Mass Effect Early Look

Bioware, the developers behind such great RPGs as Jade Empire and Knights Of The Old Republic, are hard at work on their new RPG for the Xbox 360 console. “Mass Effect” is a very ambitious project, you play as the first human specter (a sworn protector of galactic peace). Your mission is to halt the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone rogue. Your character must lead a team across vast hostile alien worlds where they discover a greater conflict between organic life and artificial intelligence. Your character is the commander of a large starship (larger than the Ebon Hawk) exploring the depths of the galaxy. The game will be split between three chapters and saved games will be carried between the games.

Bioware have gone and added an extra level to this RPG. Every decision you will make throughout the three games will affect the future of the entire galaxy around you. Anyone who has played Bioware’s previous RPGs will know how this system works, but not on such a grand scale as this. Mass Effect uses a squad based, real-time, tactical combat system. This system can be described as a mixture between the gameplay elements of KOTOR and the squad based elements of such games as Ghost Recon 3. You will control no more than three characters at any one time, you will be able to command the squad to a certain degree, the rest of your squad will use intelligence and tactics in battle.

From the very beginning of the game your character will be very customizable, players will be able to choose from a large assortment of photo-realistic character appearances. Throughout the game the player will be able to update their stats which will have an effect on their performance during the gameplay. Players will also collect weapons and equipment throughout the game which will change the appearance of the character. Mass Effect features a large cast of what Bioware like to call “In engine digital actors”, that will be encountered throughout the game as NPCs. Each of these characters will have life-like facial expressions and body movements. An advanced dialogue system used in the NPCs will provide a depth to all of the characters in the game.

As well as the main story, players will be able to branch off and visit uncharted, un-explored planets which are not directly tied to the main story. The player will be able to explore these planets in an all-terrain rover. On these planets the player will be able to discover new alien life, ruined civilizations, resources and powerful technologies. Bioware have said that the Xbox live service will play a part in Mass Effect, Bioware have not confirmed the exact details on this but they have said that your achievement will be showed online and there will be extra content available. Exploration is encouraged throughout the game, if you have played any of Bioware’s previous RPGs you will know vaguely how this works, just not on as large a scale. This means that as usual their will be a large amount of missions which are un-essential to the main plot. There will be a lot of plot twists and turns and undoubtedly a few different endings as well, if this carries on through the three games there might be a bundle of different endings, but knowing Bioware they will find a way to end the game with a smaller amount of endings.

Overview

Bioware are certainly taking on a very ambitious project, not only are there a vast amount of missions which are un-essential to the main storyline there are also whole planets which are un-essential to the storyline. There is a small part of me that thinks the game might be to over-whelming when it is released, and hard to follow, but if any RPG maker can pull it off it‘s Bioware. We should not be expecting this game anytime soon, best estimates would show that it will be released early 2007 or late 2006.