Original Release: Mar. 11, 2008 - Aug. 25, 2009. Released for PC, XBox 360. Version Reviewed: Bring Down the Sky, Playstation 4 Legendary Edition, 2021; Pinnacle Station, XBox 360, 2009.
INTRODUCTION:
Bioware generally releases Downloadable Content (DLC) or - in earlier times - expansion packs for the vast majority of its games. The only major releases I can think of that did not feature these were Jade Empire and Mass Effect: Andromeda, the former of which was financially unsuccessful and the latter of which had DLC planned but cancelled in favor of Anthem (and yes, Anthem did receive one expansion).
Mass Effect received two pieces of DLC, though 2021's Legendary Edition re-release would only end up featuring one of them. Fortunately, the one that was retained was the good one...
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| Batarian terrorists plan to turn an asteroid into a weapon. |
BRING DOWN THE SKY:
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Asteroid X57 is unusually rich with precious minerals, which is why the thriving colony world of Terra Nova sent a team to fit the asteroid with engines and bring it into the planet's orbit. Then disaster struck: Batarian terrorists, led by the fanatical Balak, have hijacked the asteroid - and unless Shepard can stop them, they intend to ram it into the planet!
Mass Effect's first DLC is structured much like the planetary exploration missions in the main game. You land in the Mako and travel to designated points on the map. The sub-stations in the game even follow the same layout used in those side quests.
Fortunately, a new map has been created for the main complex, where the story reaches its climax. This building uses a circular structure with multiple levels - with enemies on every level, naturally. While no one will ever accuse Mass Effect of being a particularly hard game, this battle actually makes for a reasonable challenge.
It all culminates in a Paragon/Renegade choice - one that is not as black & white as many of those in the main game. Yes, there's a choice the game nudges you toward, but there are sound, pragmatic arguments for doing the opposite.
It's not a long addition. I squeezed 3 - 4 hours out of it, and that was playing on "Insanity" and pursuing every single side objective. If you're less meticulous, you could easily finish it in two hours. Still, it's a well-crafted addition to the main game, and it's well worth playing.
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| The fanatical Balak, his lieutenant, and his pets. Particularly vicious and toothy pets. |
PINNACLE STATION:
Release Date: Aug. 25, 2009
Shepard travels to Pinnacle Station, an Alliance space station devoted to training simulations. Shepard is there to try out the various scenarios. But all is not well. Vidinos, a Turian soldier with disdain for humans, accuses the human Lt. Bryant of cheating. His only evidence is that Bryant managed to outscore him in the simulator. A deal is struck to avoid an incident: If Shepard can also beat Vidinos's scores, then the Turian will drop his charges - leaving Bryant's career at the mercy of Shepard's skills at four different types of simulated combat!
If that sounds like a pretty thin story... Well, yes it is. Nor are there any twists or moral choices to be made. On first playthrough, I thought that Shepard would discover that Byrant actually had cheated, and that the expansion would end with a choice to be honest and harm humanity's reputation or to cover it up.
No such luck. That little skim of story is just there to justify a couple hours of blasting away at simulated enemies. When you've reached the high score on each trial, the acknowledgement that the story is over is brief and perfunctory - and, as if the developers realized how unsatisfying it was, another "hard mission" is thrown in to win a (very dull) apartment for Shepard to visit once and never again.
So... Yes, this is an all-combat DLC with little story, no real choices, and low stakes. There is some enjoyment to be had within those limits, and playing through it will help players to master Mass Effect's combat. But it's the definition of an expendable experience, and it's easy to see why it has a relatively poor reputation.
Pinnacle Station has the dubious distinction of being the only piece of Mass Effect DLC not included in the Legendary Edition. At the time it was made, it had been sourced to an outside studio; when Bioware contacted them while prepping the re-release, it was discovered that the original files had been corrupted. To include it, Bioware would have needed to recreate the expansion from scratch, which would have made it impossible to meet the release date.
It's still a pity that it was excluded, as it leaves "the Legendary Edition" just shy of being a complete package. Still, revisiting it on this playthrough (by firing up an old XBox 360 save from about a decade ago) reminded me that if any piece of DLC had to be left out, then Pinnacle Station was probably the best choice. It's not unentertaining... but there's nothing of any real interest here and, in my opinion, it just isn't very good.
OVERALL:
The expansions for the first Mass Effect are not the most impressive pieces of DLC in Bioware's history. Pinnacle Station is entirely expendable. Bring Down the Sky is much better, with an interesting story, but it's still fairly short and mostly follows a too-familiar mission pattern.
Legendary Edition owners who never played the game before should take solace; though they don't get Pinnacle Station, it's not much of a loss, and I'd say is made up for by getting Bring Down the Sky with more fluid combat, shorter load times, and more detailed graphics than were available in 2008.
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