G4 TV Reviews Mass Effect - A Perfect Score

The freedom of a new IP and far stronger horsepower of the Xbox 360 have resulted in a title that has no precedent in how the gameplay, visuals, ...

PROS
Entrancing story
Being able to see your unique character in cut scenes
Combat that mixes strategy with fast paced action
Amazing visuals
Unique and exciting character interaction

CONS
Vehicle cannot be customized
Minor technical hitches

[Kleptic]

this is the kind of crap that breaks the review system overall...

I bought this game this morning...and it truly is great imo...and thats "great"...far from perfect...not even "superb"...

there are not "minor technical hitches" in Mass Effect...the 360 simply barely runs it...frame rate during combat is absolutely unacceptable...and the Resistance type pause to switch weapons/bionics/abilities doesn't help either...the texture streaming is as noticable as Vegas imo...and I haven't even started on the AI and control glitches...

the graphics are extremely good once things load in properly, but the framerate problems make animations during combat not seem smooth...and the mo-cap of facial expressions during speech doesn't look quite right imo...above the nose nothing moves...at all...eyes blink, and sort of aimlessly dart around...it doesn't hurt anything, its just something I started to notice during the speech...and there sure is a lot of it...

don't get me wrong...the game is still fantastic...the story is setting up to be about as good as a sci fi story can get...and the voice acting is totally on par with HS (which up until now was arguably the best acted video game of all time)...and there are some familiar voices...

its just giving a game a perfect score is absolutely retarded if the game isn't perfect...ME isn't perfect...perfect involves no glitches, gameplay problems, technical faults...perfect invovles every single thing being...perfect...ME doesn't have that...8.5-9.0 is definitely the territory of where this game should be...its awesome story is what completely makes up for the gameplay short-comings...

this is not a post to criticize ME...its a post to criticize G4TV for being retarded...thats all...

[mesh1]

SHUT UP cry cry cry ok lemme explain when a game it self the actually game they made is amazing there is no ware becuase of tech issue which is not part of the game story line immersiveness or what is there does not mean a good game they made shud not be 10/10 the game it self is perfect u cant fault the game only the hardware so SHUT UP U KID U dont knwo anything abotu games ill alwsy want amazing game with slight tech isusees like LAME GAMES THAT HAVE \been over polished as they bring alinear story so stop cry 100% of reviews say mass effect the game is amazing but the heard ware issses are ther eliek anyother game but the game it self the 1 bioware made is a 10/10 so cry

[Skerj]

mesh, there's no such thing as over polishing a game. Do you honestly play a game and say "oh man they've fixed too many bugs and balancing issues for me, I won't hear of it!!"? No, you don't. It's a great game yes, but not perfect thus not deserving a perfect score. If you're going to give a game a perfect score you can't give it cons in the same paragraph, that denotes imperfection.

[The_Engineer]

you will never get xbots to admit that the 360 STRUGGLES to run this game. I don't know what's a bigger shame, ME having so many GLARING glitches on the 360 or the fact that MS's business practices kept the rest of the gaming world from enjoying this excellent game.

[allforcalisto]

8.5-9.0 makes the most sense to me given all thats been written about this.
i find it very frustrating that reviwewers will mark up a game over another and ignore the bugs and downright dire blemishes(poor facial work, reptitive combat, recycled locales lack of deep oldskool bioware character stats and spells customization), but then mark down a game probably because it's not "EPIC" ugh.

by the sounds of it this game is an evolution from kotor, not a revolution from bioware. I loved kotor, it's still one of my favourite games ever, but a lot of polish and an immense catalog of dialogue shouldnt be seen as Next gen just because there's space exploration, especially when the space exploration is as shallow as a lot of these reviewers are making out.

games like indigo prophecy last gen were showing how different games could be. Looking at the performance in the heavy rain trailer makes me think wow they could be onto something.
Looking at mass effect makes me think great game, but nowhere near the best we'll see this gen.

[Feihc Retsam]

They had a very diverse crowd to cater to...
Xbox360 fans, PS3 fans, Wii fans and PC fans...
So, whenever they review a game, I've found them to be very discriminating when giving it a score...
Since a game score is all a matter of opinion based upon a set scoring system, it's very possible for a game to get a perfect 10/10.

The reason a game can get a 10/10 is because it is being held up against the other games that are out there...

If a game got a 9 in one category, and Mass Effect is superior in that category, you have to show that and give it a 10... If this happens across the board, well, then you have a perfect score...

