I have always had a strange experience with the first Mass Effect. Going back to its initial release, I was super hyped for a sci fi game with a new conversation system, not seen in RPGs. Got it home and I was bored

Today I can announce that I finally have beaten the first game and it’s still meh. I will say it has its moments story wise but no this is not a masterpiece. It lays out some good groundwork for later games to build on.

I think I know why folks say this game has the series’ best story. It has the best ending of any of the games. Mass Effect 2 and 3 had a really good journies, but the endings had issues. I wouldn’t say they were bad, but a letdown of what the story was building up to. Which I’d say was ME2s biggest fault and one of 3s.

There are also some ideas in 1, that seem to have gotten side stepped in other games. One example, they never revisit the revelation of the Citadel is a Mass Relay itself. Another thing was the idea that the Reapers built the Citadel and can control keepers, though in later games it says it’s a Prothean structure.

What holds this game back from greatness is two things. The gameplay and level design. Before anyone says that this was the first game and you can’t judge from a modern lense, stop. One, when this game came out it already felt clunky and outdated. Two, Goldeneye, Deus Ex, Condemned, FEAR, and Red Faction for example were first outings for a series that we’re better than their direct sequels. Several are considered masterpieces.

Mass Effect’s gameplay was horrid to me when I played the original. In the Legendary Edition, it’s better but still the worst. The guns are typical RPG where some look different but at the end of the day they all feel meh. The whole menu and inventory system just feels clunky as anything. The cover in LE isn’t as finicky as the OG.

The levels feel like something out of KOTOR or Jedi Academy. Even for that time I felt they looked horrible and the design was poor. I will say the levels are set in diverse biomes. The standout level to me was the final one, it seems the most polished out of them all. Plus loading screens in the form of elevators are throughout a level.

The Biotics are ok, I just hate only one can be mapped. It blows my mind that and the menus weren’t brought up to the standards of the newer games. They delayed the game for six months just for the first game.

The Mako is still trash. It handles better but you’re still driving around barren worlds and main story levels with a bunch of reused assets. The machine gun on it feels so weak. Again these should be cutscenes like when you arrive on new planets in the other games.

ME1 shares many issues that most open world games have, where the open work is unneeded. And it works better when there’s just a structured experience with hub worlds and linear sections.

The writing is pretty good, I found myself wanting to get to the next part of a convo in parts of a mission. There’s some cool choices you can make, especially at the end. Despite the game being touted for its conversation system, there’s still stuff you have to read.

I say all that to say this, this game should’ve been remade. We didn’t need the other two remastered, they hold up fine today and on PC even better. There’s a lot of systems that were and still outdated today, that the dev team seemed to skimp over to get the collection out. Is it better? Yes but ultimately this was a half step. I am more intrigued at the changes my choices in the first game will make in the second.