On March 12th, I purchased, played, and subsequently beat Mass Effect's first round of downloadable content in about two hours. The ferocious alien shown above is a member of the Batarian species within Mass Effect's world, and this DLC is the first time you encounter them. The first time you see this guy bare his teeth (pictured) is pretty phenomenal. Killing him is just as much fun, even though he's just a grunt.

MTV Games' Stephen Totilo has some reservations against Mass Effect's side quests, and rightly so. Each side quest drops you on a barren world, devoid of trees and birds, prompts you to enter a facility that had the same architect as the rest of the galaxy, and kill everyone. A handful stray from this formula, but sadly, most follow those simple guidelines. Bioware points fingers at the development time of the game's technology, leaving little time to actually flesh out comprehensive side quests. They are, after all side quests. Bioware promises they'll make it up to us in Mass Effect 2, though.

So five bucks essentially bought me two hours of the best side-quest Mass Effect has to offer. Was it worth it? Rationally, I spend more money for the same amount of entertainment at the movie theater. Also rationally, Mass Effect cost me $60, and it has more than 12 side quests. Being a fan of Mass Effect's universe, I would say the purchase made sense for me. The chance to interact with a new species and get more intel added to my in-game journal helps add even more depth to an already complex universe. Oh, and the chance to save millions of people from a 16km-wide asteroid crashing into a planet was pretty fun, too. That's twice the size of the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, in case you didn't already have that committed to memory.

I talk about the new Mass Effect DLC on my blog.

http://mintz.hushedcasket.com/mass-effect-dlc-1-batarians/

Anyone else play it?

What is your 2007 Game of the Year?

My Game of the Year
Mass Effect

The sci-fi setting is EXACTLY what I've always wanted from a sci-fi universe in ANY medium (books, TV, etc.), and I am extremely happy to be able to interact with it. The story is deep and involving, and so is each and every character. The voice acting/conversation system is superb on every level, and combined with the facial expressions, they really help immerse you into the story and characters. After getting used to the combat, I subsequently owned everything and enjoyed every bit of it. I haven't had this much fun playing any other game this year. I can't wait for the sequel (which is confirmed to use the "finished" saved file from this game).

Runner-Ups
2. Halo 3 & CoD4 (tie)
3. Assassin's Creed
4. The Orange Box (for Portal)

I would like to buy 30mins - 1hr of playtime on your Xbox360. I would like to purchase it after December 3rd.

I need closure on this mission of Mass Effect. Is the evidence enough to convince the Council to take action against Saren?? I don't know! I don't like not knowing. I hadn't even owned the damn game for 24hrs before my 360 died. I have to know.

In exchange, I have a coupon for a free chicken sandwich from Chik-Fil-A, the presence of my company, and some funny jokes. Some people pay a lot of money for a comedian, but I only want to play your Xbox.

Please.

A ton of game trailers that we've been waiting for from E3 2007 are now available for download on Xbox Live, according to Major Nelson. No, Halo 3 and Halo Wars aren't on the list.

Mass Effect (HD)
Too Human (HD)
Viva Pinata Party Animals (HD)
Lost Odyssey (HD)
Xbox LIVE Marketplace Montage (HD)
PGR4 (HD)
Games For Windows Montage (HD)
Civilization Revolution (HD)
Xbox 360 Games Montage (HD)
Xbox Live Arcade (HD)
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (HD)

I'm creating this thread to keep up with Mass Effect info. I'm highly anticipating this game, and I'd like to get you guys interested in it, too. The story and the setting have me on the edge of my seat. It doesn't hurt that Bioware also made Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire.

TITLE: Mass Effect
Platform(s): Xbox360
Developer: Bioware Corp.
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre: Action-RPG
Release: 2007

I was discussing upcoming XBOX 360 games with FoulBreed and we had the revelation that this year is going to be expensive for those of us wanting to play all the new "revolutionary" games.

Games I am sure I want:

Halo 3
Crackdown
Assassin's Creed
Bioshock
Forza 2
Oblivion Shivering Isles Expansion Pack

Games I might want:

GRAW 2
Mass Effect
The Darkness
PGR 4

Games that may or may not make 2007 that I probably want:

Shadowrun
Too Human
Halo Wars

Decided to dig through my old motorcycle riding gear that I no longer need and sell it on Ebay to help finance this habit (my gear for sale on eBay).