Mass Effect came out at a very weird time. I was unhappily stuck with an Xbox 360, because the PS3 was outrageously priced. It seemed like almost all the games I wanted were being released on that console, and I was struggling to justify having a 360 at all outside of using it as a DVD player. But I had one anyway, because I could afford it and I was going to be damned if I was going to be stuck with my last generation consoles. I wasn’t a very rational teenager, truth be told. In any event, I was fairly sure I wasn’t going to enjoy this – pretty much all I would play in those days were JRPGs – and I only played it to keep my friend quiet.

Fast-forward to now and I’m amazed I managed to wait until this long before firing up the PS4 remaster.

Mass Effect has held a special place in my heart for a long time now – right up to the point that it became too painful to play, it’s a game I would come back to repeatedly. I’ve only played through the entire trilogy twice – after I got the platinum for the third game I was rather put off it…Marauder Shields on Insanity; if you’ve played the games, you know what I’m talking about – but I’ve gone through the first game so many times I’ve lost count. It’s easily one of the more defining experiences of my youth, as it was the first game I played with a choice system that actually affected the outcome of the game; where I felt like I had a sense of agency in a game. It was by no means perfect, but I’ll always treasure it for that.

In any event, I was looking forward to playing this again, and it’s one of those delightful times where my nostalgic memories of it hold up beautifully, because Bioware have done an absolutely fantastic job in modernising it. I mean sure, the mako still handles like shit, and movement feels painfully clunky still despite the obvious touch-ups (I say this having booted up Mass Effect 2 immediately afterwards and noticing a VERY stark difference in movement right off the bat) but it’s most definitely functional, which is more than can be said of the original title now. Visually the improvements are similarly fantastic, because the original game was so DARK. Being able to see where I’m going and what I’m doing without straining my eyes is lovely.

But the best thing about this game? The loading times. So many infuriating minutes spent in slow-moving elevators, or staring at the mass relay loading screen…gone. There’s even a skip prompt in elevators after a few seconds if you don’t want to listen to the dialogue! This is no doubt due to the fact that I was playing on PS5, which obliterates loading times, but for it to feel like a next generation title to this extent because of this is amazing. Because I remember all the time I spent in those elevators, wishing they’d hurry the fuck up and let me get back to it. To not have this in the remastered version is a dream come true.

Anyways, I opted to resurrect my very first Shepard for this playthrough – clean-shaven, emaciated, creatively called Jean Luc, and a ruthless, egotistical bastard. Being a Renegade in this game is just so much FUN. There are literally no repercussions for being a complete dick to everyone you come across, and I love it. I opted for the Engineer class for a little variety – and to hack open all the things, naturally – and I think I actually enjoyed it more for not having to deal with inventory management. I actually sold off everything as quickly as I could to buy the Spectre pistol in the Citadel and just blasted through everything with that.

The only thing I didn’t manage to do, which I am a little disappointed in myself for, is talk Saren into committing suicide. I’ve only managed to do that once, because you need an obscenely high Paragon or Renegade score to do it. Well, maybe next time. I’ll definitely be replaying this a couple of years down the line. Going full Paragon, naturally…something I am not looking forward to when it comes to the colony mission. Because I’ll have to lob gas grenades at the colonists to avoid killing them. Sigh. It’s so much easier and more satisfying to just blast them with radioactive rounds and watch them dissolve into nothingness in a neon green flash. Almost as satisfying as killing charging geth or krogan with incendiary rounds and watching them burn away just before they reach you.

What surprises me is that, whilst the gameplay has aged with very little grace in some areas (overheating guns, oof…) the narrative, characterisation, and worldbuilding remains just as good as it was the first time I sat down and played through the game. Perhaps the scope has diminished slightly, because the open world trend has been in full swing for years now and Mass Effect is very small comparatively, but I still find the cast just as engaging and entertaining as I did the first time, and even if the story is cheesy as hell, it serves its purpose. It’s a grand space adventure with a very satisfying conclusion even by itself, and being able to be a major part of the world is a pleasure.

Now on to the second game…because this is not a series where I require long breaks. In fact, I can’t wait to dive in.