Mass Effect was BioWare's big title in 2007, racking up honors and acclamations for their action-RPG hybrid title. After hours of grinding through Mass Effect and finding all there is to explore in the Mass Effect universe, I can say I agree that the title is a fantastic mix of action and RPG genres. It's not perfect, especially in some of the areas related to level design and graphics, but solid game play reduces the impact of those problems.

The story is incredibly long and well-crafted, thanks in part to the tremendous work of lead writer Drew Karpyshyn. In short, the story follows Commander Shepard, one of humanity's best soldiers, as he battles against the Geth - a non-organic alien race - and tries to stop a force bent on the apocalyptic destruction of all living things in the Universe. I don't want to go into too much further detail, because major polt points do happen at the beginning of the game, but the story is definitely one of the best and most complete in the last few years. Surprisingly, the story also has some level of customizability. Bringing certain characters along with you on missions will sometimes add new dialogue to scenes, as does BioWare's noted conversation system. Featurig multiple responses, characters will react to what you say and discussions may change according to your responses. How these discussions go and what you say can affect your Paragon and Renegade statuses; in addition, the more charm and intimidation points you have, the more options you can open up in dialogue. Sometimes these options can lead to other benefits, like free items or new missions.

Your character is also customizable, with plenty of options for physical appearance, six options for which class you want to be in, and six total options that not only set your background, but can affect what kind of stats you start out with. Your background, too, will affect certain missions or conversations during the game.

Mass Effect seamlessly blends elements of RPGs and action shooters together to create a very fun experience. Characters are fully customizable in regards to weaponry and armor, letting the player switch and upgrade their equipment when necessary. In addition to weapons, certain characters can access tech abilities, such as hacking or damping, or biotic abilites, which allow you to do things like throw enemies backwards, raise shields or create singularities in the time-space continuum that act like gravity wells. Essentially, this lets you approach Mass Effect in multiple ways and find a way that works best for you.

Combat takes place in real time, but you can pause the game to access biotic and tech abilities and to give orders to teammates. What powers you can use and how you will tackle the game play depends on what classes you choose; for example, as a sentinel, you'll have access to tech and biotic powers, but not to more powerful weapons like the assault rifle or sniper rifle. Infiltrators combine soldiers and engineers, but do not include any biotic powers. Targeting with weapons or abilities is rather simple and effective, removing a potential point of frustration.