Mass Effect

Okay, so like my last post, this one isn't going to be "typical" either. I just wanted to tell you all about my experience over the past few days.

Let's begin.

So last Saturday, I was sitting in my room with nothing to really do. I looked over at my Xbox and all the usual suspects were there: Halo 3, Gears of War 2, Street Fighter 4 - blah blah you get the picture. Now sure, I could sign on to Xbox Live and start gaming it up with people from across the world, but something was different, I just didn't feel like it.

I've been gaming online for a while now and lately it just hasn't appealed to me as much as it used to. Yea it's fun, but there was something missing from the experience and I just couldn't put my finger on it. When playing games in my youth, I was often filled with this indescribable feeling that made me incredibly happy. Presently, I can't remember the last time I felt that way. None of the current generation games that I have played seem to reignite the old flames of my youth, but why?

I think it's because in my youth, multiplayer games didn't exist on the scale that they do today. The majority of the games that I played were single player experiences, which made me feel in ways that multiplayer games could never duplicate.

I was talking to a very close friend of mine, and he was currently playing a game called "Mass Effect". I knew of the game, but have never played. Back when it came out, it got phenomenal reviews from almost every major gaming website. Why didn't I pick it up back when? I didn't have an Xbox at the time. I do however, remember feeling like it would be a game I'd pick up if I did have the appropriate console. My friend told me that he picked it up for $15 used at Gamestop, and that was all I needed to grab my car keys and head to my nearest Gamestop.

Sure enough, the game was right on the shelf, at a measly $15 USD. While I was checking out, the cashier kept telling me what a fantastic game it was. I simply replied, "Yea, I don't know why I didn't pick it up sooner."

My comment was just an attempt to make some form of conversation. In truth, I was a little doubtful if I'd enjoy the game or not. I was merely purchasing it as something to hold me over for the weekend.

I went home, turned on my TV, my Xbox, put the game disc in, and began to play. The next thing I knew, it was 2AM. Whoa. What the hell happened to the day? I was completely and utterly immersed in the world that the game presented me. The attention to detail was absolutely obscene. The writing was incredibly sharp, and the plot was not only interesting, but highly believable. Everything in the game seemed possible to me. It all made sense, it felt like I was actually viewing something in the galaxy that was actually happening.

It's because of all this that I actually refuse to admit that Mass Effect is merely a game. Mass Effect for me is not a game, it is an experience. One that I will never forget. As a convenience, I will refer to Mass Effect as a game for the remainder of this blog, but by no means do I mean that literally. I'm serious.

The game focuses around placing you in the role of a character who interacts with almost everyone around him, and the choices you make ultimately affect how the story progresses. In the game, I could speak with pretty much almost everything that moved. In every conversation, I could choose how to respond in anyway that I wanted. If there was something I wanted to ask a particular character, I had the option to ask that. I was never left wondering anything, since everything I wanted to know was open to talk about. This played a huge part in placing me in my character's shoes. I wasn't simply role playing a character I created... I was the character.

Now when I typically play a game, I know it isn't real. I understand there's a bad guy out there who needs to be stopped, and if I die, no big deal, I just try again. In Mass Effect however, I was so enthralled with the story that I legitimately disliked the antagonist, and was doing everything in my power to stop him. I felt for the characters. I felt reassured by my crew members, disdain for the galactic government for always handing me the short end of the stick, and enthusiasm when meeting new characters. While the game is not reality, for me, over the past few days it was.

So then, after I was fully immersed, the game ran me through quite possibly the most epic plot I have ever experienced. Sure, in Gears of war you save a planet, in Halo you save humanity, but in Mass Effect... I saved the galaxy. More specifically, I saved a believable galaxy filled with an uncountable number of believable species from a believable threat. As everything I was thrust into teetered toward the brink of inevitable annihilation, I was doing everything I could have to prevent it from happening, and I couldn't have felt more alive.

To be perfectly honest, after I finished the game, I got a little depressed. Since I feel as though the places in this game, the people, the technology could actually exist, I find it sad that I am grounded here on Earth. Now I wouldn't take myself as a savior of all organic life, I just want to experience the vastness of the universe. Earth is just a spec on a spec on a spec when compared to the universe as a whole. Unimaginable things exist out in the traverses of space, things we can't even fathom, and I find that to be fascinating.

For those of you who have never experienced Mass Effect, I implore you to play it. Everything about the game is of the highest cinematic quality, everything down to the credits music (I'm not joking either). This post might have been a little vague, but I did that for your own good. I don't want to spoil anything for any of you, and in truth, I probably can't seeing as how everyone will derive their own unique experience from Mass Effect.