Mass Effect Review
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As Michael said, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a hard act to follow, but I think Mass Effect is up to the task. I say that with one caveat: outside of the innovative dialogue system, I found myself feeling like I was playing a broader and better looking version of KOTOR based solely around firearms. I also think the inventory system needs a major overhaul if BioWare is going to use this engine in the future. You need to be aware that neither the money you get or the omni-gel you transmute your weapons into are that important in the game. Yes, the "big items" will cost you money, but you can basically live off of the items you pick up as you go on the missions.
The huge amount of voiced content in this game is a wonder to behold. BioWare (and probably Microsoft) spared no expense at getting known actors to do major voices in the game. What is really amazing in this regard is the number of items in the Codex that are read aloud. When tied into the dialogue system I can only wonder how the heck they handled all of the differing lines depending on the options you choose. If anything, the dialogue and speech system are what Mass Effect will be known for years from now.
I was a bit disappointed by the action portions of the game, mostly because I have seen better cover/shoot gameplay from other games such as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Gears of War. The action parts here are just a small section of the game, but if you can cover behind something and get the team to do the same with the simplified command system you should be able to make it through a lot of the shooting sections.
