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Off the Beaten Path

No matter how I custom-rigged Shepherd, the gameplay never changed very much. As with the KOTOR duo, there isn't much room to wander off the beaten path. Dialogue trees have been dramatically improved with the addition of a wheel that opens up as you venture through the game. Extra options are added if you devote points to the Charm and Intimidate talents, giving you a wide range of choices and attitudes. But important conversations still almost always lead to either a pass or a fail of some sort, and the more basic ones allow you to eventually pick all the available options. It's tougher to reach a satisfactory conclusion here than in typical RPGs with branching conversations, though. Read an antagonist wrong and go for a Charm response when Intimidate is called for, or vice versa, and you can quickly find yourself in trouble.

Conversations also have more wide-ranging effects on building character personalities. You generally have three tones to take in dialogue--pleasantly neutral dude, obsequious good guy, or plain-speaking jerk. You earn points toward becoming either a Paragon or a Renegade type of character depending on if you favor the easy-going or the aggressive sides of conversation trees. This eventually leads you down the road to a conclusion that branches off depending on whether you're a conformist or an independent tough guy. Choices are never as stark as the Light Side/Dark Side options in KOTOR, though. You're always a good guy here--the choice is really between being a pure as the driven snow white hat or a gruff-but-lovable Han Solo-styled rogue.

Now back to that shooting. Common perception is that Mass Effect is an RPG, but really it isn't. Combat is intense and action packed, taking place in real-time without any of the pauseable stuff seen in the KOTOR games. So battles can be as frenzied as those in a third-person shooter. The two NPC additions to your three-man party (members of which can be swapped in and out every time you leave your ship, just as in KOTOR) can be ordered around like squadmates in a tactical shooter.


Shepherd himself backs up to walls and other objects for cover whenever he touches one with a weapon drawn. About the only real difference between combat here and combat in a shooter is frequency. Only the significant quests always end with some kind of blazing firefight. A lot of the routine side missions wrap up peacefully with a delivery or a conversation, and of course there are no random attacks out of the blue or levels crammed with goons that need some killing. Still, there is enough combat here to turn off dedicated RPG fans, especially long-time PC gamers who don't expect this sort of twitchy action with their elves and aliens.