Mass Effect is an action role-playing game game developed by BioWare and published by Microsoft Game Studios, originally released for the Xbox 360 in November 2007. It is the first game in the Mass Effect series, and takes place within the Milky Way galaxy in the year 2183, where civilization is threatened by a highly advanced machine race known as the Reapers. The player assumes the role of Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier who must stop a rogue agent from carrying out the Reapers' galactic invasion. The game involves completing multiple quests that generally involve space exploration, squad and vehicular combat, and interaction with non-player characters. Planned as the first chapter of a trilogy, Mass Effect was developed over the course of three and a half years, and uses the Unreal Engine 3 as a groundwork. It was designed so that the player would assume the role of a central character that could make important decisions and impact the story of the game in numerous ways. The combat was designed to offer the tactics and customization of a role-playing game, but through a simpler and real-time third-person shooter interface. In 2008 and 2009, two downloadable content packs that introduced new missions to the base game were released. Mass Effect received critical acclaim, and sold over one and a half million copies by January 2008. Critics praised the game's interactive storytelling and cinematic design, but criticized its unbalanced combat mechanics and poor artificial intelligence. The game received several year-end awards, including Best RPG at the 2007 Spike Video Game Awards and Roleplaying Game of the Year at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, and is considered one of the greatest video games of all time. Following the release for the Xbox 360, Mass Effect was ported to Windows by Demiurge Studios and Microsoft Game Studios in 2008, and later on, to PlayStation 3 by Edge of Reality and Electronic Arts in 2012. It was followed by the sequels Mass Effect 2 in 2010 and Mass Effect 3 in 2012. In 2021, Mass Effect was remastered as part of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition.