Monday, June 23, 2008

MASS EFFECT


RATING: 88/100

LE VERDICT FINAL:

Combating through the worlds,the mass effect has proved to be one of the most lovable action-role playing games.It has been developed by bioware and the pc version has been published by electronic arts.The game is a legendary master piece. With greater combating styles and interactive environment,the game is a real treat for the gamers.


THE STORY:
War of the worlds
Being the first sequel of the trilogy the game basically revolves around a human soldier Commander shepard exploring the universe on his space ship called the SS NORMANDY. The Normandy is being sent to the human colony world of Eden Prime to recover an unearthed Prothean beacon. To assist in recovering the beacon, the Citadel Council, the main government for most of the galaxy, have sent one of their top agents, a turian "Spectre," named Nihlus. Nihlus is also there to evaluate Shepard to see if he is fit to become the first human Spectre.

Nihlus, Shepard, and a small team discover that the Eden Prime colony is under attack by alien synthetic life-forms known as the geth. Nihlus encounters and is killed by a rogue turian Spectre named Saren Arterius, who is working with the geth. After the battle ends, Shepard discovers the beacon, but it suddenly activates and he receives a vision of biological creatures being slaughtered by machines.

The Normandy and its crew are summoned by Ambassador Udina, Earth's representative to the galaxy, to the Citadel to report. Shepard is unable to convince the Citadel Council of Saren's treason until he discovers a recording of a conversation between Saren and one of his allies, an asari Matriarch named Benezia, discussing their victory on Eden Prime. The recording also mentions the return of a force known as the "Reapers," as well as an artifact called the "Conduit." Confronted with this evidence, the Council revokes Saren's status as a Spectre, and makes Shepard the first human Spectre so that he can legally hunt down Saren.

Command of the Normandy is taken from Captain Anderson, and given to Shepard. Shepard uses the ship to follow up on several leads provided by Anderson and Udina. On Therum in the Artemis Tau Cluster, Shepard finds and rescues Dr. Liara T'soni, Matriarch Benezia's daughter, who is an expert on the Protheans. On Feros, Shepard fights off an army of geth and destroys an ancient life form known as the Thorian, a sentient plant-like creature that has the power to control who ever inhales it's spores. Shepard also learns of Saren's flagship, Sovereign, which seems to be capable of unique mind-control capabilities. On Noveria, Shepard tracks down Matriarch Benezia while fighting off both geth and alien insects known as rachni, whos queen talks to Shepard through a dead, reanimated Asari scientist. Benezia is eventually defeated, and she reveals that her mind is being controlled by Saren, through his ship, Sovereign. She soon reverts to Saren's control, and Shepard is forced to kill her.

After completing two of the previous three planets, Shepard and the council learns a salarian spy unit has uncovered a base operated by Saren on the planet Virmire. Once he arrives Shepard learns the base is being used to clone an army of krogan warriors, and with salarians' assistance he assaults the base to detonate a nuclear device inside its walls. Inside the base Shepard discovers another Prothean beacon, which transfers its knowledge to him. Shepard is then confronted by Sovereign itself, which reveals that it is what the Protheans and geth consider to be a "Reaper." Sovereign explains that the Reapers permit organic life to develop, allowing species to discover the mass relays (which influence future technology) before exterminating them when they reach a certain level of advancement. After planting the nuclear bomb and attempting to escape the facility, the team is attacked by Saren. He explains that he has aligned himself with the Reapers to save organic life by making it "useful" to the Reapers. Shepard refuses to accept Saren's plan, and escapes Virmire before the nuclear warhead is detonated.

With the information Shepard's party has gained, Liara is able to pinpoint the Conduit's location on a Prothean world known as Ilos. Returning to the Citadel with this information, Shepard finds that the Council does not accept the Reapers as a genuine threat. Ambassador Udina locks Shepard out of the Normandy, but Captain Anderson steps in and allows Shepard to steal the ship back.

