Mass Effect Legendary Edition is a great way to experience Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 again or for the first time on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Mass Effect Legendary Edition benefits from improved graphics and has all paid DLC included with the game for free. The collection that many have been waiting for is now available. I’ll start my review by talking about the graphical improvements.
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare
Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, and PC
Released: May 2021
Graphics
Mass Effect Legendary Edition greatly improves the looks of Mass Effect 1 and 2. Mass Effect 1 released in 2007 and Mass Effect 2 released in 2010, giving plenty of time for video game graphics to improve.
The face models from Mass Effect 1 and 2 have been improved in Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Cinematics have also been updated to give a more modern look as well as lighting. Face models are updated from their original 2007 and 2010 versions to look more like their models from Mass Effect 3.
Cinematics for cut-scenes have also been updated to look more modern as well as being re-rendered. Lighting effects in cut-scenes as well as during game play are noticeably improved upon.
You can read more about the graphical improvements from EA’s website. EA is the publisher of Mass Effect Legendary Edition as well as the owner of Bioware, the company that developed the Mass Effect series. Other visual improvements are shown on the site. The next topic I will discuss is the gameplay and glitches.
Gameplay/Glitches
Gameplay in Mass Effect Legendary Edition is improved when compared to the original series, but still suffers from issues that were in the original games.
One improvement that I noticed was the improved controls of the Mako in Mass Effect 1. Not everyone struggled with the controls, but it was a welcome change for those of us that did. I did encounter an issue with the Mako, despite its improvements. Sometimes when I would exit the Mako and clicked to enter a building, my controls would lock up. I would have to restart as I could not open doors or get back in the Mako.
Unfortunately, the AI of party members in Mass Effect 1 are still just as inconsistent as the original game. Sometimes they were stuck behind doors and on the edges of things and did not follow me.
Getting behind cover feels a little easier in Mass Effect 1 when compared to the original. Controls were easy to learn, and nothing felt off. Mapping powers to specific buttons was easy. I played the original series on PC.
Below are links to videos I have uploaded that show some issues that I encountered. These issues include a black screen that I got in Mass Effect 2, this happened several times and I had to restart when it happened.
Story
The story in Mass Effect Legendary Edition is just the same as it was in the original trilogy since graphical and gameplay improvements were the main changes. The story spans across all three games throughout Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Your choices carry over from game to game and have an impact.
The best part of the story in Mass Effect Legendary Edition is that the experience that you get through playing the game is different from what someone else will experience. Throughout each game players can make choices that have an impact on certain events throughout the games.
The story is cohesive and becomes more expansive with each entry. You can learn more about other bits of Mass Effect lore through the Codex, which is in every game. The inclusion of all DLC from Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 builds on the story. For people, like me, that did not play the DLC this was a great way to expand upon an already good story. My favorite DLC was the Citadel DLC from Mass Effect 3.
Photo Mode
I wanted to briefly talk about the added photo mode. This was a nice feature that they added since more games have this mode in them. It made it easy to capture some good in game photos. I highly advise playing around with photo mode if you have not as you can capture some pretty cool photos. Below are some of the photos I’ve taken.
The crew is safe I promise. 
Some planets are beautiful. 
To the research facility. 
My Shepard from Mass Effect 1
Conclusion
As always thank you all for reading as well as your continued support. Have had the chance to play Mass Effect Legendary Edition? If so what has been your favorite part? I’ll see you all in the next post.
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Great!
Mass Effect Legendary Edition is a great add to any fan of RPG games. A great story combined with good game play creates a unique experience that can be played through multiple times. Unfortunately, Mass Effect Legendary Edition suffers from AI issues as well as black screens, problems that were in the original games that I feel should have been fixed.
6 Comments
Brink
Jun 10, 2021 11:08 amI’d love to experience these, but putting time into ONE big game is challenging enough, much less three! Maybe eventually!
TheGamerWithGlasses
Jun 10, 2021 11:13 amIt was hard finding the time to play sometimes. Definitely worth experiencing at some point!
Dryad
Jun 10, 2021 11:52 am“The crew is safe I promise.” XD
I’m not going to play the legendary edition because my first run of Mass effect finished right before they announced it. But it’s great to see Mass Effect be so popular again!
TheGamerWithGlasses
Jun 10, 2021 12:03 pmI think that happened to a lot of people. I agree with you on seeing it be popular again. The series has some great world building .