Bioware’s Mass Effect was certainly one of the most noteworthy games ever to have rested comfortably in the disc tray of an Xbox 360. With its amazingly life-like character designs, well-crafted environments, and novel NPC interaction system, the game made a definitive splash everywhere, particularly in Singapore. The popularity of the game has only continued to increase, however, and has lead at last to the release of a PC version of the game that has been published under the Electronic Arts label but represents a dual development project between Bioware and Demiurge.

When you first load up Mass Effect for the PC and begin to play, you will see that it is the same intro you know from the console version of the game, perhaps with an improved graphics system, but still the Mass Effect we console gamers have come to know and love .Once you get under the hood of the game it becomes an entirely different beast, however, as there have been a wide variety of improvements made to the game. Foremost amongst these improvements is the UI, which has been updated to make the control process easier for PC gamers due to the wide gulf separating a console controller and a keyboard-and-mouse setup. Fortunately, it is a pleasant thing to discover that the learning curve behind the controls of the PC version of Mass Effect is not as sharp as one might expect.

Players control Commander Shepard through the standard W,S,A,D arrangement that is familiar to all players of FPS-style games everywhere. The weapons are fired with the left mouse button, grenades are thrown with the R key, and if the player hits R twice the grenades will stick to the ground at the feet of the enemy and can be detonated remotely. Bioware and Demiurge have been careful to make the transition between control schemes as simple as possible and thankfully, they have succeeded in their object. If, for instance, you want Commander Shepard to take cover behind a rock there is no need to keep pressing at a button until she or he at last cuddles up to the rock: the key that allows the Commander to take cover is the same one that allows for forward movement-W-so Shepard will start hugging the rock with heightened alacrity. Avert your eyes, kids.