But no, half-assed Star Wars Orchestra it is, sadly. Seriously, why is most sci-fi franchise always stuck with the unoriginal grandiloquent orchestral scores.

If they want to ameliorate at least one element of the game for the sequel, I’d go with some vibrant otherworldly electronic soundtrack. The movie Sunshine was ace on that point alone.

@morally-grey: It was mainly the ending that was the kick in the teeth for me, I didn’t save the council, because I thought it made most sense to save the universe first (and I wasn’t aware it was a false dilemma) and got lumped in with the EVIL ending in a way that didn’t really make much narrative sense.

Oh yeah, I almost got caught by that one too. There was also a bit where there are aliens who’d lost their minds lumbering around and drooling in a cell, and I think Wrex argues that it would be a good idea to put them out of their misery. I think, yes, sure, that’s a compassionate thing to do! Cut to an in-game cutscene where Shephard guns them down like the Punisher with a grim sort of relish and the game gives me a paragon point. I was furious. Is euthanasia really so edgy in the future?

A similar situation occurs in Neverwinter Nights 2, close to the start. A dark dwarf is dying from his wounds, you offer to help, and he throws the offer in your face because he would rather die than see a surface dweller help him. So again, I think the compassionate thing to do would be to choose the “slit his throat” option, since he’s dying anyway and it would be he merciful. No, apparently, this is wrong – I have that annoying spotless paladin sidekick chastise me for being a prick. Argh.

I want to play my Shepard from ME1 through this epic tale. Even if they do something douchebaggery like reverting your skills/level whatever. I could listen to Female Shepard talk all damn day!

Excellent soundtrack as well – shades on some of NIN’s more thoughtful stuff.

Also, JC Denton’s “You’re gonna burn alright” is the greatest one-liner in gaming history. Fact.

I thought it was either entirely incompetent or gleefully subversive that it was impossible to create an unambiguously Caucasian character with Mass Effect’s chargen tools.

@morally-grey: It was mainly the ending that was the kick in the teeth for me, I didn’t save the council, because I thought it made most sense to save the universe first (and I wasn’t aware it was a false dilemma) and got lumped in with the EVIL ending in a way that didn’t really make much narrative sense. Also I didn’t have sex with anyone, apparently because I was neither nice nor nasty enough to anyone!!

Oh disappointment…

Looking forward to ME2 though.

(Contrasting sigma83, I don’t get the love for this game (or any recent RPG, for that matter). I thought it played well enough, but was still too much typical sci-fi fare to be spectacular in any way.)