I may be biased as a fan of the developers, but in all honesty, previous BioWare RPGs have done wonderful things, like KotOR’s original and impressive (despite being set in the Star Wars universe) plot, and Jade Empire’s identifiable and likable secondary characters. Even KotOR II (not BioWare, but obviously based off of their game) took the hint and made the player’s companions a big part of the game. As well, combat has always been an important piece; likewise the striking visuals in any of their games, and most obviously the character customization and decision-dependent branches offered to the player (also known as “what makes an RPG an RPG“).

Mass Effect is immersion. From the start, the game keeps you in role as Commander Shepard, whether you’re male or female; black or white; good guy or badass. If you’ve heard of Mass Effect, you know the background: evil sentient machines versus alien cooperative government, to which the humans are newcomers and eager to fill a larger role. The point is, none of this matters: they could explain absolutely nothing to you, and instead of going out of role and asking dozens of dumb questions, the writing is so well done that Shepard ends up sounding somewhat curious, rather than slightly retarded. It helps that every line of dialog has perfectly-scripted voice-acting behind it and the actors all sound great in their roles.

This may seem tangential, but I’m sure by now you know of Mass Effect’s infamous elevators. Yes, they take about as long as a real elevator - apparently this is one thing we didn’t improve on in our jump to futuristic technology. Yes, it’s a clever way of disguising the load times between areas. None of that matters. What they do is amazing, from a narrative standpoint. By keeping you in (sure, limited) control between areas, rather than putting up a splash screen and a progress bar, they keep you in character. Companions converse, news stories come on mentioning possible side missions, and, most importantly, you are still Commander Shepard. There is rarely a break in Mass Effect reminding you that you’re playing a video game, which is something any game with a desire to be taken seriously should attempt.

This constant flow of narrative is a good thing, because while the secondary characters are less than stellar in the likes of BioWare’s previous endeavors (Ashley is an overzealous bitch, Kaidan whines incessantly, Liara can be nerdy to a point of annoyance, and Tali is just completely boring and useless in combat - the rest kick ass, though - but while they might have faults, it’s at least good that they’re not without any personality at all, and even these four have their good moments), the central plot is definitely not. It’s original, it’s deep, it’s compelling, and it’s epic. I feel like that last sentence could be applied to the entire game, rather than just the main storyline, because everything about Mass Effect exudes success. Surely there is room for improvement, but it’s minimal; visuals may have up to five or six seconds of pop-in, but when they do, they look like candy having sex with more candy; combat is iffy to some people, but once you’ve got a decent crew behind you (wielding what turned out to be incredibly useful biotic powers), those rotten bastards don’t stand a chance; side missions and exploration might seem tedious, but none of it is bland; there’s no real tutorial on the controls, but fucking figure it out - it’s really not that hard to open the manual. Remember when we used to do that before playing a game?

I can think of thousands more things to say about Mass Effect. For example, character creation and customization are both great, detailed, and help progress and interactions throughout the entirety of the game. For example, sound effects, voices, and music are all beautiful (with the sole exception of Udina, who makes me want to start fires inside my ears). For example, there are slow moments of plot, but suddenly the game gets to a point where you ignore every secondary assignment, every trivial encounter and anything that doesn’t help you reach your ultimate goal of finishing the game. From there on, it’s a blurry bloody race to the finish with your character showing his or her true colors, and basically wrecking everything in the way as we grin in glee and malicious satisfaction at the screen and slam our fingers on the triggers with verve.

All these things are irrelevant without a view of the big picture, though. Mass Effect is beautiful in every way conceivable, and doesn’t deserve to be brought down by minor, occasional inconsistencies. When more games are like this, we’ll all be better off. I know I sound like I’ve got stars in my eyes, but I acknowledge that it’s not perfect. It’s just really damn good.