About:
Consoles: Xbox, Playstation, Windows
Released: 2007; Legendary (remastered) edition came out in 2021
Fixes: Space Adventure, Future/Fate of Humanity, Alien Love (Eventually), Badass Ladies
Hello, hello! Thank you for the warm welcome to this delightful series. I don’t play many video games, but I jumped at the chance to join Mandy W. and Stephanie to occasionally talk about some of my all-time favorites. Starting today with Mass Effect, the first and only video game for which I have a tattoo.
The Download
In the far future, humans discover the ruins of an ancient civilization on Mars, a civilization that once traveled the stars. Through study of the artifacts, they find a way to travel the galaxy in the blink of an eye—and that they’re not alone in the universe.
As Commander John or Jane (or whatever name you might want to pick for your) Shepard, a spacer/colonist/earthborn sole survivor/war hero/ruthless member of the Alliance military, your job is to investigate a strange artifact/beacon on a shakedown run of the newest and fanciest Allliance ship, the Normandy. On Eden Prime, the colony world on which the beacon was found, Shepard finds themselves in a pickle, fighting for their lives and the lives of their crew against a threat that hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years. This first encounter kicks off a galaxy-spanning adventure in which Shepard must put together a squad who can save the world(s).
It’s-A Me, [Protagonist]!
Commanders Shepard are some of the most iconic characters in the video game world. Fem Shep, as the female version is colloquially known, is a dynamic badass voiced by Jennifer Hale (who you might recognize from a variety of other video games and cartoons). Male Shep is … fine. But even if I preferred to play male characters, I’d likely play Fem Shep. Male Shep is just kind of generic male military dude. Even when they’re saying the same exact things, Fem Shep just does it better.
Stephanie: Mandy is graciously letting me jump into her post, because she is the one who got me hooked on this series and I fell hard, and I can’t keep it inside. Fem Shep is the ONLY Shep IMO, Hale does such an amazing job imbuing her with warmth and authority and humor.
NPCs: Notable Paramours & Chums
While Mass Effects 2 and 3 have a lot more paramour options (and, TBH, way better options), in Mass Effect, you’re limited to two humans, Kaiden Alenko or Ashley Williams, and one alien, Liara T’soni. When I first played this game, I chose to romance Kaiden, even though he’s a “reserved” (i.e., milquetoast) military guy with a penchant for whining like a petty baby. (I guess I wanted some spice, regardless of how boring he was. Hindsight and all that, too.) Ashley is a xenophobic stereotype of a military woman, and definitely not someone I had in my party much after more folks joined the squad. (She’s also only a love interest for Male Shep.) Liara’s great, but I liked her for my Shep as more of a friend. Her bubbly nature was at odds with the more stern one of Shepard, and in this case, opposites didn’t attract.
As for chums, as the game progresses, you “collect” a bunch of other fascinating individuals to join your squad, most notably Tali’Zorah nar Rayya, Garrus Vakarian, and Urdnot Wrex, three very different aliens with a whole lot of character. During my playthrough of the Legendary remastered editions, I most often chose Garrus and Tali as the two squadmates who went on missions with me. And, spoiler alert, both are romance options later in the series.
Stephanie: The voice actors do such an excellent job on all the characters, and what I love about Mass Effect is their backstories are rich and interesting and they feel like people you’re interested in. Plus the ones that stick around grow and change throughout the three games, and it’s very satisfying to be invested in their stories. Also, try as I might, I can’t NOT romance my favorite sarcastic sharpshooter turian, Garrus, in every playthrough, but I actually kinda like that you don’t romance him in this game–I’m sure it’s not because the writers cared, but it makes me feel like more of a friends-to-lovers slow-burn, which y’all know I am ALL about.
Finish Them!
The main villains of Mass Effect are a group of advanced AI humanoid beings called the Geth, and an alien who you think is an ally but pretty quickly turns out to be very much not. The Geth are products of a society that created them to do menial labor, but they quickly realized they were better than that, and ran their creators off their home planet. You’ll come to find that both the Geth and the non-ally are pawns of other beings who I can’t mention here, lest I spoil the game(s). Suffice it to say, things get real—fast—in a truly frightening way.
Leveled Up
- I can’t play first-person shooters without getting a bit motion-sick, so the third-person shooter aspect of Mass Effect enables me to actually play the game, and play it decently well. (On easy, natch.) My husband laughs at me when he watches me play because I can go hours without hitting the side of a barn, and then get into a zone where it’s headshot after headshot. With Mass Effect‘s mechanics, I get through quests either way.
