ZarkSeven

I finally got around to playing Mass Effect Galaxy.  Although it’s been out since June of last year, I never got around to it.  But with the imminent release of Mass Effect 2 tomorrow on the PC and Xbox 360, I’ve been immersing myself in all things Mass Effect again, like reading the latest novel, Mass Effect: Ascension, and the new comic Mass Effect: Redemption.  So I figured it was time to give Mass Effect Galaxy a shot.

Premise

Mass Effect Galaxy is set between the original Mass Effect game and Mass Effect 2.  The story focuses on a companion character in Mass Effect 2 named Jacob Taylor.  A retired Alliance soldier, Jacob is pressed back into service by his former commanding officer, Major Derek Izunami, after fighting off Batarian pirates attacking the cruise ship he’s on.  Jacob is sent to investigate suspicious Batarian activity in the Terminus sector.

The situation is politically charged, as at the same time a Batarian ambassador named Jath’Amon is preparing to visit the Citadel to negotiate peace with the Council.  There is a possibility that terrorists may disrupt the peace talks, and Jacob must determine if and how the suspicious Batarian activity is related before peace talks begin and the Citadel is threatened.

Presentation

Bioware made an attempt to emulate some of the basics of Mass Effect in the iPhone / iPod Touch game.  There are 3 aspects of gameplay.  The first is animated, non-interactive cutscenes, which play out in comic book style fashion.  The second is dialog choices, ala the original game.  You’re presented with multiple ways to react to people you encounter, from persuasion to no-nonsense force.  A scroll wheel on the right side of the screen lets you pick between choices.  Finally, there are the action scenes, which play out in top down fashion.

The game is polished, and intersperses actual voice dialog in here and there, but it’s not overly inspired.  For as little animation as there actually was, it seems like full animation would have been better than comic book style.  Sound and music were polished and nice.

Interface

My overwhelming thought regarding the gameplay and control of the game was that it felt like an early iPhone / iPod Touch game, where developers really hadn’t figured out the funnest way to use the device’s inputs for gaming.  The top-down action approach is an odd one, and given the success of recent 1st person shooters like EliminatePro and N.O.V.A., I have to wonder if they wouldn’t have gone that way were the game in development today.

The controls in the top-down view are rather clumsy as well.  The accelerometer is used to control your character, and you move by tilting the device back and forth.  Shooting is automatic, and you can switch between powers and perform special moves by hitting buttons on the right side of the screen.  The game auto selects an enemy, and not always the first one you’d choose.  I often had trouble switching enemies by tapping on the one I wanted, and once you played through a few action screens, the game starts feeling repetitive and boring.

Freshness

I like that Bioware tried to give the game a Mass Effect feel with the inclusion of Biotics and Omni-Tools.  You can use Biotics to freeze enemies, and Omni-Tools to affect their shields.  You can also fire missiles that can hit multiple targets in an area.  The problem is that I rarely used any of these.  It wasn’t until the last battle or two that I bothered to do anything but just shoot and strafe.  The action sequences were just not that good.

Giving the player dialog choices that affected gameplay was a better decision.  Bioware has been known for that since Knights of the Old Republic, and it’s an integral part of Mass Effect, so it was good to see it carried through here.  The game wasn’t really long enough to see a lot of long term affects of your decisions, but it definitely game the game a Mass Effect feel, and it’s something you don’t see much in portable games.

Value

The game was released at a $4.99 price point, but dropped quickly 4 days later to $2.99.  It’s been hovering between $0.99 and $1.99 since November.  It only features about 2 hours worth of gameplay, so it’s hard to advocate spending much on it.  Given the lackluster action, I’d probably say that for Mass Effect fans, it’s probably worth a buck just to extend the universe, but it’s almost beneficial that it’s so short, because it’s really not a great game.

Thown into the mix, however, is a connection that was added between Mass Effect Galaxy and Mass Effect 2.  In the extras section, you can log into publisher Electronic Art’s servers.  If your email for EA’s site is linked to your Xbox 360 gamertag, and you complete Mass Effect Galaxy, you will get message saying that an award is waiting for you in Mass Effect 2.  It’s not known yet what this award will be, though Bioware project director Casey Hudson has stated that you have to talk to Jacob Taylor in Mass Effect 2 to find out what it is.  It might not be worth a buck and two hours of your time, but it’s definitely a wrinkle in the purchasing decision.  I’m very interested in finding out what it will be.

Summary

Premise:  Good
Presentation:  Mediocre
Interface:  Interior
Freshness:  SubPar
Value:  Decent
Overall:  Poor app

Want more?  ‘Appy to oblige.  Check out my other APPraisals.