The year is 2183. Mankind has discovered intergalactic space travel on Mars. Quickly the urge for expanding our influence grows but unfortunately not every is satisfied with colonising the universe. The grow of each race is carefully watched by a council that exists out of the oldest and most wise beings. The information is given to them by Specters, a bit the James Bonds of space, that don't need to obey the law. Not everyone believes their intentions but luckily they make space a safer place.

When the Systems Alliance Military hear about an attack on a human colony by the Geth, a race of intelligent robots that started a life of their own (*cough* Battlestar Galactica *cough*), a mission is planned to recuperate a recently dug up artefact. Chinese volunteer on duty is a certain Shepard whose actions in the past apparently have drawn the necessary attention.

The game starts with the creation of the main character. This can be done quickly, or detailed. The quick method is starting as John Shepard, a male soldier. If you choose the longer way, then you first decide on gender and looks and give him or her a name. Next to that some additional parameters are to be set that have impact on the conversations like the history and mentality of the character. Finally also a class needs to be chosen out of the three main ones (soldier, engineer or adept) or one of the three sub classes that mix characteristics of two of the above.

Where a soldier has stamina, heavy shields and a well-trained trigger finger, an engineer is more of a supporting type who helps in disabling enemy shields. Adepts are people with biotic powers and can hurt hostiles with these by for instance moving them into the air or making them immobile (*cough* The Force *cough*). Once chosen there's no way back and also during play no additional skills can be gained.

Mass Effect is not just another role playing game but tries to be truly innovating. Bioware again made a lot of work from the clever story and conversations of up to ten minutes or more make a part of this. Each time you get the choice between two and six possible ways of thought that will each time result in a different reaction. Unfortunately the "good", "neutral" and the more challenging answer are always listed on the same place which makes determining your character's persona a bit too simple. By adding grain, richly detailed emotion-filled faces and tight voices the game feels like a movie where you, the player, are doing the puzzle and fighting in real-time.

A constantly returning factor in Bioware's games is the balance between good and evil. With good actions one becomes a Paragon, with evil a Mercenary. These have no real influence other characters as such but they can help during conversations by influencing or scaring others.

The biggest downpoint of the game are the occasional missions with the Miko, a six-wheeled tank with jets that can jump and climb mountains but cannot fall down. It disturbs the atmosphere of the game and simply does not feel realistic enough. A second downer is the inventory management that feels awkward and confusing. Destroying items to remain below the maximum limit needs to be done one by one and is constantly a drag.

The port from Xbox360 to PC has brought along a couple of changes. Although you would expect the controls to be changed, I found it striking that the game can no longer be played with a controller, not even than of the Xbox360. The reason for that will probably be found in the additional possibilities the PC version offer like the tactical screen that's hidden behind the space bar. This lets the game freeze and allows you to select a special ability or give commands to your party.