- Stephanie: Sometimes it feels daunting to play a game and actually sit and read through the world-building texts and try to learn the history of this fantasy they’ve created, but I think it’s pretty easy to follow in this game, and they did a nice job of making the story work around humans being the “new kids” at the table, so there’s plenty of reasons why a badass like Commander Shepard would still need some extra background about all these alien species.
- Stephanie: I love when a game allows you to pick your playstyle–take the up-close-and-personal vanguard approach, or a sneaky, tech infiltrator rogue-like option, or perhaps try out those pesky biotic powers that sometimes feel like magic–and you can build your squad around those strengths and weaknesses. What’s nice is you can also choose to control your squad’s actions or let them do their thing to help you out. (Mandy: LOVE the superpower biotics aspect. Y’all know the future’s gonna have the wildest things in it.)
You Have Died Of Dysentery
- THE MF’ING MAKO. The Mako is the Normandy’s all-terrain ground vehicle, and it’s the absolute worst. Even in the remastered edition, where it’s been made easier to control, it’s still terrible. The controls are clunky and, if you’re like me, you’re constantly going to overcorrect and run aground or flip the entire thing. It’s unbelievably frustrating, and I made my husband, who’s much better at video games, run through those missions for me. Most of the time, they’re side quests, so I didn’t care if he did them for me. I was grateful I didn’t have to! (Stephanie: COSIGN. This is partially why my ME1 replay doesn’t always get going because I don’t want to have to sit through the Mako bits again. But I DID get through them on Easy on my own the first time and only died a few dozen times, so don’t let this deter you!)
Press “F” To Pay Respects
- Favorite people to leave behind — Give a 21-gun salute for Kaiden for always being left behind on the ship when you go out on missions. And even though she’s left behind with him, Ashley gets nothing, ’cause she’s The Wooooorst. For those of you who’ve played it, I don’t feel bad saying that At. All. (Stephanie: SUCK IT, ASHLEY, you xenophobic jerk!)
- Favorite methods of doing bodily harm — I love me an old-fashioned assault rifle, specifically the M-7 Lancer. You can upgrade your weapons throughout the game by looting caches, and you’ll have a lot of choices to choose from. I also love the bionic ability to throw people and things across the room. (Like I said, superpowers.) (Stephanie: As a rogue-like player, my favorite weapons of choice are the ones that allow me to stay behind cover and shoot enemies from far away, so biotics or the M-98 Widow (which, apparently, is NOT in the first game) is my personal go-tos, but a reliable assault rifle does the trick when you find yourself ambushed and way too close to the enemy for comfort.)
- Favorite [blank] on the Citadel — The technology humanity happens upon, the technology the rest of the galaxy has used for hundreds of years, was created by a long dead race of beings who obvsiouly had some very large brains in their noggins, both for the way things work and the way things look. The Mass Effect relays for which the games are named are gorgeous gigantic devices that help ships travel faster than the speed of light. And the home of power in the galaxy is the Citadel, a massive habitable space station that is home to night clubs, shops, embassies and much more. You’ll spend a lot of time there throughout the franchise. (I also love the Normandy, Shepard’s ship. And not just because my name’s in the name.)
- Favorite [redacted] — AND WHEN YOU GET TO VIRMIRE …
Why You Should Pick Up The Controller
Bioware, the company that created the game, is known for their expansive universes and fantastic characters. If you want a fun third-person shooter with a truly fantastic story, Mass Effect is the game for you. And it only gets better as the series goes on!
Stephanie: ME1 introduced me to video-game fanfiction, which I had previously never ever considered reading, but this world and characters were so expansive and wonderful and interesting that I didn’t want it to end. Totally understand why you have a tattoo of it, Mandy.
After The Credits
Mass Effect is followed by two sequels, the complicatedly named Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. 😉There are two DLC adventures, “Bring Down the Sky” and “Pinnacle Station,” both of which are with you time if you enjoyed the main game. Supposedly, work is in progress on a Mass Effect 4, and I, for one, CANNOT WAIT for its release.
(There’s also a released fourth game in the franchise, Mass Effect: Andromeda, but we don’t talk about that one.)
Have you played the Mass Effect franchise? Are you a Fem Shep stan? Do you, too, wish you could have romanced anyone else in this first game? Let us know in the comments!
