The Mass Addiction

It was August 2010 and I was bored. No, let’s be more dramatic... and I was desperate. Better! All the games I owned had been played through at least twice. Nothing currently in stores appealed to me. Things were beginning to look grim.

There were a lot of ifs that came into play right around there. If I hadn’t had a little over R100 credit at BTGames for games I had sold to them. If the price hadn’t been almost R200 less than what new XBOX360 games went for; if NAG hadn’t been packed with such rave reviews about it; if I hadn’t looked past the third-person-shooter aspect; if I hadn’t decided “Ag hel! Why not?!”

...then I would have missed the awesomeness that is Mass Effect!!

I bought both ME and ME2 that day (ME was selling on Classic for a mere R80. How could I not?). I don’t know what my reasoning was, but I started with ME2. My doubts and questions quickly washed away as Bioware’s drugs they lace into virtually all their games began to kick in.

Drug 1: Story

I am a sucker for a good storyline and Bioware doesn’t disappoint. When Shepard (the hero looking ready to kick ass on the front cover) fell into a planet’s atmosphere right in the beginning of the game – oxygen leaking from his suit – which spelt only one possible outcome, they had me. Evil, evil Bioware.

With games like the famous Baldur’s Gate titles, Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic (one of my all-time favourites) and Dragon Age (just as awesome though its sequel was a downer), the guys at Bioware have learnt the importance of a compelling story and they have learnt it well.

Drug 2: Choice & Consequence

The second drug they pump into your system is making choices throughout the game that matter. They don’t treat you like an idiot; just getting you to feel like you’ve given your two cents about an already fixed outcome. In a very real way, what you decide will determine how the game is going to pan out up ahead. And not just through one game but three. If a squad member dies, you’re not going to see him in the next instalment. If you save or change a governing structure, it’s going to have consequences later. If you were unfaithful in ME2 to a love interest from ME, then be ready to face the music in ME3.

Consequences. If other gaming companies picked up on how valuable a component it is to a game, the industry would never be the same again.

Drug 3: A Woman in the Lead

The final drug Bioware decided to add to an already addictive game is to allow Shepard to be a woman. Not since Laura Croft can I remember as powerful a woman in gaming as Female Shepard or FemShep as she is known.  And it isn’t just that they gave the main character breasts and that’s it. Playing a woman changes the dynamic amongst your crew and how people outside your ship treat you. What was a situation full of clashing testosterone could become one where your opponent underestimates you, getting his ass whooped for making a derogatory remark.

From all of this, I’m sure you can gather that I’ve consumed the Mass Effect games just as much as they have consumed me.

And the drug hasn’t stopped yes. March 2012 brings Shepard’s story to a close with what promises to be the most ambitious Mass Effect game yet!

All of us addicts are just chomping at the bit!