Cogs can think.

Sure, the vehicle section takes a lot of practice. Sure, some of the colonial buildings are all the same but with different interiors. Sure, the game is very difficult to get into. Sure, the graphics aren’t always any good.

But Jesus-fcuking-Christ does Mass Effect make up for it by being by far the most in-depth game I’ve ever played. The attention to detail and the amount of work that has gone into each and every little element of the game - from the history of the galaxy all the way down to the history of the simplest of weapons you get to use - is just mind blowing .

Every item, location, and person in the game has a tremendous amount of history, and you can learn all about it if you want. You can talk endlessly with the NPCs about a huge number of topics. To illustrate, at one point I was having a discussion with one of my team members about the merits of God when you’re in outer space - “Just because I’m in space, I’m not allowed to believe in God? What bullshit is that?” - and you go back and forth about the topic. My conversion with her lasted like 20 minutes. And you can have discussions like this with many characters.

Everything is explained during the game, in great detail. Sure, you can skip it all, but you’ll miss so many subtle points, so many things that help you understand why and how things happen in the Mass Effect universe. Sure, it takes its cues from Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, but who gives a shit - Mass Effect is much less idiotic than Star Trek, but has a more life than BSG. The Mass Effect universe is actually kind of plausible, and the whole main story about the cycle of civilisations being destroyed and rebuilt again just for the pleasure of some… Well, some sort of deities is very compelling.

One of the side quests involves trying to talk a teenage girl out of committing suicide. She was taken from her human colony when she was four years old, to become a slave. She knows nothing of emotion and love and caring, and it shows in her speech. She refers to herself in the third person, and knows nothing than punishment and abuse. Say one wrong word, make one wrong movement, and she’ll pull the trigger. It’s all quite emotional, and very well acted.

I think that sums up Mass Effect pretty well. The game is much more about people than about graphics and violence. Heck, I don’t think I’ve seen a single drop of blood, and there weren’t any oversized tits either. You can see it; most of the graphical work has clearly gone into the characters, and their facial animations are better than in any other game. Engaging in conversations is completely different than in other games too; it’s like a film. You leave the third person perspective, and you get movie-style camera work, with everyone actually speaking out their dialogue - even the player’s every word is voice-acted. And dear lord, the voice acting is good. I’ve never seen a game with such incredible voice-acting.

What’s also really good is that the choices you make aren’t just obviously good OR obviously evil; there’s a lot of grey to choose from too. This gives you very fine-grained control over how situations turn out.

And finally, finally, finally, a game with a worthy ending sequence, which seems to last like forever, is extremely spectacular, and is still under your influence: there’s dialogue in it, and combat, so what you do matters.

The game isn’t perfect, but it’s a rare gem among the mediocre shite of modern gaming. Definitely my game of the year, and I hope BioWare makes a worthy sequel.