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| From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $25.98
You Save: $14.01 (35%)
New (24) Used (11) from $25.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  143 reviews
Sales Rank: 139
Format: Dvd-video
Platforms: Windows Xp, Windows Vista
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 2000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 1.1
MPN: 19081
Model: 19081
UPC: 014633190816
EAN: 0014633190816
ASIN: B00140P9BA
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new and factory shrinkwrapped in retail box. Official Electronic Arts release, exactly as pictured. Not a cheap import or remainder. In stock. Buy from a trusted seller. Check our feedback.
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| Customer Reviews:
 EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! August 23, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
That is all that I can say about this game. EPIC!!! I have played it through twice and I am on my third time through.
Yes, it works with Vista, I am even running the 64 bit version and it works fine.
Was well worth the $50.
 Read the warnings. August 22, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I wouldn't have known about the trojan program attached with Mass Effect if it wasn't for all the one star reviews posted to Amazon. I was going to buy the PC version for the added content but due to DRM I absolutely won't. I encourage you to boycott DRM as so many other users have suggested.
DRM'd to death August 21, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I wanted to love this game. I even tried to love it. But I couldn't, and here is why:
1. DRM that sucks the life out of everything good the game has to offer. We as consumers have got to stop accepting this garbage. It limits playability, prevents legitimate use of the game we purchased, and treats the consumer as "guilty until proven innocent." I really wish I had NOT bought this game for that one reason. Never again will I give my money for a product with DRM.
2. Poorly ported. As many others have noted, the camera that follows Shepherd around is frustrating, and doesn't allow for the immersive quality of a first person view.
3. Control of the rover vehicle thing is clumsy and frustrating. The physics on planet surfaces is so poor that I didn't want to do many of the side quests. You can drive up nearly vertical surfaces, bounce hundreds of feet down the sides of mountains without suffering any damage, all using slippy controls that don't feel right for a bad-*** personnel carrier.
4. Many sound bugs. The processing of sound in this game is horrible. The sound fades out during many of the movie sequences. The only option is to turn on subtitles, which hurts immersion into the game. At other points in game sound glitches cause ambient noise to disappear while shooting a weapon, or the opposite, so that you only hear ambient sound, and muffled or nonexistent weapons fire. I have a extremly high quality sound card, the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude so this is NOT due to my system. Even the recently released patch does not solve this issue.
5. Inconsequential rewards for accomplishing side objectives. There are two levels to this. The first is that if you take the time to find all the rare earths, gases, metals, etc., you are rewarded with nothing more than cash. That would be fine if there was anything worth buying with it. However, once you're level 25+ all of the weapons you can buy are either the same, or inferior to what you already have. The mission based side quests provide little reward also. There are very few bosses, and they never drop weapons or equipment that is specialized or unique. I was hoping that side quests would allow access to weapons and armor that were otherwise unavailable. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Other than being a completenic, there is no reason to pursue side quests at all.
6. Short main campaign. The main campaign can be completed in 20 hours or less. That would be fine if side quests were more rewarding, but they're not (see #5). I liked the main campaign quite a bit, and thought the story was fairly interesting, but it would have been nice if the story took less of a linear path. What I mean by that (given that you can choose to go to the planets in any order) is it would have been interesting if the game required you to return to planets you had previously visited (other than the Gate) for additional objectives/story arcs. For example, a mission that required you to travel to several different planets. The main campaign would not have been disappointing in the slightest if they had made it less linear.
So all that said, why 3 stars and not 1? Because the game is not a total failure. The storyline is much better than average, the voice acting and writing is of a very high quality, and the combat is pretty fun. This game is not a failure, it is just not that great. It doesn't deserve 1 star anymore than it deserves 5.
Again, the principle reason NOT to buy this game is the awful DRM that infests it. We as gamers and consumers need to show that we will NOT accept crippled games that we are essentially leasing. We need to put our money where our mouths are and avoid these games until their makers start to pay attention. If enough of us refuse to buy games with DRM, eventually they will get rid of it.
The principle reason to buy the game are quality writing and acting, a good storyline, and entertaining combat sequences.
***Whenever I write a review that mentions DRM, I like to give a plug for Amazon. They have DRM free music downloads. If you're going to buy digital music, buy them from Amazon.***
one of the worst games I've ever played August 19, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Games I liked for reference: the Total War series, KOTOR series, Fallout 1, Jagged Alliance, Sins of Solar Empire to name a few.
However, this POS is horrible. BORING. Spent way to much time just running around. The inventory management system is annoying. They make it difficult to give the best weapons to the best people. You have to click around every time. Also, you have no idea if a person is really effective with a given weapon. KOTOR had the great idea of allowing you to see the combat log(D&D style).
In everyway this game falls short of a real PC game. I'll be much more careful of buying anything from BioWare in the future.
A great experience and a lot of fun. August 18, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
A lot of people have complained of bugs and other issues, and I am sure they are telling the truth. I was one of the lucky ones and had literally zero issues or bugs and I replayed this game four times. Although it gives off a sandbox feel at first, it is deceptive as you will quickly discover there are just minor variations to a rather linear plot. You have to accomplish the same objectives on various planets, for example, but you can do them out of order.
Still, the game is of cinematic quality and has great production values. The PC version , if it works ok for you, is astonishing. I really enjoyed it and those I recommended it to also purchased it and had no issues. They also enjoyed it a lot. Great game, a definite A.
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