User blog comment:Markurion/Extended Cut or Prolonged torture?/@comment-4631135-20120409044224/@comment-2079715-20120409232934

ME1 indeed had about 90% RPG elements. First, you had no mechanism for taking cover. Actually you had but it was poorly done. You had class specific weaponry, and....well none of these make sense cause my point is that the only Shooter element of ME1 was that.... the guns. You had FULL character customization, plus, you had follower/companion customization. Both weapons and armor and their respective mods.

Let's compare ME with Crysis2 which is, say, next generation shooter. What you have in Crysis? You have a guy whos past and present are already determined. You have a guy whos behavior is pre-determined. Excluding alien DNA particles that give you SOME upgrades, you have a classic shooter were only thing that matters is having a right gun in the right time and not dying.

ME1 had as I said above full customization of characters. Had wide variety of choices that WERE NOT obvious. And that's the key. When I first played ME1, the scene on Virmire where you have a standoff with Wrex is sooooooo out of the ordinary that it outright surprised me. I mean it. I was completely shocked to find out that I need to convince Wrex to stand by me or kill him right there. Now, some would say that those are only 2 options. And they are right. Indeed, those ARE only 2 options. But they are soooo good options that you don't need the third or forth. The whole scene is so original and well written that it's awesome. While in ME2 i literally expected when will I get a chance to cause a death of my squadmate. I do admit ME2 was good. By the God, Suicide mission with it's unique music tore my heart out of my chest. It was EPIC. But everything in ME2 was EXPECTED. There were no surprises in it. Not for me at least. ME1 maybe didn't have big number of choices, but it had QUALITY choices.