Game Informer gives Mass Effect a 9.75

I'm going to buy Mass Effect, but this does little to allieve my concern about the games combat mechanics. Last time Bioware experimented with innovative RPG combat the result was Jade Empire, a great game that is mediocre however in the light of their previous release (KOTOR). That is in no small part due to Bioware's choice to improve on the DnD style combat system present in their (gasp) titles which literally had an engine built using DnD tabletop rules. Not that I didn't enjoy the Jade Empire combat, it just wasn't as refined as one would expect from Bioware...

So hang on....if games with tons of hype automatically get good reviews - then what happened to the former system savior known as Lair? The ONLY thing that comes to ANYONES mind when that game is mentioned now is "OMG the controls SUCK!"

I don't care for games based around the "yapping with bots" concept but it's a sure bet this game will be red hot, son.

Review scores are accurate to the quality of a game for the most part. Fanboys here argue against it because they don't want a game like Mass Effect to be better than the stuff they get to play.

First off, games get hyped typically because the impressions are great and the game looks awesome. That, or it is simply the sequel to an awesome franchise or made by a great dev. Games that are likely to kick ass are more heavily hyped than others.

But the review score is fair. Lair was heavily hyped because it looked awesome. Flying dragons with sick graphics ftw we all thought. The game sucked and reviewers called a spade a spade. The original Halo game was unhyped and on a system nobody really even knew about. The game was very good and reviewers scored it accordingly.

Review scores are fair. Terrorists took down 911. Bush is trying to be a good president and does not eat babies. Mass Effect will be AAA.

Maybe I'm out of the loop or just been playing Halo 3 too much but what the hell is Mass Effect?

PS# IS TEH LOST

My prediction- Fallout 3 will be the first truly shining example of a fps oriented RPG. Why? Bethesda has already made a great first person hack 'n slash- Oblivion. I bet Mass Effect will be an amazing game, but I could see the depth of combat being somewhat lackluster. However, the plot and overall gameplay experience will certainly be top-notch. The score of 9.75 is irrelevant, however the comments about skirmishes isn't.

so apparently to some of these people, a game can never be really really good anymore it's just not possible to them. If a good game gets good scores it's "OMG THEY"RE BEING PAID OFF". Did you ever think that maybe it's really good? they listed problems but you miss the key words, "It doesn't take away from the game at all" so its obviously not a huge issue like you people are thinking it is

Just wait when smash brothers comes out and gets high 9's i'm gonna say the same thing to you people.

It's an adventure that is so captivating that you'll be counting the days for the sequel. It takes interactive storytelling to new heights, and brings the player closer to content than ever before. It's easily one of the year's best titles and one of the most impressive games to date. [Nov 2007, p.151]

Not sure if this has been said already, but Joystiq, you should clarify the article. GameInformer usually has two reviewers score the big game releases- in this case one gave it a 10 and the other a 9.5- so that averages out to an overall score of 9.75- which makes a lot more sense (Gameinformer uses a scale of 0-10 with .5 allowed- ex: 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10)

Lets keep Nintendo out too! This game is for hardware that can render it. Not ones that display pics only.

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If you didn't understand what I just said it is Mass Effect speak.

https://live.xbox.com/en-US/signup/SignupLight.ashx?regId=927a0e22-2fdf-4b37-8c64-7047297e7cca

Uh oh. Those sound like serious gripes. I honestly couldn't stand the combat system in KOTOR either. I'll definitely will be trying this at a friend's house before buying.

Wow. What a terrible job of reporting by Joystiq.

The review goes on to say that it's really fun, and "by no means does this stuff hold back the experience."

Talk about slanting opinions just for the sake of doing it.

So they're done a bit ahead of schedule. Great! Now they can get a jump on putting together Jade Empire 2!