This game made me feel like the captain of a space ship. There was nothing like it at the time it was released, and even now I have not experienced any other game making me feel this way. I loved Fallout 3 too, but Mass Effect had something special. It was so well crafted, I listened to every dialogue of every NPC. The characters are so memorable with amazing voice acting. The Citadel is the best city in video games, felt really alive. Most sidequests add to the story instead of just padding the gameplay time.
After playing the game, I wondered how Star Wars (movies) sucked so badly, when a video game could create a much more interesting sci-fi world and story.
Unfortunately Bioware is no longer the same company.
Thanks again I will give SC2 a try. I prefer pixel art and I want to see the original artists’ vision, so I will try the original game first.
Ah, check out that Bone Pit page. You have the choice of three different presentation styles of SC2 - original, 3DO, DOS, plus optional HD graphics to go with them. The 3DO was a extremely powerful and expensive console back in the day, created by EA’s Trip Hawkins. That EA, before it went bad. The 3DO mode is pretty akin to what the original developers intended, as Toys for Bob - the Skylanders company, is now making Children of Infinity, a proper sequel to SC2. If you check out the trailer, it is very similar to SC2 3DO.
Free Stars - Children of Infinity
More important than the graphics, however, is the voices and soundscape. The 3DO edition was a voiced game, and they added a huge amount of character to each species that you encounter. They are pretty much why the 3DO version became the gold standard among the SC2 releases. It is the same reason why System 1 and Star Trek 25th Anniversary were best on CD, because the format allowed them to use audio that wasn’t possible on the floppy versions. SHODAN just isn’t the same without that voice of hers, nor Kirk’s style of speech.