If there’s one thing we know about the Mass Effect universe, it’s that it’s huge. Huge to the point that there are already two Mass Effect novels, at least one more coming after the release of Mass Effect 2, and of course the completely open ended games. So why not pump out an iPhone game. Welcome to Mass Effect: Galaxy.

Galaxy is a short quest following Jacob Taylor, a former Alliance soldier, and Miranda Lawson, whose last name belies her attitude. The two work together to stop a Batarian threat to the Citadel, the capital of the known galaxy. As with Mass Effect, Galaxy is all about two main things: combat and dialog.

Controlling Taylor is as simple as turning the iPhone, using the accelerometers to move Taylor. He’ll automatically shoot at a targeted enemy, and it’s up to the player to keep Taylor in a safe place or moving, select the enemy to target, and use one of three attacks: the Biotic attack to freeze enemies in place, the heavy weapon attack which launches grenades, and the Tech attach which destroys an enemy’s shields.

Combat is easy, and nearly all of the two dozen or so combat scenarios will end up finished with little to no effort. Later battles prove more difficult and require good timing, proper use of the special weapons and patience, but those battles are rare.

The remaining portion of the game is it’s dialog system, which allows players to investigate the situation, and to either strut their stuff, be the hero, or something in between. Like Mass Effect, players can select how to move the conversation, be it pleasantly or forcefully or sarcastically. It’s clear that the entire story is told well through this dialog, and the choice of words players make do have an impact on the game, mostly by talking your way out of battles.

Traveling between worlds and completing short missions plays short cinematics, which have a well defined art style but aren’t particularly stunning. Some levels start before loading is complete, which leads to either a quick death or the level to load even slower. Controls are also throttled horribly; it’s impossible to play Galaxy lying down, because the accelerometers fail to read correctly. Even at an odd angle it tends to lag, and even though the game mentions constantly how it reinitializes the accelerometers after every pause and the start of each new level, this either isn’t true or works poorly at times.

Mass Effect: Galaxy is not a bad game, and we were surprised to find ourselves enjoying it all the way through the short four-hour campaign. Galaxy is a great way to reaffirm yourself with the Mass Effect story before Mass Effect 2 releases in early 2010. According to the game, completing Galaxy will give Mass Effect 2 players a special bonus, should they register with EA. We don’t know what the bonus is, but for anyone who wants to immerse themselves deeper into the Mass Effect universe, Galaxy is a great game to do so. Especially for the current low price of $3.