Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me start off by saying that until now, I have never played any of the Mass Effect games, so this is a whole new experience for me. That being said, since I'm so behind the curve when it comes to this game, I won't be reviewing the games themselves (cause let's face it, there are hundreds of reviews already available for the individual games), however I will be taking the time to answer a few quick questions one might have about this Mass Effect Trilogy release for the Playstation 3. Q. Does Mass Effect have trophies? A. Yes! This is the first time that Mass Effect (the first title) will be available to play on the Playstation 3 and needless to say, it does include trophy support! So if you were on the fence about purchasing this because you're a trophy hunter and were unsure about this, fear not! There are a total of 47 trophies for the first title to be unlocked (including a platinum). Mass Effect 2 and 3 have the same trophies in this Trilogy set as their individual releases. Q. Are these titles available to download on the PSN Store? A. Yes! In fact, if you check the store now (it was just updated) you will see that they just added a 7 GB download of Mass Effect (the original) for $14.99! The rest of the titles (for PS3 that is) can also be found on the PSN Store but you'll easily find them cheaper here on Amazon (with the exception of the first game since that didn't have an individual disc-release for PS3). However, if you'd rather not purchase the Mass Effect Trilogy in disc-based form, then you can purchase the digital version on the PSN Store for $59.99 (at the time of this review) and it will take about 33.4 GB of space (pretty hefty size if you have limited space on your hardrive). Q. Does the trilogy come on one disc or multiple discs for the PS3 system? A. Ah, the wonders of Blu-Ray! Since the PS3 can store more data on a Blu-Ray disc, these three games will be split into a total of 3 discs (1 for each game). This is very convenient as on the XBox 360 this is not the case (or at least so I am told). Could they have put it all on one? Possibly, yet what can ya do, ya know? Either way, it's all packaged nicely in a beautiful case, and I personally feel they did a good job with this. Q. If I already own Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 for PS3, should I purchase this? A. No. Why? Well as I said above, they just added Mass Effect (the first title) to the PSN Store for $14.99. If you already own the other two titles, it would benefit you to just download that off of the store. It's a 7 GB file, so if you go this route you should make room on your hardrive as needed. Q. Does the PS3 version come with some DLC? A. Yes (with the keyword being "some")! The original Mass Effect (as far as the PS3 version is concerned) comes with the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC. Also, Mass Effect 2 (on the PS3 version of this trilogy) will have "Cerberus Network," "Overlord," "Lair of the Shadow Broker," and "Kasumi." However I must be honest in that I'm still not absolutely sure about everything that is included here because I haven't gotten to Mass Effect 2 yet and as I said in the beginning, this is my first time playing these titles. Mass Effect 3 however (as it appears on this Trilogy version) does not come with any DLC included. Q. Do all the DLCs come on the discs or do you still have to download them all on PSN? A. At the time that I put up this review, I'm still not that far into Mass Effect (the first game), yet out-of-the-box the Trilogy comes with a slip that has some codes on it. To my understanding, these codes are for the online pass for Mass Effect 3 & the Cerberus Network pass for Mass Effect 2. Lair of the Shadow Broker, Project Overlord, & Kasumi's Stolen Memories are on the Mass Effect 2 disc and as stated, Mass Effect 3 has no DLC included. Q. Is this collection "complete?" A. For the most part, yes! You do get all three games included on this disc at a total price (at the time of this review) of $59.99. However you don't get every bit of DLC (as stated above), especially when dealing with Mass Effect 3 (which has no DLC included in this Trilogy version). So if you already have some DLC but have been holding in anticipation of this release, it's probably to your advantage to just buy the original Mass Effect separately on the PSN Store and the remaining DLC. Q. Do all three games have subtitles in languages other than English? A. The only game in this set that supports subtitles in other languages is Mass Effect 3. The other two titles only come with English subtitles. Q. Should I purchase this? A. Ah, this is the question of all questions. If you're like me and haven't played any of the Mass Effect games before, then absolutely, yes! If you've played some of the titles (or all of them) already, then it might be better to just buy what you already don't have off the PSN Store (whether it be DLC or the original Mass Effect). Otherwise, if you're looking for an "ultimate collection," you may want to wait a while and see if they release a more complete version with all the DLC for each game included (which is entirely possible since developers are notorious these days for doing such things). Again, there really isn't a need for me to go over the graphics, sound, or my thoughts on the story of any of these games, because there are already countless published opinions out there. My goal here is to hopefully answer any questions you may have about this purchase! Hopefully I have helped you in some way, and if you have any questions, feel free to comment! As I progress in my playing, I will update this review (if needed)! Enjoy! :)