A game that demonstrates both what to do and what not to do.
Mass Effect is a Role Playing Game, and the role-playing part is excellent. Every conversation gives you the chance to choose a response (even if they're all variations on "Yeah, so?" or "But I Must!"), and shaping Shepard's every social decision gets The Player really invested in their character. The reduction of answer options to sound-bytes instead of full responses was inspired. And the fact that your decisions actually matter, and present you with new dialogue options later that shape the course of the plot, just seals the deal. This isn't just a story you can experience twice, it's one you want to.
The problem is, Mass Effect is a Role Playing Game, and the game half of it is pretty bad. Name a feature of gameplay, and it's poorly executed. Shooting is as easy as it always is on the PC (X360 players may have a different experience), but controlling your character's movements is sometimes haphazard, especially when running afoul of the context-sensitive cover system. Driving physics are atrocious, without even the benefit of a Hand Wave—which is egregious considering that the game's Applied Phlebotinum, "element zero," could easily provide an explanation for why your APC can drive up 60-degree walls. And the Class And Level System is a waste of Tech Points. Sure, you get a talent tree, but each branch only gives you one skill, with additional points just making it stronger. Why not just have static growth, as in the old Final Fantasy games, and have spells unlock at level-up? It'd almost be no different.
Mass Effect, to me, exemplifies a problem with hybrid games. Its creators set out to make a game that's half action and half RPG... but only had time to make half an action game, resulting in a shoddy Halo or Gears Of War clone with an epic Space Opera plot. The resulting game is not a jack of all trades, it's multi-incompetent. Mass Effect gets along on the strength of its dialogue and worldbuilding—and, to be sure, those features are so good that they elevate the finished product to something approaching true greatness—but take the lesson here. A proper hybrid game has to be two fully-featured games mated together.
That Rarest of All Creatures...
A game that demonstrates both what to do and what not to do.
Mass Effect is a Role Playing Game, and the role-playing part is excellent. Every conversation gives you the chance to choose a response (even if they're all variations on "Yeah, so?" or "But I Must!"), and shaping Shepard's every social decision gets The Player really invested in their character. The reduction of answer options to sound-bytes instead of full responses was inspired. And the fact that your decisions actually matter, and present you with new dialogue options later that shape the course of the plot, just seals the deal. This isn't just a story you can experience twice, it's one you want to.
The problem is, Mass Effect is a Role Playing Game, and the game half of it is pretty bad. Name a feature of gameplay, and it's poorly executed. Shooting is as easy as it always is on the PC (X360 players may have a different experience), but controlling your character's movements is sometimes haphazard, especially when running afoul of the context-sensitive cover system. Driving physics are atrocious, without even the benefit of a Hand Wave—which is egregious considering that the game's Applied Phlebotinum, "element zero," could easily provide an explanation for why your APC can drive up 60-degree walls. And the Class And Level System is a waste of Tech Points. Sure, you get a talent tree, but each branch only gives you one skill, with additional points just making it stronger. Why not just have static growth, as in the old Final Fantasy games, and have spells unlock at level-up? It'd almost be no different.
Mass Effect, to me, exemplifies a problem with hybrid games. Its creators set out to make a game that's half action and half RPG... but only had time to make half an action game, resulting in a shoddy Halo or Gears Of War clone with an epic Space Opera plot. The resulting game is not a jack of all trades, it's multi-incompetent. Mass Effect gets along on the strength of its dialogue and worldbuilding—and, to be sure, those features are so good that they elevate the finished product to something approaching true greatness—but take the lesson here. A proper hybrid game has to be two fully-featured games mated together.