...There was Advent Rising. A similar premise - humans are begrudgingly welcomed into galactic relations with arguably more advanced alien races - only, this story was written with Orson Scott Card on board. Planned to be a trilogy, most critics didn't care for it, and sales were low, so the sequels were never made. However, I absolutely loved every inch and second of this game. I think if this game had had Mass Effect's production values, but kept its story and especially the awesome combat engine, this would be the series we would have all been talking over and debating for the last five years instead.
