BioWare is a company that needs no introduction to gamers. With a wide array of both commercially and critically successful titles in their history including Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you could maybe understand if they were to phone in their latest title Mass Effect. However, from what we saw behind closed doors, this looks to be one of their most promising titles to date!Mass Effect is set in the year 2183. Humanity has colonized the galaxy and alien races, both friendly and not-so-friendly, have been encountered. It is a sci-fi setting in the classic sense of the phrase. Everything is shiny and metallic and it is a beautiful universe…with a dark secret. You see, every 50,000 years, machines enter the galaxy and harvest all organic life. This has happened numerous times throughout history, and each time civilization must essentially start from scratch to build itself back up, only to be wiped out by these machines once again. As luck would have it, the galactic timer is just about up and the machines are coming.
In the E3 demo, we got to see Commander Shephard of the intergalactic police force known as Spectre (No, I don’t think we’ll see Blofeld leading this troop…) He’s investigating some strange goings on in a massive space station that is approximately 30 miles long! There is a great sense of scale that is somewhat humbling. Ironic that your small little character will be tasked with saving the massive universe.
Dialogue is handled somewhat differently then in previous BioWare titles. Rather then have your entire line written out, you are given a short paraphrase of what you’ll say or do and your character will actually speak the lines. In the more recent BioWare titles, all of your dialogue has been silent so as to help you believe that YOU are actually the character. Now, you’ve got a dialogue wheel with up to about 10 different options in some cases. Each location on this wheel will always correspond to a similar response. So, for example, the upper left could always be the angry, aggressive and threatening choice. This is so that it will be easier to understand the response and to be able to shape your character and actions more intuitively.
A great deal of time has been spent with the graphics for the game and with good reason—they look fantastic. Although they’re not just there to make playing the game more visually pleasing, they actually serve the gameplay. Character detail is phenomenal and facial expressions entirely believable. This will allow you to use your own instincts, as opposed to that of the character, to try to read the faces and body language of everyone you speak with.
What would a futuristic tale of mass genocide be without a little combat? Mass Effect delivers one of my most wanted features for this type of game: you can finally control your squad mates! No, not directly since combat is all in real-time. Instead, you pause the game and control a marker for each of your squad mates. In the demo we were shown, both friends were ordered to flank an enemy on both sides and lay down suppressing fire while our character was able to deal the finishing blow. Skill will be required for combat this time around, however. Since this is an RPG, your characters stats will influence how easy it is to hit an enemy, but there will be some manual aiming required—especially for precision shots like sniping. Using an over-the-shoulder perspective, the game will help you aim, but it’s still up to you to get the precision you need for that critical hit. Or you can just use some heavy weapons and destroy the entire area and not worry so much about aiming.
The environment will also play a role in combat. Most objects in the game have been given their own unique physics, which means they'll be destructible and moveable. Is there an enemy on an over hanging ledge? Blow up the ledge and watch with glee as he falls to his doom. This sort of flexibility will allow combat to seem fresh each time and give you greater freedom in how you choose to dispatch enemies.
What would a sci-fi game be without travel to different planets, though? Mass Effect will let you travel to numerous unique planets, some hospitable to life and some a little more hostile. With the aid of a customizable land rover, you’ll be able to drive around the alien landscapes.
Mass Effect will put you into the role as “the tip of the spear for the human race”. It is up to you to figure out what is happening and, more importantly, how to stop it before civilization is eradicated once more. BioWare always delivers great character stories and Mass Effect looks to add some exciting combat elements to the mix all amidst some amazing graphics. Mass Effect was the not only the best looking title I saw at this year’s E3 show, but also one of the most fun! It is definitely right up at the top of my “must have” list.
I've been playing games ever since I was a wee lad. My favorite games as a child were the classic Pitfall and a game called SNAFU, which was a sort of puzzle game along the lines of Tron Light Cycles. I've had most of the major console systems since the early days and have a wide range of tastes of games and I'm always eager to give a new one a try.
