Mass Effect 3 Update: Improved combat, environments scale increased, reduction in squad mates
The highly anticipated three-quel to the highly acclaimed and commercially successful Mass Effect series, developed by Bioware, has had a flood of details made public.
Labelled as being the concluding chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy, Bioware has announced a number of changes and tweaks that will set it apart from its predecessor.
Speaking to Xbox World Magazine, Casey Hudson elaborated and confirmed a few of the rumoured tweaks and enhancements, starting with the reduction in squad size.
According to Casey, the squad size in Mass Effect 2 was on the high side and did not allow for as much room in character relationship development as Bioware would have liked, and that the third installment would still retain all the characters, albeit with
certain tweaks, but would focus more on relationships between the members itself.
In short, they would be going for quality instead of quantity.
Casey said while speaking to the press, “We’re focused on a smaller squad with deeper relationships and more interesting interplay in Mass Effect 3. We’re not going to have twelve again but we are going to do more with the characters on your squad including
Liara, and Kaidan or Ashley.”
Casey was quick to quell any disappointment the fans of the series might have had, when he went on to state that every main character from the previous game would still be in the game, though their appearance and abilities would be modified.
The enemy AI has also been amped up with the notoriously hard to kill Cerberus forces now reportedly even more of a danger.
“Cerberus Troopers can do everything that Shepard can do now,” says Designer Corey Gaspur. “So you’re fighting a force that's a lot more punishing.”
The flood of announcements did not end there, as Mass Effect 3 will boast the largest scale in terms of its environment in the series so far.
According to Casey, the levels will be large enough for players to take on a Cerberus Atlas mech reported to be around fifty foot and an even larger Reaper that will stand at an astounding six hundred feet.
While boss fights on such a scale are nothing new to the video game industry with Resistance 2, Killzone 3 and Vanquish boasting equally impressive boss fights, it does add another dimension to Bioware’s most successful franchise.
“Every fight every enemy and every space is bigger than anything you've ever seen rendered in Mass Effect,” added Casey.
The announcement left everyone’s mouth watering and hungry for more, even after so much had been revealed in the interview.
Mass Effect 3 is scheduled for a release in the early months of 2012 after having been delayed from its original Christmas period release date.
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