Eduardo: I'm really impressed with the way that BioWare has given weight to everything in the game, whether it's the great dialogue trees, the vast amount of customization, or the sinister feeling you get just by looking at the mechanical monstrosities you'll encounter. Perhaps my favorite part of the game so far is the fact that there are so many different ways that you can play it. For those of you who are worried that this will be a heavy D&D-type RPG, this game can absolutely be played purely as a shooter. If you want to slow things down and delegate what abilities you want your companions to use, you can do that as well. For every enemy encounter, you'll have to think about your equipment and strategies to use when tackling them, and it took me a good long while before I even realized that I could equip my weapons to suit the occasion. My only worry with Mass Effect so far is that it will ruin games for me the way that Knights of the Old Republic did. After KotOR everything else looked tedious and repetitive. I may well feel that way after finishing BioWare's latest outing.

Gabe: Indeed, you guys are absolutely right about the narrative, universe and role-playing elements: they all blend together so well that I've gotten lost pawing through the various bits of new knowledge that pop into my Codex on an extraordinarily frequent basis. The story and universe of Mass Effect are unquestionably the best features of the game, but I'm not so sure about the combat. I haven't gotten far enough through the game to earn some of the cooler powers, but I haven't found much use for the biotic abilities. Generally I tackle most situations solo with my trusty sniper rifle or pistol, leaving my crew in a protected alcove where they can't get hurt, and that seems to get me through almost every combat scenario so far. I'm not thrilled by my crew's AI during combat, so I usually rush through it to get back to the role-playing and speechifying where the AI is positively stunning.


Patrick: "Dear BioWare: You are very smart and awesome. Please stop forcing me to play an action game while playing your amazing RPGs. Thank you, Patrick Joynt." There, just in case they're not reading the letter I've been writing and sending every week since Jade Empire released. I'm about eighteen hours into Mass Effect, and while it is one of the best RPG experiences I've had -- the writing, the voice acting, and the world building in particular -- I really feel like the real-time shooting is nowhere near as strong.

It's not terrible. Heck, it's not even bad. But it's not anywhere near the AAA level of the rest of the game's elements. It's not anywhere near the combat systems of Baldur's Gate or Knights of the Old Republic, either. I honestly just wish that we'd seen a final combat system more like the Full Spectrum Warrior-style system we saw at E3 2006. But to be clear, I've also logged 18 hours in Mass Effect since receiving it Wednesday, while also moving across the Bay Area and coming to work. Even with some warts, so far, Mass Effect has been just as life-destroyingly fantastic as I had hoped.

Gerald: I completed the game earlier this week, and am going to go through as much of it as I can on the hardest difficulty setting to see how that affects the combat. The AI-controlled squad mates did a good job of holding their own, but I think that's due to me choosing talents for them that put them into very specialized roles. As a soldier, I tackled the shooting bits (and generally with ease), while calling in reinforcements from my allies in the form of their biotic powers and tech abilities.

I think part of the appeal of the combat system is in seeing the return on your investments, talent-wise. Having your squadmate lift a tough enemy high into the air, leaving it completely vulnerable to your attacks, feels like a very satisfying one-two punch. And then there's hacking an enemy robot over to your side, hitting the opposition from behind while you concentrate on their distracted forces. I agree that there's clearly not the level of depth here that you'll find in a dedicated shooter, or the micro-management of a tactical strategy game. But it's still very cool to see the biotics, tech, and gunplay working in unison in a heated battle. What did you think of the combat, Fargo?

Fargo: I'm really unhappy with the combat system. To me, Mass Effect feels like the Mona Lisa with a skin condition -- so much of the game is a masterwork, but every time I get into combat the narrative crashes to a halt while my character is one-shot killed five or six times in a row. (Save... restore... save... restore...) Part of this is because I chose to play as an engineer, so my combat abilities are pretty slack. But my AI teammates aren't smart enough to take on military roles without getting killed.

Then there's the interface -- my character often takes cover against the walls when I'm trying to shoot somebody, or the AI steals the corner I'm trying to lean out from. I die often and without warning almost instantaneously, yet most enemies take 20 shots to take down. I had to turn the game to the casual setting just to win some important story battles. If the game is auto-balanced, then it's doing a poor job. If it's not, then there's no clear indication which areas are suitable for a character at my level. Is it just me or is something out of whack here?

[Update from Fargo: Since this article was first published I dove back in and really micromanaged everything from my combat skills to the ammo I use for every battle. This helped my survivability immensely and changed the game experience for the better -- no matter what kind of character you create, you'll need to spec him or her to survive in a firefight.]