If you don't have an Xbox360, don't hate... If you do have one, go get this game!

[Double-Edged]

those hiccups and glitches or whatever you wanna call it...

it doesnt affect the gameplay. or the experience why? because the Pros outweight it by far. Why dont you watch the GT video review.. they will explain what you idiots are crying about.

PWNED!

[Kleptic]

Mesh...don't bother posting anything in my direction...no one can understand anything you are saying...mostly because you are an idiot, and partially because all you do is make 100 word run-ons over and over...I own the game you half-wit, and I clearly stated this was not a critique of ME...it was a critique of what I felt was a poorly constructed review...

go read up on what "women" are...I am sure someone would appreciate your insanely comical over-protective'ness...

bubbles for the rest of you...again that game is great...put about 8 hours into it so far (anyone else feel like some of the dialouge has nothing to do with anything?...guess I am not far enough along yet)...I was only commenting on why I wouldn't rate a game with glitches as "perfect"...

[Prismo_Fillusion]

"CONS
Vehicle cannot be customized
Minor technical hitches"

Even if you list one con, how can a game get a perfect score? A perfect score means it's perfect and has absolutely no negative points. At least that's how the thinking goes on in my head. I can't think of a game in existence that I would give 100/100. (Rating a scale of 1-10 or 1-5 is stupid in the first place)

[celticlonewolf]

No game is ever going to be perfect ever. There is always going to be some sort of problems or to some people it just doesnt click with them. 5 out 0f 5 doesnt mean it hasnt got problems it means simply that the game is a must buy that it is really good and worth your money. It means that this game is up there with the top dogs so to speak. Good gaming

[lawman1108]

I belive they are letting you know that your $60 bucks is well spent here.

[iilluminate]

celticlonewolf is spot on.

If they use half marks, 5/5 does not mean it is without cons and could translate to as low as 91% or as high as 100%.

[bumnut]

your spelling and puncuation is astonishing.

not one comma or full stop in the whole post.

[rayc0013]

I watched the special last night, is thing a shooter because it looked more like a shooter than a rpg.

[adalwolfe]

its an rpg, when you play the game you will see that its an rpg first. It has fps elements, but the pausing system to cast spells and control squadmates as well as how much dialog there is in the game you will see its an rpg. It literally feels like your watching an animated movie, the main character (customized the way you want him to look) says what you want him to say. Then you control the fighting/action. It is really well done, far superior to any rpg to date gameplay wise.. not to sure about replayability. I haven't noticed much of the "unbareable lag" the other posters are reporting. Although bioware has been releasing games a little early lately.. such as nwn2, it was covered in bugs on release. I trust them enough now to know that they will work through them nwn2 even runs smoothly now.

Still for me I would rather have the game available early with some minor hiccups and patched later.. then having to wait forever.. as per the delaystation..

[Bullseye]

I have already made my feeling known in another post, as to why i won't be buying this game.The technical issues' are simply unacceptable to my way of thinking.Anyway,whether you agree or disagree on the perfect score given - i don't - you can't blame the xbox 360. The fact this game runs terribly is down to developers not the hardware.I suspect it's mostly Sony guys trying to make the hardware point sound legitimate, but it isn't.Developers know what they have to work with from the getgo,if they can't manage the limited resources of a system, any system, then that's down to them not the hardware. I'm sick of lame developers, not being able to produce quality titles without all the 'technical issues'.ME might be acceptable to many, and to them i say enjoy what sounds like a wonderful game. For me though, slack framerate kills my interest dead. How the hell can you expect people to 'believe in your world ' if it stutters and crawls along all the time.I'm gonna start my own rating system from now on. I'm marking games on devs implementation and abilities on their chosen system.By this method i give ME 6/10 adequate, but only just! What gives me the right to judge the Devs, i've been asked? Easy, i'm the guy spending the £50-00.

[mesh1]

dont worry ur all alone there buddy we wil all have amss effect while u can play tetris 2 or what ever u play

[m4tt]

To me this game is proof that we cannot trust what the majority of the media says when they review video games. All I was reading about before I got this game was how bad the frame rates were how long the loadtimes were and the fact that the textures took a second to load sometimes. I have to admit that I was worried buy all the negative press on it, but man I was so surprised to find out that these people were overreacting. I am only 4 hrs into this game and I am absolutely stunned. This game makes everything else before it seem like a waste of time. The very first time I landed and got to shoot at something with my sniper rifle my jaw dropped and its been open ever since. I love the grain filter, it gives it a great feel. I dont mind the dreaded elevators that everyone has been talking about. As far as the negative press goes: Guess what guys, elevators in real life take that long, not to mention that your crew has conversations with you and you can listen to the news on your elevator ride, so whats the problem? The textures load exactly like Gears of War, so whats the problem? The frame rate does dip on large encounters and the AI in your party isnt the best ever, but it does absoulutely NOTHING to dimish the experience. That is why this game is getting perfect scores and that is why it will win GOTY with a landslide, its about the experience and the story people and Bioware has nailed it better then most movies would ever dream of. Buy this game, ignore all of the noobs that that try to nitpick everything and enjoy this masterpiece. Thank you Bioware. That is all.

