Mass Effect Legendary Edition PC Review – Part 1

First part of our Mass Effect Legendary Edition review for PC.

Mass Effect Legendary

<div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;deals jeg&lowbar;deals&lowbar;float clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;dealsheader clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"dealstitle">&NewLine; <h3>Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 1 DEALS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;storeinfo">&NewLine; <ul class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;storelist">&NewLine; <li>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;store&period;steampowered&period;com&sol;app&sol;1328670&sol;Mass&lowbar;Effect&lowbar;Legendary&lowbar;Edition&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"storename">Steam<&sol;a>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"priceinfo">&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;store&period;steampowered&period;com&sol;app&sol;1328670&sol;Mass&lowbar;Effect&lowbar;Legendary&lowbar;Edition&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"price">&dollar;59&period;99<&sol;a>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;store&period;steampowered&period;com&sol;app&sol;1328670&sol;Mass&lowbar;Effect&lowbar;Legendary&lowbar;Edition&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"productlink">VIEW<&sol;a>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><li>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;origin&period;com&sol;usa&sol;en-us&sol;store&sol;mass-effect&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"storename">Origin<&sol;a>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"priceinfo">&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;origin&period;com&sol;usa&sol;en-us&sol;store&sol;mass-effect&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"price">&dollar;59&period;99<&sol;a>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;origin&period;com&sol;usa&sol;en-us&sol;store&sol;mass-effect&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"productlink">VIEW<&sol;a>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><li>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;greenmangaming&period;com&sol;games&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition-pc&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"storename">Green Man Gaming<&sol;a>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"priceinfo">&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;greenmangaming&period;com&sol;games&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition-pc&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"price">&dollar;52&period;79<&sol;a>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;greenmangaming&period;com&sol;games&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition-pc&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"productlink">VIEW<&sol;a>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li>&NewLine; <&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div><p>Mass Effect remains one of EA&&num;8217&semi;s biggest franchises&comma; despite its <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;mass-effect-andromeda-pc-game-review-bland-effect&sol;">mediocre fourth sequel<&sol;a> and BioWare&&num;8217&semi;s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;anthem-the-future-of-biowares-lost-potential&sol;">attempt at capturing the live service market<&sol;a>&period; So much so that the initial trilogy just received an official remastered re-release on PC&comma; PS4&comma; and Xbox One&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To do justice to each game&comma; we&&num;8217&semi;ve decided to split our review of Mass Effect Legendary Edition into 3 parts&comma; each looking at each game in the package&period; So let&&num;8217&semi;s begin with the first Mass Effect and see how it compares to the original&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170685" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170685" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23050105&sol;20210514183525&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170685" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23050105&sol;20210514183525&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Shepard" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170685" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Some aspects of the remaster are a bit weird&comma; like Shepard&&num;8217&semi;s expression on the character creation<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">The Invasion Of The Space Lobsters<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Mass Effect really sold itself on its massive scope&comma; though I found it a bit clunky in terms of writing&period; At least after replaying it for this review&period; A lot of characters don&&num;8217&semi;t really do much beyond spewing exposition or codex information at you&period; Sure it helps learn about the game&comma; but upon replaying Mass Effect for like the 100th time&comma; it does get a bit boring&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But Mass Effect was the first in the series and a lot needed to be established&comma; and that&&num;8217&semi;s exactly what we get here&period; Shepard is established as the galaxy&&num;8217&semi;s protector within the first couple hours of gameplay&period; We also meet some core characters fairly quickly as well&comma; including fan favorites Garrus Vakarian and Tali&&num;8217&semi;Zorah nar Rayya&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In terms of its sci-fi sensibilities&comma; Mass Effect falls extremely close to the space opera feel of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;star-wars-episode-1-racer-nintendo-switch-retro-review&sol;">Star Wars<&sol;a>&period; You don&&num;8217&semi;t really get anything too alien&period; Most of the aliens have humanoid shapes&comma; or shapes based on things we are familiar with&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A prime example is the main enemy of the game&comma; the Reapers&period; Lore-wise&comma; Reapers have an almost <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;lose-mind-lovecraftian-horror-game-conarium-june&sol;">Lovecraftian<&sol;a> vibe to them&comma; appearing as elder gods that are going to wipe us out just cause they feel like it&period; But their design makes them just look like massive space lobsters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This kind of &&num;8220&semi;alien based on earth physiology&&num;8221&semi; design language is seen all through the game&period; It kind of makes the game a bit hard to take seriously at times&period; But as any Mass Effect fan can attest to&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s part of the fun&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170686" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170686" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23090448&sol;image&lowbar;2021-05-14&lowbar;19-41-26&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170686" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23090448&sol;image&lowbar;2021-05-14&lowbar;19-41-26-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Eden Prime" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170686" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Eden Prime looks drastically different in the Legendary Edition&comma; with a much brighter atmosphere overall<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">A Slow