Released in 2017, 5 years after the last instalment of the original Mass Effect trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda – though based on the original set of games – took the Mass Effect narrative in a completely different direction. Much to the chagrin of the franchise’s most die-hard fans, the fourth Mass Effect title took on a more exploration feel to the original. 

How does Mass Effect: Andromeda differ from other Mass Effect games?

As the game was set in a different galaxy, it put less emphasis on combat, and more on exploration and relationship building. Leaning too heavily on the first Mass Effect game’s strengths backfired, however, and fans – who probably expected more of the intense combat offered in the follow-up Mass Effect titles – expressed their displeasure at the game’s slow pace. 

Mass Effect: Andromeda – being the extended exploration of the Citadel Space Station is set in 2185, sometime between the events of Mass Effect 2 and 3. Humanity – in collaboration with other races in the Milky Way galaxy – set out on a mission to colonize the Andromeda galaxy. 

The Andromeda Initiative (as the mission is called) fleet arrives in the Andromeda galaxy 637 years after departing, and things don’t go as planned. Much of the fleet’s Arks – each housing about 20,000 of the potential population – are unaccounted for, and conditions in the new world are very different from what scans originally revealed. 

The story and exploration-focused nature of the game would probably be a dream for the immersive experiences offered by Virtual Reality. From the light – and quite predictable – missions, to all the conversations and discoveries that one does while playing the title. 

The backlash of the new title

Although the game may have missed the mark – in the eyes of fans – in terms of being a great sci-fi shooter – its slower narrative, and emphasis on the main character’s social life may have been better carried through in a VR format. Immersive technology, like VR, may have been a better medium on which to present the gaming studio’s intention, which 4 years on, seem much clearer. 

Mass Effect: Andromeda was intended to be a completely different tale from the original trilogy. As with the first game in the original set of Mass Effect titles, it looks to have been intended to lay the foundation for a much bigger story.

Bioware and Mass Effect: Andromeda

Mass Effect: Andromeda was shelved by Bioware due to all the criticism received, and lacklustre sales. However, four years on – and being less angry with the title – one can’t help but wonder how the story may have turned out, had it continued. One Also wonders what the game’s phenomenally designed environments and conversations would have been like in a VR.

The title is, in many ways, similar to the first Mass Effect game, with it’s its world design, allowing for a great deal of exploration and relationship development. As the main character, tasked to lead humanity into a brave new world, one is thrust into a similar position as the original trilogy’s Shepard character, de facto ambassador. Not just an ambassador for a single race, but the entire galaxy. 

Closing

Much like the Star Trek, instead of Star Wars, Andromeda’s “weaknesses”  would make it a great VR title, in the league of Lone Echo, No Man’s Sky, or Star Trek: Bridge Crew. The conversations, where what one says determines how a relationship with another life form develops is something that would have set Andromeda apart, in VR, as opposed to being its Achilles heel in PC, PlayStation, and Xbox formats.

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On May 14th, 2020, fans of the cult classic trilogy of sci-fi gaming title, Mass Effect will get to relive the action and suspense first brought to them by Bioware over  thirteen years ago. The company, in collaboration with Abstraction Games, is hard at work, getting the compilation ready for players to – once again – don the N7 uniform as the iconic Commander Shepherd, in his/her mission to protect the galaxy from the Reapers. Only this time, in updated resolution, and a higher rate of frames per second. 

Mass Effect, is a single player, sci-fi action, roleplay first-person/third person shooter, based in a fictitious, 22nd century, Milky Way galaxy – where the human race is well, and truly, aware that they are not alone in the universe. The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is based the first three titles in the Mass Effect series, which follow the exploits of a – fully customizable (down to sex, and ovarall appearance.) – Commander Shepard, who gains command of a space frigate, following his discovery of a plot that could bring about the annihilation of every intelligent species in the galaxy.

