Mass Effect goes back to the blueprint stage of its Star Wars source material, and instead of recreating the films, delivers the perfect blend of fresh and familiar.

There’s no denying Mass Effect has several flaws that might send lesser sci-fi geeks back to the waiting arms of their darling Master Chief. Your character starts without the ass-kicking powers necessary to make up for unnatural controls, so you begin feeling decidedly unheroic by action game standards. During cutscenes intended to be cinematic, it takes several seconds for the smooth hazy forms of each character to realize they should in fact have things like detail and texture. And maybe at some point a play tester should have mentioned what an enormous pain it is to manage the truckloads of often useless bounty you inherit from your vaporized enemies.

These generally amount to only minor annoyances, which anyone who pushed through into the game’s meatier offerings learned to forgive. However, the biggest complaint that could be raised by anyone looking for an excuse to pass on this title is its obvious derivation from popular science fiction franchises. Take a Jabba-sized pile of Star Wars, with its band of renegades out to save the universe from an evil force bent on domination. Glaze with a healthy coat of Battlestar Galactica’s xenophobic panic over the rise of sentient machines. Then just to throw the Star Trek kids a bone, make the base of operations the coolest ship in the fleet, with maybe a side plot where you get to hook up with a sexy alien as the cherry on top.

If it doesn’t sound groundbreaking, that’s because it isn’t. But it is exactly the game I wanted it to be.

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I’ve loved Star Wars ever since I was old enough to work a VCR — like most nerds, audio-visual forces were strong with this one — and imagined myself a young Jedi throughout childhood. As my thumbs acclimated themselves to the glorious world of games, I eagerly scooped up any chance to interact with that galaxy far, far away. The problem being, they were all terrible. A half-hearted attempt to recreate the magic of taking down AT-AT walkers on the Atari was bland. A noble effort at Episode IV on the NES was too hard for a novice such as myself to even get to the good parts in the era before game saves. The closest to filling the hole were the TIE fighter and X-wing PC games, but even those were missing something huge: you’re not the real hero. You’re some guy involved in a minor battle taking place before or between the real saga playing out in the movies.

At some point — presumably after Dark Forces, where you’re dropped into Doom with Stormtroopers and expected to be grateful — it wasn’t worth trying anymore. No Star Wars game was going to satisfy that desire to step into the knee-high moccasins of Luke Skywalker or don the dashing vest of Han Solo.

Then Knights of the Old Republic came along and offered a new hope, if you will. This group of serious geeks at Bioware, a studio famous for making PC games based on D&D rules, were making a totally original role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe? This could be something. Unfortunately for me, that game slipped through the cracks of Grand Theft Auto’s streets and Tony Hawk’s sidewalks, but it was a crucial step toward the game I’d been waiting for.

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As it turns out, it took a game maker to do what I’d done — steep themselves in the Star Wars universe, and then consciously walk away from it — to create the best case scenario. Mass Effect essentially goes back to the blueprint stage of it’s source material instead of trying to recreate the final product, and in doing so delivers the perfect blend of fresh and familiar.

The beauty is that it’s enough like the original material to satisfy all the same urges, without having to dance around the continuity of an existing universe or relegate you to a bit player on the galactic stage. Within the familiar framework of a space drama, you finally get to be the real hero. Even better, your actions as hero actually affect how the story unfolds, allowing for the added excitement of not knowing what happens next.

First and foremost, Mass Effect is definitely a role-playing game. The action gets more and more fun the farther you develop your character, but there is enough dialogue to choke a bantha, and that means plenty of time standing around listening to people talk, then choosing the manner of your response. If you find that idea boring, you’re really missing the point of this game. Putting it back in terms of the movies, if mindless action is what you’re after, the prequels weren’t that bad either. The second trilogy disappointed so many people, even those like me who don’t actively hate them, not for a lack of blaster vs light sabre showdowns. Where the first trilogy excelled so much was for having dialogue and characterization between the big battles that didn’t cause physical pain, but actually endeared you to its cast. The conversations were as enjoyable as the combat. Similarly, the choose-your-own adventure interactions in Mass Effect are as much a part of its success as the joy of using your force powers to catapult villains into the void. Playing it as a strictly action game is unsatisfying, because its real strength is as a sci-fi role-playing template.