Start<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The biggest problem with Mass Effect becomes increasingly apparent on subsequent playthroughs&period; The beginning of the game is an absolute slog&period; After your first mission you&&num;8217&semi;re dropped on the Citadel where you&&num;8217&semi;re subjected to the absolute worst part of Mass Effect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the Citadel provides a ton of lore and exposition&comma; it gets overbearing to the point where almost every single character you meet there is a lore dump&period; In addition&comma; nearly all of the quests require you to go back and forth between the various places on the Citadel&period; You can only fast travel between the different places once you have gone there by elevator&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Luckily the Legendary Edition makes you able to skip the elevator rides and speeds them up significantly&period; It lessens some of the frustration&comma; but the start of Mass Effect is still the biggest issue with the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170687" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170687" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23094321&sol;20210516164444&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170687" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23094321&sol;20210516164444&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Mako" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170687" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Driving the Mako has been a bit improved in the Legendary Edition<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Gameplay Tweaks<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The Legendary Edition features some rather heavy tweaks to the gameplay of the first game&period; The most notable change is the inventory system&period; You can now mark items as junk and then sell all your junk or convert it to Omnigel&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a welcome addition that cuts down massively on the amount of inventory management&comma; even though there&&num;8217&semi;s still a lot of it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another noteworthy addition is the reduced level cap of 30 as opposed to 60 from the original game&period; You can still use the old level cap if you want to&comma; but having it set to 30 massively decreases the play time needed to get high level gear and speeds up leveling drastically&period; Given the games are meant to be played in succession&comma; it feels nice not having to completely be devoted to New Game &plus; in order to see everything the game has to offer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Of course&comma; it can also make the game a bit easy&comma; and indeed it does&period; Even on Normal the game becomes way too easy with the Legendary leveling enabled&comma; and I recommend veteran players choose the higher difficulties if they want a challenge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170688" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170688" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23094939&sol;20210521192616&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170688" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23094939&sol;20210521192616&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Junk Items" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170688" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Mass Effect Legendary Edition allows you to mark items as junk in your inventory to sell or convert to Omnigel with the click of a single button&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Overhauled Gunplay<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The most drastic change in my opinion though is how the weapons function&period; In the original Mass Effect&comma; guns largely functioned the same&comma; and only had minor differences in their accuracy&comma; overheat time and damage&period; In the Legendary Edition&comma; every single gun model is unique in some way&comma; with some having varying fire rates&comma; sound effects and feel to them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Recoil has also been reduced and a lot of the guns have much beefier sounds to them&period; A prime example are the sniper rifles&comma; which now sound like freaking assault cannons if you get the right configuration for them&period; It helps combat feel a lot more satisfying&comma; something the original game definitely needed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One change I am not a fan of is that they combined the sprint and use key like in the sequels&period; While this may work great on a controller&comma; on PC it becomes more of a frustration&period; At least it is something you do get used to&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170694" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170694" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23104646&sol;20210517152316&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170694" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23104646&sol;20210517152316&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Mako Screenshot" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170694" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The planets in the game are still as enjoyable to explore<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Space Exploration<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The Mako also received an overhaul and you now have some choices as to how it controls&period; You can either go for the original style&comma; where the camera moves independently from the Mako&comma; or have the Mako follow the camera&period; The latter is an option for those who don&&num;8217&semi;t like the original style&comma; but in my opinion it makes driving the Mako worse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Mako was clearly designed with the original style in mind&period; The turret is supposed to move independently from the Mako itself&period; Snapping the Mako itself to where the turret is aiming just feels wrong&period; It makes it feel like the controls are fighting against themselves when making evasive maneuvers&period; Think of the Mako as essentially a tank and you get the point&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A noticeable change about the Mako is the ability to shoot your cannon anywhere you want&period; In the original game&comma; the aim of the cannon largely adhered to where it was placed on the Mako&comma; which felt more realistic&period; But let&&num;8217&semi;s be honest&comma; being able to actually hit things is probably better&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170689" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170689" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23100147&sol;20210516171953&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170689" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23100147&sol;20210516171953&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Turian" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170689" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Some minor story changes occur in the Legendary Edition&comma; such as turning this character into a Turian from a human in the original&comma; which makes more sense given his name and dialogue&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Not Smooth Sailing<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Though not everything about the Legendary