Mass Effect PC Reviews
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And I was right -- sort of. The PC-only features are impressive and include higher-res textures, a completely revamped HUD and UI, blissfully short loading times -- no more insanely long elevator rides -- and much-improved squad management options. Unfortunately, these welcome improvements are offset by jarring inconsistencies that really rob the game of its shine. While some of the more glaring glitches of the 360 version were addressed, the PC version has problems of its own and they're just as distracting.GameSpy gives it a 5/5.
Take, for example, the texture work: almost universally pristine, but here and there it's so pixilated that some characters' outfits look like stitched quilts. Similarly, the dynamic shadows are gorgeous, except on faces, where they buzz and twitch so much that I had to turn them off so I could concentrate on what the characters were saying. The painful loading times are gone, but they've been replaced by periodic micro-loads that are just as distracting. Frankly, after a 40-minute install onto a high performance system running a DirectX 10.1-compatible graphics card, I shouldn't even be getting hiccups at all.
In the transition from the couch to the desktop PC, Mass Effect has refitted its user interface with mouse-friendly tweaks to the combat system. The most important is the new heads-up display found when pausing the action during combat, which makes it far easier to relay commands to your squadmates. You can send them independently to take cover, or send them on flanking maneuvers for the classic pincer attack. You can easily choose from their biotic or tech attacks, and change weapons in an instant. Item management is easier as well, as the interface has been tweaked considerably to remove much of the hassle from the console version. Perhaps the most useful addition is that of hotkeys to bind your abilities to for easy access. Shooting and precision aiming is also easier with a mouse, and the shooter gameplay fits naturally with this alternate mouse and keyboard scheme.Game Informer put up a bit from the magazine online, and gives it a 9.5/10.
While this doesn't use the most scalable graphics engine in the world, a fast rig can pump out visuals that put the 360 version of Mass Effect to shame. That multi-thousand dollar investment seems worth it when you're seeing 60-plus frames per second at resolutions a console can only dream of. Similarly, with a nice machine you'll notice that the Normandy's decks are much closer together elevator rides are much, much quicker.