[AllroundGamer]

even with framerate issues and texture popups they give the game 10/10... MS must have spent again a lot of money for the reviewers, just sad times with MS in the game business...

[razer]

Don't you have some crack to smoke or some car to jack? (cough) thief (cough)

[ThisIsWaiting]

the game is awesome.

Bioware hit one out of the park with this game.

[tony]

the 360 console has nothing to do with any problem with game, it just feel incomplete. to me is a 3 out of 5 or 7.5 out 10. not a contender for game of the year. framerate, graphic glitches, pop ups, and when you aim doesn't feel smooth, it feels weird.

[mesh1]

u twat cause befor eu can aim properly u have to put points into it to lcl ue aiming that why this game is an rpg kid u dont get everything at 1s u lvl up ? have u go tit into ur brain good

[Double-Edged]

PS3fanboys can never accept reality.
they just need to vent off and start trolling because they are still frustrated that their own games suck balls and have not reached AAA.

really sad because they are only lying to themselves when they talk about playing a 360 game. sad sad sad. They can trash talk all they want, dream all they want, WAIT all they want....but still...NO AAA title for PS3.

360 FTW.
Mass Effect = GOTY
Lair + HS + WarHawk = FOTY

[EZCheez]

Why do capitalize the word WAIT? What exactly are we still waiting for?

And for the record Heavenly Sword and Warhawk were far from failure (I'm guessing that's what your f stands for). I know you only say these things because you've never played them though, so i'll understand.

Give credit where credit is due. I'm sure Mass Effect is a great game, but does it justify saying that others are crap?

[Death]

If you haven't spent any time with Mass Effect, please don't bash it. Play the game and if you still hate it, please tell us why. Microsoft paying for reviews? If it were that easy, Sony would have done it for their games too. Does Mass Effect have technical flaws? Yeah, but the enjoyment from the game experience outweighs any flaws. Mass Effect, Halo 3, Bioshock, Gears of War, Resistance, Lair, Ratchet and Clank, these are all great games. If you hate on them just because you hate the console they are on, you are the one that is losing out.

Jump In and Play B3yond.

-Death

[codeazrael]

One thing about Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb is that they will not bite their tongue when talking about an Xbox, PS, or NINTY game. Morgan for instance was totally waiting to play Lair, in fact that was one her most anticipated games, and when she played it, although she loved the graphics, the game totally disappointed her and she let everyone know it. I've watched Xplay on and off for a good while now, and if you are looking for a non biased review of a game, even multiplatform comparisons, then these guys really know what they are talking about..........and save the flamebait comments, these guys, as well as I are fortunate enough to have all systems.

[rofldings]

That's what XPlay used to be when it was owned by Tech-TV.

Now that it has been taken over by G4, they're nothing but 360 fanboys.

[TheZippo]

They also gave Ratchet and Clank a 5 out of 5. Are the Sony fanboys going to say that it shouldn't have gotten that because no game should? I think not. I bet they also give (if they haven't already) Uncharted a 5 out of five. If you watch X-Play you will see they give many games this score and are pretty fair in their evaluations.

[razer]

they will say that it was deserved.. But if a 360 game gets a perfect score it was paid for. It's one of the symptoms of "Last Place Syndrome", it borders on dillusional..

Just review the comments in this thread that have NOTHING to do with the PS3 and look how many are in bash mode doing whatever they can do to downplay this great game.

I will say Oblivion was full of glitches but it still received GOTY and is one of the most acclaimed western RPG's on consoles.

[SmokeyMcBear]

oh right.. i wasnt aware of the obscene loading times (elevator), the constant texture popins, the lousy framerate, and comical gameplay shooting aspects to it. I mean cmon, theres are like 5 little things on screen, half of them robotic turrets and it drops??? If that happened with Ratchet, it would get a 3 maybe a 2/5.. the bias is strong with this one.