Edition is perfect&period; I came across numerous minor bugs and annoyances that simply did not exist in the original game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One bug I came across was the fact that sometimes after exiting the Mako the use button simply stopped working&period; I had to reload my save to get it back to working order&period; I have no idea how this was even triggered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A huge bug in the game that still has not been fixed is the fact I was unable to toggle helmets for my team members&period; No matter what team member I had selected on the Squad menu&comma; the Toggle Helmet button would only toggle Shepard&&num;8217&semi;s helmet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to that there were performance issues galore&period; Especially while driving in open terrain with the Mako where the game would suffer from massive stuttering&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nothing I changed in the options would fix the issue&period; My framerate would drop to around 30-40 around these areas&period; The game performed perfectly smooth in any interior level&comma; even some of the main driving sections like Therum and Virmire&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I also had some minor bugs such as Shepard disappearing from the squad menu&comma; and menus feeling unresponsive in general&period; Especially the squad menu when assigning points&comma; where stuff would feel like it became &&num;8220&semi;deselected&&num;8221&semi; after getting&sol;upgrading a power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170697" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170697" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23112322&sol;20210520201741&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170697" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23112322&sol;20210520201741&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Glass Wall" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170697" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">This bunker has some serious structural weaknesses&period; Who thought it was a good idea to put glass walls in an underground bunker&quest;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">AI Issues<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>A known problem with the original game is the squad AI&period; Members will repeatedly get stuck behind doors&comma; fire at terrain instead of enemies and generally be in your way&period; They will also repeatedly use weapons they are either not trained to use by default&comma; or use weapons not suited for the distance&period; This means you have to constantly manage your squad&&num;8217&semi;s weapon usage and positions&comma; just to keep them from making a complete fool of themselves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I really wish the AI could&&num;8217&semi;ve been overhauled like the rest of the gameplay&comma; it really is one aspect of the original game that needed attention&period; Just having some systems in place to improve how your team mates act would&&num;8217&semi;ve gone a long way to improve the gameplay experience&period; But alas&comma; we see the same problems occur in the Legendary Edition&period; Combat feels unnecessarily clunky as a result&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170690" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170690" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23101433&sol;20210517144259&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170690" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23101433&sol;20210517144259&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Hacking Minigame" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170690" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The hacking game feels butchered in the Legendary Edition with the mouse controls feeling erratic and way oversensitive&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">PC-Specific Annoyances<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Since I&&num;8217&semi;m playing on PC I also experienced issues that would be exclusive to this platform&period; It might not be a problem for everyone&comma; but the game does require an Origin account&comma; even if you bought it on Steam&period; The game launches through Origin and uses the Origin service in the background&period; Like I said&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s not a huge issue&comma; just something to be aware of&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Though that&&num;8217&semi;s the least of the problems I encountered&period; In addition to the aforementioned performance issues&comma; I noticed that the hacking minigame was pretty much butchered in this edition&period; The mouse controls for it feel extremely sensitive&comma; so much so that a slight move of the mouse would send the cursor moving several pixels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the original game&comma; the hacking minigame felt really smooth and responsive&comma; if not a bit slow&period; It feels like they tried to solve this issue by making it faster&comma; but by doing so they made it unnecessarily difficult&period; Late-game this become less of a problem due to the abundance of Omnigel&comma; but early game it is a huge issue&period; Especially if you plan on opening a lot of the secured crates in the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170691" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170691" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23102336&sol;20210517172143&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170691" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23102336&sol;20210517172143&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Conrad Verner" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170691" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Conrad Verner is still one of the best characters in the game&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Multitasking Shenanigans<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>I also had trouble when alt-tabbing Mass Effect&comma; where the game would act differently depending on what it was doing&period; If I alt-tabbed during a pre-rendered cutscene&comma; the game would become quiet&period; If I alt-tabbed during an in-engine cutscene it would play as normal&comma; with audio and all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Alt-tabbing during the normal gameplay would pause the game&comma; but not how you might think&period; Animations would still go on in the background&comma; the HUD would still animate&comma; but everything else would freeze&period; The most interesting thing is that alt-tabbing during conversations would have no effect and the game would run as normal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This made it really difficult to multitask while playing Mass Effect as I might want to alt-tab during an elevator ride or whenever the game did not require my full attention&comma; but alt-tabbing during those moments would either mute or pause the game&period; And alt-tabbing when the game DID require my attention&comma; such as during cutscenes&comma; would make it play as normal&period; It was a very strange experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170692" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170692" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23102755&sol;image&lowbar;2021-05-14&lowbar;20-28-43&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170692" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23102755&sol;image&lowbar;2021-05-14&lowbar;20-28-43-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Photo