The series is well worth playing as both ManShep and FemShep, as often the two voice actors have different takes on the same situation. This is a shame, because Hale's work in all three games is incredible, and her performance in the first game far outshines Meer's unfortunately wooden delivery. The majority of players-more than 80 percent, according to Bioware-play as ManShep. Both actors are many-times Bioware alums, and each puts a unique spin on the role of Commander Shepard. Canadian actor Mark Meer provides the sharp baritone voice of the male Shepard ("ManShep"), while the throaty contralto of Shepard's female incarnation ("FemShep") is performed by veteran voice actor Jennifer Hale. He said, she said, and the gender-bending CommanderTo give the player more flexibility in assuming the role, Shepard's gender can be customized at the start of the games. It might not be for the reasons you're expecting. Mass Effect is just that good, and I want to tell you why. My wife is sick of hearing me describe scenes and characters to her, but honestly, as the closing notes of " Farewell and Into the Inevitable" echoed through my headphones, I found myself sadder about the end of the epic three-game playthrough than I expected to be. I found this to be both easier and far, far more difficult than I imagined.Įach game takes at least 30 hours to play properly, so I did a lot of my playing in eight to 10 hour stretches on weekends. I wanted to take an angry, win-at-all-costs Commander Shepard and transform him through fire into a caring, compassionate leader who values the means as much as the ends. My goal was not just to finish all three games but to see if I could actually role-play a character through the series. But it has gripped me like nothing else in the history of video games, and video games and I go back a pretty long way.Ī brief video summary: what I learned from re-playing the Mass Effect series from start to finish.Īs the first anniversary of Mass Effect 3's release approached in early March, I embarked on an epic playthrough of the entire Mass Effect series. The Mass Effect series is not without its flaws, and some are truly Reaper-sized. OK, they're not really my friends claiming to be buddies with imaginary characters is a little too geeky even for me.
Kirk, "been through death and life together." They stood united against enemies vast and unknowably timeless. They fought aliens, robots, clones, politicians, and reporters. Eighty-six hours went into the original Mass Effect (three playthroughs), 189 hours into Mass Effect 2 (six playthroughs), and 94 hours into Mass Effect 3 (three playthroughs).Ĭommander Shepard and his crew-sometimes her crew, but we'll get to that-have done plenty of galaxy saving under my control. If you don't think any of the above situations apply, you can use this feedback form to request a review of this block.That's nine 40-hour work weeks of time spent in the Mass Effect universe, according to the combined reports of Steam, Origin, and my creaky old Xbox 360. Contact your IT department and let them know that they've gotten banned, and to have them let us know when they've addressed the issue.Īre you browsing GameFAQs from an area that filters all traffic through a single proxy server (like Singapore or Malaysia), or are you on a mobile connection that seems to be randomly blocked every few pages? Then we'll definitely want to look into it - please let us know about it here. You'll need to disable that add-on in order to use GameFAQs.Īre you browsing GameFAQs from work, school, a library, or another shared IP? Unfortunately, if this school or place of business doesn't stop people from abusing our resources, we don't have any other way to put an end to it. When we get more abuse from a single IP address than we do legitimate traffic, we really have no choice but to block it. If you don't think you did anything wrong and don't understand why your IP was banned.Īre you using a proxy server or running a browser add-on for "privacy", "being anonymous", or "changing your region" or to view country-specific content, such as Tor or Zenmate? Unfortunately, so do spammers and hackers. IP bans will be reconsidered on a case-by-case basis if you were running a bot and did not understand the consequences, but typically not for spamming, hacking, or other abuse. If you are responsible for one of the above issues. Having an excessive number of banned accounts in a very short timeframe.Running a web bot/spider that downloaded a very large number of pages - more than could possibly justified as "personal use".Automated spam (advertising) or intrustion attempts (hacking).Your current IP address has been blocked due to bad behavior, which generally means one of the following: