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Mass Effect Legendary Edition vs Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is an action-RPG RPG game from BioWare (2021) while Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is an action game from Lucasfilm Games (1996).

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

2021 · BioWare

8.2GamingPickz Score

$59.99

Steam: Very Positive

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

1996 · Lucasfilm Games

5.9GamingPickz Score

$5.99

Steam: Mostly Positive

What each one is

Steam files Mass Effect Legendary Edition under Action-RPG and RPG. In contrast, it files Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire under Action and Adventure.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

The Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition includes single-player base content and over 40 DLC from the highly acclaimed Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 games, including promo weapons, armors, and packs — remastered and optimized for 4K Ultra HD.

Description from its Steam store page

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

As Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance struggle to defeat Darth Vader and the Empire, a new threat arises. Dark Prince Xizor aspires to take Darth Vader's place at the Emperor's side. As Dash Rendar, it's up to you to protect Luke and help the Alliance. May the Force be with you!

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Mass Effect Legendary EditionStar Wars: Shadows of the Empire
GamingPickz Score8.2/105.9/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (91%, 67,045)Mostly Positive (74%, 871)
Critic aggregate86/100No aggregate
Price$59.99$5.99
Install size120 GB0.32 GB
Steam Deckplayableplayable
Released20211996
DeveloperBioWareLucasfilm Games

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition vs Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Mass Effect Legendary EditionAction-RPG RPG game
    Star Wars: Shadows of the EmpireAction game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Mass Effect Legendary EditionStory Rich, RPG, Choices Matter
    Star Wars: Shadows of the EmpireAction, Adventure, Space

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Mass Effect Legendary EditionScore 8.2 · 91% on Steam · 86 critic
    Star Wars: Shadows of the EmpireScore 5.9 · 74% on Steam

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Mass Effect Legendary Edition67,045 reviews · 120 GB
    Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire871 reviews · 0.32 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Mass Effect Legendary Edition$59.99
    Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire$5.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Mass Effect Legendary EditionPlayable
    Star Wars: Shadows of the EmpirePlayable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularityStar Wars: Shadows of th…

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • Nintendo
  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Mass Effect Legendary Edition (GamingPickz Score 8.2)
  • The cheaper right now: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire ($5.99)
  • Lighter on storage: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (0.32 GB)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: Mass Effect Legendary Edition (67,045 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

Sci-fiSingleplayerSpaceThird-Person ShooterActionShooterGreat SoundtrackClassic

Where they differ

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is also

Story RichRPGChoices MatterCharacter CustomizationAction RPGSexual Content

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is also

Adventure1990's

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

Mass Effect Legendary EditionStar Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Minimum GPUGPU: NVIDIA GTX 760DirectX 9.0c Compatible Video Card w/ 256 MB RAM
Minimum CPUIntel Core i5 35701.8 GHz Processor
Minimum RAM8 GB1 GB
Install size120 GB0.32 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Mass Effect Legendary Edition · Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 4 accessibility features for Mass Effect Legendary Edition and 1 for Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire in scope?

Mass Effect Legendary Edition has drawn 67,045 Steam reviews and installs in 120 GB. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire has drawn 871 Steam reviews and installs in 0.32 GB.

Is Mass Effect Legendary Edition or Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Mass Effect Legendary Edition rates higher (8.2 to 5.9). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Mass Effect Legendary Edition or Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire?

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is cheaper right now at $5.99, against $59.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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