On the surface of Ilos, Shepard follows Saren into an ancient bunker deep within the planet, and encounters a Prothean computer system named Vigil, which explains the Reapers' methodology. The Citadel Station is actually a mass relay facility built by the Reapers intended to summon them from the dark space outside the galaxy. Before the Reapers invaded, the researchers at Ilos were on the verge of understanding the mass relay system, and were able to finish their studies upon reawakening from cold sleep. The Prothean researchers created the Conduit, a miniaturized mass relay that allowed them to travel to the heart of the Citadel, and there sabotaged the primary Citadel mass relay. When Sovereign - a Reaper left behind to reactivate the relay when the next cleansing was due - awoke from hibernation, it found it could not remotely reactivate the relay. Saren, under its thrall, planned to use the Conduit to storm the Citadel with a geth army and restore the Citadel relay from within.

Shepard pursues Saren through the Conduit. At the same time, Sovereign and a massive geth fleet assault the Citadel itself, breaking through the Council fleets defending the station. Sovereign lands on the central tower of the Citadel and begins activating the relay, while Saren uses the Citadel's central control systems to close the station around the Reaper to protect it. Shepard fights up the tower to the control center and confronts Saren, either killing him personally or convincing him that he has fallen under Sovereign's indoctrination, prompting Saren to kill himself. The Human Systems Alliance fleet arrives to reinforce the beleaguered Council fleets, while Shepard reopens the Citadel and exposes Sovereign. At this point, Shepard has a choice between ordering the Alliance fleet to save the Council, who are under attack by the geth, or going directly to Sovereign. Saren's corpse suddenly reanimates under Sovereign's direct control, through the use of cybernetic implants, and begins attacking Shepard while the Alliance attacks Sovereign itself. Sovereign is eventually destroyed, and the reanimated Saren corpse disintegrates.

The precise ending of the game depends on several factors, including whether or not Shepard opts to save the Council during the final battle, and whether Shepard has a higher Paragon or Renegade meter. If Shepard saves the Council, they are inspired by Shepard's actions and bravery, and grant humanity a seat on the Council. If the Council is destroyed, the Systems Alliance assumes control, and humanity steps forward to lead the galaxy into the future. Shepard is also allowed to choose between Ambassador Udina or Captain Anderson as the new galactic leader or Council member in the aftermath, but regardless of the choice, Shepard realizes that the Reapers are still a threat, and that they must be stopped.


THE GAMEPLAY:

Although most of the game's screen shots and concept art show the same "default" male Commander Shepard, it is possible for the player to fully customize his or her character's appearance, gender, abilities, and even military background.

The game includes six character classes. Each class contains several talents; as each talent is leveled, the character either gains stats (extra health, stamina, etc), unlocks new abilities (for example leveling the Shotgun talent unlocks the Carnage ability, which allows the character to fire a concentrated explosive blast from the Shotgun), or unlocks other talents. Each class also possesses a unique talent with the same name as its respective class; the characters may also have talents tied to their background. who have reached level 20 will unlock a "Rogue VI" side-mission on Luna (Earth's Moon) in the Sol system, in which upon completion, allows the player to choose one new specialist class. This unlocks one new "bar" of talents which can be earned. The specialist classes the character is offered depend on the base class.

When characters are first created, six classes are available: Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel, and Vanguard. Soldiers are the most skilled with weaponry, Engineers make use of the omni-tool and tech-abilities and the Adept are the best at using the biotics. The other three classes are combinations of the first three. Infiltrators are a combination of Soldiers and Engineers, the Sentinel is a combination between the Engineer and the Adept, and the Vanguard are a combination of the Soldier and the Adept.

Players also have some control over their character's back story. They are able to choose either to have been a "spacer" (born and bred in space), a "colonist" (born on one of Earth's extrasolar colonies), or an "Earthborn" street thug. They also choose whether they have been the sole survivor of a terrible battle, a war hero, or a ruthless soldier. These backgrounds have only a small effect in the game, although many characters reference the player's chosen background when talking to Commander Shepard, and these can also affect whether some side-quests become available or not. Except in a few situations, the player's background does not directly affect the player's dialogue choices.

THE GAMEPLAY VIDEO



SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM:

2.4+ GHz Intel; 2.0+ Ghz AMD

1 GB (XP), 2GB (Vista)

NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT or higher,ATI X1300 XT or higher

DIRECTX 9.0.c supportable sound card

16 GB

WINDOWS xp


RECOMMENDED :

2.6+ GHz Intel; 2.4+ Ghz AMD

2GB

NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or higherATI X1900 XL or higher

DIRECTX 9.0.c supportable sound card

16 GB

WINDOWS vista

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