Late? Sure, whats your point? I'm going to revise this later, I'll just throw it out here for now.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for RPGs, your control of the character, how your actions decide the outcome of the story, and how you can select which gear you wear, all this really appeals to me and gives that sense that you are playing the game in your own unique way.

I came into this experience with high expectations as Bioware has always had a good track record, and I'd hoped they'd one-up themselves with this new franchise. But this isn't about previous history, this is about a game that has greatly surpassed my expectations, and given me an excellent experience.

I'll start from the top.

When you first start the game, you are presented with a great deal of customization options for your character, ranging from first name, to history, gender, class, even facial appearance right down to how large their cheek bones are. Of course you *can* skip all of this and just play as the default Shepard right away, but I found making my character look they way I wanted, and having NPCs react to the history I selected made the experience that much better.

There are 7 character classes to choose in Mass Effect:

The Soldier, your basic damage sponge with abilities like invincibility and proficient in the use of sniper rifles, pistols, assault rifles and shotguns.

The Adept, based around the use of biotic powers, such as lift to throw enemies in the air, or throw to knock them back. Proficent is use of pistols.

The Engineer, played by using tech grenades that have a variety of effects, such as depleting an enemies shields, or locking out abilities. Proficient is use of pistols.

The Vanguard, a hybrid between the Adept and the Soldier. Proficient in the use of sniper rifles and pistols.

The Sentinel, Hybrid between the Adept and the Engineer. Proficient i. use of pistols.

The Infiltrator, hybrid between Soldier and Engineer. Proficient is use of sniper rifles and pistols

From the beginning you are dropped right into the story, for some this may seem a little confusing at first, but Bioware has given the majority of the NPCs on the first mission a large amount of dialog in their trees pertaining to history, and information about the universe, all you need do is ask. Any new information you may want to access later is stored in your Codex, think of it as a kind of galactic encyclopedia.

You are a commander in the Alliance Navy named Shepard. Humanity has just recently joined the larger galactic community under control of the Citadel Council made up of three representatives from the Asari, Salarian, and Turian races. As the story unfolds, your mission throughout this game is made clear: Save the galaxy from certain destruction by a race of sentient machines. On your journey though Mass Effect you will be accompanied by two squad mates that you choose from your crew upon disembarking from your ship, the SSV Normandy.

Combat is based around a cover system with a choice of 4 different types of weapons: snipers, shotguns, pistols, and assault rifles. All weapons have varying degrees of effectiveness based on the class you choose to play, for example: Adepts cannot zoom in with sniper rifles or assault rifles. Some classes have a different set of abilities along with their weapons, these are called Biotic and Tech. Biotics is the manipulation of dark energy to manipulate the mass of objects, while tech is the use of grenades that have different effects.

Mass Effect has a decent replay value due to the many decisions made by the player in the game which can have an effect on future choices. Based on how you handle situations you gain Paragon or Renegade points, a measure of morality rather than Good vs. Evil.

Mass Effect was released exclusively on the Xbox 360 in November and just recently on the PC.