[Maddens Raiders]

delusional.

And what is last place syndrome? I think putting all faith in G4TV is a little delusional but that's an entirely different "show". Mass Effect is a good game, but throwing the word "perfect" around is getting old.

Anyone remember playing SFII when at the end of a real ass whipping that you dished out on someone, or someone dished out on you - the announcer would say, "You win....Perfect.." or on MK the announcer saying, "Liu Kang wins.....Flawless Victory..." Folks, for some of you that don't realize it, perfect and flawless means no damage taken AT ALL; NO DEDUCTIONS from your guage. So I ask you this: How can something have (((cons))) and be perfect or flawless?

Does this make sense?

[TheZippo]

There will never be a Perfect Game... ever! Just because a game scored a 5 out of 5 on a review doesn't mean it's perfect. What it really means is that REALLY liked it. Why is there so much emphasize on scoring lately?

Play the games you like people, who cares what others may say. I enjoyed playing Overlord, was it scored high? No. But that doesn't mean I didn't like playing it. Oblivion is lousy with glitches and frame rate problems does that mean I won't play it. NO. I play it constantly.

There is so much hate on this site.

[Marriot VP]

IDIOTS, please listen

The choice they made was between a 80% or a 100%, so a 5/5 isn't meant as a perfect score it's just above the 4/5. I don't like it when reviewers are so vague either, they should all be out of 10(eurogamer) or 100(1up).

[Maddens Raiders]

Mass Effect is a "good" game.

And then the bottom, bottom line -

Some reviewers get paid.

Conflict of interest and curious scores?

G4's review of Halo3? Perfect. http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/r...

You be the judge.

Let's not be naive little kids here people, and use a little common sense.

[Double-Edged]

Halo3 is such a great game.
I just love Pwning people!
Dont you!?!?!?

[OOG FunK]

K you guys godda grow up your conspiracy theories and bullshiit you guys post on these damn threads all the time.....do you really think MS pays off everyone???like really??

Half of you sound like delusional schizophrenic nutbags with all your o they paid this person and this person etc etc....jus grow up this is a review its someones point of view...if you dont respect or care what they have to say then dont say anything at all. You do not have an opinion towards this review unless it has some impact on yourselves and therefor should only comment if you have a valid opinion. The reviewer thinks its worth a 10 then it gets a 10 plain and simple jus shows they love the game thats all some games deserve 10s because the reviewer may love it that much......

Plain and simple stop arguing over reviews its stupid and all you are doing is arguing what someones point of view should be.

[JokesOnYou]

a perfect score does not equal a PERFECT GAME, Gears recieved many 10's it was not perfect, its been out for awhile now, who can tell me they have not seen framerate hiccups and occasional texture popins here and there? but guess what that game still kicks ass to this day because when its all said and done its barely noticeable and the game plays awesome 98% of the time, but remember at first sonykids tried to make it out as if the game was a total disaster,

I remember names like "Glitches of War" and so on, in reality it turns out even today that game is referred to by many in the industry as a benchmark for graphics and gameplay, only lately surpassed by COD4 and of course Halo3 in terms of huge online popularity, yet if you would have listened to sonykids a year ago you would have thought the game was unplayable; (typical behavior of trying to turn something minor into something of "OMG 360 cant handle this game" BS) we knew the truth THEN, and we know the truth NOW, this game(ME) just like that game(GoW) is one of the very best games this gen, yes its not perfect, but its one helluva game that deserves every 10 it gets, because again A SCORE IS A INDICATION OF HOW MUCH THE REVIEWER LIKED THE GAME, you kids do understand that even if ANY game ran perfectly, scores are NOT scientific measurement, or a definite mathmatical equation like 2+2=4, and therefore any reviewer could rate a game that runs perfectly much lower than ME, simply because its SUBJECTIVE, meaning the game has no technical problems but its still a terrible game= NOT fun in the *opinion of the reviewer

So NO he is not telling you he gave it a 10 because it was *perfect, he gave it a 10 because the EXPERIENCE/FUN he felt from playing the game is better than the games that he gave a 9+ to in the past. Hell I can find reviews of games that recieved a 10 where the reviewer goes as far to *specifically spell out that the game is NOT perfect but it deserves a 10 because its THAT GOOD. surely you sonykids have heard this before, so please stop crying and looking for ways to downplay this review.

One more time for those of you who are slow; A PERFECT SCORE DOES NOT EQUAL A PERFECT GAME, otherwise NO game in history should ever get a 10/10.

JOY