Mass Effect

          This week, instead of reading a book, I played the Mass Effect trilogy on the Xbox 360. I first heard of this series because I was a fan of Bioware, the company that developed the games. I had played some of their previous games, namely Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (or KOTOR) and the Dragon Age games. I had played a bit of the first Mass Effect about six months ago, but I didn't really care for it. However, I decided to give it another try after I heard such great things about the games from Steve Livoti. So I played the entire trilogy last week. I was glad that I decided to give the games another shot.
          I decided that I could blog about these games the same way I blog about books because of the scale of the story in these games. The story changes with each decision you make, and the alterations cascade though the next games. Because of that, you can play these games several times and have a completely different experience each time. That's one of the reasons why I loved these games so much: you get to make your own story.
          The Mass Effect series takes place in the distant future. The first game starts out in 2183, and the human race has advanced significantly in the past centuries. In 2148, after discovering artifacts on Mars that came from an extinct alien race known as the Protheans, humans are able to make huge technological advances using information from the find. This allows humanity to explore the galaxy outside of our solar system. Contact with other alien races follow shortly, and humanity finds itself quickly becoming a major player in the galaxy.
          In these games, you play as Shepard, a commander in the Alliance Navy. During your career, you discover the existence of an alien race known as the Reapers, who come out of hiding every 50,000 years to destroy all the powerful species in the galaxy. Your goal across the games is to stop them from achieving that goal. As Shepard, your choices drastically affect the outcome. Your choices affect who lives and who dies, and they ultimately decide the fate of the reapers and the galaxy.
          The story in these games is incredible. Even though you're surrounded by tons of alien species you know nothing about, and you're dealing with a previously unknown enemy, it never feels overwhelming. The game helps you to understand things by providing you with a codex filled with info an a large variety of topics. This allows you to choose your level or immersion: you can have the world be as rich as you like by reading all of the entries, or you can simply play the game and accept things at face value with out trying to decipher them.
          The third game in the series reminded me a bit or Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Mockingjay follows Katniss Everdeen as she leads the resistance movement against the Capitol, and deals with the psychological strain she deals with. In Mass Effect 3, Shepard is doing a similar thing. As Shepard, you lead the races of the galaxy against the reapers, and, after two other games, the stress is starting to get to your character. Shepard feels stressed, he (or she) isn't sleeping well, and the fate of Earth and the entire galaxy is resting upon his/her shoulders. Both stories focus on the emotional impact of the experiences of the protagonists more than the previous iterations.
          Mass Effect is also similar to Ender's Game. Ender fights an alien enemy, the "Buggers," who are hell-bent on destroying humanity in Ender's Game, and Shepard faces a similar situation with the Reapers. For both, the destruction of the enemy is necessary, as the opponents are an obvious evil. But, when all is said and done, both find out that the enemy they loathe is not exactly what they had previously been believed to be.
          The Mass Effect franchise is an excellent bunch of games. Anyone interested in a fun role-playing third-person-shooter, a good story, or hours of entertainment should definitely give these games a try.