Mass Effect #1 on Popular Mechanics' 5 Games to Buy (and 5 to Avoid)

Popular Mechanics has chosen Mass Effect as its number-one "Must-Have" game gears for the holidays. Its five recommended "Must-Haves" are:

1. Mass Effect
2. Rock Band
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
4. Super Mario Galaxy
5. GameFly

In addition, Popular Mechanics recommend skipping these five "Have-Nots":

1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
2. Assassin's Creed
3. Clive Barker's Jericho
4. Ghost Squad
5. Wii Zapper

[Xbox is the BEST]

real gamer ( not fanboy ) that plays Mass Effect will tell you GOTY. Even those minor glitches doesn't take away from the gaming experience.

[mighty_douche]

people are allowed to enjoy different things!

[tony]

i'm a real gamer and i didn't like the experience of mass effect. out.

[crank]

Yes, popular mechanics, stinking fetid and decayed, of yellow journalism and 9/11 debunking LOL

Uh yes, sir, pay us and we will lie to your content

INSIDE JOB!

[Saint Sony]

I would not say avoid Assassin's Creed. I played it through and have to say it was stunning. Repetitive? Yes... Easy? Not if you try to get the achievement where you need to stealth kill every target. Overall it is a bit disappointing compared to the hype it had, but still worth checking.

and Guitar Hero3.. definitely worthy of your money :)

Mass Effect, now there's a game.

[leon76]

Avoid Assassin's Creed and Guitar Hero 3 ????!!!!!!!!........

[MK_Red]

Jericho, Zapper and GS I can understand but they must be smoking something bad because AC definitly is a must have. Also, GH3 is a great game. Not as great as Rock Band but still pretty good with hellish but fun diffculty and many great songs.

[TheMART]

Well I think that's what they meant. Rock Band is a more fun and newer experience then GH3. Plus, if you have played GH2, its more wise to go for Rock Band instead of GH3.

I get that logic.

AC is another story. But the hype it had created isn't reality, I think that's why people sometimes are avoiding it.

[The Maverick]

Im if you have read any of my posts on AC then you will aready know my opinion on it,i really cant be bothered to go throught it again, but Mass effect is a definite competetor to GOTY and stands a real good chance of winning, if you dont like RPGs then there is always COD4 the best FPS out this year-including halo-

[bumnut]

they make out that you can go exploring wherever you want and land on lots of different planets.

but the reality is there is 1 planet you can land on in each system.

i think this game was totally over hyped, but no one else seems to agree.

the space stations are too sparsley populated too, you go into a bar and there are only 5 people in it, and the combat is very average with a sometimes poor framerate.

[giovonni]

Go in, I already had two calls in the same solar system, two were traps, I also disagree with the combat, for an RPG this is a better system. A lot of people don't realize that some weapons have poor accuracy ratings
and depending on what skills you have misses with your skill. This game buy far is the best RPG I've played since FF7 and I have a strong distaste for RPG's.

[Si-Fly]

Mass Effect has possibly the most bland story and dialogue of any RPG i've played. I enjoyed Blue Dragon more, for all its faults it at least had some character! There's a new Bioware Lucas Arts game in development which will hopefully herald a return to the form they showed in Knights.

For once i actually thought Edge were being quite generous giving M.E. a 7/10.

[mesh1]

uve not played mass effect keep lieing to ur self kid haha go check the other rebviews and cry mass effect is the best game this year face it no game bringd grapics /scale/story as mass effect the immersive ness is amazing the story gripping u dont own a 360 u cant fool any 1 as any gamer even none rpg fans liek my m8sirl that have the game will tell u they have not played anygame as good as this they love it

[Si-Fly]

If you haven't played any other games as good as this then i can understand your viewpoint Mush. I've played plenty of games that are better which is why i'm disappointed ( Oblivion, Knights of the Republic, Blue dragon etc). There's probably 5 games on the 360 that could contend GOTY, sadly ME isn't one of them.

If you decide to post again could you please do us the favour of using spellcheck, your previous one was akin to reading a reply from an uneducated 13yr old.

[bloop]

I have to disagree with you on ME not being a candidate for GOTY. I'm about 15 hours into the game and Im loving every minute of it. I just suppose you could put that down to different strokes. But just out of curiosity, what are the 5 games on the 360 that you think deserve GOTY? Because ME is the only game out on the 360 this year that I think comes anywhere near getting GOTY (and, possibly Bioshock).

[Keowrath]

I'm a big RPG fan both western and eastern. played pretty much all final fantasy's, all elder scrolls games and previous bioware games. I loved the Baldurs gate games, but could never quite get into the KoToR games.

In your opinion, how similar to KoToR is mass effect, same kind of vibe or a completely different game altogether? I've been wondering about getting a 360 and Mass Effect is one of the games that has me thinking so hard but if it's too much akin with the starwars games I think I'll have to pass. I tried so hard to enjoy them but they never managed to grab ahold of me.

Thanks.

[sheng long]

well, the 6+ hours i've played of ME so far have been more enjoyable than H3 for me. However, that isn't saying much since i was not impressed by halo 3 at all.
I respect popular mechanic's opinion, but mine is different and does not have ME @ #1 must have game this year.

[Rooftrellen]

Is it just me, or is Mass Effect not #1, but 1 of 5?

They didn't rank anything, so why is the title so misleading? Oh, right, to start a flame war.

[machine]

what i don't understand is why did the wii zapper hit the bottom of the miss list? its only $20, it comes with a decent game, and its very well designed. did i mention its only $20? Jericho i can understand. AC, not really, Mass Effect, sure, but this zapper thing makes no sense to me.

[DarkSniper]

Mass Effect's criticism stems directly from the internal hardware power from the XBOX 360. Potential wise, the game is using 100% of the 360's power and is limping to generate a good experience for gamers. Due to poor reviews and sales, Mass Effect will receive a new and comfortable home on the Playstation 3 platform.

Once released, all of the bugs and glitches will be ironed out and will also receive a graphical update to enhance what the 360 version couldnt do.

$niper

[jlytle1234]

thats the dumbest thing ive heard in a long time.

[PeeboDaKilla]

I'm gonna have to disagree with that

that being the crap that Darksniper just spewed

[cpuchess]

I don't regret buying Assassin's Creed at all, in fact I can't wait for the sequel