Why Dragon Age Is Secretly Better Than Mass Effect

Mass Effect: A Serviceable Shooter

On closer inspection, the differences go deeper than simply sci-fi versus fantasy. Underneath the aesthetics of their chosen genres, both franchises also play rather differently from one another too. Namely, how each game utilises combat drastically alters how they’re played.

Mass Effect’s combat plays more like your conventional third-person shooter. You duck in and out of cover while using a selection of weapons and gadgets to take out the enemies in your way. Over the course of the trilogy (and Andromeda), the combat became more fast-paced and fluid.

Likewise, weapon upgrades, party abilities, and character classes give combat a good amount of depth and customisation, subsequently allowing you to play your Shepard how you like.

Although combat lacked the punch and polish of other contemporary third-person shooters (both the Gears Of War and Dead Space series released around the same time as Mass Effect, for example), the sci-fi saga nevertheless injected exhilarating action to punctuate its dramatic narrative.

However, Mass Effect’s combat paled in comparison to what Dragon Age offered its players.