Mass Effect is a bit of a shooty game, however there some missions you are sent on which rely more on conversations and such.
Why
I like Mass Effect is that much like an rpg videogame, you can choose your Shephard's looks, gender (Shephard is a surname) and character class (stealth camo, hacker, rifleman - you decide!).
If that wasnt enough, you get to choose what your Shephard says in conversations - they'll follow the spirit of the line chosen but not the exact words - you can make some surprisingly awesome speechs or even very funny reactions - a certain mission in ME2 calls for you to act like a right jerk in a nightclub to gain someone's attention - probably the funniest things you can get your char to do are there - like staring down a Krogan (big hump-backed rhino like biped alien) and winning!
You can also make your char the most fugly, non-socially adept idiot in the galaxy and laugh as he still manages to get one of the female crew in the sack! :lol:
There is also many systems and planets you can visit, a few sub-sectors worth IMO, many are statted with semi-UWPs and given a background. Your ship also has a library that gets filled with info as you travel - there is loads of background material going for ME, going right back to first contact between humans and aliens and before that, humanity's first trip to Mars... good reading all in all.
Also, in ME2 your choices mean that not all of the team you've collected and bonded with over the game may make it through to the end. I myself lost someone and
I actually regret theyre dead and miss them!
I'd like to see Traveller take up Mass Effect, because in my eyes, as I played through, it wasnt Shephard collecting a ragtag team of crewmates and going on suicide missions with them - it was me