'Mass Effect: Legendary Edition' makes classic games feel modern

It's been nine years since the final proper "Mass Effect" game was released on the Xbox 360. It was 2012 and that game was "Mass Effect 3," the third part of a trilogy that blended space politics, shooting and RPG goodness. And despite its imperfections (and a much-maligned ending) it was a truly special saga.

It's also a saga that an entire generation of gamers hasn't experienced. But Bioware is changing that with the release of "Mass Effect: Legendary Edition." Offering all the upgrades you'd expect (visuals!), it's a chance for newcomers to enter the saga and gaming vets to revisit it, and while it shows its age, it still manages to feel epic.

You get all three "Mass Effect" games in the compilation, plus a host of DLC. And these are games from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era, so they all draw hefty visual makeovers. (Only the failed "Mass Effect: Andromeda" isn't included, which is fine.)

Each game remains fundamentally the same but Bioware smartly brings slices of its action into the modern era. This is most prominent in the first "Mass Effect," where the gameplay had aged the most. That first game set the stage for the franchise, but it wasn't until "Mass Effects 2" and "3" that the title found its truest balance between shooter and role-player. Bioware amps the action in this remaster, with Commander Shepard more naturally snapping to cover, and a dedicated melee button. The action feels fluid, especially when coupled with improved load times on the Series X.

The Milky Way is now in 4K. The sharpened textures look tremendous, bringing out little details you'd never noticed, especially on nonhumans. Scales, spots and scars on Liara, Wrex and Garrus suddenly pop, and the skin texture on Wrex looks that much more lizardly.

The visual improvements to human characters don't feel quite as dramatic, but, overall, Bioware has worked hard to make this a game that feels visually modern. At times, you'll wish planets, and even the Citadel, felt a bit more populated and ... larger. Still, "Legendary Edition" is a terrific trip through an especially memorable chapter of Memory Lane. And no, the ending isn't any better this time around. But the hundreds of hours before that? Plenty of fun.