Mass Effect - Review @ Game Over

85% is the score for Mass Effect at Game Over but despite the score, they certainly have some reservations:

Mass Effect is an interesting study in contrasts. Some parts of it strongly resemble some pretty darned terrific games, most notably KOTOR, in the way that it seamlessly blends a 3rd person shooter with a complex RPG model which gives characters real significant advancement paths without bogging down in dozens of fussy D&D-style stats. On the other hand there are some parts that just don’t work at all, the cruddy driving portions being the most obvious standout. The results is at times great fun and somewhat annoying, because I think they had that rare videogame greatness within their grasp and it somehow just slipped away.