The Mass Effect games are set in the 22nd century. The discovery of ancient technology developed by the extinct Protean race has enabled humanity to realize its dream of interstellar flight and, as a result, find its place on the Citadel, a giant space station that serves as a center for politics, trade and commerce. The main character of the series is Commander Shepard. A defender of peace, we can also choose the image, gender and background story of the protagonist. Depending on the player, our main character can also be a villain.
From the first game it becomes clear that the real mortal danger to the races inhabiting the Milky Way is an ancient race of machines that cyclically harvest the galaxy from organic life. In the second part of the game, Shepard enters into an alliance with Cerberus to solve the mystery of the disappearance of entire human colonies on the outskirts of the Milky Way and begins to track down a race of Collectors who are trying to hasten the impending invasion. In the third installment of the series, we can observe the invasion as Shepard must gather as many allies as possible in order to win, or at least try, in the final battle.
In the games included in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the action is played from a third-person perspective. The driving force behind these games are the overarching missions that push the plot forward, accompanied by numerous side missions. Along the way, Commander Shepard is joined by other companions, with whom she eventually forms friendships and romances. Our command center is the Normandy, a state-of-the-art spaceship that we use to travel by selecting targets from a map of the galaxy. In addition, it's a kind of mobile base, where we can move freely during breaks in the execution of missions. Although in the second and third installments of the series we move only on foot, in game 1 we can also use a four-wheeled vehicle, the M35 Mako.
An important feature of the series is of course the combat. Battles take place in real time, during which we can not only shoot accurately, but also use various combat skills, telekinesis-like biotics and give orders to our comrades. By eliminating enemies and completing missions, we get experience points and advance to the next levels, gradually developing the protagonist and accompanying characters. In addition, many missions can be solved by talking, not by violence. And here we make choices that affect not only the course of the story, but also the character of our hero and his relationship with the team.
All games in the enhanced version support 4K resolution at 60 FPS. Character models, animations, textures, shaders and more have been refreshed and improved. Numerous gameplay elements have also been improved, the developers' goal was to modernize the somewhat dated formula of the first Mass Effect and unify the mechanics across the trilogy. Shooting and inventory management were improved, the balance of experience points was rebalanced and the character creation screen was modified. The combined version of all three games has a gameplay time of between 60 and 120 hours. It is also highly replayable with endings that change depending on the choices made.
