Though Mass Effect is an original title from BioWare, it shares many of the same elements seen in the Canadian developer's previous work. The game will offer an action role-playing experience that leans heavily on choice-based gameplay in an adventure that spans a galaxy. Though the conflict initially seems clear-cut, you'll discover it's just a piece in a larger conflict between organic life and artificial intelligence. Your actions throughout the game will help humanity fight battles, elevating it to the pinnacle of galactic civilization through either noble or tyrannical means. The rich story, definitely epic-sounding in scale, is so big that Mass Effect is meant to be the first in a trilogy of games set to tell the dense tale.

As far as gameplay goes, it was hard to get an exact sense of what to expect from the game based on the footage from the trailer. Thankfully, questioning of those at X05 yielded some info. The game's core focus is a campaign that has you working to elevate humanity by one means or another. Along the way, you'll option to explore the game's rich worlds and discover new alien life, resources, ruined civilizations, and powerful technologies by visiting uncharted, unexplored planets. Your investigation can even take place via an all-terrain rover. Combat's pretty straightforward and makes use of a real-time, squad-based, tactical combat system. The visuals in the game are contemporary and are dramatic looking. From the look of it, Mass Effect will be a powerful title in the Xbox 360 software library for those hankering for a unique RPG. Look for more on the game shortly.