The clock ticks against Shepard as he must unite the galaxy against the impending threat- which nobody believes in, despite the evidence – of Reaper (an advanced race of machines that wipe out all advanced life in the Milky Way every 50k years, like clockwork) induced extermination. Our hero must combat, negotiate – politically and, otherwise – his way to allegiances which will aid him in his ultimate goal. Each decision affects the character’s morality, and overall gameplay, some decisions affect the story in later titles.

“Our goal was not to remake or reimagine the original games, but to modernize the experience so that fans and new players can experience the original work in its best possible form. It’s been amazing to see the adventures of Commander Shepard take on new life in super-sharp resolution, faster frame rates, and beautiful visual enhancements. As game developers, we always hope that our games will transcend their original platforms. Having the opportunity to remaster the trilogy means that the fruits of a decade of our work will live on, and will be experienced better and clearer than ever before.” – Casey Hudson, Studio General Manager, Bioware.

Although the interactive gaming firm, Bioware, had expressed intentions to remaster the Mass Effect Trilogy, as early as 2014, it wasn’t until 2020 – a few months before the N7 Day announcement – that they earnest work towards Mass Effect Legendary Edition began. The gaming outfit roped in the aid of Electronic Arts (EA) to assist with publishing, and Abstraction Games to adapt the game for newer consoles and PC hardware. 

Mass Effect Legends Pack, will be available – upon release – on Microsoft Windows, for PC players, and Xbox One, as well as, PlayStation 4, for console enthusiasts. The game will also be compatible with Xbox Series X, PlayStation S consoles.

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Just as The Godfather and Pulp Fiction were limited by the technology available in their time, are still classics, so is Mass Effect. Not because it took the player on a quest to save the galaxy, with the odd side mission, but because it immerses one in the story line by cleverly evoking one’s curiosity, sense of duty, as well as enables an unprecedented amount of choice.

Despite the criticism the franchise has garnered over the years, Mass Effect remains at the top of many a gamer’s list of favorite titles. Despite using one’s own amygdala against them half the time, Bioware employed a lot of functional and narrative devices that generated a higher level of player engagement than any other game. Bioware evoked a great deal of discussion around the possibilities, and philosophical, as well as ethical issues concerning space travel – while delving more deeply into modern societal concepts than any other franchise has, to date.

Game Play

Numerous gamers will probably admit to being hooked from the word ‘go’. The game, as with other RPG titles, has allowed the user to generate their own character, with no set race, sexual orientation, or gender, all of that is left to the player’s discretion. This sets the tone for the rest of the game as just about every choice one make’s, from that point onward, will create thousands of variables that will affect one’s story throughout the series. The consequence of choices made in Mass Effect 1 may only come to fruition in Mass Effect 3.

The Mass Effect series also tends to put great emphasis on relationships. How a player interacts with in-game characters not only affects gameplay, but character development as well – of player and in-game character alike. Take smart-mouthed Turian, Garrus Varkarian for instance; this character starts out with a chaotic-good personality who’s heart is in the right place but follows some unorthodox methods to effect justice. With adequate interaction, a strong bond can form between Garrus and Shepard (the main character) with Garrus easing his hard-line stance on matters.

Choices made in the game can also lead to certain relationships, either strengthening, or completely falling apart. A choice in Mass Effect 1 could lead to Shepard butting heads with Krogan crew member, Wrex, depending on previous choices and relationships with other characters, the situation could lead to a warm reunion between Shepard and Wrex in Mass Effect 2, or Shepard could end up doing a lot of explaining to Wrex’s brother.

The second installment of the game gives one a glimpse into Shepard’s influence on characters he/she interacted with in Mass Effect 1, while showing one how they have developed individually after Shepard’s 5 year absence following a tragic event that took place after the battle of the Citadel.

Aside from the 32-odd star systems and planets available for exploration (creating a false sense of safety before the next mission), Mass Effect’s gameplay has a way of making a user enter the next level of gameplay because they want to. With each quest one completes, only more questions arise.

Bioware do very well in giving players a sense of progression as the series unfolds, with Mass Effect 1 giving a player a sense of how insignificant they are – in view of the vastness of space – and having to prove oneself and representing humanity against great odds. Mass Effect 2 and 3, on the other hand portray Shepard as a more experienced, resolute, and battle-hardened character.

