Finally, after 30+ hours of play, too many disc unreadable errors, and 185 game saves, I finished Mass Effect.

Aside from a clunky UI (3-4 steps to save a game, a step that must be taken after every major action lest ye be devoured by the elevator load of death) and cumbersome inventory management, I really enjoyed the game. I’ll probably play through again on the hardcore difficulty down the road for the achievement (why do they have such sway over me?) but it’ll be a speed run as I really took my time with this, knocking out every secondary quest and even completing the collection sidequests, something I rarely do. Unfortunately, playing through the second time as a Renegade isn’t really an option for me; I’ve got enough of a guilty conscience that even pretending to be evil makes me feel bad.

My biggest takeaway from the game? An intense desire to own a Big Trak again. Seriously, I’m watching two on eBay right now.