For the most part when people talk about the bad parts of Mass Effect they refer to the godawful third one's ending, as well as the myriad of graphical glitches and occasional lock-ups or dialogue hitches that completely break the immersion at the worst possible moment. However other players never even made it to the third game thanks to a plodding narrative that required you completely devote yourself to the universe before you would start to get anything back. People reported that the now infamous missions set inside the awkwardly-controlled Mako vehicle were just too much to suffer through for the sake of the story (something ignored by Bioware, as they're making a return in part four). It's a point which is compounded by the fact that back in the original game even if you managed to get across a particularly mountainous planet, all that awaited you was a badly animated and ill-feeling firefight with mechanics that felt like a bad Gears of War mod. The series definitely hit its high point in the second instalment, building on these foundational blocks of third-person combat and interactive dialogue options. But when looking back on the original title it's hard to recommend it other than purely for nostalgia, or just as a jumping off point that works under the guise of everything getting better from here on in.
