Mass Effect Infiltrator Review

Commander Shepard is ready to make a final stand against the Reaper threat. It's a showdown that could mean the end of all life in the Galaxy or its greatest threat. This is not that story. Mass Effect Infiltrator is a side-story that both deviates from the overarching plot of the series and completely ditches the RPG elements in favor of a straight shooter affair. Barring a few issues here and there, it's extremely good at what it does.

Anyone who's browsed Mass Effect lore or wandered around the universe should be familiar with Cerberus. Everyone else just needs to know that they're an organization that's determined to protect humanity at any cost. A noble goal, but their methods are anything but. Randall Ezno knows this all too well. He worked for them, mostly gathering alien specimens for the company to study, but then they crossed the line. Apparently that line was sitting past the one at horrific treatment/torture/mutilation of intelligent species, but hey, revenge is always a solid excuse to shoot things.

The gameplay in Infiltrator is utterly fantastic. Randall will automatically snap to cover when there's shootin' to do, and players can swipe up or to the sides to have him deftly roll from point to point. Tapping on an in-range enemy will cause Randall to pop out of cover and start blasting, but players will still have to guide the targeting reticule to make sure he hits. Thankfully the action slows down a little while this happens making it much easier to aim, but it's no exploit. He can only get a few rounds off before he'll have to reload, so it balances fairly nicely.

Randall also has access to a number of different weapons (assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, etc) and can switch between them with a well-placed swipe. Which will be necessary as the only way to wrack up lots of style points is by constantly changing up the ordinance. Better scores for the action sequences earn more cash, and cash is needed to buy better armor and upgrade weapons and abilities.

The swipe controls work shockingly well, and are much more engaging that plenty of other iOS cover shooters I've played, but they have their limits. I've died due to hang-ups and inactivity a bit too often for my liking. Being unable to move around corners while snapped to cover is also unfortunate. And not having taps register when I'm trying to melee an enemy just sucks. Then I die. And good lord the voices are so, so awful.

Even though Infiltrator's controls could use a little tweaking, they're still extremely intuitive. The combat is very satisfying and exhilarating when it flows properly. Plus old chapters can be reloaded to earn even more cash if things start to get too tough. I have to admit I'm very, very impressed.