Mass Effect 1 Platinum Hits GOTY Game of The Year (New - XBOX 360) for $15.99 shipped @ Newegg; also @ Amazon

Here are my thoughts. So you know where I am coming from, I have played all three games from beginning to end multiple times. I have completed all DLC except for the Ashes in ME3. I have completed all three on Insanity and acquired all achievements except for the multiplayer in ME3. Here are my thoughts.

If you like RPG's at all, you will love Mass Effect 1. As someone mentioned, the games are dumbed down progressively in 2 and 3 which is great if you love Gear of War but not if you like acquiring items, reading the codex and spending a decent amount of time acquiring and tweaking your equipment.

Mass Effect is so story oriented that I don't know why anyone would start in the middle or the end. Here is the honest truth. Mass Effect 1 has the best ending of all three HANDS DOWN! It gave me goose bumps how they combined music, story and dialog for a great payoff.

I would strongly recommend all the DLC. The DLC in ME1 is just plain entertaining. The DLC in ME2 is fun, original and lays out the story for ME3.

One downside to all the ME series is you never really know how much one weapon or piece of armor improves from one to the next. I would love to have the specs laid out in specific numbers rather than bar charts which don't even seem to be representative in the first place. Also each group of weapons has 6 or 7 variations but only about 2 are really usable as the rest have such nerfed firing rates that no one would choose them.

Final thoughts. This price is still well worth it for a great game. By it if you like RPGs, if you don't like to read through stories or background, just buy ME2 or 3 and blast away - but either way don't forget to hit on the reporters and the Yeoman!

Quote from Calnor : I started with ME2 on my Xbox even though I had heard ME1 was great but decided against getting it. Now I bought ME3, the only game i've ever bought on launch day, and have been dissapointed. I'm thinking I should have stopped at 2. Minning was one of the worst parts of ME2. I was glad for the fix they implemented on 3, I would consider it an improved, not dumbed down. Minning and running around in the ship were two huge time sinks in ME2. I'm glad at least one of those were fixed for ME3.

I loved floating around planets on the Mako searching for hidden loot. The problem was almost all the planets were the same. Some variation would have made all the difference.