Massively addictive!

I started playing the first Mass Effect (video game) about a week ago and damn it, that game is addictive as hell. I went to bed at 2 in the morning last night and I never do that just to play a video game. And I had to literally pry myself away from the controller because I think I could have stayed there for another couple of hours (I had already been playing for over 3 hours).

The story is just so engrossing and it is fascinating to see all the details and the great back stories that BioWare has crafted for the various worlds and species featured in the game. And I absolutely love the dialogue system. I love the fact that whatever you make your character say directly influences the way the story develops. Of course the ending remains the same no matter what but it's really neat to know that you can experience different ways of getting there. I don't usually like playing slow-paced games because I get bored rather quickly and I don't particularly like performing all sorts of little side-missions or assignments but with this game I found myself becoming totally OCD about it and I completed about 99% of the first level (The Citadel).

At first I wanted to play as a male Commander Shepard but I find the customized characters not attractive at all no matter how hard you try to make them look handsome. And the default one is so ridiculously gorgeous that I thought it would prove to be too much of a distraction while playing. So in the end I chose to play as a female commander and I'm happy I've made that choice. I might go back to Male Shepard eventually (I had already customized him and given him a profile) but for now Rachel (that's the name I chose for my character) is really fun to play with. Plus, I want Kaidan Alenko to make sweet love to her.... Yum! If you're wondering what the man looks like, just to take a look in my favourites, under Video Games. Holy Sentinel, Batman!