION: I recommend playing the Legendary edition which smooths some of the original game's faults like the UI. If you are not a completionist but do want to play the trilogy then I suggest sticking solely to the story-relevant locales and skipping the sandbox crap. The main campaign of Mass Effect 1 is space-opera at it's finest and something worth witnessing by any player who wants a compelling, memorable story.
Legendary Edition: Ten hours of fantastic space-opera and twenty hours of open-world garbage.
Mass Effect 1 is not an easy game to get into. It's one of those awkward seventh-gen titles where the developer throws stuff at the wall to see what sticks. So some parts feel bare-bones and other systems seem pointless, but there is a strong narrative that makes it worth visiting.
GOOD: The story and world has it all: a vast universe full of distinct alien races, a memorable villain, a cast of cool allies, a series of interesting reveals, and towards the end some very hard and heavy choices. The music is excellent too.
MIXED: The combat is functional, but unbalanced. It is possible to gun down two-dozen robots without a scratch, only to be killed by a rocket you didn't see coming.
The RPG mechanics are half-baked. There's a lot of numbers and a lot of items, but little polish. It's telling that the sequel could eject 90% of this busy-work and lose nothing.
BAD: Pretty much everything outside the storyline planets is unmitigated crap. There's over 30 square-miles of barren scenery littered with the same four interior maps. Little voice-acting, a reliance on text-boxes, and no unique assets. This side-content is such a jarring contrast with the main content that it would have been better if it were scaled down or removed completely.
CONCLUSION: I recommend playing the Legendary edition which smooths some of the original game's faults like the UI. If you are not a completionist but do want to play the trilogy then I suggest sticking solely to the story-relevant locales and skipping the sandbox crap. The main campaign of Mass Effect 1 is space-opera at it's finest and something worth witnessing by any player who wants a compelling, memorable story.