The Philosophical Aspect

What Mass Effect does right away, unlike other sci-fi franchises, is put humans in their place; so to speak. The game does away with one’s innate sense of superiority and any prejudices a player might have by putting humans in an underdog position, trying to earn a place on The Council (a galactic United Nations, of sorts).

This does away with the assumption that humans automatically have a valuable role to play in the goings-on of the galaxy. Offering the player a sense that they have a lot to prove. Mass Effect also eliminates the idea that intelligent life has a greater purpose, set out by a greater being. Carried across, through the various species in the game, who are near artistically used as devices for the exploration of the nonlinear progression of intelligent life.

On one hand you have the Quarians, a vagabond race who were displaced from their home world by an artificial intelligence they created. On the other, the Krogans, a warlike race who were uplifted by The Council, to aid in a battle against an invasion by a hostile insectoid species, only to use the sophisticated weapons they had gained access to against the rest of the galaxy later on.

Mass Effect, forces one to confront some tough questions; is it all meaningless? What value can humanity add to cosmic civilization? What value can one contribute to humanity? How important are relationships in the face of catastrophe? When race, gender and orientation are no longer a factor, what is most important? How does one measure the value of one life in comparison to another? The player takes on all these questions, naked of any preset notions. That is what makes Mass Effect one of the greatest sci-fi RPG games of all time- if not the best.

There is word of Bioware revisiting the franchise after the failure of their reboot, Mass Effect: Andromeda, which takes place centuries after the events of the initial Mass Effect trilogy, and in a different galaxy altogether. It may be the next installment in the Andromeda series (which would be great, as there are a lot of unresolved questions we have), or Bioware may take the franchise in a completely different direction. Either way, if they develop a story as engagingly human as the original Mass Effect trilogy, they may just bring the franchise back to its former glory, yet.

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Interestingly, there is surprisingly little written content that pays homage to these virtual beings and the roles they played in providing hard to forget moments that could only really have happened in the in-game worlds we’ve had the chance to explore.

This is a short memento to a few of those unsung heroes that made our gaming experiences that much more of a ball.

Teddy “TK” Baha From Borderlands

A blind, one legged, weapons inventor who found himself living on the rather hostile planet that is Pandora after he and his wife Marian became victims of harassment and intimidation from a company known as the Hyperion Corporation, which pinched some weapon designs from him.

Baha is a loner who provides missions early on in the game. However, what makes him memorable is how his individual quirkiness stands out in a world where quirk seems to be the norm.

The Resident Evil 4 Arms dealer.

He has no name, his origin’s are not known and he doesn’t say much. Which makes sense. He is an arms dealer in a decidedly strange situation. So we’ll simply refer to him by the name he calls the main character, Leon S. Kennedy, and that is stranger.

What makes our stranger is so cool is not the fact that he is always right there when you need him most, carrying with him some awesome guns and upgrades to help you battle your way to saving the president’s daughter. His presence also tends to serve as a subtle warning of how serious a threat you are about to encounter.

Garrus Vakarian of Mass Effect

In accordance with Turian norms, Garrus received military training at a young age before going on to become a C-SEC investigative officer responsible for the investigation of Seren’s (the top spectre before commander Shepard) shadowy activities. Which leads to him meeting Shepard.

What makes Garrus memorable is how he seems to hold on to his upstanding character, even with all the moral “fine lines” that are walked through the course of the campaign.

Doom’s Demon Legion

Last but definitely not least is the legion of demon warriors that the player has to do battle with in the first person cult classic that is the Room series.

Though these guys are not really the talkative type, anybody who has played through a Doom campaign can think of more than one moment were these enemies offered both enthralling entertainment and a helping hand.

Yes, a helping hand. When playing the campaign, one could gowde the enemies into fighting each other through a well timed evasive maneuver that leads to them accidentally shooting one another. This would result in them attacking each other in retaliation, allowing the player to pick off any survivors.

This somewhat simple intricacy made the game that much more entertaining to play, even to watch. In no particular order of course.

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