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Name: Mass Effect: Bring Down The Sky  

The world of Mass Effect leaves endless opportunities, plots and sub-plots which can quite easily be made into additional download content, BioWare has seized this opportunity and released Mass Effect's first piece of additional DLC aptly named; Bring Down The Sky.

So for your 400 MS Points, what are you getting? Bring Down The Sky includes a new uncharted world which brings with it the Batarian race, for those that followed the Mass Effect story closely you should have heard a little about them already. The Batarians are a humanoid species with a particular distinct feature, they have four eyes. A Batarian extremist group has hijacked a mobile asteroid station in the Asgard system, however, the Batarians have set the asteroid on a direct collision course with a world known as Terra Nova, and it's due to hit within four hours. Since this is an end of a world scenario, only Commander Shepard and his elite group can take on the job and save countless lives from inevitable destruction.

Unfortunately for players who've already completed the game, you will have to start over to play the new content, since Bring Down the Sky takes place mid-way through you'll still need to have access to the Normandy and its star map to navigate to the Asgard system. This is mildly annoying since you won't get to use any of your existing equipment or stats to tackle the Batarians, though it doesn't take long to battle through the beginning of Eden Prime and the Citadel again before you get back to the Normandy to head to the Asgard system.

The additional content itself isn't very long, coming in roughly at around an hour's playtime for the average player. They say you get what you pay for and while 400 MS Points isn't a lot to ask for, for what you're getting, it is disappointing. With its overused end of the world plot the actual gameplay doesn't really add anything extra to the Mass Effect universe, it feels like another side quest, it certainly looks that way as well since all of the areas you visit are just re-used from the main game, minus the one at the end. Mass Effect was criticised for its controls during the Mako tank areas of the game, this additional download content puts players back in the seat of the Mako for quite a large portion of the additional content, having you drive around the asteroid blasting Batarians and gun turrets at each of the giant thrusters being used to propel the asteroid. It wouldn't be so bad if each of these were different in some way, but unfortunately they aren't. Inside each thruster is the same base map you'll be used to, the same enemies with little variation, so much could have been done, why it wasn't is a good question.

This isn't to say the content isn't enjoyable because it can be, if you were a great fan of the main game, then you'll be happy to get back into the action which Bring Down the Sky mostly consists of. The story itself is wafer thin other than the end of the world part since nearly all of the time you'll spend playing is either driving or shooting. There's hardly any NPC interaction between yourself and the Batarians, and the actual motive behind the asteroid attack on the colony at Terra Nova is pretty insubstantial. If however you didn't particularly enjoy Mass Effect or were glad when it was over, then you probably won't be compelled to play it again with the additional content.

Only towards the end of the Batarian onslaught does the mission really take form, the final building has a new layout for you to explore which is previously unseen, it doesn't deviate from the shooting type gameplay you will already have participated in from the beginning of Bring Down the Sky either, but the combat is difficult since the amount of Batarians can be overwhelming if you don't figure out the correct strategy to keep yourself alive. One unacceptable issue which we came across was the final Batarian boss, somehow he managed to get himself stuck in the wall at the steps where he spawns, after clearing out the whole building which is needed to complete the mission, we couldn't kill the boss since we couldn't shoot him through the wall even though we could target him. It isn't particularly easy this fight either, thus, it involved starting the battle sequence all the way from the beginning again, very, very annoying.

Collectors of Gamerpoints will be happy to know that completing Bring Down The Sky will net them an additional 50 GP through one achievement which is nice to see but doesn't really require any forward thinking on getting.

After becoming a huge fan of Mass Effect, the first piece of additional DLC is disappointing to say the least. While it was great to get back into the action and extend the game even if it was only for an hour, it was enjoyable, minus its faults and one particularly annoying bug. The price point of 400 MS Points is perfectly suited for what you are getting, even if it doesn't cater to everyone. There is so much more that could be done with the Mass Effect game in later forms of download content, unfortunately it has got off to a bad start, we can only hope BioWare see their error and rectify it. So should you buy it? If you enjoyed Mass Effect, regardless of its faults, and wanted more when it ended then yes, you should buy it. If you didn't enjoy the game however, then Bring Down the Sky won't bring anything to the table to make you change your mind so don't bother.