Well Hello Again

My Mass Effect History

Originally I played ME2 first and loved it. The suicide mission at the end really affected me when my team didn't all survive. I went back and replayed it, with all the DLC and loved it even more (though Shadow Broker is not enough Liara in that game).

I bought ME1 and all the DLC, played that and while the game is ace, the inventory management sucks. So I played it once and then used the interactive comic if I wanted to set up a specific ME2 set of character decisions.

When ME3 came out, of course, I was a day one purchaser. I bought all the single-player DLC as it came out (I can't bring myself to pay for multi-player DLC content). That you had to play the multi-player to get a decent war score was a bit of a fudge, but at least it gave me a reason to. Turns out it's a good multiplayer. Even the ending didn't bother me that much, as I could only imagine how hard it would be to get all of those potential decisions whittled down to something that gave every player the end they hoped for or wanted.

I have also played (and completed) Andromeda...

In summary, though, the Mass Effect universe is - for me - up there with Star Wars. I know this is a common comparison, but I think it a worthy one. The depth of the world creation, the different races and politics involved. The little intrigues and the quality of the writing give it all the depth that science-fiction needs to be epic. Of course, it's very gamey in its delivery. But, like Star Wars, the Mass Effect world is a fully-featured and rich one. It is a creation that will always stick with me, no matter how old I am, and these are games I would always keep playing again and again. Anyone that knows me knows that Mass Effect 2 is pretty much my favourite game ever.

The Remaster

Suffice to say I have played a lot of Mass Effect over the years, and when a remaster was announced I was both excited and slightly apprehensive at the same time. The idea that my favourite game, and therefore favourite game franchise was going to subject to a possibly phoned-in, purely for money remaster was quite an unpleasant one. There is a reason why We The Players wrote a blog about remasters.

So what did we end up with the release of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition?

Well, personally, I would compare it to getting your house professionally redecorated. Still the same house you know and love, but everything is new and bright and shiny. Your decorator also took the time to clear up some of the issues you had too, they fixed that squeaky step on the stairs, and made that door close properly.

In this remaster. everything is pristine and how you remembered it at the time but brought up to date. Previously when I played Mass Effect 2, I would have to install mods like the ALOT graphical enhancements to make graphics look the way I wanted them to. Now I don't have to go through that faff, and have to worry about Origin overwriting the game files when I installed the mod, even if I installed the game through Steam... That all the DLC for all the games (bar Pinnacle Station in ME1) is available is an excellent addition too.

The gameplay is mostly unchanged, but when the games are this good that is ok. It really is a graphical overhaul, that is what most people will notice, but that is no bad thing.

There are some quality of life improvements, mostly those are limited to Mass Effect 1. The comedy that can be driving the Mako is now less comical, it's definitely harder to crash and need to flip the thing.

The female Shepard has now got a consistent default face through the trilogy, something I for one welcome. Personally, I find the fem-shep voice to be the better option. I think the acting involved is better, and fem-shep is always my first choice. I will be using man-shep for my renegade run through though for sure.

Mass Effect 1 definitely benefits from the most obvious graphics updates. Mass Effect 1 was first released in 2007, Mass Effect 2 in 2010 and Mass Effect 3 in 2012. The first game was one of the early major releases on UE3, so had access to fewer features released in the subsequent enhancements. With the remaster, ME1 is now an even more beautiful game. The colour palette used is slightly darker and colder than I remember, so maybe there has been a change to the colour balance used as well. That the textures have been uplifted to look good at the higher resolutions we now play at is a great thing. It is in the first game that you will see the most obvious graphical enhancements, assuming you're old enough to remember your original playthrough...

Mass Effect 2 was always a pretty game, but again the enhancements are clear to see. The textures again look lovely, but again there seems to be a slight colour palette change. I struggled in some of the Collector missions to see some of the enemies, the combination of brown collector models on a dark brown or black ship backdrop made it difficult sometimes. Still such a good looking game though.

Mass Effect 3, which I am still playing through, is the one game where the graphical enhancements are not immediately obvious. Of course, everything looks sharp and lovely, but being the newest game, I am not convinced there has been much updated here.

Now, across all games, there has been one important addition. An addition that makes me at least incredibly happy about. An addition that normally wouldn't bother me, but now it does. We now have a photo mode. Not just a phoned-in one, but an actually fully featured one. A photo mode with all the camera controls that I don't really understand, but have a lot of fun playing with. Of course, the natural question is, for those that have already played (and hopefully) loved the original trilogy, is this remaster something to consider buying?

Summary

If you've never played the trilogy, yes you should buy this. The games are so good that to be able to play them on modern hardware in one package, with all the DLC you could want and all the newly flashy visuals should make this an easy purchase.

If you've already played and completed the trilogy, then perhaps the answer is slightly harder. For me, it was a no-brainer. If you like the Mass Effect games, then I think the answer is yes. The fact that in one package you get all the games, all the DLC and all the enhancements, there is value there for sure.

This is one remaster that has had some actual effort put into it. Or I could be blinkered by my love of all things Mass Effect. But since this is my review, I'll end it there and just declare this trilogy and remaster wonderful, and fully recommend it as a buy.