Mode" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170692" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Legendary Edition provides a disappointingly basic photo mode&comma; but it at least is a photo mode&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">A Graphical Overhaul<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The main draw of the Legendary Edition is of course the graphics&period; I can certainly say that the level of detail is a lot higher across the board&comma; although some objects in the game still look pretty bad on close inspection&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first Mass Effect was clearly made with a lack of detail in mind&comma; and a lot of in-game objects reflect this design philosophy&period; Things vaguely look like what they are supposed to be&comma; such as computer banks and crates&period; So increasing the detail doesn&&num;8217&semi;t really add anything where there wasn&&num;8217&semi;t much to begin with&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That&&num;8217&semi;s not to say that the Legendary Edition doesn&&num;8217&semi;t take artistic freedom with the source material&period; The lighting has been improved but also looks drastically different&period; Settings like Eden Prime and Feros now look completely different from the original game&comma; and not always in the best way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure if I&&num;8217&semi;m a fan of this change&comma; and we&&num;8217&semi;re of course reminded that this is an EA game from the late 2000s by the heavy amount of bloom and lens flare in the game&period; It becomes frankly a bit too much in some spots&comma; where the lens flare will cover the entire screen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170696" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170696" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23111852&sol;image&lowbar;2021-05-15&lowbar;15-18-40&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170696" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23111852&sol;image&lowbar;2021-05-15&lowbar;15-18-40-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Improved Reflections" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170696" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">One of the neat improvements is the addition of reflections on certain surfaces&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Not Really Enough<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The graphical overhaul honestly doesn&&num;8217&semi;t have that much of an impact though&period; Animations still look a bit stiff and clunky&period; Facial animations in particular can at times look a bit weird with the new lighting&period; I had a bit of a laughing fit on the character creation menu seeing Shepard just staring blankly into space with their mouth half open and a completely empty look on their face&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On PC you barely have any options to tweak the graphics anyway&comma; with no options to adjust texture resolution&comma; amount of bloom and lens flares&comma; or tweaking post-processing stuff&period; The Options menu is disappointingly barebones in that regard&comma; only offering to tweak things like Motion Blur and Film Grain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;170693" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-170693" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23103745&sol;20210517191230&lowbar;1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-170693" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;23103745&sol;20210517191230&lowbar;1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Mass Effect Legendary Edition Graphics Options" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-170693" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The graphics options leave a lot to be desired&comma; with only a few new options such as a Borderless window mode and setting the game&&num;8217&semi;s framerate cap&period; Note the lack of sliders and reliance on switches&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">The Sound Of Space<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Mass Effect&&num;8217&semi;s soundtrack by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick is still as great now as it was back in 2007&period; I noticed the Legendary Edition provides a few new variations and remixes during some of the key scenes in the game&period; It changes things up where needed and adds a bit of additional emotional weight&period; I also remain grateful the game introduced me to the band Faunts who provided the end credits song &&num;8220&semi;M4 Part II&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Still&comma; the soundtrack hasn&&num;8217&semi;t really been heavily changed&comma; not that it needed it&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s still as great now as it was back then&period; Relying heavily on synthesizers&comma; it features Jarre-esque soundscapes and a unique sound that I definitely love about the game&period; A lot of AAA games rely heavily on orchestral music&comma; which is fine&comma; but in a sci-fi game like this&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s welcome to hear a more futuristic sound&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some of the voice-lines might have been re-recorded or using alternate takes&comma; as I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure if they were in the original game&period; The biggest change is how the guns sound&comma; with a general beefier and punchier sound overall&period; Especially noticeable is the Mako&&num;8217&semi;s new cannon sound&comma; which is just&&num;8230&semi; perfect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are some mildly confusing ambient noise choices in the game&comma; such as hearing seagulls on Virmire&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure if seagulls are invasive enough to make it to the other side of the galaxy but what do I know&period; But I can&&num;8217&semi;t complain&comma; as a whole the sound design is great and improves a lot on the original game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;sUKiOcV1SSc<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">An Improvement<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>In conclusion&comma; the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect brings a lot of welcome improvements to the table&period; I can&&num;8217&semi;t help but feel like it&&num;8217&semi;s not really enough though&period; As a whole the package feels a bit lackluster&period; While a lot of things are improved upon&comma; it does not do anything to fix the broken team AI or clunky combat&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I also would&&num;8217&semi;ve loved to see some interviews with the developers and voice cast of the game&period; Some additional material like the novels or the comic books would&&num;8217&semi;ve been nice too&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s also hard to overlook the many issues currently plaguing the PC version of the first game&period; I can&&num;8217&semi;t help but feel that on PC&comma; this remaster feels a bit unnecessary due to the amount of mods you can download for the original game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But