Finally got my paws on "Mass Effect" for PC. Vista gave problems when I first attempted to start up the game. It simply refused to start. But after a call to EA's helpdesk which advised me to switch off Vista's User Account Control (UAC), I actually got my first taste of this epic space melodrama.

The game space is amazingly huge. I've seen two locations so far, Eden Prime which was a tutorial run for basic game controls, and am currently exploring Citadel, a sprawling complex of districts full of mini quests to accept and fulfill. I still need time to get used to the many keys needed to conduct squad combat properly. Until I figure them out, I'm gonna get killed a lot but that's the learning curve.

Apart from the above two locations, there's a massive galaxy to explore system by system, planet by planet. While I've been only doing grunt fighting so far, there's promise of vehicular combat and space combat as well to look forward to. Death-dealing comes in so many forms!

Despite my excitement, there's still one serious annoyance with the game: It has shut down on me twice already in mid-game, causing the loss of any unsaved content, and forcing replays of certain encounters which I'd already seen, before being unceremoniously dumped back out into the Windows environment so unexpectedly.

Wonder if there'll be a patch soon that will address this problem. Meantime, I'll look around the 'net for a viable solution. Grr...