My love affair with Mass Effect is long and deep rooted, this was the first sci-fi RPG I had ever played. In all honesty I wasn’t that into the first game, I enjoyed it but that was about it, it was only when I started playing Mass Effect 2 that my love for the series grew. Mass Effect 3 was the first big game that I actually got to review. Throughout my entire ME2 playthrough I had a tinge of regret that I had saved one character over another. I’m pleased to say that 14 years later I’ve finally fixed that mistake and the world is right again!
Mass Effect Legendary Edition brings all three games together into one neat package, giving you access to all three titles from a single screen. For newcomers to the Mass Effect you play as Commander Shepard, their story and appearance are defined by you. You and your crew are out to protect the galaxy from the Reapers from commiting galactic genocide.
The story still stands up brilliantly and as you play through Mass Effect 1 you’ll build a huge understanding of all the different species that coexist and the tensions that have bubbled up between the different factions. You’ll learn all of this through conversations aboard the Normandy and CIA the various missions you undertake. As you expect there is a main set of missions but there is plenty to enjoy through the different side quests that appear through scanning planets and talking to people on the citadel.
Generally the upgrade to the graphics is impressive, even in the first game, although the character models are let down by the lifeless animations. This all improves as you move through the other games of course. The various planets you visit look that much more interesting, the cutscenes are smooth and detailed and the whole experience is a big improvement.
The gunplay is still good and spending on what sort of character you have created your biotic abilities are still great to experiment with. As you move through 2 and 3 that gameplay improves, especially as it becomes easier to direct your squad in battle. Getting a mix of abilities in your squad allows you to create combinations, for example having a biotic character that can throw a group of enemies in the air so the other two in the squad can shoot them down like clay pigeons never gets old.
The various enemies you come up against are intelligent for the most part, although you’ll still come across opponents who get stuck or won’t move from their position. Some of the larger enemies are great to go up against and Saren, the major villain is an excellent opponent.
The Mass Effect series is all about the relationships, sometimes you are relieving tensions between the different alien races and other times you are helping your fellow humans.As you level up Shepard you’ll unlock new conversation arcs and depending on whether you play as a good guy/role model or a Badass who doesn’t care what people think the different characters you meet will react to you in different ways. As you play through ME2 you’ll learn a lot more about the characters you first met in ME as well as meeting some excellent new people that you’ll go on one hell of a journey with. Some you’ll get on with , some you won’t but that’s the beauty of the excellent dialogue and choices you are forced to make.
Load times are much improved, though it’s sort of spoiled because you have to load the game to a main menu where you then have to select which game of the three you want to play.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
As remasters go, this is one of the best one I've had the pleasure to play, Bioware have done an incredible job to bring the trilogy forward for those of us that wanted to relive the magic of the game and to introduce a new audience to an excellent set of games.