if you&&num;8217&semi;re a fan of the original games and you&&num;8217&semi;re looking for an excuse to replay them on a modern system with improved graphics&comma; you can do worse than the Legendary Edition&comma; even though you sure as hell can do better&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Stay tuned for part 2&comma; where we take a look at how the second game in the series plays in the Legendary Edition&period; In the meantime&comma; let us know what you think about Mass Effect Legendary Edition in the comments&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <h3 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;subtitle">The Review<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <h2 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;title">&NewLine; Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 1&NewLine; <&sol;h2>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewheader clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"review&lowbar;score score&lowbar;avg">&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;value">7<&sol;span>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;text">Score<&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"desc" style&equals;''>&NewLine; <p>The first game in the Mass Effect series receives a massive overhaul in the Legendary Edition but fails to address core issues like the problematic AI and even adds in new problems such as bugs and performance issues&period; It also massively changes the atmosphere on some levels&period; Despite this&comma; the Legendary Edition remains a decent way to experience the original game&comma; even if it didn&&num;039&semi;t completely blow us away&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewdetail clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>PROS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Improved gunplay&comma; guns feel unique<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Many quality-of-life improvements<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Improved graphics and lighting<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Excellent sound design and music<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>CONS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Some unwelcome artistic changes<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Performance issues<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Several new bugs specific to the Legendary Edition<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Lacking graphical options<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Fails to fix the broken squad AI<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewscore jeg&lowbar;reviewbars clearfix" data-scoretype&equals;"point">&NewLine; <h3>Review Breakdown<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li>&NewLine; <strong>Story<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"reviewscore">6<&sol;span>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewbar&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <span style&equals;"width&colon; 60&percnt;" class&equals;"barbg"><&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><li>&NewLine; <strong>Gameplay<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"reviewscore">6<&sol;span>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewbar&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <span style&equals;"width&colon; 60&percnt;" class&equals;"barbg"><&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><li>&NewLine; <strong>Graphics<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"reviewscore">7<&sol;span>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewbar&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <span style&equals;"width&colon; 70&percnt;" class&equals;"barbg"><&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><li>&NewLine; <strong>Sound &amp&semi; Music<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"reviewscore">9<&sol;span>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewbar&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <span style&equals;"width&colon; 90&percnt;" class&equals;"barbg"><&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;deals clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;dealsheader clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"dealstitle">&NewLine; <h3>Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 1 DEALS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <p>We collect information from many stores for best price available<&sol;p>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"bestprice">&NewLine; <h4>Best Price<&sol;h4>&NewLine; <strong class&equals;"price">&dollar;52<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;storeinfo">&NewLine; <ul class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;storelist">&NewLine; <li>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;store&period;steampowered&period;com&sol;app&sol;1328670&sol;Mass&lowbar;Effect&lowbar;Legendary&lowbar;Edition&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"storename">&NewLine; <img class&equals;'store-icon' src&equals;https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;01&sol;18183253&sol;steam&period;png alt&equals;'Steam'&sol;> Steam&NewLine; <&sol;a>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"priceinfo">&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;store&period;steampowered&period;com&sol;app&sol;1328670&sol;Mass&lowbar;Effect&lowbar;Legendary&lowbar;Edition&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"price">&dollar;59&period;99<&sol;a>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;store&period;steampowered&period;com&sol;app&sol;1328670&sol;Mass&lowbar;Effect&lowbar;Legendary&lowbar;Edition&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"productlink">Buy Now<&sol;a>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><li>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;origin&period;com&sol;usa&sol;en-us&sol;store&sol;mass-effect&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"storename">&NewLine; Origin&NewLine; <&sol;a>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"priceinfo">&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;origin&period;com&sol;usa&sol;en-us&sol;store&sol;mass-effect&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"price">&dollar;59&period;99<&sol;a>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;origin&period;com&sol;usa&sol;en-us&sol;store&sol;mass-effect&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"productlink">Buy Now<&sol;a>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><li>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;greenmangaming&period;com&sol;games&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition-pc&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"storename">&NewLine; Green Man Gaming&NewLine; <&sol;a>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"priceinfo">&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;greenmangaming&period;com&sol;games&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition-pc&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"price">&dollar;52&period;79<&sol;a>&NewLine; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;greenmangaming&period;com&sol;games&sol;mass-effect-legendary-edition-pc&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" class&equals;"productlink">Buy Now<&sol;a>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li>&NewLine; <&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>

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