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| From: Electronic Arts
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $26.48
You Save: $3.51 (12%)
New (28) Used (4) from $24.99
Rating:  193 reviews
Sales Rank: 888
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Genre: shooter_action_games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 2000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 19081
Model: 19081
UPC: 014633190816
EAN: 0014633190816
ASIN: B00140P9BA
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 193
 Show them a massive effect of a massive defect May 28, 2008
Tony Todd III (Deep Impact, Alabama)
52 out of 77 found this review helpful
I was a big fan of Bioware and their games have given me many weeks of gaming pleasure over the years. I am also sure that Mass Effect is a game on the verge of all-time greatness and deserves a five star rating.
However, the decision to load the game full of DRM malware which hijacks your PC, obligatory internet activations, limiting the number of installations (and god knows what else) deserves to be met by an all-out boycott.
Treating the paying customers who cannot wait to give you their money like thieves under the guise of anti-piracy is THE best way to drive people to pirated/cracked versions which will, at least in this case, be much better, more enjoyable and safer way to play. I wanted to buy and play this, but NO game is worth suffering this abuse for.
This whole mass defect made me so mad that I ended the last sentence in a preposition. Need I say more?
Lost another customer...hopefully more. May 28, 2008
Zen Gamer (Seattle, WA United States)
50 out of 85 found this review helpful
Count me as another preorder that didn't happen. I've been looking forward to this game on the PC since it came out on the 360, as I'm a big fan of BioWare. However, this new practice of renting single-player software is starting to get ridiculous. EA and Bioware have made NO promises or guarantees that the activation servers or even their support for this game will be around for a specific or unlimited amount of time. Since I often upgrade my gaming system, I'd like to know that I can play this game years down the line, and that I won't have to ask permission from EA to play my owned game in 18 months when I've used up my 3 installations. What is also annoying is that they don't state this at all as one of their great 'features' in their product description...I'm sure it'd be of interest to all the potential customers out there.
Simply put, there are other sci-fi games (Sins of a Solar Empire) that won't inconvenience me as much, and there will probably be more in the future. Vote with your dollars, folks.
Addendum:
To be fair, this is a great game; both the PC and 360 versions, according to gamerankings.com (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/944902.asp?q=mass%20effect), both versions scored higher than 90% in aggregate reviews from major sites. In addition, the limited installations and security measures may not affect users who don't upgrade their system very often or only play the newest, hottest games once and move on.
However, I usually purchase my games for the long term and I have installed games years after they're released. So again, for longevity, I prefer to own my games rather than ask permission to play them later.
 What a disappointment. Could have been brilliant, painful to play, agonizingly slow May 31, 2008
D. Crain (NJ United States)
45 out of 76 found this review helpful
I pre ordered like everyone else. Got the game, and its buggy from the install. Takes half a day to just get it to run (you have to launch it from the binaries folder, not the config screen, which crashes 100% of the time)
Once you get it to run, well, its another skanky console port. I can live with the 3rd person view, thats not too bad. But the controls are so clunky, you simply cannot get anywhere. Also, there is a quick save that does NOT work (it says, "quick save failed" 90% of the time). Turns out, you CANNOT save during a firefight, which is the only time most people WANT to save. Dumb, just dumb.
As far as game play, its a mixed bag. The story line is so so, seems like a mishmash of Doom3/Halo2/Advent Rising/et al rehashed at some level, but its decent. Voice acting is above par as well. However, the weapons simply suck, as they take 30 seconds to recharge (while you get killed), and the whole "level up" thing makes no sense so you can't seem to get anywhere. Also, in the grand tradition of console games, the action does things for you, like take cover, or make dumb decisions for you about where you stand (and get stuck). Its that thing that made Gears of War frustrating on the PC, and its here yet again. I find myself mashed against a wall, when I didn't want to be there. Aiming is also assisted, and it makes absolutely ZERO sense most of the time, especially because you cannot hit anything anyway
Also, using the scope on the assault rifle shakes so much, you cannot hit a thing. In many games, there is a breath/calm/stabilize function for scope use, or you can crouch to steady the scope, but not here. Totally useless 80% of the time. What were they thinking
It has an inventory system, that basically makes no sense, and the pamphlet that comes with it seems to be an even dumber downed version of the console version, with less information.
Some folks are talking about the grainy look to it, but that can be switched off in the options menu by de-selecting the "film grain" look button (why any game developer would waste their time with this whole thing is beyond me)
All in all, its another half baked console port. We are all tiring of them to be honest, as one can tell by the zillions of harsh and painful reviews for console ports. The developers just drop the ball nearly 100% of the time for whatever reason.
I don't mind many of the console action cues, or some of the basic control crossovers, but when there is ZERO effort put into making the PC versions work like a PC version can, its a huge letdown (just see the bloody aweful Lost Planet for the PC, nearly unplayable) Mass Effect is not a total dud port, but what was delivered to us is a major letdown, as the developer touted how much PC focus was going to go into the game. Oh well, another $50 down the drain
ADDED MORE 6/6/2008
I have tried to like this game. But alas, it was not meant to be. The designers simply were not thinking. Each firefight is painfully slow and repetitive. You cannot hit a thing, the weapons do not work, you cannot really hide, jump, or any evasive maneuvers. The story is very VERY verbose, which is ok I guess, but you have to hear it over and over and over again because it always comes before a firefight, and you cannot save during the talking or shooting, so you have to listen over and over and over. Simply atrocious.
Bioware knows they have an issue here, and they are deleting posts from their forums where people complain, and basically pretending nothing is wrong, which makes matters worse.
I tried, but failed to let this game grow on me. It is another example of the "professional reviewers" giving high scores to games of advertisers, where the game does not even come close. Crysis was another trainwreck like this, where players hated it, and reviewers said it was the next coming of the messiah. Uhuh
Avoid DRM June 14, 2008
Paul Tinsley (Colorado Springs, USA)
45 out of 57 found this review helpful
Don't buy anything with DRM. It's the company's way of tricking you into buying something with a very short shelf life, not to mention how it effects your rights as the owner. I still play games that are over 10 years old. You will not be able to play this game in ten years time, because the company may no longer exist and not have a support function that can issue you with a new license. This is a very sickening display of corporate greed and it is destroying the spirit of PC gaming. It has NOTHING at all to do with Piracy.
DRM June 4, 2008
J. Schwarz (Brooklyn)
44 out of 57 found this review helpful
I've been playing computer games since before Zork on the Apple 2E. I've played all of the great games including System Shock 2, Planescape Torment and Arx Fatalis. I love playing a well made game but I have to say I will not play any game that requires an activation on line and a rootkit in my computer. When Half Life came out with Steam I wrote them a nasty letter saying that I would never play another Steam game, and I haven't. I also refused to buy Bioshock for the same reason. I always purchased my games and never pirated any but I refuse to go along with this DRM nonsense. A good game can stand on it's own merits and people will continue to buy from the same company. I loved Far Cry and I loved the Witcher. If the Witcher sold over 500,000 copies without DRM then they must be doing something right. Maybe if the customers hurt these companies in the pocketbook by not buying their products they will get the message.
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