“Mass Effect” Review by Jesse Schaffer

My name is Vigil. You are are safe here for the moment, but that is likely to change. Soon nowhere will be safe.

When I purchased my first Xbox 360 back in 2007, I did so mainly because I wanted Halo 3. I owned the first two on the original Xbox and so for me it was an easy decision to make. However, I’ve never been much of an online gamer so once I breezed through Halo 3’s disappointingly short campaign (oh yes, we will get to that in a future post), I was left looking for something else to sink my teeth into.  Then one day I was at a friend’s house and he was playing this little game called Mass Effect. I wasn’t necessarily a stranger to the game. After all, BioWare was the developer behind Mass Effect and they just happened to also create Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which is quite possibly my favorite game ever. For whatever reason, I just hadn’t stayed up to date on Mass Effect but knowing that BioWare was behind it and seeing it in action for myself, I made a mental note to buy my own copy when I had the chance. Then my fucking 360 broke.

Ah yes, all you 360 owners out there know what I’m talking about: the three rings of death, the ultimate middle finger to anyone who dropped $300 or more on a faulty product. Being a poor college student who was paying rent, it took me about a year to replace the damn thing, but when I did the first game I picked up was Mass Effect. I was relieved to be back on my digital saddle and excited to finally play it for myself, but little did I know that I was about to embark on the beginning of my all-time favorite video game trilogy.

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