Probably the deepest game that will come out this year on the 360 isn't going to be a shooter as some might have expected but a Role Playing Game.

Mass Effect comes from Bioware, the makers of Knights of the Old Republic I and II, Jade Empire, Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights and it is going to trying to redefine what an epic game is supposed to be.

The gameplay is a mix of traditional RPG and squad based shooter coming together to create a team game that has you and your group traveling planet to planet on quets and missions.

One of the key things that Mass Effect is trying to revolutionize is deicision making. Games have tried in the past to make the player make moral decisions that effect what will happen as you go but Mass Effect isn't going to give you the simple choice of the good answer and the evil answer, but different shades of 'good' and 'bad' to the point that you are actually making natural decisions instead of artificially limited ones.

You will be launched int dozens upon dozens of quests and meet hundreds upon hundreds of characters on your way. The universe is the limit and it is a damn big universe, perhaps the biggest every presented in a game.

If this game delivers on what it is promising in depth, length, story, characters and action then it is sure to become one of the greatest games ever made.

Here are some screenshots to give you a flavor of what the game looks and feels like visually:

Agreed. This is why I bought a 360 in the first place, and I don't regret it from what I've seen. If ME is going to be better than KOTOR, which is very possible, this game will overtake the throne from KOTOR, which up to now was the best game ever imo.

Looks like a typical 360 game to me, all RPG's should look like this????

Riiight, lets make all future RPG's look like Halo so they'll sell well on the 360.

I am, however interested, any shots of the outside world, boss's or anything?

^^ typical 360 game ??? I´ve played most bioware games and belive me they are not about cheap action an little story, Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 easily had better storys and charakters than many books I read, good grafics don´t make a game but they don´t hurt, games like this and a propable price drop with the falcon this year will make it almost impossible for me not to get a 360,

Bioware are the best

I said looks like a typical 360 game, not is one, not yet anyway, you can't look at those screens and tell me they look unique to the 360, every second game looks like this.

Eh if all RPG's would like this, no more RPG's for me that's for sure. I love more the fantasy styled RPG's, such as a Tales of..., Star Ocean, Dark Chronicle that kind of stuff.

my bad, I just think people should give it a chance and no, not all RPGs have to be or look like this, they all should have the depth of bioware games though IMO (I think that is what ckmlb was going for with the tread name), and they started out doing AD&D games which they will hopefully do again some time, but now lets see how this goes,

@ Rol, that must be why KOTOR 2 was scheiße compared to the first

Big fan of bioware personally but gritty realistic shooters just isn't my thing, regardless of how much rpg elements it has. Much more prefer fantasy styles. So heck no, this better not be how all future rpg's look like.

I think there is a danger of making these sorts of games too big. If there are too many quests and options you can lose track of the story, giving it more of a MMORPG feel.

I don't know how long the game is expected to last, I could put maybe 50 to 60 hours into a big rpg if I really liked it, wheras others happily sink over 100 hours into a game. But I often can't be bothered with maxing out characters or completing every side quest.

And to be honest, I'm not blown over by the games visuals. Maybe it's the future sci fi style but the art design just seems a bit uninspired. Then again I've only seen a few screens and I'm sure there are many better images from the game than the ones above.

On Topic about Bioware, I have high hopes for the Sonic RPG they are developing. Could continue the revival of the Sonic Franchise (I consider Sonic Secret Rings and Sonic Rush to be the start of a Sonic come back)