Top 1 Xbox 360 Site

Once again stepping into the role of the heroic Commander Shepard, gamers command their crew on a suicide mission in space. Players must assemble their squad from amongst the galaxy’s most powerful mystics, geniuses, and convicts and lead them on a suicide mission to discover why humans are vanishing from the galaxy. The success of the mission hinges on the squad recruited and their loyalty to the mission. Shepard’s future depends on it.

Genre: RPG

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: BioWare

Online Play:

Local Play:

Expansions: Mass Effect 2: Kasumi’s Stolen Memory,

January 22, 2010 –
Mass Effect is one of my favorite games of the past decade. Despite its technical shortcomings, BioWare’s first in what it promised to be a trilogy took the role-playing genre to new cinematic heights. Mass Effect 2 is a better game in near every way. From the very first scene, you will be hooked. And the farther you dive into this epic action role-playing game, the better it gets. It fulfills the promise of its predecessor while continuing to push the boundaries of what we should expect in a videogame.

This is the continued saga of Commander Shepard. It’s the future, and all sentient life across the galaxy is in peril. An advanced race of machines known as Reapers is intent on wiping the slate clean. Shepard, a distinguished soldier, has faced this threat and emerged triumphant once, but victory is far from assured. Now Shepard must take the fight to the enemy — a mission that is dubbed suicidal from the outset. Things don’t look very promising, but Shepard has a plan. It involves recruiting the best and brightest from around the galaxy and somehow convincing them their lives are worth sacrificing for the greater good.

Watch the video review.These heroes are what drive the story. Their motivations become yours as the experience continues to get better with each addition to the cast. Shepard’s compatriots are fascinating and flawed; captivating and occasionally despicable. The arc of the main tale itself isn’t in itself exceptional, but the characters BioWare has crafted most definitely are. These are some of the most compelling players I’ve ever seen in a videogame — the Drell named Thane is a particular favorite of mine — and the great design and writing isn’t limited to the main cast. The citizens of the galaxy are extraordinary and offer more than enough reason to explore every location and talk to everybody.

All of this is made even better by Mass Effect’s trademark cinematic and interactive approach to conversations. With Mass Effect 1, BioWare introduced a conversation wheel that allowed for fast-moving, intriguing, and player driven cutscenes. Rather than slowly moving through conversations by selecting dialogue from a list, Mass Effect allows the player to quickly choose an emotional response, which generally include an honorable paragon reaction and a snappy renegade remark. The result is that every little dialogue snippet is about as engaging as they come. It was innovative when Mass Effect 1 first came out, and it’s still so far ahead of the curve, backed up by further refinements, including a quick-time interrupt system, and powerful voice acting. Mordin Solus, a Salarian scientist played by Michael Beattie, and Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man, are high points in an all-star cast of voices.

Catch up with the Mass Effect story in our five minute recap.The true strength of Mass Effect 2’s story, however, is in how personal BioWare has made it. If you played Mass Effect 1 through to the end and still have your save data, this game will import your character and all the decisions you made. The central plot will not drastically change, but the experience most certainly will. Some old friends and acquaintances will return