Given that one of Mass Effect's biggest draws is that Shepard persists from adventure to adventure, the comic is pretty much essential to the experience. It does a great job of filling in some of the gaps in the story while introducing characters like Liara T'Soni, Wrex and Garrus. Additionally, it features some excellent narration by Jennifer Hale (provided you made the right decision and decided to play as a female Shepard).

In some ways, it's like watching the opening moments of The Lord of the Rings, in which Cate Blanchett details the first several thousand years of the One Ring's existence; or hearing "It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War." It offers all the background you need, and sends you on your way.

For some, that might not be enough. Like the first season of Babylon 5 though, the original Mass Effect is extremely rough, and it certainly takes it's time getting underway. After a sluggish battle with the Geth on Eden Prime, the story comes to a crashing halt as Shepard tries to prove Saren's guilt to the council. It's only after collecting enough evidence to prove that he's guilty that things get moving in earnest.

The opening scenes in Mass Effect are not unlike Matrix Reloaded's unbearably boring scenes in Zion. The only difference is that there's no mass orgy.

And apart from the sluggish opening and often janky graphics (BioWare was really struggling to get a handle on the Unreal Engine at the time), the first game also suffers from an identity crisis. It's clear that BioWare wanted to create an RPG with shooting elements, but their intentions just didn't come across very well. The nearest comparison is Obsidian's Alpha Protocol, where shots went wide even when villains were lined up in the reticule simply because of a low skill with a particular weapon. In Mass Effect's case, the stats didn't line up well with the action, and the result was an experience that was less than satisfying.