Mass Effect Genesis Now Available on Xbox 360 and PC

For those unaware, Mass Effect was never released on the PlayStation 3, so when the sequel was released this past January for that console BioWare teamed up with Dark Horse Comics to create an interactive comic book that summarizes the first game's key plot and also allows the viewers to make the key decisions that would affect their upcoming Mass Effect 2 playthrough.

For those who only picked up the sequel on the Xbox 360 or PC and never played the first game or want to play as another Shepard and can't be bothered to play through the original again, that same interactive comic, entitled Mass Effect Genesis, is now available for both platforms.

The catch: It'll run you 320 Microsoft or BioWare Points. That's $4.64 for those keeping score at home.

Now considering that you can already play Mass Effect 2 no problem from scratch, and the game just defaults to a Renegade Shepard with corresponding past choices which is apparently the canonical story line as shown in the novels, I'm quite surprised that this is premium DLC.

Mass Effect 2 has been out for approximately 16 months now, and most people have moved on and for anyone worried about starting a new Shepard for Mass Effect 3, apparently all versions of that game will ship with an interactive comic for the first two games, so past playthroughs are more or less a non-issue.

So really, it's rather insulting that EA has deemed it necessary to charge for a BS little add-on like this, especially when you can buy Mass Effect (Xbox 360) for $29.99 or less at retail, and $19.99 (US) or less for the PC.

I'd say save your cash for a real add-on of sorts, or buy the full first game and enjoy a great 40 hour RPG experience.

For those still interested in the comic, you can watch it, for free, below.