Star Wars characters are nothing if not archetypes, and so picking one and sticking with it makes role-playing a real part of the game, even challenging at times. Applying a ‘What would Luke do?’ filter to each situation makes you think about your characters and the dilemmas they face. Even though the conversations are less like an action game and more like an interactive movie, feeling for yourself how hard it is to be purely good or unflinchingly evil makes for the most memorable moments. Seeing the outcome of each decision, and living with it afterward, gives the repercussions of your actions emotional weight. Even if no matter what happens, you still end up saving the day, how you get there can feel very different, and it’s that level of involvement that no officially licensed Star Wars offshoot game has ever come close to delivering.

For example, I chose to play through once as a Han Solo type: a roguish tough guy who was basically good, but greedy and willing to intimidate or kill when it came down to it (and yes, he also beds the sexy alien). But helping people just for the sake of more money and experience points I could use to beef up my abilities – the “I don’t know, I can imagine pretty much” version – turned out to be a lot of work. And I took a lot of crap from my in-game superiors for what, I thought, was doing the right thing. Then I later went through as a young Darth Vader type: someone corrupted by his power, thinking he was working toward a greater good even if it meant committing obviously evil acts along the way. The second time I found I had an easier time in key parts of the game because being a dick just got the job done faster. At the same time, it cost the life of my favorite supporting character. Once that happened there was no turning back; the guilt just made me more committed to my evil ways. This is why I’m glad I’m not actually a superpowered space soldier.

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Not only does the game allow the chance to live out the childhood fantasy character of your choice, but the themes are all so spot on it’s like they had this exact goal in mind when they built it. Sure, there are a wealth of great details unique to the game, so there’s never a sense you’re playing Wars of the Star Variety. But all the classics are there. A galaxy divided into factions that don’t trust each other, worried about a takeover that can only be prevented with the help of a small force aboard the fastest ship in the galaxy. You have a crew that includes such members as, ‘the one who’s good at computer stuff’, ‘the big guy everyone’s scared of’, and ‘the female that creates tension’ — sorry, no gay robot (sequel?). Major plot points involve meeting people in bars. There are giant monsters people keep, almost like pets, that you must vanquish to progress. You hop from planet to planet trying to understand your own powers while your rival slowly loses his grip under a dark influence. There’s even a scene before a big fight where you’re all but told, “Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son!”

When you put it in laundry list form it starts to sound ridiculous, but the point is that this was done, obviously intentionally, to spark a certain sensibility in a certain kind of person, and set that part of them ablaze with delight. Can you play Mass Effect without a lifetime of fandom to build on? Absolutely, and if you were born with that same set of tastes the original Star Wars fans had twenty-odd years ago, you may be able to understand what all the fuss was about. But the people who will love this the most, a set which probably includes the game makers themselves, aren’t going to be put off by these similarities in any way. They’ve been waiting their whole lives for this.

One day in conversation someone asked whether or not Mass Effect would make a good movie, and I frowned immediately. The surprise was that I could like a game so much and not wish to see it in movie form. I had to explain that the exact reason this game works so well is because it borrows so heavily from cinematic history — all the rich references from prototypical story arc to visual style — puts the slightest twist on it all, then finally lets me play it in a meaningful way. Take that out and you’re just watching a copy of a copy of a copy.

At the end of the day, it turns out I never wanted to play Star Wars in game form. Those are great movies I can watch over and over again, but recreating that magic would be impossible. What is possible is to break down exactly what’s great about what I already love into its base elements, and figure out ways to give it to me again for the first time. God of War did it for kinetic action games. Crackdown gave it a try with superheroes by giving you the best leaping and climbing abilities in ages, despite having nothing resembling a narrative other than ‘kill the bad guys’. GTA IV did it with the open-ended style they themselves perfected. Is it a coincidence everyone loved The Departed because it was like Goodfellas, or buys new Coldplay cds because they sound like old U2 albums? There’s no reason to feel shame for knowing what you like and wanting more of it, which is why I can’t wait for the dramatic reveal in Mass Effect II: The Geth Strike Back.