For Some, the first Mass Effect had just too much RPG, while others loved tinkering with stats, long inventories, armour and weapon upgrades. Mass Effect 2 was different; it was more of a shooter, eschewing much of the fiddly RPG mechanics in favour of pure action. That, understandably, upset fans of the first, while making a bunch of new ones. So how does Bioware keep everybody happy with the third game?
Balance.
“I wouldn’t say one genre is winning out over another. We just want to tell the best story within the context of an amazing shooter,” producer Michael Gamble told CVG , when asked which genre the game actually sat in.
Though he did specifically call it a shooter, he says that they’ve brought back many of the RPG elements.
“I think in Mass Effect 3 we’ve actually brought back a lot of the customisation elements that were missing in Mass Effect 2: Weapons, armour, powers – each power now has nine possible ways of evolution,” he said.“Like any transition between games, we want to polish everything.”
I’m still dead keen for the next Mass Effect – it’s easily become one of my favourite series – but I think the need developers have to appeal to wider audiences, making games that everyone can enjoy, is what’s leading to so many games looking and feeling the same…and most of them end looking and feeling like Call of Duty.
Last Updated: February 7, 2012
